Welcome to our HR in Focus article .... Duncan Forbes talkes with PSD HR team about his experiences as Interim an HR professional

1. PSD
28 Essex Street
London
WC2R 3AT
Telephone
+44 (0)207 970 9700
Email
london@psdgroup.com
www.psdgroup.com
Meeting with Duncan Forbes - Interim
HR Director
Over the past 12 months, at PSD, we have continued to grow our HR Interim Practice and have had some
considerable success working with a number of International and UK businesses to provide HR Interims for roles
within HR Change and Organisational Development, HR Policy, Reward as well as introducing individuals into
organisations to cover business as usual roles, whilst they are going through a period of change.
HR Contacts
Richard Plaistowe
Financial and
Professional Services
+44 207 970 9613
Daniel Cooper
Technology and
Property
+44 207 970 9677
Whilst the permanent recruitment market has
remained fairly stable over the past twelve months,
we have certainly seen an increase in the amount of
interim assignments we have been asked to manage.
Over this period, we have built our network of
Professional HR Interims and can offer our clients a
broad mix of experience. We have also built a deeper
knowledge of the intricacies of the interim market and
what it actually feels like to work as an interim.
Marilyn Pollard-Odle
Technology, Oil &
Gas & International We recently had a very interesting conversation with Duncan Forbes, who has been a
+ 44 207 970 9615 Professional HR Interim since 2003 and has worked in a broad range of organisations, such as
The Co-Operative Group, Balfour Beatty and WorldPay - he is currently working for AS Tallinna
Vessi in Estonia advising them on building an HR Structure for the business. We are delighted to
give an overview of our conversation and hope that it provokes further comment....
We first met Duncan nearly four years ago while he was in an assignment with Balfour Beatty.
Duncan’s near continual record of employment during this period is something that he is proud
of, especially as we see many Interim candidates who find getting their next assignment so
much more challenging.
Duncan really looks to his early career to explain his success as an interim. “I spent my early
days as a store manager at Asda before moving into operations and then into HR. I was
lucky to work with great leaders and for a great senior management team. I had to learn to be
courageous and to take that courage to challenge what was around me. As an interim you have
to challenge. You have to be able to take yourself out of the situation, observe, evaluate and
then recommend”.
Pushing further on this we wanted to understand why not just any candidate can turn their
hand to interim work. In a market short of permanent opportunities what makes a good interim?
Duncan takes his time to think this over “There is no easy answer and what makes a good
interim in one scenario might not work in another. What I can say for certain is that as an interim
you have to be sure that you are realistic on any assignment that you take on. The brief will
almost certainly change throughout any spell you have with an organisation, it never sits still. You
can’t worry too much about being completely right or having the correct solution for everyone.
You need to be able to take the best decision at the time and be brave”.
In a recent assignment Duncan was engaged to build a platform for an incoming permanent HR
Director. Interestingly this led us to a familiar discussion that seems to rage throughout the HR
community today. “As an interim in any business it is important to discover what the business
needs, what they have and what time frame you have. I have found the relationship between
permanent members of staff and interims to be a good one, I am there to interpret need, effect
change for the good of the business and then get out. Simple enough? The real question is
normally about how credible HR appears to the business”.

2. PSD
28 Essex Street
London
WC2R 3AT
Telephone
+44 (0)207 970 9700
Email
london@psdgroup.com
www.psdgroup.com
HR Contacts
Richard Plaistowe
Financial and
Professional Services
+44 207 970 9613
Daniel Cooper
Technology and
Property
+44 207 970 9677
Marilyn Pollard-Odle
Technology, Oil &
Gas & International
+ 44 207 970 9615
HR’s credibility and what HR people think about its image is something as a recruiter we
often discuss . We put it to Duncan that often HR loses credibility by talking about itself
too much. Duncan replied instantly “Yes!”
“HR has evolved so much over time. If you take a business area that started out really
as a function to payroll people and keep an organisation out of court and then throw
in recruitment, HRIS, OD & Change Management etc, you end up with a complex
function”. The conversation quickly turned to how HR can improve and develop its
image and Duncan quickly put forward a convincing argument about how it compares
to finance.
“HR and Finance have a lot in common. HR does the same with people as Finance
does with money, people data can be treated like accounts on a spreadsheet. HR
needs to demonstrate how it can add value through analysis and attention to detail
before it invests or grows. If you treat people with the respect most businesses treat
their money then HR will always be credible”.
“HR gives itself a hard time over its identity, HR does not own leadership in a
business. That is an important thing to remember, HR is there to channel, direct
and advise. It’s not HR’s sole responsibility to own an organisation’s structure and
development”.
“Even good HR professionals waste time trying to change people too much. Culture
in a business and the behaviour of it’s people follows fairly simple rules, so don’t
expect too much from them and don’t get too frustrated.”
Duncan’s view is that behaviour is the cult of the individual and HR can’t, and should
not, fight this. Business should focus on the individual goal of their customers. If you
don’t focus on that then politics takes over.
Duncan’s Future
Duncan currently runs his own consultancy (QED) with his Partner . Is that it for him;
is he a career interim? His answer is absolutely not, he just wants the next challenge
and the next interesting organisation. It does not matter to him what the setting of the
vacancy is, what the job title is, not even the location. He just wants to keep learning
and keep moving.
“My thoughts on this are clear, go where the next challenge is regardless of the status
of the role. It does not matter whether it is a contract or a day rate to me. Also, who
really has a permanent job anymore? Keep moving and keep going where you can;
as an interim you need to clearly show what you can add in commercial value. You
have to be patient during the down turns but if you are brave the rewards of being a
change agent are fantastic”.