People, join hands for culture managers

special report

People, join hands for culture managers

Monday, August 29, 2022

Paul Ngugi is the Director of People and Culture for Greenpeace Africa.Photo | Pool

Employees today are the most empowered of many generations. This employee has a big say in creating guidelines that apply to him. As organizations slowly move from policy to culture, people and their needs are becoming more important. This has created a need for people and culture managers within the organization.

But what exactly do people and culture managers do?

Paul Ngugi is the People and Culture Director of Greenpeace Africa, an international non-governmental organization against climate injustice.

“The responsibility is to design, develop and implement strategies that attract, engage and improve the employee experience. They are also responsible for developing and enhancing a high performance culture within the organization,” he said. will explain.

“Without culture, there is no strategy, no organization. Understanding employee culture helps keep people at the heart of the organization,” he explains.

Jane Mbati, people and culture manager at financial services firm Zamara Group, sees this as an element of compliance. “We provide strategic advice to improve business performance by ensuring policies and strategies are up to date with regulations and legislation,” she says.

Jane Mbati is People and Culture Manager at Zamara, a financial services company.Photo | Pool

Culture is the invisible element within an organization that guides how things are done, how people relate to each other, and what drives performance. needs to focus on creating a good culture, we create what we want,” she says.

More than ever, people want to know about a company’s reputation before joining, Ngugi said.

“Culture is now used to brand an organization. People also want to see career mobility within that organization, both within roles and in other departments. more progressive and proactive [approach] Than have to wait for the policy to be formulated. ”

An employee’s health also depends on their culture, he says. “People need to be willing to come to work and want to engage with others within the organization.

At what point do the roles of HR, people and culture overlap? Mbati notes that HR departments used to focus on procedures and policies, but people and culture are more holistic. They say they are not that different.

“It’s about working more with people and giving them a productive environment in which to work and grow. Each. They are not resources to use,” she explains.

But do you have to be an HR person to fill this role? Ngugi says that while not required, HR certifications are important. Some professionals in this role have engineering and finance backgrounds.

“It’s a passion for people and culture that counts, and that’s what drives this role. Some individuals start in all directions and get outstanding qualifications,” he says.

According to Ngugi, these salient qualities include social intelligence and emotional intelligence to “understand what people do.”

On why modern organizations should use the services of a talent and culture manager, Mr. Ngugi said that growing awareness of equity, diversity and inclusion is requiring companies to change their approach to talent. says.

“The types of talent we recruit and retain must meet our criteria for diversity and inclusion,” he says.

For Mbati, people and culture managers serve the needs of both internal and external environments. “People want to do business with the best organizations that align with their values ​​and expectations. A people and culture manager’s job is to help organizations attract, retain, and manage the best talent.” That’s it.”

Are people and cultures just renaming HR? Mbati doesn’t think so. “This is a new way of managing people within an organization. People and culture are where discipline comes in. You need structure, standards and agreed behavior, but you also need strategies that weren’t given much attention before. We’re not kicking out HR.”

Gone are the days when HR was the manager’s role and “doing paperwork”, and as both experts agree, people and culture are now at the heart of strategic thinking and what makes it possible.

“For years, organizations spent time and money in meetings to formulate strategies and found things not moving. Culture says eat strategy for breakfast,” Ngugi says.

Over the past four years, there has been an evolution in how organizations view talent and needs. “My previous role was HR director. Today, most organizations refer to that role as people and culture when hiring,” he says.

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