Head of Talent Development
British American Tobacco
Total years of experience :19 years, 0 Months
Since Sept 2011 British American Tobacco Russia, Moscow, Russian Federation
Head of Talent Development
BAT Russia is one of the larger entities of British American Tobacco Group with 2000 employees and 2 factories.
BAT Russia is part of a newly created Eastern European Middle East Africa (EEMEA) Region. In a very short period of time, I have been able to analyze the talent related challenges in the business, identify the talent related gaps and consequently shape the talent agenda for BAT Russia. The talent focus areas are now linked to the overall BAT Russia strategy & also the HR strategy, which I played an active role to define and roll out in the organization. I am responsible for both delivering a talent development strategy as well as driving the talent development department to ensure talent related initiatives are designed and delivered to the business. I continue to work very closely with the HR Director and the rest of Top Team when it comes to HR initiatives and deliverables. Some examples are: 1. Talent Development strategy & initiatives. Russia is growing at a very fast pace. As a consequence, the labour market is extremely competitive and volatile. The company has faced challenges to retain and attract good talents due to shortage of experienced profile in the market. I have developed a strategy and an action plan including innovative solutions to ensure that BAT develops a healthy local talent pipeline.
2. Training and leadership. I have launched several programs to ensure that leadership capabilities and leadership development are embedded across the organization.
The dynamic of the market, labor law related challenges, and also talent shortage makes it a very interesting exposure for an HR professional to lead the team and the business. BAT Iran being relatively a young organization, the fundamentals of HR required urgent attention before taking the organization to the next level. My assignment was to implement as quickly as possible efficient and effective HR processes and fundamentals, align BAT Iran practices with the rest of BAT and to build a strong team as my legacy. My actions were focused on 4 main areas: -Implementation of a standardized HR cycle focusing, firstly, on core HR processes & policies, from payroll and admin to talent management. I had to quickly introduce or adjust the basics, and then set the bars for HR to the next level. I was also involved in a restructuring where we right-sized the organization and to ensure the change has its least impact on the morale and the motivations of the employees.
-Embed the role of HR in the organization, as a true business partner. I focused on skilling up the organization, with an emphasize on management and HR team to ensure people processes are fully understood, practiced and embedded by line management. I also ensured that HR is present and adds value to the strategic table when business decisions may impact people.
-Development of the HR team through intense knowledge-transfer workshops, close coaching and mentoring as well as leading the HR function, I was able to uplift HR capabilities within the team.
-Coaching of the management team at all levels: the culture of the organization was very much dependent on individual management styles; hence the role I played as the Head of HR was very critical through my one-on-one coaching with senior managers, my colleagues at the top team level and also with my HR team and the rest of the organization. I promoted few techniques & initiatives to support them. I provided personal and official coaching to senior managers.
2007-2009 British American Tobacco South Africa, Capetown, SA
Human Resources Business Partner - Trade Marketing
BAT South Africa with over 85% market share is the key player in the tobacco category in the country and perceived as best practiced market when it comes to HR processes in BAT group.
BAT South Africa was and continues to be one of the main markets within the region. I joined as HR Manager for Trade Marketing, when the Marketing organization was going through the change to Direct Sales Distribution with a direct impact on Trade Marketing in all aspects: from way of work, to restructuring, etc. My assignment was to lead the HR Trade team with all 'business as usual' HR related cycle as well as focusing the team on the new way of working, while going through the transition. I was part of the Trade Marketing Leadership Team, where I got exposure to the business and could contribute outside my area of expertise. My actions were focused on the following: 1. To be a genuine and trustworthy HR Business Partner to the organization. Drive the people agenda through the change and the transition. Work closely with the Centre of Expertise to deliver company objectives, such as massive recruitment drive as a result of the expansion in Trade.
2. To drive the action plans of the internal employee survey conducted and to ensure results improve for the following year. To further improve my personal leadership and managerial skills by working closely with my virtual team.
2005-2007 British American Tobacco GCC, Dubai, UAE
Human Resources Business Partner
The highlights of the role were to set up a learning culture as well as drive recruitment and other HR practices across GCC. In that context, I was the point of contact for any HR related inquiries and my responsibility was involved in 4 fields: 1. HR processes: implementation of an integrated HR cycle.
BAT Training Programs on: Coaching, Change Management, The role of HR Business partner, HR Academy, Business Presentation Skills, Negotiation Skills, Matrix Management and Leadership related trainings
2003 Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, University of Portland, U.S.A. Miscellaneous
