Leadership Stories Unveiled: Susie Fehr

We sat down with Susie Fehr, HR VP EMEA at Tosca, for the latest instalment of our Leadership Stories Unveiled series.

Susie, could you share your journey in HR and what motivated you to pursue this career? What significant milestones or challenges have you encountered along the way?

I never intended to make HR my career, and in fairness, it’s been a mixture of HR and Operations but always people-focused. I started out on the Bank of England’s Graduate Programme, fresh out of university with a Linguistics Degree. I somehow found myself deep in foreign policy reporting, working in the Bank’s International Division on a bunch of Middle Eastern countries. My first task was to write the UK Government’s response to an IMF paper on the Sudanese economy. This, as you will imagine, was frankly a little daunting for someone with limited economics in their background. But in a heartbeat, it taught me how to assess the problem, marshal resources and above all not panic! Through my progression with the Bank, I experienced their very advanced (for the time) assessment centre process and began to think about how I would like to get my hands around some of the people issues. Thankfully a very enlightened Director agreed, and I was put in charge of not only those, but a number of other processes designed to highlight future talent, and it went from there…from organisations large and small with very different challenges in front of me, I have always remembered that first work experience, and stopped to breathe, assess, and move forwards. It was invaluable.

Tell us about any achievements or awards you’re most proud of in your career. Additionally, what goals do you aspire to achieve in the future, and how do they align with Tosca’s mission?

I’ve never been especially focused on awards (although achieving my Yachtmaster qualification and becoming a ski instructor rank up there!). I’m probably most proud of those achievements that either weren’t obvious or looked impossible. I think back to my days with Sony when I was invited to present a new employee accelerated advancement programme at the Head Office in Tokyo. This was for an organisation that, at the time valued tenure over everything else. I knew that the ideas I would present would be anathema to the audience, so it was a daunting prospect. So, I did my homework and researched the background of everyone who was to be present. I angled my presentation to align with their own functional achievements or future plans. My goal was to show that what I was proposing could make them successful, even if not in a traditional manner. Amazingly some of my ideas took root! At Tosca, things are thankfully not so prescribed, but it is essential that everything we do adds value, in every single function or activity. For over 60 years, Tosca’s mission has been to develop innovative solutions that deliver supply chain improvement and measurable value for our customers. In fact, Tosca has been at the forefront of the reusable revolution from the very beginning. It’s our ethos and how we approach everything. The principles of efficiency and value for purpose resonate strongly.

You joined Tosca in 2023 as HR VP EMEA. How have you aligned your HR strategy with the company’s vision and goals? How do you balance this strategic role with the operational aspects of HR?

As mentioned, efficiency and effectiveness are of supreme importance. We are of a size that affords us the agility to respond to market conditions and opportunities. We can move quickly and open opportunities to recognise and re-align talent with those. At an EMEA level, we restructured ourselves in double-quick time to allow more proximity to the market and more customer intimacy. All that work required our HR team to be nimble and proactive. Of course, operational HR work cannot be neglected during all of that, but we try to make it as light-touch as possible. Our HR team operates as trusted partners with the business to deliver results, together.

In today’s dynamic and competitive environment, how do you handle change and uncertainty? What strategies or skills do you use to enhance stress management and resilience?

Both change and uncertainty are now factors in our daily lives but ignoring them puts our business in peril. These risks create situations that at best hold us back and at worst endanger our future. Good communication has always been fundamental to bringing everyone along the road. But this means different things to different people. Everyone receives information in different ways, so it’s important to employ a number of techniques and tactics to ensure messages get through. This also means feedback loops, both to check understanding and pick up any worrying signals of unease or unrest. People need to be able to voice concerns so that we can help them manage stress levels. We need to understand what is going on for them and be with us for the long term.

Could you discuss recent or upcoming Tosca projects/initiatives across EMEA? How do they align with the company’s vision and values, and what challenges or opportunities do you anticipate in leading or supporting them?

The business reorganisation we recently completed was a seriously complicated piece of work. It was to re-align resources with discrete business units, but not in a way that duplicated activities or headcount. The mission was to support proximity to the market and customer intimacy. However, in a way that made sense for the overall EMEA organisation, our global structure, and our ultimate owners. We had to stay true to our overall goals of implementing a European framework with local responsibility. This was to deliver growth and customer focus through an effective organisation. We are still finalising small parts of that work, learning from experience and course-correcting as we move forward.

Creating a culture of innovation, collaboration, and sustainability is crucial. How do you achieve this, and what indicators do you use to evaluate the success of your HR initiatives?

