Nicola Coull - from Head of HR to Managing Director (and why doesn't it happen more frequently?)
I'm so excited to share this episode as my guest is Nicola Coull who is a Managing Director. What is unique is that Nicola made that move from a HR background, which it seems very rarely occurs. Hence, I asked Nicola if she'd join me as a guest to not only share her story but also to discuss why so few HR professionals make that transition into a business leader role.Nicola has a HR Management degree but through her studies and over the course of her career there has always been a mindfulness of the bigger picture and not just staying in her 'HR lane'. She has always had an appreciation of an organisation in its entirity and the impact each function has.You might assume that you'd need to be 100% career focussed to do this. However, Nicola has two children and even had a 3.5 year career break when her children were both very young and we discuss what it was like when she ultimately did return to work after such a long break.One of the key aspects that is picked up from Nicola's career journey is that she identified it was in SME's where she believes you are generally able to have greater operational focus and influence than you can in larger corporates. Nicola also tells us what she feels makes an effective HR leader and how to have an impact at that level. It leads us to discussing 'your own personal brand' and what type of HR practitioner you want to be through your 'flavour' of HR.Finally I hit Nicola with the questions around "why don't more HR professionals become business leaders" and "is there a lack of respect given to HR people in believing they have the capability to make the move". So sit back and enjoy the chat to find out what Nicola's replies were. Support the show