“Authenticity is very important. You can be authentically awful, but being comfortable with who you are, is crucial as an HR director,” says John Ainley, group HR director at Aviva.
Ainley, who is a member of the insurance group’s executive committee and reports directly to its chief executive, started working there as a divisional HR head in 1999 when it was still Norwich Union – only a year before the firm undertook a £19 billion merger with CGU to become the UK’s biggest provider.
Prior to that, he was group HR director at high street retailer WH Smith, but had initially started his career in the late 1970s as an employment lawyer in the HR department of GEC’s Marconi Avionics – before it merged with British Aerospace to become part of BAE Systems.
Due to his working class background and the fact that he grew up in the manufacturing town of Huddersfield, however, Ainley felt that he was more suited to a career in industry and commerce than to practicing at the Bar.
But given the strong employment legislation at the time, the power of the unions and the high levels of industrial unrest, he quickly realised that employment law and HR made a good combination. This was despite the fact that, when a national engineering strike took place during his first few weeks of work in 1978, his key role in the dispute was to guide the people who still wanted to work through the picket lines.
“I was tall – that was the only skill I brought to bear. But union work was very interesting. At that time, a lot of heads of HR came from a union background and so it was instructive in terms of how people think and how to deal with adverse circumstances. It was a good learning ground,” Ainley says.
Over time, however, he started to develop an interest in the more organisational side of HR and, in particular, how employers could get the most out of their people.
Strong employer brand
“I was always a generalist and I moved across all of the different aspects of HR. I’ve had opportunities during my career to be a non-exec in a healthcare company and to chair an offshore business in India and so I’ve had direct line responsibility there too, but I’ve always been most interested in HR and people development,” Ainley says.
In his current position as a member of Aviva’s executive committee, he sees himself very much as the “people champion”, which means “making people-related issues a part of every decision made”. But Ainley is also in charge of the firm’s corporate social responsibility agenda and has a dedicated CSR director reporting into him. The two disciplines are considered a “logical fit” because both are about creating the right organisational culture and being attractive in employment terms.
He explains: “The essence of what we’re trying to do is ensure that we have a sustainable business. So CSR has to do with acting as a responsible employer, but there are also implications from being a member of society – so we’ve become the first insurer to be carbon-neutral.”
Another important consideration in this context, however, is creating a strong employer brand in terms of diversity and inclusion – a concept that Ainley feels is a “helpful way of thinking about how the company presents itself to the world”. And such presentation is important, not least because a good CSR track record helps to attract and retain staff.
For example, Aviva has found that, as a result of its ‘Street-to-School’ community initiatives, which help street children around the world obtain an education, its employee engagement scores have “shifted significantly upwards”.
But Ainley warns that the important thing here is for “people to feel the change rather than just be told about it”. This means that, while good internal communication and engagement programmes are helpful, “it’s about changing the culture of the organisation and influencing the way that people feel about Aviva rather than simply telling them how they should feel”, he says.
Moreover, he believes that, at the very heart of the HR role stands the concept of talent management – whether it is about identifying such talent internally or externally, providing the right development and training to bring people on or ensuring that appropriate services are being commissioned to keep them engaged.
Brave, authentic and challenging
“Helping people to be the best they can be is at the heart of everything we do,” Ainley says.
As to what is required to become an effective HR director at his level, he reckons that a key secret to success is gaining as many different work experiences as possible across all aspects of the HR remit. But he also advises working on one’s own personal development for a number of different reasons.
Firstly, it is important to be brave enough to speak your mind and be authentic so that you do not end up either being something that you’re not or someone that you think others want you to be.
“It’s about being challenging and supportive in order to create the best possible results for the people working in the organisation. And many times, it falls to the HR director to be the person to speak up on their behalf,” Ainley says.
Secondly, HR directors are often seen as role models for leadership development, which means it is vital that they truly live the leadership model and values that they espouse to others.
To this end, Ainley has himself done everything from working with personal coaches to discussing issues with people ranging from HR practitioners to academics. He has also been influenced by various seminal works such as consultant Peter Block’s books on effectiveness at work and David Rooke’s offerings on leadership development.
“Being brave, authentic and challenging is something that requires personal development and reflection if you’re to become more effective and ask the right questions. But they’re not necessarily skills you’re born with and so you have to work at them,” Ainley concludes.
And finally…
Who do you admire most and why?
That’s a really hard question as so many people have influenced me, from a teacher in Huddersfield who really made me believe in myself to Shami Chakrabarti from [human rights organisation] Liberty, who recently gave an inspiring speech to 200 young girls on being successful.
That’s a really hard question as so many people have influenced me, from a teacher in Huddersfield who really made me believe in myself to Shami Chakrabarti from [human rights organisation] Liberty, who recently gave an inspiring speech to 200 young girls on being successful.
It was amazing and made me think of the tsunami in Thailand. Tilly Smith, who was 12 at the time, had had a geography lesson on tsunamis the week before. So she recognised the signs on the beach and persuaded 140 people to get off it. It was on YouTube and it was amazing seeing this 12-year old girl persuading people like that. It’s a sort of leadership – leadership without power – and it was very inspiring.
What’s your most hated buzzword?
Compentencies. You need to be clear about the skills required in your organisation and build on them. But for years, HR has built ‘very professional’ processes that have no value to the organisation and has labelled them as competencies. So when I hear that word I’m always deeply suspicious.
Compentencies. You need to be clear about the skills required in your organisation and build on them. But for years, HR has built ‘very professional’ processes that have no value to the organisation and has labelled them as competencies. So when I hear that word I’m always deeply suspicious.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Use adversity as an opportunity. When the financial crisis hit in particular, it was all about how you take that and turn it into a positive? When something tough hits me, I always ask ‘what is the opportunity?’ It’s a philosophy for life, not just for work.
Use adversity as an opportunity. When the financial crisis hit in particular, it was all about how you take that and turn it into a positive? When something tough hits me, I always ask ‘what is the opportunity?’ It’s a philosophy for life, not just for work.
How do you relax?
I work hard during the week and may do some work at weekends, but I try to delineate them as much as possible. Apart from that, I love Ruby League and as we support the game with our Aviva Premiership sponsorship, it’s where job and home combine.
I work hard during the week and may do some work at weekends, but I try to delineate them as much as possible. Apart from that, I love Ruby League and as we support the game with our Aviva Premiership sponsorship, it’s where job and home combine.
