“[A]lways consider making sideways moves as well as upward ones, as they will develop your experience and perspectives. Your career should be a jungle gym you actively manage rather than a ladder you simply climb up.” – Siri Nomme, Head of Diversity & Social Purpose at Norton Rose Fulbright, speaks to us about developing a career in HR Leadership.
As part of our commitment to supporting candidates to develop fulfilling careers, we’ve invited some HR Leaders to share the secrets of their success.
This week, we had a great conversation with Siri Nomme at Norton Rose Fulbright, who began her Leadership career as Project Manager for the International Conference Service in Oslo before becoming Training Manager for Euromoney Training in London. In January 1999, Siri joined the team at Deutsche Bank as Graduate Development Manager, going on to take on the further roles at the bank as US Head of Talent Development for Private Wealth Management, Global Head of Talent Development for Private Wealth Management, Talent Management Project Manager, and Diversity & Inclusion Manager.
In March 2016, Siri took on the role of EMEA Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Norton Rose Fulbright ahead of transitioning to her current role in April 2021
Can you tell us how you got into HR and why?
My career progression has definitely been more of a jungle gym than a ladder, and the career I expected to have after university was not at all in any of the spheres I have actually found myself in. My father is a retired diplomat from Norway, and after developing a love for travel, history, and political science, I expected to follow in his footsteps and either become a diplomat myself or work for an international organisation like the UN.
After finishing university, I initially got a temp job doing data entry at an event management company in Oslo, but was quickly taken on as a permanent member of staff and became a Project Manager for that company. After that, I studied for an MSc at the London School of Economics and took a job at Euromoney in London, project managing their financial training courses. While I was there, I received a call about a Norwegian Government-sponsored conference on banning landmines that would be visited by representatives from governments around the world and generate a treaty. I was offered a job to help organise it, which was an incredible opportunity.
I spoke with my dad and my boss about it, came to an agreement with Euromoney, and took my first big career risk—taking a leave of absence to go to Norway and help with the conference. Taking that risk gave me the opportunity to do something I was passionate about and could grow from, and the conference itself was a once-in-a lifetime experience, so I’m glad I did it.
Soon after, I was headhunted into the Graduate Development Manager role at Deutsche Bank by a former Consultant for Euromoney who was then the Head of Graduate Development at the bank. I wasn’t looking to move from Euromoney, and I was very nervous about it, but I went for it anyway. That was my first foray into HR, but I actually found myself drawing on a lot of the same skills I’d used as Project Manager at Euromoney. I went from delivering financial training to graduates in a private organisation to doing so for young talent at a large investment bank, so it was more of a sideways move than a career leap.
I spent 15 years at Deutsche Bank and took on various HR roles in that time, but I spent the longest in the Graduate Development space. Eventually, though, I knew it was time to grow beyond it and explore other things. Around that time, the Global Head of HR at the bank restructured our HR operating model, and I ended up working in New York for three years in a Private Wealth Management Talent Development role that really took me out of my comfort zone in terms of both geography and specialism. As much as it was unknown territory at first, it was a great opportunity to see an international organisation from a different geographical standpoint that allowed me to connect with a whole new set of stakeholders, so it was definitely worth it.
When I came back to London after three years in New York, I took on the Global Head of Talent Development role for the Private Wealth Management division. I did also move into a Performance Management role for a year, which was very enlightening from a process perspective, but I missed being first-hand with employees and managers.
In terms of getting to the Diversity & Inclusion space I am in now, I would say that having a very international upbringing has always underlined the importance of diversity in my personal life, but after we started doing some leadership development initiatives for women at Deutsche Bank, I began questioning systems, processes, language, and behaviour, and was inspired to start pushing for equity and fairness for underrepresented groups. In HR, we’re responsible for looking after the business’ biggest asset—our people—and those people have a right to be treated equally and fairly no matter their background.
Actually becoming the UK head of Diversity & Inclusion was a challenge. I hadn’t specialised in the area before, so to a certain degree, I had to learn my craft—my work in the gender diversity space was a great training ground for wider D&I work, but I still had to learn a lot about other forms of diversity and inclusion and what that meant for a large organisation.
