Name: 'My biggest role is to listen to people'
Uploaded: 2023-02-07T10:29:39.268Z
Duration: 515.21
Description: In every company sits a leadership team that guides the strategy. Have you ever wondered what your C-Suite team was responsible for and how they got there? In the latest episode of our leadership series, Emma Davies, Chief Culture and People Excellence Officer at Masafi LLC. explains what it means to be a CCPEO and how to succeed in the role.

Emma_Davies v4.mp4

Emma_Davies_v3.vtt

English

{{00:00:00}}
I think I think about things a lot more
deeply now and how the outside world

{{00:00:04}}
and not just my circle of influence,
how I can influence outside of that.

{{00:00:13}}
Hi, I'm Emma Davis.

{{00:00:15}}
I'm the Chief Culture and People
Excellence Officer at Masafi Water.

{{00:00:24}}
So the role of our Chief Culture and
People Excellence Officer, people often

{{00:00:27}}
ask me, because it's quite a big title,
it's probably the same as a Chief People

{{00:00:31}}
Officer, but we wanted to include culture
and excellence because they were the

{{00:00:35}}
most important things to our business.

{{00:00:37}}
So when we look at my role I
am responsible for the culture.

{{00:00:41}}
It doesn't mean I have to do it by myself.

{{00:00:43}}
I do it with a team, a
team of excellent leaders.

{{00:00:46}}
But it's about managing that culture,
managing excellence within the business

{{00:00:49}}
through our people perspective,
and people are our biggest asset.

{{00:00:52}}
So, it's an interesting focus.

{{00:01:00}}
The most valuable thing a chief culture
and people excellence officer brings to

{{00:01:04}}
a business is passion and doing the right
thing for the business and the people.

{{00:01:09}}
You have to have a different level
of energy to be in this role I think.

{{00:01:12}}
Because, it's all about people,
people are our biggest asset.

{{00:01:15}}
And if our culture fails or
our people excellence fail,

{{00:01:19}}
ultimately your sales will drop.

{{00:01:20}}
I know Richard Branson talks about it
a lot in Virgin and things like that,

{{00:01:23}}
but it's so true, and I think that
for us, our culture is something we've

{{00:01:27}}
worked so hard to achieve at Masafi.

{{00:01:29}}
It's been a journey.

{{00:01:30}}
We're still on the journey.

{{00:01:31}}
It's not perfect, but it's about
having that passion and that ability

{{00:01:35}}
to be able to also get down, and
understand the problems at the root.

{{00:01:40}}
So don't just sit as a
helicopter all the time.

{{00:01:48}}
Passion for people.

{{00:01:49}}
If you don't care about people, you
shouldn't be in a people and culture role.

{{00:01:52}}
You have to care about the business.

{{00:01:54}}
You have to have the willingness
to understand and learn

{{00:01:56}}
the business inside out.

{{00:01:58}}
So it's not just about knowing
people, you shouldn't just

{{00:02:00}}
look at the people strategy.

{{00:02:01}}
You have to understand the business
strategy and what the business goals are

{{00:02:04}}
because you have such a big influence
over those at a leadership level.

{{00:02:08}}
You have to have communication skills.

{{00:02:10}}
You have to be able to always communicate.

{{00:02:12}}
I think you have to listen,
but the biggest one for me is

{{00:02:15}}
empathy and not fake empathy.

{{00:02:18}}
It's got to come from within.

{{00:02:25}}
Everything about my job.

{{00:02:28}}
I have days when, yeah, everybody
has days when work isn't great.

{{00:02:30}}
And I have days where I come away
thinking, did I achieve anything today?

{{00:02:33}}
Did I make things good for people?

{{00:02:35}}
And that's always been my goal within
every business, is to make it the best

{{00:02:38}}
place it can be for people to work.

{{00:02:40}}
And that isn't, it's not
going to happen every day.

{{00:02:42}}
And it's not every interaction or moment
of truth you have with your employees,

{{00:02:46}}
there are difficult conversations to have.

{{00:02:48}}
But if you can make that difficult
conversation an okay feeling

{{00:02:52}}
conversation, that's a lot better
place to be than, you know, than most.

{{00:02:57}}
I love that I get the autonomy.

