#10: Philippa “Pip” Penfold, CEO and Co-Founder at People Collider

About Philippa Penfold:

After 20 years in corporate HR holding senior-level roles, Philippa, or Pip as she is known, decided to focus on helping HR professionals bring together new technology and people in the workplace. Today Pip educates HR professionals about the technology shaping Industry 4.0 incl AI, RPA, and VR, empowering them to play an active role in creating a human world of work with technology.

Listen to the full discussion here:

  • Stream by clicking here.
  • Download as an MP3 here.

Connect with the Guest:

Philippa “Pip” Penfold: LinkedIn

Some of the highlights from the podcast:

  • Pip’s driving force on her career journey
  • Digital transformation race challenges
  • Hybrid workflow force look like on post pandemic
  • Talent leaders challenges both in HR and business
  • Technical or soft skills for a professional to get into senior leadership roles
  • Examples of kind of collaboration with winning success
  • Advice to people entering the workforce

Show notes:

  • [1:58] Share with us a bit about your career journey and what has been your driving force?
  • [5:39] What typified my career journey is taking the road less traveled, following the challenge, following the adventure and enjoying the learning journey.
  • [6:28] What are some of the challenges which organizations are facing in this digital transformation race and which you think might affect their capabilities in the coming months and years as well?
  • [6:46] I think it pushed us online but it doesn’t necessarily mean that every company was accelerating the plans they already had, in truth, some companies had no plans, or they had plans that were not suited or focusing on a remote workforce and  it might have been in another area.
  • [9:55] How would a hybrid workflow force look like post pandemic or should it look like to be most optimum for people, for companies, for processes, etc.?
  • [14:09] I think if we get hybrid work for the purpose of the company or the purpose of the team, it should also be working for the individuals. So getting the balance right, the balance both for the company, for the team for the purpose and for the individuals is not an easy one but I think an interesting challenge for us all is to rise over the next year or two as we reshape our companies from the band aid solutions through problem technology.
  • [16:00] What are some of the challenges that you foresee talent leaders, both in HR and business, will be facing and should already start thinking about as they evolve in the whole workplace?
  • [16:20] The first is algorithmic management. So that would be the first bit that I see that there is an ethical dilemma for us, particularly as HR businesses. So we do continue to engage and motivate individuals rather than relying fully on artificial intelligence. The other thing really is around data. And I know everyone’s so excited about analytics, and has been for years and I don’t see it dying anytime and this is the ethical dilemma I see between what we could use and what we should use. 
  • [25:36] Is there any example of a company that uses data for their employees to create better career paths for them? Have you come across anyone yet? 
  • [27:54] Which technical or soft skills are most important for a professional to get into senior leadership roles in the whole future of work? 
  • [28:41] It is the ability to bring disparate ideas and areas of bodies of knowledge together and the other thing I do is to be courageous and to be able to lead new things and new ways of operating.
  • [30:31] You start something about organizations where HR and technology work really well together and can collaborate. Would you have any personal example that doesn’t have to be recent, where you’ve seen that kind of collaboration happening and coming out with winning success?
  • [30:53] I think the most interesting collaborations I’ve seen are when companies are building their HR tech ecosystems. So there’s a couple but mostly medium size and they have the vocabulary of one another, then send that lexicon. I wouldn’t have said either expert in one another’s, they just have enough knowledge to be able to converse and to collaborate.
  • [33:45] What advice would you give to people entering the workforce to be able to have an exciting career like yourself considering that workplace careers etc. are changing definition so rapidly?
  • [33:59] Say yes to opportunity. Look for an opportunity and say yes to it. Find an interesting, exciting opportunity and go for it, add additional strings to your bow. And with that in mind, keep learning. Your evolution is critical. So continue that learning, keep building those combinations and have fun doing it.

Quote from the Episode:

About the Host:

The host, Shub Faujdar leads our Organizational Development business and is curating frameworks to transform your organization’s workforce by working with world-class facilitators and trainers from the Supply Chain space. As with everything in Alcott Global, our frameworks and programs are specially created to meet the needs of the industry and then further customized to the needs of each organization.

Alcott Global connects and upgrades the supply chain ecosystem by finding the right talent through executive search, developing talent through learning solutions, and meeting supply chain technology needs through a comprehensive crunch base marketplace.

The supply chain executive search has been our focus since the very beginning, offering recruitment services for top-tier supply chain roles at every level of the end-to-end supply chain: plan, source / procure, make, and deliver. Our consultants have years of experience in placing top talent, in North America, LATAM, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and APAC, and besides speed, one of our biggest strengths is our network within the supply chain industry, and we capitalize on it to find the best solutions.

Through the years, we have grown as an organization and our offerings with it. One of our initiatives, the learning solutions- training and supply chain academy, is focused on transforming leadership- self-leadership, executive presence, influence capital, and business acumen. Through Supplify, we aim to match corporations with the top technology companies to solve their supply chain and logistics challenges with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.

We are in constant touch with the leaders in supply chain, inviting them to inspire the supply chain professionals in thought-provoking podcast episodes and events, and showcasing what is possible at the yearly Leaders in Supply Chain Awards.

Related Episodes:

#07: Anjali Menon, Regional Head of Talent Center of Competence for APAC and Sub-Saharan Africa at Nestlé

#08: Carlos Torres, Leadership and Talent Senior Director at ASM

#09: Swati Patil Rao, Senior Director – Head of APAC Supply Chain & Logistics at Zoetis Inc.

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