Leadership and Company Culture with Gaëlle de la Fosse

The focus of today's HRchat show is cultivating resilience and organizational culture.

LHH, the professional talent solutions and advisory company (and a part of The Adecco Group) recently announced a partnership with Barrett Values Centre to bolster their Culture offerings with an Organizational Culture Solution.

On the heels of this, Bill Banham welcomes Gaëlle de la Fosse, President of LHH and a member of the executive committee of The Adecco Group, back to the HRchat Podcast to dive into the importance of investing in a strong organizational culture and share some tactics on how leaders can do so.

Questions for Gaëlle include: 

• Why is organizational culture an important investment, especially with many companies focused on cutting costs?
• Who should define the 'Why' of a company culture? Leaders? Employees? HR?
• we spoke already about engagement and retention. In terms of attracting candidates, how does a strong organizational culture help companies attract and retain their top talent?
• You mentioned earlier that you believe leaders should lead the culture/the why - How can leaders navigate some of the biggest roadblocks companies face to building an adaptable culture? And what are some of those roadblocks?

About LHH

LHH is a professional talent solutions and advisory company, and a part of The Adecco Group, preparing workers, the people that manage them, and business leaders for the challenges we face in this new world of work. LHH’s solutions span recruitment, career transition & mobility, coaching, leadership development, and upskilling/reskilling, with more than 8,000 colleagues and coaches across 66 countries, collectively supporting over 15,000 organizations and over 500,000 candidates each year.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's most downloaded and shared podcasts designed for HR pros, talent execs, tech enthusiasts and business leaders. For hundreds more episodes and what's new in the world of work, subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit hrgazettecom.

Speaker 2: 0:26

Hello, this is your host today, Bill Bannam. The focus of today's HR Chat show is organizational culture. Lhh, the Professional Talent Solutions and Advisory Company and a part of the ADECO group, recently announced a partnership with Barrett Values Center to bolster their culture offerings with an organisational culture solution. On the heels of this, I welcome Gael de la Fosse, president of LHH and a member of the Executive Committee of the EDECO Group, back to the HR Chat Podcast to dive into the importance of investing in a strong organis organizational culture and to share some tactics on how leaders can do that. Gael, it's my pleasure to welcome you back to the HR Chat Show. Thank you very much for joining me today.

Speaker 3: 1:13

Thanks for having me, Bill.

Speaker 2: 1:15

So, for those folks who are not fortunate enough to have listened to our first conversation just yet, firstly, what are you doing? Come on, sort it out. And secondly, gael, perhaps you can take a minute or two and reintroduce yourself. Tell our listeners a bit about your background. What do you get up to over at LHH, and this time around, because I didn't ask you last time. Please also tell me what's the best thing about your job.

Speaker 3: 1:40

I am the global president of LHH. My background previously to leading LHH and I'll get into what LHH is in a minute. So my background is in management consulting 20 years of management consulting in different organizations, doing projects all over the world. I transitioned to become the CEO of a fashion brand in Paris and now I'm the president of LHH. Lhh is a professional talent solutions and advisory player. It's part of the ADECO group and so the role we have is really to prepare workers and leadership teams for the new world of work, and our solutions span across recruitment, career transition and mobility, coaching, leadership development and upskilling and reskilling so really a full service provider for professional talent, and we have 8,000 colleagues and coaches doing this work in over 66 countries and we work with about 15,000 organizations each year and we support more than 500,000 candidates and employees each year doing that.

Speaker 3: 3:16

I think you asked me also what I liked about my job. You know I transitioned to HR consulting two years ago and it's really a very important decision for me, because I believe that talent in organizations is increasingly important to the performance of companies, but also it has a key social impact, and I think for me that's the purpose and that's what I like the most is really the impact I talked about. You know, we support more than 500,000 people each year, year, and we help them either find, you know, the great job they were looking for, or we help them upskill and reskill to to get a better job. We help them, you know, coach them in situations where they're you know they're they're maybe struggling or they're trying to make their teamwork more effectively, and so I really, for me, it's about the impact for the people that we're helping and being part of. You know how the world of work is transforming. I find that very energizing. Actually, it's a great project.

