Leadership Stories Unveiled: Iain Lewis
We sat down with Iain Lewis, Chief People Officer, for the latest instalment of our Leadership Stories Unveiled series.
Your career spans HR transformations across diverse industries. What’s been the most pivotal moment in shaping your leadership philosophy?
While there wasn’t one pivotal moment that shaped my leadership philosophy, two key experiences stand out as having a profound impact. Firstly, I’ve always gravitated toward leaders who genuinely cared for their people as much as their commercial objectives. Observing these leaders reinforced a core belief: when organisations prioritise their people, they almost always achieve sustained commercial success. This balance of care and results has been a guiding principle in my approach to leadership. It’s about understanding that people are not just contributors to the business but the foundation of its long-term success.
Secondly, completing my NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Practitioner development with the inspirational Jess Robins was a transformative experience. This learning opened my eyes to the significant role I could play in unlocking my team’s potential, both professionally and personally. It helped me realise that by empowering and supporting my team, I could amplify their success and in turn, my own. This understanding has deeply shaped my leadership philosophy, emphasising empathy, self-awareness, and the ripple effect of positive leadership on organisational outcomes. Together, these experiences have instilled in me the importance of leading with care, empowering others, and aligning people-focused leadership with commercial goals to drive meaningful and lasting success.
How do you balance the commercial imperatives of a business with the cultural and emotional needs of its people?
These are all absolutely intertwined. Achieving this balance ensures that your business achieves its commercial objectives in a sustainable way. If a business fails to consider the culture that its colleagues experience on a daily basis or fails to consider the genuine needs of those colleagues, it is really unlikely to achieve sustainable success. There are many cases where owners/leaders of businesses didn’t care about their people – their view was ‘I pay them excellently and they have the option to move elsewhere so why should I worry about the culture …..’.
You’ve heard it many times. And in a large number of cases, those businesses are indeed commercially successful – whilst that owner remains in place! We’ve seen example after example of organisations just like this that fail almost immediately that the original owner moves on – that’s where the sustainability comes in.
I have often heard business leaders state ‘We’ve got no time for all that soft HR Culture stuff – we are here to make money’. And while they are chanting their favourite line huge numbers of the colleagues who chose to work there are leaving to find an experience where they are valued as much as the bottom line – because the bottom line continually sinks if you don’t treat your colleagues with respect.
How do you know what your culture is like? Listen to your people. In Engagement Surveys. In Exit interviews (if they are done correctly). On Glassdoor. Whenever and however, you can. Listen to your colleagues and you’ll find out what it really is like to work in your business – if you are happy with what you hear then great. If you aren’t happy then you have an opportunity to change it. The traditional definition of Culture is ‘The way we do things around here’ – I prefer ‘It’s the way we do things around here when we think no one is watching!’
Succession planning and talent mapping have been key achievements in your career. How do you identify and nurture future leaders within an organisation?
I have a belief that anyone can achieve anything that they want to. That belief means that every colleague that I come into contact with is a potential successor at some stage. I think that the key challenge for any organisation is identifying who, within your talent pool, genuinely wants to develop their career. It is really easy for a colleague to be really vocal in their desire to develop themselves. Quite often, this really means that the colleague is really keen for the business to develop them! There is no ownership from these colleagues and, in almost all of these cases, achieving sustainably successful career growth is really tough.
My approach has always been to ensure that the colleague demanding the development has a clear understanding of how they want to progress their career. What role, function etc interests them and why. Do they really understand the role that they covet or is it simply ‘the next role ….’? I always ensure that any colleague who is identified, or steps forward themselves, can articulate an understanding of their next career move, why it is of interest to them, what transferable skills will help them to be successful in the new role and their understanding or the knowledge, skills and behaviours they will have to develop to be successful.
In cases where a colleague can articulate a clear understanding of their next move then you probably have a good case to invest in their development. For colleagues at the start of their career journey, this can be a different matter. What we look for in those colleagues are generic but really important traits such as always being enthusiastic, always questioning why, how, and when, a never-ending desire to learn more and huge curiosity.
If you then take the time to get to know the colleagues you come into contact with on a regular basis it is pretty straightforward to spot the talent around you. Have high expectations of those around you, support them to achieve their aspirations and then understand how far you can stretch them!
You’ve managed integrations and cultural transformations during critical transitions. What’s your approach to safeguarding culture while embracing change?
It is imperative that you understand the culture that you are trying to either protect or create.
That might sound obvious, but you would be amazed at the number of leaders who really don’t understand the culture within their business. And if you don’t understand your culture, maintaining it or evolving it during transitions is really tough.I spoke earlier about how leaders can ensure that they really understand the culture that their colleagues experience on a daily basis. That is essential even when an organisation isn’t embarking on a major change.