{{00:02:59}}
I'm really lucky.

{{00:03:00}}
I am involved at the
beginning of every process.

{{00:03:03}}
So we don't take people on the
backfoot, we are absolutely, we look

{{00:03:06}}
at it from a people perspective with
every decision we take as a business,

{{00:03:10}}
whether we're buying another business,
acquiring another business, merging.

{{00:03:14}}
Whether we are looking at changing a
policy, we look at the people impact.

{{00:03:18}}
And that's done from day zero rather than
day 100, which is what sometimes happens.

{{00:03:22}}
So, I think I'm really lucky
and yes, I love my job.

{{00:03:27}}
CRHO role and the chief people culture
officer role are really the same thing.

{{00:03:36}}
We just called our slightly
differently because we wanted just

{{00:03:38}}
that focus on culture and excellence.

{{00:03:40}}
But ultimately they do have the same role.

{{00:03:42}}
I think that I probably then have an
HR business partner who sits in that

{{00:03:46}}
role looking at the kind of the data
and the numbers and doing things right,

{{00:03:50}}
because my focus is really around people.

{{00:03:53}}
And I saw somebody said the other
day, it's not all about pizza and

{{00:03:56}}
parties and things, and no it isn't.

{{00:03:57}}
But what it is about is looking at the
data that you've got and how you can make

{{00:04:01}}
things better for people and how you can
be agile and react to that very quickly.

{{00:04:05}}
Because when you're talking about
culture and excellence, you have

{{00:04:07}}
to be able to adapt, you have
to be able to move super fast.

{{00:04:10}}
It can't be something you look at
and say, we got this score 12 months

{{00:04:13}}
ago, let's implement a plan now.

{{00:04:15}}
My role is to look at the feel of
the business now, what's happening

{{00:04:18}}
across the business, all across the
business, numbers wise, sales wise, and

{{00:04:23}}
work out how we can make that better.

{{00:04:30}}
Oh gosh, there's lots at the moment.

{{00:04:32}}
And, when we come to people topics, we
talk about the war on talent and the great

{{00:04:36}}
resignation, already negative actually.

{{00:04:38}}
And actually it shouldn't be a
war, it shouldn't, it should be an

{{00:04:41}}
absolute search for the best talent.

{{00:04:43}}
So I think for me, I'm worried about
people and how they're feeling.

{{00:04:46}}
They've come out of two years of
constant change and uncertainty

{{00:04:50}}
and not knowing what's happening.

{{00:04:52}}
And I think we are going to see
a big impact of that in this

{{00:04:54}}
world, in the next year or two.

{{00:04:55}}
I think mental health is
going to be a problem.

{{00:04:57}}
I think people are suddenly
going to kind of wind down and

{{00:04:59}}
go, what just happened to me?

{{00:05:01}}
What just happened to my family?

{{00:05:03}}
I think here we have quite a
different view on life to perhaps

{{00:05:06}}
some other countries, because
we've got a lot of expats who are

{{00:05:08}}
supporting people in other countries.

{{00:05:10}}
And how do they continue to do that
and do that well with the cost of

{{00:05:13}}
living that's rising worldwide.

{{00:05:15}}
And how do people get the best from
being away from their families?

{{00:05:20}}
You know, that's a fact
of life in the UAE.

{{00:05:22}}
We're an expat community.

{{00:05:24}}
How do we make it good for people all
of the time, but in the right way?

{{00:05:28}}
We can't just, businesses can't just give
people pay rises, and we should never

{{00:05:31}}
assume that is going to solve a problem.

{{00:05:33}}
We did a survey recently where we
said to people, if we gave you all

{{00:05:36}}
the same pay rise, would you be happy?

{{00:05:38}}
95% of our team said no.

{{00:05:40}}
They didn't want to just get the
same pay rise as the person next

{{00:05:43}}
to them because they wanted to be
scored on the individual performance.

{{00:05:46}}
So it's how we do that and that
performance management side of

{{00:05:49}}
things really well and fairly.

{{00:05:51}}
So, managing that talent, managing people
away from their homes, and managing

{{00:05:56}}
performance, and drive pay for performance
are the things that I think about a lot.

{{00:06:07}}
The pandemic had a huge
effect on my leadership style.

