Bernard's wide range of experience over the years from managing department start-ups and high growth operations to cultural realignment and restructuring mergers and acquisitions made him a standout candidate for this role.

Bernard didn’t need to think twice about agreeing to this assignment. He took on the role and made an impact. His short stint at Prosafe gave management more than enough confidence to agree that he was the best candidate for a global HR lead position and they offered him that role. Currently Vice President of Human Resources at Prosafe, a job he relishes, Bernard looks back on his time as an Interim Manager and shares with us what it means to take on a position such as this.

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My most recent posting before taking on the Senior Vice-President of Human Resources position at Prosafe Production Services in Singapore was at LogicaCMG as the Director Human Resources Asia. After being based in Malaysia for a while, I decided to head back to Singapore for a break. I was mulling over the idea of either getting into the consultancy line or perhaps, starting my own business venture. I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to head back into the corporate world. I thought that a couple of months off would do me good, provide me with enough time to rest and think through my options.

But things have a way of working out differently from whatever you planned. I got a call from a consultancy about helping a company set up their HR systems. Most of the recruitment firms already were familiar with me, I had mentioned to them earlier that I was taking a sabbatical and then this position came along. I said ok. The office was near enough, a plus point to me at the time as I wanted to also spend more time with family. This was a European company and they were ramping up their orders and I was being brought in to handle two things. Firstly, I was tasked with managing recruitment alongside two other staff and secondly, I had to create a set of policies and procedures for the company, in line with their corporate culture.

I thought to myself, "I'll do this for three months and then, I'm out of here." In my mind, this sort of role was something I used to handle 15 years ago; it wasn’t something I wanted to spend a long-term basis on. It seemed a good fit for where I was at that point in time and it was interesting enough. This was my first foray into interim management. So I worked on it, in the three month period and just as I was leaving, the Chief Executive called me in and offered me the global HR lead role. I was a little wary about how this was going - I had other offers at the time and it really wasn’t something I had expected to get into. I think me proving myself, familiarization with the laws and regulation, having that generalist background and that level of familiarity with the Asia Pacific market is what led to this offer. It looked to be a management decision and truth be said, the global role did indeed pique my interest. And so, I accepted.

An interim management role is one that calls for broad-based experience in management and human resources. I believe the person who takes on a challenging role such as this is, must go through the mill. Develop the experience and expertise in general management and human resources. I believe that a key strength is firstly, developing business skills and really coming to grips with the business environment. You need to learn the business and the financials. Of course, there are all the other areas you need to include like training and development, employee relations, learning and development. Things within the generalist's ambit. Maybe that's why this sort of role is not very common here in Asia. I believe that people here don’t have the necessary ambit as opposed to those overseas.

For example, you have a Marketing Director who brings in data that there's an increase in sales and we therefore need more people - HR doesn’t challenge that. We don’t because we don’t know the numbers and business well enough. And we should. We need to.

Interim management is tough; there is no doubt about it. My greatest challenge taking on the interim management role was creating policies in line with the corporate culture of that enterprise. Take sexual harassment for example. A well-established and developed area when it comes to corporate policies in the US but not so with other companies. For me, it's key in Asia, especially for MNCs. The practices here are different. I can see that, having had the chance to work with many MNCs over the course of my career. Things, issues and communication can be interpreted so differently and can easily be taken out of context; policies really help in this regard, in smoothing things over, in making the situation clear from the start and just avoiding reactive measures.

Is it a good idea for young HR managers to consider up-skilling themselves, with a view to considering interim management as a career path? Well, I would say that it really depends on how you look at it. Young HR executives should go through the whole ambit for seven to ten years. You need to understand real HR. The strategic part of it comes into play later. You help chart the strategic direction of the enterprise and then later, you think about whether you can get into that sort of role. However, in the Asian culture, we tend to think of things like interim management towards the tail-end of our career. We look at securing our jobs, working till we're 50 and then maybe, just maybe, we may consider interim management. At that point, you don’t need that level of job security. At that point, you also are able to bring that experience to bear. But I don’t think like that.

I do believe that people will eventually think that HR is the most important facet of the organisation. I believe we will also slowly start seeing that sort of turnaround as more and more Asians rise on that. The most important thing is to do the right thing without fear or compromise. Especially crucial when you have to deal with senior management even if you're the only Asian. Asian-ness fades to the background though - if you're right, it’s irrelevant.

You really need to know your basics, your fundamentals. You also need the support, moving in from the top.

Moving forward, what kind of advice can I give you? I would say, learn the business. Understand the financials and be a part of the business. Don’t step outside and watch what's happening from the perimeter. Why should you know about EBITDA and P/L statements? You need to see what's really happening. You need to put things in context. I have always believed that HR people should go to courses on finance, like a course on Finance for Non-Finance Personnel. When I join an organization, I have two fundamental 'must do's' with them always. Firstly, I want to spend time with the sales guys, perhaps two months. Then a further month with the Chief Financial Officer. Really get to know the business and the financials. It really begins to make sense when you start to work with them. You see the relevance, the connection, the context. Then when I go to the boardroom and present or argue, I come in to help. I bring something solid to the discussion. Something I feel we are not doing, unfortunately.

Fundamentally, HR has always been a reactive department, always a cost centre. You've heard the cry in any downturn, "Let's cut down on training". But if you really think about it, it’s the best time to hone in on that one area. Bring the good people in. And when things get back on the up and up, you're ready to rock. I can't stress enough the need to bring credibility to yourself and to your game. The days of HR in the backseat are over and we are increasingly going to be seen as the CE's right hand. The next generation will see this happening.

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Bernard Cruz is currently the Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Prosafe Production Services. A Malaysian currently based in Singapore, Bernard was formerly Director Human Resources Asia at LogicaCMG from 2005. He was hired at LogicaCMG as a Regional Human Resources Director to manage both the telco and solutions business for the Asia Pacific region, which encompassed HR Marketing, mergers & acquisitions and establishing performance management systems. Bernard also held other regional HR positions at Holcim Limited and Otis Elevator Company. Bernard holds a Master of Arts in Human Resource Management from the University of Lincolnshire & Humberside, United Kingdom and a Bachelors of Science in Human Resources & Business from the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom.