Talent management in Poland, she argues, is run in pretty much the same way as the rest of Nokia. There's a well defined process and a holistic approach to managing people that links strategy with talent planning and practices. Their purpose is to ensure that the organisation has relevant capabilities and key roles able to deliver on short term and long term business goals.

Their framework provides a workplace that is both challenging and engaging as well as consistent with Nokia values and culture.

Jadwiga's primary concern about managing talent right now is about ensuring that employees understand their new reality. It's about a transformation from a company that has been producing devices to one that is a provider of mobile internet based consumer solutions. It's a radical change in their strategy and in their way of doing business, and necessarily, it requires a change in people’s mindset. It's a change that impacts all at Nokia; a change in focus, a change from product to service and solutions.

HRM : Can you elaborate on three key best practices that you have helped to either establish or implement in your time at Nokia?

Jadwiga : There have been many best practices in my long career with Nokia but here are three significant ones. Firstly, the succession plan in Poland. Secondly, setting up HR in Russia and lastly, setting up HR in MEA. I will try to tell you about each briefly.

I’d like start with a Succession Planning implementation in Nokia Poland. It's worth mentioning that I joined Nokia in 1997, coming in from an American based company, Amoco Petroleum. There, we started implementation of Succession Planning to localise the management team because all first line managers were expats from the US. It was a very valuable experience that placed me as a first choice candidate for Nokia Poland. The situation in Nokia Poland was similar to Amoco’s, with 29 expats from Western Europe, mainly in key positions. It became very expensive for the country operations; further, our customers were localising their management and requested local counterparts. All of a sudden, it became a priority issue for me to deal with. Interestingly, I learnt about it on a mid-October afternoon while getting a coffee during a break from recruiting a hundred engineers. Our country manager asked me to kick off the succession plan at the end of October. It was rather challenging - I had been with Nokia for less than 3 months and I knew nothing about the Nokia way of managing succession planning. Asking about it at headquarters, I was sent a few slides with a comment: “...it’s all we currently have”. As time was running out, I had to think fast and pull together material for the kick off... put something together that looked like a succession plan and which resembled Nokia practice. I had some material from Amoco which I then customised to Nokia Poland requirements and this then inspired me to work on the creation of end to end processes, templates and schedules. The thing was that I had to think through all this myself, I had to get buy-in from managers who were expats themselves and therefore, not necessarily very enthusiastic about letting go of their jobs. But we made it very attractive for them and consequently, they wanted to come to Poland, instead of Italy or Spain (most of them were from Finland).

Eventually I developed a very structured process of reviewing Polish talent on a quarterly basis and the approach I took was bottom up. In practice, it meant starting the talent review from entry level, for example, looking at recent graduates and ending the review at the management level with an understanding that there was talent in the pipeline, that some were ready for key positions, that we knew what the gaps were, etc. We did this as a team effort; the management team shared information and provided feedback on best performers and high potentials and those who required improvement. We didn't have Talent Maps available then, in the format as they are in now, but managers felt that they had good visibility of people potential, opportunities and threats, who to retain, what profiles to recruit, whose development to accelerate and by what actions. This in turn was good input for managers to take to performance and developmental discussions with employees. Anyway, the kick off was very successful and our country manager presented the plan at a regional meeting. His manager was so pleased that he granted him a salary increase! He showed me the letter, where Succession Planning was mentioned as one of the contributing factors for his promotion. A couple of days later, I received a salary increase from him.

I would facilitate quarterly talent review meetings with the management team. As a result of this structured approach, all expats were replaced with local managers within two years. Some employees were appointed to global roles outside of Nokia Poland. Labour costs were significantly reduced and engagement of local workforce was very high. Looking back now, I still remember how uncertain I felt at the time of the kick off; I was trying not to show it but wondering whether what I was proposing made sense or not, wondering if there was something better somewhere else that I could use. I felt this terrible responsibility, for the company, on my shoulders. That was the succession plan story.

Another good one of best practices is the set up of a HR function in the emerging markets. When I started in the role of Area Head, my assigned geography consisted of a few countries in Eastern Europe and 2 countries in MEA, United Arabic Emirates and South Africa. This and a few hundred of employees. My team consisted of only eleven HR managers and consultants.

My other colleagues were assigned areas with several thousand employees and many more HR managers and consultants. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed and I shared my feelings with one of the Business HR Heads who replied: “...what you have is future for Nokia, you will see soon.” Indeed, I soon did realise it when Russia became the first strategic geography. In 2005, Nokia started bidding for contracts with Russian mobile operators to build networks in Moscow and St. Petersburg. There was an urgent need to hire a strong HR manager for Russia to help with the recruitment of Account Directors, Project Managers and Project Engineers. At the same time, there were plans to expand with sales operations into the interior of Russia so we were also looking at sales representatives and merchandisers for all over the country. The Moscow office started to grow in headcount and I needed to push ahead and get my HR Manager for Russia. Meanwhile, requests for HR support started to pile up in my mailbox, which terrified me. Managers didn’t want to wait for replies, the sense of urgency was very visible and I had to think fast.

Since I had a very strong HR team in Poland, I decided to send one of the consultants to Russia for a few months. The person was very interested, so this made it easy. Then I sold the idea to the Country Director and Financial Director. I explained to them what benefits they would get by having a person on-site while I was looking for an HR Manager. They bought the idea especially because many expats were then going to Russia; someone from Nokia who knew the Nokia international transfer process was very useful to have. This business support meant that I could get associated costs approved by management.

“Jadwiga", he said, "there are only 15 good managers in Moscow at this point in time”. “Fair enough", I said, "we need you to get one of those to Nokia”.

I didn’t know Russian legislation nor the culture; historically, I was never really interested in this part of the world. Now, here I was having to recommend HR solutions and even go to Russia in person, despite the fear of being exiled to Siberia. It was a challenge I couldn't resist. Russia was viewed as a strategic country on the Nokia map and I felt very excited to be responsible for giving support to business there.

With some local contacts from my Finnish colleagues, I strove ahead to conquer new territory. One of those contacts happened to be a recruiter who already worked for Nokia Russia in the past and we began what turned out to be a very good and long lasting cooperation. It had its share of difficulties initially, coming close to endangering our business relationship but since he had good reference, I decided to employ him to recruit an HR Manager for Russia. He provided me with a shortlist of HR candidates whom I then selected for a Nokia assessment. Inviting six strong candidates, only two showed up on the day of assessment. They didn't make the grade - one was too strong and the other too weak. In any case, our minimum number to consider was four. Terribly disappointed with this part of the process, I dumped my negative feelings about it on the recruiter. Strangely enough, he took it very well and asked me to let him continue with the recruitment. “Jadwiga", he said, "there are only 15 good managers in Moscow at this point in time”. “Fair enough", I said, "we need you to get one of those to Nokia”. Long story short, the next selection round was successful and one of the candidates passed. Russia finally acquired an HR Manager.

I immediately started her induction in Poland, even against the wishes of the Russia Country Director who wanted HR to start immediately, work having piled up so much. However, induction was key to getting all HR work done the Nokia Way. Induction was thorough, lasting three weeks. It was an intense learning of Nokia processes, tools and culture. I really wanted a well formatted person to go back and handle all aspects of HR work the way it should be handled. For a year, I was really focused on Russia. Headcount doubled in the first half of the year and tripled in the second. I had to look at weekly coaching sessions with the HR manager.

We looked at one particular issue, that of how to speed up the selection process. At Nokia we use the Nokia Assessment Centre (NOAC), that is run either by in house consultants or external partners. Our partner in Russia was SHL and we agreed with them that they would adjust their resources to our needs so it was possible to run the assessment centre every day instead of twice a week. That secured for us enough shortlisted candidates to hire as we'd planned. That particular year, I coached the HR Manager either in face to face meetings or via conference call. Consequently, she set up her team, implemented all the people processes and tools we wanted and effectively introduced the Nokia culture to this Russian organisation.

