Stepping into an HR director’s shoes for the first time is a steep learning curve for anyone, but for Michael Stirrup, it has been more precipitous than most.
For this is his first HR position and it supplements his usual day job of finance director.
Over the five years that Stirrup has been employed at IT consultancy, Waterstons, he has worked his way up from being an accountant to finance director and also put his technical skills to use as an IT consultant. When an opening appeared in the HR space earlier this year, however, he was keen to take on new responsibility again.
“Our HR manager – we never had a director – reported into the MD and when she left, I thought it would be good to broaden my horizons,” says Stirrup.
Although he had worked with previous HR managers on pension and payroll issues, he realised that these were only very small and relatively straightforward elements of the job and he needed to acquire a lot more skills. So, while most of his learning has been on-the-job, Stirrup has, with the backing of his managing director, employed an HR consultant over the last few months to help him map out an HR strategy and, in particular, reorganise the company’s appraisal system.
Stirrup’s background to date has been mainly financial. He started out on a graduate scheme at Proctor & Gamble, before moving to work for a large chemical company on Teesside. But rather than join another big firm, Stirrup was keen to find a position with a smaller employer.
And Waterstons offered him the opportunity he was after: with 60 staff, the organisation is small enough to make his mark but, with a turnover that grew to £5.4m this year from £3.6m last, it is changing quickly enough to be an exciting place to work.
“The huge advantage of working for a small firm is you are able to make a real difference. Working for a huge company like Procter & Gamble, you’re quite a small cog in a big wheel,” Stirrrup says.
Dual role
Today, he spends about 60% of his time on financial matters and devotes the rest to HR. But how does he cope with the very different and sometimes conflicting demands that these roles make?
“Finance is really quite straightforward: either you make a profit or you don’t and it’s based on standards and procedures. HR is much more about values and about people and the softer skills,” Stirrup explains.
But in a service industry such as IT consultancy, the quality and values of staff are paramount to success, he believes. As a result, Stirrup considers that one of the chief responsibilities of his role as being to instill employees with the right company values.
This emphasis on values is also being carried through into the firm’s new appraisal system. Previously, appraisals were very much about what training staff required in order to do their job more effectively. But this approach is now being broadened out to focus less on technical skills per se and more on coaching and mentoring as a means of helping staff to develop and reach their full potential.
But while Stirrup may be enjoying getting to grips with the appraisal system, as with any job, there are elements that are not quite so enticing. “The worst for me is recruitment,” he admits. “It can be a tiresome process because we have a policy of not using recruitment agents so if there’s a position free we can be inundated.”
Although not his favourite part of the role, it is a key one. Some 80% of Waterston’s recruits are graduates and Stirrup needs to ensure that they have more than just technical ability. “We have to make sure we’re getting the right skills and not just employing a bunch of techies. So we need people that can relate to customers,” he explains.
But recruitment is an area that points up the potential conflict in his dual role. While his HR heart may be calling for more staff to be hired, his finance head is always keen to keep a lid on costs. “HR isn’t about policies and procedures. It’s more about developing people and understanding people,” Stirrup concludes.
And finally…
Who do you admire most and why?
The founder of this business, Sally Waterston, who set up the business in the basement of her home and has built it into a £5m turnover company.
What’s your most hated buzzword?
I hate them all!
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Always be yourself and don’t try and be anything you’re not at work.
How do you relax?
Playing with my little boy.
One Response
No jacket required to mix finance with HR
I’d take mild issue with the suggestion that mixing finance with HR causes conflicts. Great HR managers are business focused and that means adding up the numbers for short and long term performance. As a Council member for CIPD, I got sick of hearing the argument that HR ought to be better at the numbers etc. It’s not a ‘nice to have’ element of a good HR performer, it’s a ‘must’.
Not having mastery over the financial and business is one of the reasons why some HR people don’t make it into the boardroom. I’ve attached an extract from my latest book ‘Punk Rock People Management’ which explores this area further. The book is available for free as an e-book on request via http://www.academy-of-rock.co.uk/Punk-Rock-HR
Peter Cook