Speaker 2: 4:42

Well listeners, you can't see this because it's an audio podcast, but uh gail was beaming there when she gave the answer. It's what she does. I like that. So, as I mentioned in the intro, uh lhh recently announced a partnership with barrett value center to bolster their culture offerings with a organizational culture solution, and therefore what we're focusing on in part two of our conversation is the importance of investing in a strong organizational culture, and I was going to share some tactics around that, so let's get into it now then. Uh, first question for you around that why is organizational culture an important investment? Um, I mean, come on, everybody, it's important investment. I mean, come on, everybody, it's an important investment. But why is that the case, especially with many companies at the moment focused on cutting costs? For example, in our previous conversation, we spoke about how AI is augmenting lots of duties and roles and perhaps cost savings there. Give us your take.

Speaker 3: 5:44

I think you said, especially with many companies focused on cutting costs. I actually think it's because there is so much change and effort on cost cutting that it is really critical for companies to create that link and to create that culture. That culture and you know, companies are only strong as strong as their employees, and so I really believe that having a really effective organizational culture is key to attract and retain the workforce that can adapt to the current and future challenges that any company is bound to have in this environment. And so I think investing in the workforce is, I think it's just a matter of you know it's. I think it has to become a key investment and it can't be an afterthought. You know it has to become a key investment and it can't be an afterthought.

Speaker 3: 6:50

You know, even in its and we link it you can tell now that it's linked more and more to performance. We have many studies that show that organizations with a robust culture have higher employee engagement than those with cultures that can be a little bit misaligned. And also, more engaged teams achieve greater profitability because there's higher level of motivations, there's lower level of absenteeism, there's lower level of employee turnover. So I think you know, having the right culture or not having the right culture or misaligned culture actually has a lot of very important impacts on the performance of an organization. So I think that's what justifies the investment that companies are, I would say, increasingly understanding that they need to make.

Speaker 2: 7:52

Thank you very much. So a key part of having a company culture, a key part of developing a company culture from the hundreds of conversations I've had on this show certainly is around the mission of the organization, or, as Simon Sinek would say, the why of the organization. Who should define that? Why Is that the leadership? Should that be the employees? Should that be the HR department? Should it be all of the above? What's your take?

Speaker 3: 8:35

your take. I think it's really important that the leadership team embodies the values and the culture, especially in moments of uncertainty like downsizing. You mentioned cost cutting and you know the AI transformation. I think you know getting that, that, that sense of direction from from the leadership, I think is really important. I think you know a lot of the.

Speaker 3: 9:01

When we talk about mismatch between the, the, what the values are that maybe are written on a PowerPoint or are written on the walls of the office and what's actually lived by the people, that's really where that leads to issues of employee engagement and turnover.

Speaker 3: 9:26

So it has to start by the leaders.

Speaker 3: 9:31

I also think the leaders not only do they need to uphold the values, but we help.

Speaker 3: 9:39

A lot of companies kind of think about what their new values are. Or they're going through an integration, know they're going through an integration, or they're going through some um, an important moment in their, in the company's um life, and so they're reworking the, the, their culture, their values, and the leadership really needs to be um, invested in, in in that work, because if they're meant to be accountable afterwards, they have to participate and they have to be um and they have to be really in the driver's seat of that. So I know a lot of times, you know the CHROs are the ones that are pushing for this, but I don't think this is a topic it's a really very critical topic that shouldn't be only in the CHRO purview. I think the CHROs and the HR teams are crucial strategic partners in driving this, but I think it needs to start really right from the top, from the CEOs themselves, to really make sure that they have the culture that is going to make them successful.

Speaker 2: 10:49

Thank you. So, as part of your answer there, you spoke about engagement and you spoke about retention of employees. So let's put it all the way back, if you don't mind, and instead let's focus on attracting awesome talent and attracting top candidates. How does a strong organizational culture help companies to do that and to attract the best talent out there? What is it about having a powerful employer brand which can make the difference to an organization?

Speaker 3: 11:20

I think, when you know, we have a recent study called the Global Workforce of the Future, and what we see in that is that what workers say they need to be at their best is quite consistent, and I think that's very linked to who you are able to attract and who you're able to retain. And so what comes out of the study is that workers what they need is a healthy work-life balance. They want to be trusted, to make decisions and have autonomy. They want to be able to apply their skills and expertise to actually have a meaningful impact and feel that their work is really meaningful. They want to have a positive and inclusive work environment that promotes collaboration and teamwork, and they want to feel supported by their colleagues and their managers.