Where the organisation is going through such a change there are a number of imperatives including:
- having a detailed change plan that every leader understands and is fully signed up to
- a communication strategy that regularly updates the affected teams with progress and next steps and, really importantly, when elements of the plan haven’t been achieved and what you are doing to correct it
- continually reviewing progress as a leadership team
- celebrating successes
- critically, building in effective two-way communication processes so that you can hear how the transformation is progressing from colleagues who are affected
If you understand where you are going and why and what it looks and feels like you can help every leader to support every colleague to deliver it.
I think that where culture transformations break down is often in the lack of consistent understanding of all of those involved.
What’s your advice for HR leaders facing resistance during organisational restructuring?
Listen – really listen!
The most important thing that leaders have to do to achieve real success in cases of organisational restructures is to help the workforce understand What you are doing, Why you are doing it and How it will be done. You’d be amazed at the number of leaders who overstate what and how – without a Why colleagues are less likely to buy it.
A key part of your Org Change Plan will be communication – two-way communication.
Search for feedback through formal and informal channels and then listen to it. Poor leaders ‘listen’ in order to prove that they have heard, and the feedback is wrong. That never helps.
Your colleagues will really understand what is happening at every level of the business and therefore every leader has to ensure that they are gathering feedback, deciding what action to take as a leadership team and then communicating those changes to the colleagues affected.
We know that no leader has all of the answers and therefore every plan is likely to experience situations where progress isn’t as planned. Ignoring the feedback that tells you where this is the case is madness!
Remember – communicate. Communicate. Communicate! Successes. Progress. Setbacks and what you are doing to adjust.
As a Chief People Officer, what qualities do you think define exceptional HR leadership in today’s evolving workplace?
Exceptional HR leaders have two sets of ‘skills’ that they utilise to ensure personal and professional success – a deep understanding of their profession and how it adds value to a business and deep commercial understanding.
I remember being a new HRD in a business that had never experienced proactive HR. The HR function as they understood it was transactional and did exactly what it was told and when and how it was told to do it. I remember my client base being hugely commercial – they really knew how to make sustainable margins and, as part of my induction, I was asked the question ‘How are you going to help me make more money? If you can’t, why would I invest time with you?’
It wasn’t conceited. It wasn’t confrontational. It wasn’t meant as a challenge.
It was purely and simply a really commercial leader trying to understand what this new function would do for him. So the first thing you have to do is get an understanding of the commercials of that business and then, through your HR knowledge and experience, develop a plan through which you can add commercial value to the business.
In the case mentioned above, the first opportunity was to save costs – which he bought immediately – which led to a relationship where that business leader was constantly looking for ways in which I could help his business to be more successful.
One final observation on this. Whilst I really like the Ulrich model, I believe that one of its shortcomings is that it doesn’t automatically enable HR professionals to attain the breadth and depth of knowledge that great CPOs need for success.
How do you inspire and engage your HR team to deliver excellence during challenging periods?
I’m not sure that I have ever really inspired too many people but I know that I get people on board with a vision/strategy by involving them in its creation, listening to their concerns and views and building the implementation plan with them.
Whenever I join a new business or team I always remind myself that the colleagues within the HR function believe that they have been doing a great job. Unless someone has told them that they aren’t, why would they believe anything else?
Therefore, it really is essential that during the early days, you demonstrate this belief even if the evidence doesn’t support it. This approach allows you to engage with every member of the team (within reason – depending on location, size etc) and encourages you to listen. If colleagues feel that they have been listened to they are far more likely to engage with you.
After the initial ‘listening’ stage it is really important that you then go through what I describe as the exploration stage. During this stage of building relationships with your team, you are reflecting on what you have heard from them and then making ‘what if’ suggestions.
‘So you said our service to our customers isn’t what it should be, how about we try X?’
You’re not presenting them with a solution – you’re asking for their views. And remember, they often understand things that you don’t. By genuinely recognising the part that the team played and the part that you want them to play moving forward you are dramatically more likely to have an engaged team than if you come up with all the answers and then impose them on the team.
What’s your strategy for building credibility and influence with C-suite peers to advocate for people-focused initiatives?
Every functional head has to demonstrate that they either add commercial value or protect the business from losing value – in some cases both.
My HR career has largely been in low-margin commercial businesses – which is brilliant – and my board colleagues always want to understand the likely ROI of anything that we propose. ROI isn’t just cost, time is a hugely valuable resource so justifying the time involved with any change, project or initiative is essential.
