Bega Group

Melissa Old

Melissa Old is an executive leader in People and Culture with over 20 years of experience in strategic and operational HR management. Her career spans Australia, New Zealand and the Asia, Middle East and Africa region, with expertise in FMCG, pharmaceutical and financial services industries.

As the Head of People and Capability Partnering at Bega Group, Melissa leads, coaches and develops the business partnering team. Her team provides guidance and support to leaders across 19 manufacturing sites, distribution centers and functions including sales, marketing, customer supply chain and corporate operations.

Melissa is responsible for driving the people agenda, shaping strategy and delivering programs that enable the organization to achieve its goals. She works closely with leaders to navigate complex interpersonal and organizational challenges that impact performance, engagement and workplace culture.

Leveraging Data and Insights for Effective HR Initiatives

This can be a delicate balance to achieve as getting the right data to support decision making and initiatives can be difficult, particularly if there are time or resource constraints.

I think it is necessary to stay attuned with the needs of the workforce, deepen your understanding of what the data is suggesting and validate any insights. It can be useful to employ a range of different listening methods – both quantitative and qualitative. For example, when measuring employee engagement, organizations can use a survey to obtain data and insights around what is working well and what improvements are needed.

When designing initiatives to address engagement, I like to go beyond the data and follow up with representative employee groups on themes discovered, share and discuss insights further. By sense checking your interpretation of the data and seeking input, it helps people to know that you are listening to them, genuinely care about their feedback and want to act on it. This approach is more likely to lead to richer and more appropriate solutions than acting on data alone.

Overcoming Challenges in Business Partnering and Change Management

Challenges can arise in circumstances where people and capability initiatives are not well aligned with business strategies, not properly communicated or implemented. Usually this occurs when there has been a lack of consultation or involvement with leaders. This is a common challenge and one I have experienced through working in the three-legged “Ulrich” HR operating model, where sometimes COE teams are not collaborating enough with the P&C Partnering team or talking with business leaders.

The lack of alignment leads to poorly designed solutions and initiatives that are not fit for purpose. Hence the reason why there can be reluctance or resistance from leaders around implementation. If leaders are expected to get on board with a P&C initiative and communicate this to their teams, sometimes this can get lost in translation if the messaging is unclear, or if the leader is unsure of the context or purpose behind the initiative.

“The best gift that you can offer to anyone is to be fully present and engaged in the moment with them.”

For example, a wellbeing initiative aimed at reducing absenteeism and improving productivity might be to invite team members to participate in regular exercise such as a corporate boot camp. If there are assumptions made about the workforce characteristics, lifestyle, health and fitness goals without adequately consulting or identifying needs, then people may not understand the purpose of the initiative imposed on to them and it is more likely to flop.

Resistance to change is best tackled through effective change management and stakeholder analysis. This means identifying stakeholders who will be impacted by the change, involving them early in planning, listening to their needs and communicating how the proposed change will impact them. In my experience, by inviting people to share their needs, thoughts, ideas and concerns during the planning phase, allows proper consideration of these requirements and ensures the proposed solution will be appropriate and more likely adopted.

The Evolving Role of HR and Leadership in the Modern Workplace

The role of business partnering has shifted significantly over the past decade as the requirements for HR have changed. This has been driven by emerging trends in the world of work and changes in the job market and technology. I expect that we will continue to see further changes towards more strategic HR management, data-driven decision-making, employee experience, talent management and collaboration.

People are becoming more distracted and disconnected in a culture that is “always on” and promotes busyness as a badge of honor. This can lead to feelings of overwhelm and exhaustion which manifest in different ways in the workplace including absenteeism, presenteeism, low engagement, safety and quality issues, tension or conflict, employee turnover, performance or productivity challenges.

It is critical for business partners to be attuned to the changing needs of their organization and the people within it. They can stay relevant and adapt through learning and developing different skills to meet these demands and help organizations succeed. Organizations will need to continue focusing on developing and implementing strategies for talent attraction, development and retention, enabling flexibility, connecting people with purpose, accelerating diversity equity and inclusion, promoting wellbeing and inspiring leadership.

As a leader, you can facilitate meaning and fulfillment through helping people understand how their role connects with their team and links to an overall purpose.

I would also emphasize the importance of building trusted relationships through regular connections, conversation and staying mindful. The best gift that you can offer to anyone is to be fully present and engaged in the moment with them. Stay open and be curious to get to know people well – be interested in the whole person, not just their working self. Show kindness and empathy to deeply understand the concerns, needs and strengths of your team. Listen and notice when something does not seem right, provide support and follow up. Being consistent and reliable helps build trust and shows that you care.