The following year, my attention switched to the Middle East and Africa, a completely unknown territory to me. I was looking to help build Nokia business there. I got a business plan strategy for that area, which I translated into a HR Plan. It meant HR support for two regional hubs, one in Dubai for the Middle East and North Africa countries and one in Johannesburg for South, East and West Africa. The first country I needed to support a startup was Kenya where a sales office was being established. I went to Nairobi with a colleague of mine from the HR business unit. We were checking the conditions for expat life there, looking at housing, schooling, security as well as the cost and quality of living. This was imperative to design relevant country policies.

Two business owners accompanied us and we had a security company from the UK to look after our personal security. It was fun; we would usually travel in a jeep with one of the security guards, the other guard in the second jeep, looking out for hijackers. It looked very serious in the beginning but as time wore on and we got more acclimatised, I began to forget the risks. I was admiring the red colour of African soil all very new to me, and trees with blue blossoms, coffee plantations and most of all the beautiful faces of Kenyans, slim and tall. Meeting early on with consultants from Ernst & Young (our global partners), they shared with us all their local knowledge about the labour market conditions, the expatriate community, taxation and local practices. Learning a lot in those few days about setting up our office, my main concern was to set up a financial system that would enable us to pay our employees. We visited a Finnish embassy where we learnt about the economic and political realities of the country, that foreign investment was encouraged only if new jobs were created for local citizens. The number of permits was limited and in our case,s much too few than what was planned. Discussing it with the business owners, we concluded that Nokia would not set up an office in Kenya due to weak infrastructure but instead go to South Africa. Our office in Johannesburg then became a regional hub for Africa.

HRM : What do you see as key to Nokia's success in recruiting and retaining good talent?

Jadwiga : Several things at play here. The most important one is business performance. Nokia is a well-known brand with a strong success record in terms of both financial performance and market share. We could easily say that Nokia is an industry market leader and an employer of choice. People want to join a successful and friendly company. Another strong factor is teamwork. Nokia is a team-oriented company, which is reliant on good communications and people skills. In this environment, values are a common platform that enable collaboration beyond national boundaries, ethnicity, gender or age. It’s like being in a big family, sharing success and going through change and difficulties together. Supporting and respecting one another is a norm, as well as respect and inclusiveness. Employees like it. It shows in our employee satisfaction surveys and low attrition. This in turn, helps in retention but it also spreads outside, which means that potential hires are interested. Take a look at the recruitment process for example.

Candidates are treated with the fairness and equity, informed about the criteria and selection process; it's very transparent. So even those who fail, who are rejected, keep good memories of their Nokia experience. Another example is Nokia’s performance management process. The founding principle is simple - Nokia can only succeed when everyone who works for us understands our strategy and values and feels personally motivated to make it work. Part of the culture is a strong employer brand, having an image of an organisation as seen through the eyes of employees and potential hires. In practice, key human resources programmes focused on recruitment and retention are aligned with the Employer Brand Promise. Our recruitment processes ensure that there is a good match between employees' needs and the employment experience. The employment experience provides confidence to employees, thereby assisting with keeping motivation levels high. The employment experience includes tangibles such as salary and benefits, but also extends to intangibles such as an organisation's culture and values, opportunities for learning and the creation of a career path, reward and recognition as well as management style.

HRM : What key aspects do you concentrate on when looking for new hires?

Jadwiga : Mainly technical skills, knowledge and cultural fit. We concentrate very much on the potential of a person with new hires because it represents a long-term investment for the company and is costly. So, we make sure every candidate, external or internal, goes through an assessment centre run by experienced consultants. There are two aspects: technical skills and knowledge and cultural fit. Each job is very well defined, for example, its purpose, required competencies and experience and candidate profile. In practice, hiring managers assess technical and professional skills in a structured interview, called a behavioural interview. HR professionals are involved in assessing the cultural fit with the company. Both aspects are important . Most of our managers and HR professionals are trained and certified as Behavioural Interviewers. We look at the candidate's potential, in particular, their aspiration, willingness to do challenging tasks, agility to learn, flexibility, attitude to change, leadership skills, fact-based orientation, wiliness to share and support and creativity. Last but not least, a willingness to work hard and achieve outstanding results. The key thing is to hire a professional whose values are aligned with the company’s values. That guarantees mutual success.