{{00:06:09}}
I've always been quite hands on, and like
to know what's going on, and all of a

{{00:06:14}}
sudden I was removed from that because I
couldn't have that contact with people.

{{00:06:18}}
And we were really lucky, we acted, we
had a really strong business continuity

{{00:06:22}}
plan in place for things like this, and
we were able to activate that before

{{00:06:26}}
kind of, there was lockdown here.

{{00:06:27}}
We thought about things, how
we could do things differently.

{{00:06:30}}
We just ripped up every policy basically
and said well, procedure, how are

{{00:06:33}}
we going to do this differently?

{{00:06:34}}
So for things like, I became kind of
more of a mum, more of a confidant,

{{00:06:39}}
more of a coach, checking in on people.

{{00:06:41}}
People have problems that I would
never have recognised or thought about,

{{00:06:44}}
and it made me think differently.

{{00:06:45}}
So things like here, my front
liners, who were essential workers,

{{00:06:49}}
we were delivering water, were not
concerned about catching Covid.

{{00:06:52}}
That was not something that when we
talked to them, they were concerned about.

{{00:06:55}}
What they were concerned about was
how they were going to pay their

{{00:06:56}}
families back home, how they were
going to send that money back home.

{{00:06:59}}
So that was a big challenge for us.

{{00:07:00}}
How did we do that?

{{00:07:01}}
So my leadership style
became very action focused.

{{00:07:04}}
What's a real problem?

{{00:07:05}}
How do I change that?

{{00:07:06}}
How can I impact that?

{{00:07:08}}
We were allowed to come into the
office because we were essential.

{{00:07:11}}
We have people who said, I
can't, I can't work from home.

{{00:07:13}}
I either, I room share, I live in
a shared apartment, or I'm in an

{{00:07:17}}
apartment by myself and I haven't
had any human real contact for this

{{00:07:21}}
amount of time and it's affecting me.

{{00:07:23}}
So it made us act differently.

{{00:07:24}}
It made me act quicker.

{{00:07:26}}
It made me see things from other
people's perspectives, which I'd maybe

{{00:07:30}}
done, but not really thought about.

{{00:07:32}}
It changed me to be, I
hope, a better person.

{{00:07:35}}
I think I think about things a lot more
deeply now and how things, how the outside

{{00:07:40}}
world and not just my circle of influence,
how I can influence outside of that.

{{00:07:49}}
My biggest role in that business is to
listen, and it is to listen to people and

{{00:07:55}}
coach and guide them in a different way.

{{00:07:57}}
So I think coaching is a very different
thing for chief people officers.

{{00:08:01}}
It's coaching people how to deal
with different styles of people.

{{00:08:04}}
I think that's so important now
because we do sometimes become

{{00:08:06}}
quite insular and only see our view.

{{00:08:08}}
And so, my role is to make sure
everybody sees the whole view.

{{00:08:12}}
And, I do that a lot, and I don't
think people would necessarily

{{00:08:15}}
think that should be my role.

{{00:08:16}}
And sometimes people say you're
getting involved in things

{{00:08:19}}
that you maybe shouldn't.

{{00:08:20}}
But I think it's important.

{{00:08:21}}
I think, as a coach and a confidant
and a guide to the leadership

{{00:08:26}}
team, that's how I see my position.

I think I think about things a lot more
deeply now and how the outside world

and not just my circle of influence,
how I can influence outside of that.

I'm the Chief Culture and People
Excellence Officer at Masafi Water.

So the role of our Chief Culture and
People Excellence Officer, people often

ask me, because it's quite a big title,
it's probably the same as a Chief People

Officer, but we wanted to include culture
and excellence because they were the

So when we look at my role I
am responsible for the culture.

It doesn't mean I have to do it by myself.

I do it with a team, a
team of excellent leaders.

But it's about managing that culture,
managing excellence within the business

through our people perspective,
and people are our biggest asset.

The most valuable thing a chief culture
and people excellence officer brings to

a business is passion and doing the right
thing for the business and the people.

You have to have a different level
of energy to be in this role I think.

Because, it's all about people,
people are our biggest asset.

