Snapshots March
Gathoni Wangombe
SEAA Leadership development director
Unilever
What was your first HR job?
My first HR job was a regional training and development manager looking after the Africa region.
Why a career in HR? If you weren’t in HR, what would you be doing?
I actually “fell into” HR and once tasting it, I realised it leverages on a number of my natural strengths and abilities. I thoroughly enjoy being in HR. If I was not in HR, I would probably be a teacher or an adult education trainer.
What do you think is the most important contribution HR can make to a business?
The most important contribution is to really understand what the business requires and not what HR thinks the business needs, to ask the right questions and to provide the right solutions by using their HR knowledge and expertise.
Which HR function do you like best?
I particularly enjoy the areas of change management, learning and management development.
What is the biggest waste of employees’ time and what steps can your company do to eradicate it?
A big problem in large organisations is having a duplication of work which is already being done somewhere but employees just don't know where to locate it. Not knowing where and who or the right channels to get information from would take up a considerable amount of their time.
We can eradicate this by being proactive on knowledge and information management and understanding the informal and formal networks in organisations. This builds on the individual’s organisational awareness and helps them get things done right the first time. Employees should also take the extra time to make sure when the original job was completed so there would be no time wasted on redoing the same assignment.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I love to travel, to cook and eat what I cook. I am also a “wannabe” band person, so I love to strum on a guitar from time to time and dream about when I can go on a world tour with the band I will form after my retirement!
Can’t work without my cell phone and a thought for the day either from my own quiet time or from a friend!
My most daring work decision was moving from logistics, which was my first role in Unilever, into finance. It was very scary and very short-lived!
One of the best things HR can do for its employees is tapping into the full potential every individual has and maximise it so it benefits both employee and organisation.
