“If you’ve got a workforce that’s engaged, passionate and driven to succeed, you don’t need to worry so much about the business performance because your team will own the business’s results themselves.” – Abi Hadley-Clift, HR Manager at Cycling Sports Group speaks up on how taking care of the employees brings about a positive effect on the business.
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 Abi Hadley-Clift, who has almost two decades of HR experience. She has been a part of different industries, including a hospital, a lifestyle brand, a chain of hotels, and currently, for a trusted cycling brand.
From training to coaching, personnel support and administration, Abi fervently led the organisations she’s been a part of to churn out the best practices, policies and procedures that will benefit the companies and their employees.
Can you tell us what made you pursue a career in HR?
My aunt was an HR director and whenever we saw her, she would talk to me about it because I found it really interesting. So, when I went to university, although I knew that’s what I wanted to do, I kept my options open and chose business studies and psychology.
After university, I didn’t go straight into HR. It was more important for me just to get any experience. My first job out of university was as an administrator at a housing association. I was there for eight months while I kept looking for an HR job. I then found a job as a personnel administrator for a property management company. And that was my first step into HR.
From there, I worked for the NHS as a medical personnel officer. The workload was incredible at the NHS and it completely overwhelmed me. One of my friends worked in a restaurant and they suggested I get some shifts there. So, I left my job with the NHS and at the restaurant, they ended up creating a role for me as a manager. I stayed there for 10 months, but really missed working in HR. That’s when I realised HR is what I wanted to do. Since then, I have stayed in generalist roles and progressed my HR career to where I am today.
Was it a conscious decision to keep a generalist HR role rather than focusing on a certain aspect?
I like to have variety and love the variety in a generalist HR role. I have got a real passion for training and development, coaching, maximising everybody’s potential by finding out what an employee’s aspirations are and taking this and the business vision and trying to make it all come together. I love making people the best that they can be in their jobs and making them feel valued. So although I really do enjoy the development side of it, I also just love all of it.
What do you think is the biggest HR hurdle you’ve experienced so far?
I think most people have struggled in one way or another, from a mental well-being point of view that’s been caused by the pandemic. Lots of people experienced loneliness and isolation, especially people who lived on their own. So we had to keep in regular contact with those people to make sure that they were okay. We also coached managers into truly prioritising their staff alongside the business needs to make sure that all their teams were okay as this was a massive change for everyone.
And now on the reverse of that, we are trying to get people back into the office and some people are really enjoying working at home. We are currently working with a hybrid model of two days in the office and three days at home. I don’t know what it’s going to look like in the future, but that seems to be working. People seem to be enjoying this kind of balance. If they want to come in more days, they can, but we’re just trying to rebuild that team environment.
In February, there was a time to talk initiative. We encouraged people to take 10 minutes just to go and sit with a group of people and have a cup of tea and a biscuit and have a chat about mental well-being.
We’re trying to do some more events. We recognised mental health awareness week in May and we’re getting some people trained in mental health first aid later this year to encourage the support there as well. We are encouraging the team to take part in coffee mornings, similar to the time to talk, exercise clubs, or even just walk in their lunch break to enhance their mental wellbeing. These are the kind of initiatives we’re working towards now.
For people who want to start a career in HR or those who are taking on bigger HR-related responsibilities, what advice would you give them?
For both working in HR and being a manager, always remember you’re working with people. Remember the people factor. It’s so easy to get absorbed in the day-to-day job and get your to-do list ticked off, but make sure that you remember this is a person you’re dealing with.
I did a 10-week counselling course about seven or eight years ago, which taught me to sit back and actively listen and ask questions, especially when someone’s coming to you with a problem. Rather than telling them what they need to do, just ask a couple of questions and they’ll come to the conclusion on their own.
If you’re wanting to progress within HR and become an HR manager, you need to also know about the business. So it’s great having your speciality in HR and being the expert in it, however, you need to know how the business runs, be commercially aware and understand the impact people and what you do have on the business.
I think the people and the culture are so important to a business. Managers who spend time with their team, making sure they are happy and engaged will have a better performing team and will have a bigger impact on the business.
You need to really value your people because if you’ve got a workforce that’s engaged, passionate and driven to succeed, you don’t need to worry so much about the business performance because your team will own the business’s results themselves.
Abi has been with Cycling Sports Group since September 2019 as its HR Manager, where she has been focused on supporting and developing both the business and its people.
If you are interested in having a confidential conversation about your career or would like support growing your team, please get in touch today.