And if our culture fails or
our people excellence fail,

I know Richard Branson talks about it
a lot in Virgin and things like that,

but it's so true, and I think that
for us, our culture is something we've

It's not perfect, but it's about
having that passion and that ability

to be able to also get down, and
understand the problems at the root.

So don't just sit as a
helicopter all the time.

If you don't care about people, you
shouldn't be in a people and culture role.

You have to have the willingness
to understand and learn

So it's not just about knowing
people, you shouldn't just

You have to understand the business
strategy and what the business goals are

because you have such a big influence
over those at a leadership level.

You have to be able to always communicate.

I think you have to listen,
but the biggest one for me is

I have days when, yeah, everybody
has days when work isn't great.

And I have days where I come away
thinking, did I achieve anything today?

And that's always been my goal within
every business, is to make it the best

And that isn't, it's not
going to happen every day.

And it's not every interaction or moment
of truth you have with your employees,

there are difficult conversations to have.

But if you can make that difficult
conversation an okay feeling

conversation, that's a lot better
place to be than, you know, than most.

I am involved at the
beginning of every process.

So we don't take people on the
backfoot, we are absolutely, we look

at it from a people perspective with
every decision we take as a business,

whether we're buying another business,
acquiring another business, merging.

Whether we are looking at changing a
policy, we look at the people impact.

And that's done from day zero rather than
day 100, which is what sometimes happens.

So, I think I'm really lucky
and yes, I love my job.

CRHO role and the chief people culture
officer role are really the same thing.

We just called our slightly
differently because we wanted just

But ultimately they do have the same role.

I think that I probably then have an
HR business partner who sits in that

role looking at the kind of the data
and the numbers and doing things right,

because my focus is really around people.

And I saw somebody said the other
day, it's not all about pizza and

But what it is about is looking at the
data that you've got and how you can make

things better for people and how you can
be agile and react to that very quickly.

Because when you're talking about
culture and excellence, you have

to be able to adapt, you have
to be able to move super fast.

It can't be something you look at
and say, we got this score 12 months

My role is to look at the feel of
the business now, what's happening

across the business, all across the
business, numbers wise, sales wise, and

And, when we come to people topics, we
talk about the war on talent and the great

And actually it shouldn't be a
war, it shouldn't, it should be an

So I think for me, I'm worried about
people and how they're feeling.

They've come out of two years of
constant change and uncertainty

And I think we are going to see
a big impact of that in this

I think mental health is
going to be a problem.

I think people are suddenly
going to kind of wind down and

I think here we have quite a
different view on life to perhaps

some other countries, because
we've got a lot of expats who are

And how do they continue to do that
and do that well with the cost of

And how do people get the best from
being away from their families?

Meet the Leaders

Explainer

In every company sits a leadership team that guides the strategy. Have you ever wondered what your C-Suite team was responsible for and how they got there?
In the latest episode of our leadership series, Emma Davies, Chief Culture and People Excellence Officer at Masafi LLC. explains what it means to be a CCPEO and how to succeed in the role.


Leadership

Resilience

Workplace

Future of Work

Teams Culture

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Emma-Bio-May-2023-6ab40dd321d506ec86efd47f61ada20a.jpeg

Emma Davies

Chief Culture and People Excellence Officer 

Davies discusses the difference between a Chief Culture and People Excellence Officer and a Chief People Officer-- explaining how a team of expert leaders is what drives success. 

Understanding the role

Davies describes the value this role brings to the organisation, and the kind of passion required to make real, positive change. 

Value to the company

Understanding how business works together with a passion for people allows the CCPEO makes a better analysis and finds new strategies.

Personal attributes of the role

Discover how Davies finds inspiration and creates a thriving work environment for her organisation's employees.

Finding inspiration from the job

Davies compares the commonalities between her role and the Chief Human Resource Officer--and how they work together to support the overall business. 

Supporting other leadership roles

Not every 'people' problem can be solved with a pay rise. Davies discusses some of the biggest issues surfacing as people begin to unwind from a tumultuous few years and how to meet those issues with fair performance management. 

Managing oncoming challenges

Davies describes how she had to rip up the metaphorical policy 'rule book' during the pandemic, shifting her leadership style to be much more action-focused. 

Post-pandemic leadership 

Davies explores how important coaching is to her role, and why it's not traditionally considered part of the job description. 