HRM : What do you do to ensure that the training requirements can be met by the training provided? How are these assessed?

Jadwiga : I’d like to clarify what we understand by training. At Nokia, when we say training we mean classroom courses. They constitute only 10% of the company's development experience. So this term
'training' is a bit old-fashioned for us. We talk about developing and learning through three nodes of development: 70% on the job learning experience, 20% coaching and 10% training. This is imbedded into personal development plans that are part of performance management. The span of time is six months. Unit strategies are cascaded to units and departments in the forms of objectives. Objectives are translated into individual targets and actions. Performance is reviewed every half year and assessed once a year. Targets are linked to incentives. The better the Nokia results, the better the incentives. Everyone contributes. It's a test of whether the company has sufficient relevant competencies to enable employees to do the job. This in turn means that the training at Nokia which we call learning solutions are appropriate. It's worth mentioning that part of the performance management system there is competency evaluation composed of employee self evaluation. Once done, it's approved by the manager and automatically goes into a personal development plan. The last thing is to agree on adequate learning solutions for a given period. All these solutions are consolidated and followed through.

HRM : You've been with Nokia for twelve years now. What has been the primary catalyst for keeping you engaged at Nokia?

Jadwiga : Nokia is a great company due to its long and successful business record and its culture. The 'NokiaWay' is a very strong, cultivated thing. Values are imbedded into all we do. It's important because they constitute a common platform for everyone. Thus, Nokia people are like one big global family. Networking is very much encouraged and because there are many projects we can work on with many people from different places, it adds to its attractiveness as a company. I find that you're empowered to do the job and if you don’t know how, there are many people ready to support you and help you. I always work with others, who help me and I help them. We have a common goal, to deliver results. There's nothing routine about my job. I can explore other possibilities especially since frequent changes always bring in new opportunities. I enjoy the ambiguity because I can shape it and give it a structure. Change comes up and any ambiguity unleashes a sense of creativeness. It's a lot of fun. I also enjoy leading people and teams, the more diversity the greater the experience, which Nokia offers me.

HRM : How do you see that the HR profession has changed in the time you've been in this industry? What challenges do you see that the industry faces and how should this industry manage this?

Jadwiga : When I started my career almost 18 years ago, HR was more often an administrative function, dealing mainly with recruitment, employment relations and training. HR information systems were not very popular and paper records dominated. Hence, the HR function used to consist of large teams of clerical types to process paperwork. I remember being responsible for a headcount report in one of the previous companies. There was no system to generate such a report and I had to design its format and deliver the management board an update every month. I struggled with pulling together a total headcount every month. I had to know personnel movement of more than 3000 employees, within and outside the company. Tedious ! Now, with the help of SAP, it's possible to generate a detailed headcount report in a company that has thousands of employees, with 100% accuracy. So, with technological advances, HR professionals are now free from personnel transactions to focus more on supporting line managers as coaches and consultants. We therefore, need new skill sets like coaching and consulting. HR professionals are also expected to understand business and how it translates into HR strategies and action plans so they can partner with business managers. They need to understand the global economy, demographics and legislation as most businesses operate globally. Organisations become more and more complex as they become global and this insight is one of the key competencies of the HR field. The biggest challenge that I see in this profession is the availability of such professionals, who have a deep knowledge in the field and who possess a global mindset.

Jadwiga Zareba is the HR Director at Nokia Poland. With more than 17 years human resources senior management experience as a business partner, operational HR and corporate HR person in international corporations, Jadwiga possesses an extremely high ability to run HR in complex, multi-country or emerging country outfits. With experience spanning the establishment of HR operations in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Jadwiga has planned, directed, coached, delivered solutions and services as well implemented change to meet business objectives.