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Reinventing the Lion: the Role of HR Much has been written and spoken about the leadership, culture and performance reform of brewer, winemaker and Best Employer, Lion Nathan. CEO Gordon Cairns has been heralded with taking the brave steps to reinvent himself as a leader, resulting in a fresh approach for the 5,000 people at Lion and renewed share market confidence. However, Cairns would agree that in the beginning it was his Group HR Director, Bob Barbour, who also exhibited lion-hearted characteristics when he approached his boss with five pages of feedback on his leadership style. The key to Barbour's successful approach in encouraging change from his boss was the fact that he went armed with a strong business rationale for an overhaul of the company leadership style and culture. His approach struck a chord with Cairns who agreed to have Human Synergistics assess his, and ultimately his senior team's, leadership style. The results of this Life Styles Inventory (LSI) confirmed Cairns to be demanding, insensitive and excessively task oriented, with an aggressive/defensive leadership style.
While confronting, the results showed Cairns there was a way to measure human behaviour change while providing practical steps to make the necessary changes - a concept that appealed. Barbour also led the process for the senior leadership team at Lion Nathan to define leadership for them and to articulate the business case for changing the culture. It was a short step from there to seeing the value of assessing the culture of the whole organisation and, as a result, Lion Nathan also conducted its first Organisational Culture Inventory (OCI) - an occurrence that has now become a biennial event. "In the late '90s Lion Nathan was performing badly and was struggling to attract and retain good people," Bob Barbour said. "Gordon was a tough boss to work for and we now know that was having a direct impact on the engagement of our people and ultimately our share price. "While he got a shock from his first LSI, it also became the motivation Gordon needed to change - a phenomenon experienced by many employees at Lion Nathan who went through the process. "Interestingly, Gordon was like almost all successful leaders, he was convinced he was succeeding because of his style when in fact he was succeeding in spite of it.
Gordon Cairns' first LSI: "However, the true value of his leadership was proven when he accepted the results and became motivated to change. Great CEOs want to be successful, and if they can see a link between changing behaviour and being a more effective leader, then it's possible for them to move ahead. "Today, more than 600 of our leaders in Australia and New Zealand are using LSI results to improve their performance and the enjoyment of their roles. "What's more, all our departmental teams undertake localised OCI's because we recognise that variations on the culture exist in pockets throughout the company. "Our goal is to give everyone an insight into the areas they can focus on for personal growth and the tools for them all to talk openly about the process. "Our latest survey suggests we are making great progress which is evidenced in a reduced turnover of quality people, our solid business performance and through independent recognition such as the Best Employer Awards. "Culture change is a challenging but rewarding process. It should be made clear that our success is a direct result of the support the process has received from the top. If the CEO isn't taking change seriously you can hardly expect anyone else to," said Barbour. Click for Page 2: Bob Barbour's advice to other HR Directors
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