After 15 years at Deutsche Bank, I decided to take a career break and follow a personal interest I had in the voluntary sector. I was curious about how large international charities managed Diversity & Inclusion, I wanted to undertake more training, and that point in my career seemed like the perfect time to do it. Deutsche Bank asked whether I would be open to staying with them as a Consultant so I did that on a part-time basis, but I also applied for and made it through the Samaritans’ training programme, which was one of the best I’ve ever been through. I learned how to be an active, non-judgemental listener—which is an invaluable life-skill and has been particularly useful in the last 14 months of living and working in the context of the Covid pandemic.
I was also doing some pro bono consulting with a few charities who were looking into Diversity & Inclusion alongside that training, but after a while, I missed being part of a team and knew it was time to go back into the corporate world. Shortly after, I joined the D&I team at Norton Rose Fulbright on what was initially a two-year contract, but eventually turned into a permanent role.
Can you tell me about the key themes and challenges that you’re seeing across the HR sector?
For me, there are two overarching themes in HR at the moment—creating a relationship with work and the workplace that provides the flexibility and support our people need, and ensuring that we do that in a way that fulfils the strategic and commercial ambitions of the organisation. As part of that, we are asking what the world of work will look like in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Norton Rose Fulbright announced at the end of last year that we will be moving to a hybrid way of working split between a traditional office setting and working from home. That means we have to create a truly inclusive, equitable working environment that can account for people being in both settings on any given day; considering how we allocate work, manage and motivate team members, reward performance, conduct meetings, and make sure we don’t unintentionally favour those in the office. We also have to do more to reach out to people and create new learning opportunities for those in the early stages of their careers, as they don’t always get the opportunity to learn by observing from and being surrounded by others anymore. They’re having to build new networks in a completely virtual environment, which is tough, but ultimately enables us to boost the diversity of our potential employees. The challenge now is ensuring we capitalise on that and continually think about how we can keep it going in the future.
Moving into home working highlighted for us just how many of our people had caring responsibilities that they hadn’t disclosed or even fully realised. In response, we introduced a paid carer’s leave policy to support them and ensure that taking leave to care for someone would not disadvantage them financially.
One of our biggest concerns is looking after the wellbeing of our people and making sure that we’re connecting with them—not just in terms of making policy changes, but empowering managers. Not knowing what the long-term impact of being isolated will be is challenging, but we’re focusing on encouraging better communication and more frequent check-ins to combat burn-out.
Another key theme for us in the Diversity & Inclusion space recently was increased awareness of ongoing individual and systemic racism that came as a result of the death of George Floyd last summer. Across the HR sector and legal industry—as well as at Norton Rose Fulbright itself—that has underlined the importance of shining a spotlight on race and ethnicity. We have spent a lot of time putting together new strategies under a very inclusive, consultative approach, working with colleagues and thought leaders to get things right for us, but now we have to deliver on that.
The inclusion piece really cuts across everything we do, and our primary concern is for the welfare of our people—whether that’s in terms of levelling the playing field for certain elements of the population or making sure that our policies support everyone.
What career advice would you offer to someone either working towards a career like yours, or someone just getting started in their HR career?
It’s really important to continually build and grow your network, but be intentional about it. Don’t be afraid to ask people in your network to make introductions for you, especially if there’s a type of work you want to get into that someone you know can connect you to.
Whatever stage of your career you are at, I would definitely advocate for taking some calculated risks to open opportunities up, because that’s how you grow and learn. Taking those risks doesn’t have to mean leaving a company, either; it can be done internally by volunteering for an initiative or project. That said, don’t put your hand up for everything and stretch yourself too thin. Be selective, and only take on challenges that will help your career in some way.
Your manager cannot read your mind. If there is something that you have your head and heart set on from a career development perspective, you need to tell them about it.You need to take control of as much as you can in your career development.
To that end, always consider making sideways moves as well as upward ones, because they will develop your experience and perspectives. Your career should be a jungle gym you actively manage rather than a ladder you simply climb up. Ask for feedback if you’re not getting it, and when you do, be prepared to do something with it.
If you’re in a Leadership role, I would say that monitoring data and analytics and what they’re telling you is really important, but you also need to understand it. If the data is raising questions, dig behind them, but remember that you are dealing with real people who are progressing in their careers and building their teams. People are at the heart of everything we do.
Siri joined Norton Rose Fulbright in March 2016, leading and advocating for diversity, equity and inclusion across all aspects of the People space at the firm.