HR executives share their experience in human resources

Citation

Harley, A. (2008), "HR executives share their experience in human resources", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 7 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2008.37207fab.003

HR executives share their experience in human resources

Article Type: Practitioner profile From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 7, Issue 6

When Andrew Harley stepped down from his role as group HR director for Telefónica O2 Europe in March this year, it marked the end of an era for the mobile communications giant. He headed up O2’s human resources team in what were often tumultuous times, including the company’s demerger from its former parent company BT, a complete revamp of the brand and a record-breaking £18 billion acquisition by Spanish telecoms company, Telefónica. O2 came through these times with flying colors and puts this largely down to the HR-inspired “can do” attitude within the company.

During his seven years at O2, Harley created a first-class HR team and was instrumental in the delivery of a number of extensive HR-related projects, including a major culture change program that was launched across all of the company’s European operating businesses.

Thinking “outside the HR box” is something that comes naturally for Harley, given that his background was in technology and the career move into HR happened purely by chance. Harley explains:

I worked in BT in computer operations, software development, IT procurement and software support and then moved to HR on a short term assignment to cover for a manager on maternity leave. I then stayed in HR in a variety of different roles prior to joining O2 as it demerged from BT in 2001.

Key lessons learned

One of the most important lessons Harley learned was to align HR strategy with that of the overall business – a total alignment that involved not just “being aware of” the strategy but truly aligning what is delivered in the people space with what the business needs to do to deliver for shareholders.

A second lesson was working closely with colleagues in marketing. He explains:

We had to ensure that our values are reflected in everything we do in HR. In O2 the values of bold, open, trusted and clear are reflected in HR policy and in the way we deal with employees, from employee communications through to the way we manage the complete employee lifecycle.

He continues:

HR people must first and foremost be business people and understand the commercial drivers. It’s important that the business partners know their areas – whether it’s retail, finance, technology, sales or whatever. The intimate knowledge of what the business area is trying to achieve, and how we can help people deliver for that, is critical.

Taking the lead in major projects

One of Harley’s major projects at the helm of O2 was the so-called “Project Breathe”, which was effectively to breath life into the new O2 after the demerger. It included initiatives such as looking deeply at its values and what they would actually mean for customers and employees in real life, and activities such as “deep dives”, to look in detail at an issue or opportunity and work it through to a practical and implementable solution. The prime focus was always about customer experience. Harley comments:

It was a massive effort for all employees, and the directors. The focus and effort on this program really paid dividends, avoiding the “sheep dip” of many cultural programs and delivering something that allowed people to build, and be part of, something new. Harley also oversaw the development of Reflect – O2’s employee engagement program that involves asking employees key questions. The key difference with normal employee surveys is that this involved helping line managers and HR do something practical with the responses. He explains:

We started the early work by utilizing the ideas in the book First, Break all the Rules (Buckingham and Coffman, 1999). The HR team worked with catalysts in the business and with Maritz, a company that specializes in releasing human potential, to deliver a really focused tool. The first point was that we asked the question, then were interested in the reply, and then did something to improve things. Too often in the past I heard people asking questions and then not even bothering to really deeply listen to the answer, never mind create an appropriate action plan. Reflect proved to be a great success and it continues to develop and improve the process of working with HR and business leaders. Harley says:

There are two key questions that should be on the mind of any effective leader, namely “are you proud to work for your company?” and “would you recommend our products and services to your friends and family?”

Linking O2’s compensation and benefits with executive development also proved to be a highly successful move under Harley’s HR leadership. He explains: “By linking the two teams we delivered development and reward interventions that have been greater than the sum of the parts.”

Moving on to a new challenge

Harley has now completed his extensive work on HR alignment and integration and decided earlier this year that it was the right time to pursue other interests and career opportunities outside the telecoms sector. He concludes:

It will be tough to follow O2 with another company that offers the scale, the growth, and the challenge that O2 has provided, but the search is on.

About the author

Andrew Harley was most recently group HR director at Telefónica O2 Europe. He joined Telefónica O2 Europe from BT, where he had worked since 1980. His roles with the organization included being senior vice president, HR, at BT Wireless; senior vice president, HR, at BTopenworld, BT’s fixed internet service provider; and HR director for BT Cellnet. Harley was also HR director for Telenordia in Sweden. He left Telefónica O2 Europe in March 2008. He can be contacted at: Ah1960@o2.co.uk

Andrew HarleyGroup HR director at Telefónica O2 Europe