In almost all cases, some, if not all, of your C Suite colleagues will have been involved in your recruitment process. When you arrive, they have positive expectations of you.
During your induction, it is essential that you spend time really understanding your colleagues and the part of the business that they lead. This understanding means that when you make proposals you are able to demonstrate how they will add value to the business and that you have taken their views into consideration.
The other essential role of the CPO is to remember that you are a leader of the business whose specialism just happens to be people. So you have to have an opinion beyond people in every meeting. You’re part of the business’ leadership team – you have to demonstrate that you can!
How do you foresee AI and technology transforming the HR landscape, and what excites or concerns you about this evolution?
I don’t know exactly how it will transform the HR landscape, but I do know it will be a brilliant tool for us. My only concerns aren’t about job safety because I believe that where AI replaces roles other new roles will replace them – that’s just commercial evolution.
My concern is that we have been talking about the benefits of AI in HR for a number of years but I am yet to see many tangible benefits. I am sure that they will come but beyond some really basic usage I think we are yet to see the true value.
How do you maintain authenticity as a leader, especially during challenging times?
Authenticity! This is incredibly easy. Just be yourself every day. Don’t try to be someone else.
This isn’t a question just for CPOs – it is for every leader. If you show up at work every day and behave as yourself every colleague who comes into contact with you will get to know you. When things are tough, keep being yourself. When things are going amazingly well – be yourself.
I know it sounds simple but there are huge numbers of leaders who try to be a different ‘them’ at work. That isn’t sustainable in the long run. We all get stressed for whatever reasons. At times of stress, when the colleagues around you need you the most, there is a real chance that a different you will turn up – and that helps no one.
The other key element of authentic leadership is humility. Too many leaders believe that they have to know everything. They have to be right. They have to be uber-confident in every situation. That isn’t possible so why try to be something that you aren’t? Being prepared to demonstrate humility is a huge strength – vastly underrated in my view!
The only leaders who struggle with authenticity are those who try to play a role as a leader – it never works, people see through them!
What do you see as the biggest challenge HR leaders will face in the next decade, and how should they prepare for it?
This is an interesting question. In some ways, things like AI will be a challenge for all functions but that has been the case for HR ever since.
I think that the biggest challenge for HR remains adding genuine value to the business from the seat at the top table. Loads of CPOs are part of the C Suite but don’t add value. They get lost in this process or that policy. They confuse the business by recruiting Business Partners and then use them as HR managers or Advisors. They create amazing HR structures – textbook structures – that don’t help the business to be more successful.
The opportunity is to really understand the business and what genuine customer-centricity looks like. Not customer service. Customer service typically focuses on being great when someone calls, when they can’t find something or when something has gone wrong.
Customer-centric HR functions design their function with the customer in mind. Policy and legislation are, of course, important but that’s not what commercial HR functions exist for. Of course, we have to ensure that the business is protected but that protection should never be our reason for existing – Customer-centric HR functions to ensure that their managers and leaders have access to everything that they need as easily as possible to be successful.
That, for me, is HR’s biggest challenge!
Who has been the most significant influence on your leadership journey, and what did you learn from them?
Wow – too many to name. In every organisation that I have worked in, I have encountered leaders who have had a profound effect on me not only as a leader but as a person as well.
I mentioned Jess earlier and she continues to be a hugely positive influence.
Working at Woolworths as part of the Kingfisher group was a brilliant development arena. Not only did you work with hugely talented and capable people, but you also had the opportunity to move around the HR function developing your knowledge by specialising in different areas to reinforce your generalist skills and knowledge.
So, I think from an HR expertise perspective, all of the leaders that I worked with there. If pushed, I think my most commercial leadership development was at Travis Perkins group.
Working for Carol Kavanagh and alongside some truly commercial leaders including Arthur Davidson, Andrew Harrison, Kieran Griffin, John Frost, John Carter and Chris Larkin (to name but a few and please forgive those I have forgotten!) they collectively helped me to understand what commercial HR really meant. Helping their businesses to be sustainably successful.
It was at TP that the ‘How are you going to help me make more money’ conversation took place!
You’ve probably got me into trouble with someone with that question!
If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring HR leaders, what would it be?
Really understand the business you work in and really understand how you can help it to be more successful. And, every single colleague you come into contact with can be truly amazing!
Iain Lewis is an inspiring and accomplished Chief People Officer with over 25 years of experience delivering commercial value and driving transformational change across some of the UK’s most prominent organisations. A Fellow of the CIPD, Iain has established himself as a thought leader in the HR field, with a proven track record of creating inclusive cultures, leading HR transformations, and embedding Diversity & Inclusion strategies that deliver measurable results.