All of that is fundamental to Tosca, and sustainability is our middle name! We are fortunate to have a team of people who breathe that value daily and we take care to recruit folks with whom that resonates. We celebrate our achievements in a very public way, through several channels that are very visible to all our team members. Thank yous are extremely important, from an annual celebration of values-driven behaviours to daily recognition. In addition, we survey our employees frequently to take the temperature of the organisation and see what’s resonating (and what’s not). Finally, our team members are not in the slightest bit reluctant to speak up and share thoughts and ideas!

Promoting diversity, inclusion, and belonging is essential. What benefits or outcomes have you observed from these efforts? How do you personally contribute to this culture, and what best practices can you share?

I would say of all these, belonging is the most difficult to hard-code into the organisation, save that we have long-tenured people which counts for something! I look across our business and see a great deal of diversity in its widest sense. We work hard to ensure that we strip away any bias when we either hire, highlight or promote anyone within Tosca through education as well as honest conversations. I am very keen to see diversity of background, thought processes and approach, to enable the best quality problem-solving and solution-finding. I don’t think there is a magic bullet for this one, just sustained effort, good discussion, and continued focus.

How do you leverage data and technology to enhance employee experience and drive business outcomes at Tosca?

Here having a good handle on the most important numbers for your business is fundamental, whatever they may be. It’s easy to get lost in a swamp of data collected for the sake of collecting without discrimination. There has to be a reason to collect numbers/circulate reports. As the old adage says, stop and see who notices! My favourite word is ‘why’ because there must be a reason for data collection – it must tell us a story that’s meaningful, useful and has a purpose or outcome, not least because it takes up valuable resources. From an HR perspective, if we see low uptakes to any given activity, what’s the reason for that and what does it tell us? We start with that, evaluate, and change/adapt/realign/stop as appropriate.

In a highly competitive labour market, how do you attract and retain top talent?

By telling a compelling story. More than ever people, particularly (but not exclusively) young people want to feel that they are spending their valuable time on work that has a purpose. The more talent we can attract to work with us, the better our ongoing and sustaining story. Our top talent enjoys the freedom to deliver superlative results within a framework that supports them and with limited constraints. We can deliver this through more nimble and agile processes and with limited corporate overlays to navigate. That’s not to say that we don’t have structure and necessary rules, but we try to be thoughtful with their application.

Given the post-pandemic era, how do you measure and enhance employee engagement and retention? What specific initiatives and programs have been implemented to cultivate a positive and inclusive workplace culture?

We have consciously implemented hybrid work arrangements in our offices. We are aware that although some have gotten used to working remotely, there are certain learning opportunities and social interactions that explicitly benefit from in-person experiences. In fact, recent recruitment activity has pointed towards more people valuing time in the office to enhance the feeling of ‘belonging’. As with many organisations, it’s a work in progress. A large part of the working population has changed their preferences for work interactions, but to date, we have had only positive responses to our work patterns. The return of social events has also cemented this, with more of our sites looking for support to structure specific activities, often with a family bias.

 

Keen to learn more? We are delighted to announce that Susie will lead one of our HR Director Boardroom sessions later this year. In collaboration with Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP, you’ll gain insights from Susie’s extensive expertise. This exclusive event is designed for senior HR Leaders and will be chaired by Mark Hammeton, Partner at Eversheds Sutherland. Together, they will explore the theme ‘Mastering the Art of CEO Management.’

You can expect the following key takeaways from this session:

• Understanding the CEO’s Vision: Align your strategies with the CEO’s vision for the company. Understand the importance of communication in conveying this vision to the rest of the team.
• Influencing Decision-Making: Discover techniques to effectively influence the CEO’s decisions in a respectful and professional manner. Learn how to present data and arguments that resonate with the CEO.
• Building Trust: Understand the importance of building a strong, trust-based relationship with the CEO. Learn practical steps to earn and maintain this trust over time.
• Managing Conflict: Gain insights into managing disagreements or conflicts with the CEO. Learn how to navigate these situations while maintaining a positive working relationship.

To learn more about this session, please email amanda.underhill@ashleykatehr.com

 

Susie Fehr is an experienced Human Resources Executive known for providing time-sensitive solutions to complex organisational, strategic, and employee-related issues. She excels at maximising operational effectiveness while minimising business risk. She has a proven track record of assembling and leading national and international HR teams, motivating and empowering individuals, and ensuring adaptation to rapid business change.