Speaker 3: 12:27

So I think the fact that all of these things are actually what makes culture it's not only about the purpose and the why. It's actually how people live their lives day to day in companies, day to day in companies, and I think that should be how companies attract talent, because they're able to guarantee in a way that the workers that come in and the new employees can actually live that experience, a positive working experience, day to day with their colleagues, and we talk a lot about burnout and I think this is a really big topic today, and burnout is linked to overwork, but it's also linked to this mismatch of culture that people are experiencing in companies. I think that is why culture needs to be an important topic. I think companies need to figure out whether there's a mismatch, need to figure out whether the culture that they have is really the culture that will make them successful in the future and will enable their workforce to be as effective and as engaged and as motivated as possible.

Speaker 2: 14:05

Okay, thank you. So you mentioned in a previous answer that you believe that leaders should take the lead when it comes to shaping the culture. Defining that why? How, then, can leaders navigate some of the biggest roadblocks that companies face to building an adaptable culture and maybe, as part of that answer, perhaps you can share what some of those big roadblocks are in your experience as a leader?

Speaker 3: 14:31

yeah, um, no, I think the, the, the fact that the world is changing is at such a rapid pace, um, we really need, um, and I think, as leaders, um, leaders to really look at what needs to be changed. And you know I talked about agility earlier. I think that's, you know, a really key word and I think the concerns that leaders have in terms of, you know, the roadblocks are a lot around change. So you know, we run a lot of surveys and what we see is that the main concerns that people have are around the agility and ability to respond to constant change, the ability to adapt to business reorganizations and restructurings. A lot of companies are going through that and it's not always easy to navigate that.

Speaker 3: 15:40

And the third, I would say, issue is adapting to remote and hybrid work, because that also has there are consequences also to that in how culture is lived and how culture is managed in a company.

Speaker 3: 16:03

So I think the, the, the key, the key roadblocks are those and we really need to to make sure that the leaders are equipped to really manage that and, with the right level of confidence, to make sure that the employees have the support and the you know, the transparency, the compassion that is necessary to navigate these things.

Speaker 3: 16:43

So I think the the ability to to really have the right skills in these, these turbulent times in terms of of change management are are are increasingly key, and that's, I think, one of the biggest challenges that that companies face today.

Speaker 3: 17:05

And and so that's why we believe that you know this is very linked to you know what we were saying earlier around the fact that company culture is now a key pillar of of overall strategy for a lot of organizations, and we're increasingly helping companies to really work on that aspect to drive long-term organizational success, because we don't think that you can actually have a performing organization if you have a culture that is not aligned to your strategy and to what your people need.

Speaker 3: 17:48

And that's why you know you mentioned earlier that we had a new partnership with the Barrett Value Center, and so we're very excited to have this new partnership and to use their culture assessment tool to help clients really conduct an in-depth quantitative assessment for a large-scale culture and values project. So this is really important generic exercise, but it's actually really rooted deeply into the company and the expectation of the employees and we actually use this ourselves. So I've seen firsthand, um how impactful uh, this methodology is on the motivation of our teams and our ability to to attract new talent wonderful, and that takes us towards the end of this particular conversation.

Speaker 2: 19:02

This is part two of two. Uh, I'm just gonna have to hound your team and get you back on again in the near future Before we do wrap up. How can folks learn more about LHH? And the last time we spoke, you directed folks to connect with you on LinkedIn. So I want to change my question around that what's a good connection request message to send you that'll make you say, yeah, I want to connect with this person?

Speaker 3: 19:34

I think anything about the topics that we mentioned, all of those are really key to me today and so anything about, you know, culture, skills, all of these topics, I will respond happily and I'll engage in as many conversations as I have the opportunity to be invited to.

Speaker 2: 19:51

Perfect, and there'll be links to Gael's LinkedIn profile, to LHH, to the report that she mentioned there in the conversation today and in the previous episode as well, in the show notes and in the article, so you can find all of those there, listeners. That just leads me to say for today, gael, thank you again for being my guest.

Speaker 3: 20:09

Thank you very much, Bill. Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2: 20:12

And listeners as always. Until next time, happy working.

Speaker 1: 20:19

Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show. If you enjoyed this episode, why not subscribe and listen to some of the hundreds of episodes published by HR Gazette and remember for what's new in the world of work? Subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit HRGazettecom.