interview DIDIER CHARRETON
Coats plc, a FTSE 250 company with a wonderful history and the leading manufacturer of sewing thread in the world.
I joined Coats at a time of growth and change plans, which presented significant HR challenges, not least in migrating our production capacity west to east. Shutting down plants in North America and Western Europe in a responsible manner, bringing new capacity on line as quickly as possible in Asia and not losing any of our know-how and technical leadership in the process was an interesting equation to solve. Half-way through my tenure at Coats, the company was taken into private ownership, which added to the complexity and transformed the HR agenda. It became all about focusing the organisation on cash generation. I stayed at Coats for five years and was then presented with the opportunity to join Baker Hughes as Chief HR Officer based in Houston. Baker Hughes is one the largest oil and gas services companies in the world with approximately 50,000 people operating in some 80 countries. This was 2007, and the CEO wanted to transform the company from a very strong US centred company to a true global competitor to the leaders in our industry. His transformation strategy was based on three pillars: technology, infrastructure and people. The investment in R&D was increased and to strengthen the company’s technology leadership acquisitions were made to broaden the range of services offered and make the company more relevant in the emerging shale oil and gas segment, new facilities were built
the next challenge which we addressed with a mix internal promotions and external hires. And, to ensure its long term sustainability, we established very robust talent management systems and an industry leading learning infrastructure. I left Baker Hughes at the end of 2014 and joined Anglo American in 2015.
Tell us about Anglo American and what the proposition was that made you decide that this was the career move for you? At this stage in my career, I am more interested in capitalising on my experiences to lead meaningful transformations than in optimising the status quo. For me it was essential that there would be a change agenda and I found it here. Anglo American is going through a deep transformation where we are reconfiguring our asset portfolio and our organisation quite radically. We strongly believe that we will come out of this restructure in much better shape, performing at a better level operationally and being in a strong position to continue building on the company’s prestigious past. The relative proximity between oil and mining was another attraction for me as I strongly believe that the ability to understand the drivers of a business are key to my ability to impact that business positively. Among other things, I wanted to find in my next job, the international dimension was essential, given my track record of working in multicultural environments and building diverse leadership teams. Also, working in a company where technology is at the centre is a plus as I have always enjoyed working with engineers.
THERE IS PRAGMATISM WITHIN THE SECTOR ITSELF IN SO FAR AS MINING IS A VOLATILE INDUSTRY. WHAT MAKES THIS TRICKY IS THE LOW VISIBILITY AND THE DIFFICULTY TO PREDICT HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE FOR THE WHEEL TO TURN TO MORE POSITIVE TERRITORY
in the geographies where we had the ambition to compete more effectively (Brazil, Nigeria, Angola, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Iraq to name a few) and I was given the remit to develop and implement an HR strategy that would make us better aligned to a customer base where national companies were controlling an increasing portion of the oil and gas reserves around the world. We started with the organisation and created one where decision making was more decentralised, allowing for local managers to better tailor solutions to the need of their customers and make decisions at the pace that they were requiring. Staffing this decentralised organisation with local managerial talent was
10 thehrdirector SEPTEMBER 2016
It is widely reported that the mining commodities sector has many challenges ahead, how does this impact on the operations and business objectives? Indeed, your readers will have seen and read the headlines and yes the sector faces some significant challenges. There is pragmatism within the sector itself in so far as mining is a volatile industry. What makes this tricky is the low visibility and the difficulty to predict how long it will take for the wheel to turn to more positive territory. From a brass tacks business perspective, the current environment provides a platform for change. It is essential to adjust your priorities, your structure and even your leadership style to the times you are in. Another fundamental
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