Irene Cowden, Group 4 Securicor
| Published date | 01 November 2006 |
| Pages | 6-6 |
| Date | 01 November 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390680000930 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Irene Cowden
is group HR director at Group
4 Securicor.She is a member
of the executive management board, reporting to
the CEO. Cowden joined Securicor in 1977 and has
risen through the HR ranks at the company,taking
on her current role in 2004.
6Volume 6 Issue 1 November/December 2006
PRACTITIONER PROFILE
,
HR executives share their experience in human resources
Irene Cowden,
Group 4 Securicor
I
rene Cowden, group HR director at
global security firm, Group 4 Securicor
(G4S), joined the personnel department
of Securicor in 1977 and has since
rocketed through the business in
generalist then divisional HR
management roles, reaching overall
group level in 2004. “It’s quite unusual
these days to stay in one company for so
long,” she says “but HR within the group
is now seen as a valued and strategic
function – this wasn't the case 29 years
ago.”
Adopting strategic practices
In 2004, Securicor merged with the
Group 4 Falck security businesses and
subsequently much of the organization’s
recent focus has been on integrating the
businesses and overcoming the people
and cultural issues surrounding this. “We
needed to align the two businesses from
an HR perspective, which meant
reviewing processes and deciding what
practices to adopt for the future in order
to reinforce what we’re trying to do
strategically,” says Cowden.
Part of this meant consulting the key
stakeholders. “Prior to the merger, we
discussed our vision and values and
realized we needed to develop a
management culture that reflects these
values and embeds them into the
organization in a way that’s noticeable
and measurable,” she says. Following the
merger announcement, the top 300
managers were surveyed in order to
refine and define what the values meant
in terms of desired behaviors. “Unit
managers are encouraged to take
ownership of the values locally, but in a
way that ensures the spirit and intent of
the values still remains,” says Cowden.
The cream of the crop
“We realized we needed to develop our
high-potential employees so that we'd
always have a steady stream of people
ready to step into senior roles,” says
Cowden. The G4S leadership program
was introduced in 2004 to secure a
constant flow of future leaders. “The
executive team really bought into the
idea. We identify (and ask each region to
nominate) high-potential managers.
Nominees then follow an intensive
assessment process to confirm if they
should move above their current level.
We look for people who’ll be mobile –
both at present and in the future – and
for those who can operate at managing
director level in fairly large businesses,”
says Cowden.
The G4S leadership program, run in
conjunction with the UK’s Manchester
Business School is in its second program.
Each program has 12 –15 participants,
with the course split between specific
individual tasks and group events on
different continents. The first UK
module, run by G4S’s CEO, Nick Buckles,
was about setting strategic direction. A
member of the executive team and local
management provide input at each
group session, while program content
aims to match development strategy
locally and globally.
“Participants visit sites and meet
customers to ensure they get a broad
exposure to different business units – but
they also learn business theory as well.
We’ve had a lot of very positive feedback
about it,” says Cowden. Indeed – more
than half of the people who completed
the first program have since been
promoted.
Global forum for HR news
How does Cowden’s team stay abreast of
its businesses’ regional HR issues? “Some
things only work if you develop them
locally. My team of eight in the UK works
very closely with the HR people in our
top 20 businesses. About 30 HR people
from the entire global operation meet
twice a year in an HR forum, to discuss
and communicate HR strategy and
changes,” she says.
“I update the forum about strategic
developments within the group – we
may discuss how the performance
management scheme could be realigned
to ensure that incentives support
business objectives and strategy. The
forum is key to spreading best practice
within the group,” says Cowden. “By
influencing things in that way, you get
more buy-in than if you’re incredibly
directive,” she says.
Managers take employee suggestions
to the business via the HR forum.
“Employee relations is very important in
our business, because the product we sell
is largely a mixture of people and
technology, so how engaged and
motivated our employees are is key to
how successful our services are,” says
Cowden.
Security services firm, Securicor,merged
with Group 4 Falck’s security businesses
in July 2004, to form Group 4 Securicor
Plc. The company employs 430,000
people in more than 100 countries.
GROUP 4 SECURICOR
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