Take the analogy of the IKEA box you stare at when you first arrive back home. Basic instructions with a picture of the finished product. You are at the starting point with a plan to finish within a certain timeframe. Do you have all the tools? Have you got a clear idea on the steps you need to take to get to the end result?

A value creation plan and the strategy underpinning it could be those set of instructions. However, what you plan to build sometimes takes twists and turns, you miss a key piece of the build and have to then pivot, or in some cases, continue with the original plan and hope it is stable enough to continue. When entering into the value creation plan, you need to appreciate that however robust you think the plan is, you need to have a high level of agility and flexibility to pivot direction at any point.

Having spoken to many Chief People Officers (CPOs) working across Private Equity (PE) backed portfolio businesses, many are entering this environment for the first time. Whilst they are deep subject matter experts, navigating the world in PE can at times feel isolating and unknown.

After speaking with Kadisha Lewis-Roberts, CPO, Pure Data Centres Group, I had the idea to open up an informal peer to peer mentoring programme, connecting first time PE CPOs with those who have expert intel into the world of HR, and the value it can bring in PE. By doing so, the mentee gains invaluable insights into their experience.

Kadisha has worked across multiple sectors ranging from FMCG, Telecommunications and Banking. She joined Pure Data Centres Group in January 2023 leading People & Culture and Communications. She started out her career as a specialist in Organisational Design and Learning & Development, and then branched out to generalist Human Resources Roles working for large, complex global organisations on significant transformational change programmes. She lived in Switzerland for 6 years and whilst there ran 2 marathons, found a love for skiing, and worked on one of the biggest M&A deals at the time (SABMiller/ InBev).

Her HR passions are cultural transformation, large and complex change, process improvement and making the complex simple. One of her favourite quotes in life is “minds are like parachutes, they only function when they are open” by Sir Thomas Dewer.

Pure DC designs, builds and operates sustainable data centres for some of the world’s largest technology companies which meet today’s digital demands while safeguarding the future. It currently has 200MW of IT capacity live, or under development across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, including London, Dublin and Jakarta sites.

Two months in, I caught up with Kadisha to understand more about how she has benefited from her external mentor, what insights she has applied to her work, and how she has maximised the value of the relationship.

You are building the plane whilst flying it…

My background is listed company/ FMCG/ FTSE Top 100, and these types of organisations almost come ‘ready-made’ with a significant amount of governance and infrastructure in place.  In addition, you often have large HR teams to lean upon so, in those roles, I have found that it’s less about ‘building the basics’ and more about iterating to next level. Moving into the PE model, irrespective of revenue size or headcount, the business is rapidly evolving and changing. So far, I’ve found that you constantly need to be able to pivot between the ‘here and now’ and building the basics whilst having an eye on the future, ensuring that everything you do is heading towards next stage of growth, which in the PE world can be rapid. You can often be doing this with a lean HR team, which presents both opportunity and challenge. On the one hand, it’s great to be able to see and speak to your whole team daily, on the other hand, it can mean that it’s all hands-on deck and you are building the teams capability whilst delivering the output!

Pace and scale matters in achieving effective performance

You have to move quickly between the strategic and the tactical, being able to shift gears and ‘roll your sleeves up’ is a critical capability.  In PE output is ‘king’, and making things happen whether it be writing company policy, launching an engagement survey or introducing an employee handbook these things can impact the company immediately.  Whilst designing and launching the basics, you must be able to shift gears quickly into the strategic.  I personally have found that a quickly formed roadmap enables you to focus on the ‘end state’ whilst maintaining operational excellence.  This is where the benefit of a great mentor can come in, they can help you prioritise your work outputs, stress test your plan and ultimately enhance your speed to effectiveness.

Adapting to the fast-paced environment of Private Equity

You can take time for granted in listed firms because there are often several authority levels, with large stakeholder groups to consult and inform. In some cases this can help you to take the time to really think through all the options, but equally it can slow things down. In PE, you simply don’t have that luxury; everything needs to be delivered within a relatively short timeframe.  What may take a year to implement in a listed company, needs to be delivered in months (sometimes weeks) in PE. Fast paced growth businesses (both organic and inorganic) want processes in place that enable agility and flexibility and for me, this was a big change. Historically, I had been used to writing fairly lengthy process documents and procedures, but after talking with my mentor, I realised that what I had done previously was not going to fly in the PE world. My mentor helped me understand that creating processes and documents that were succinct, to the point, punchy and compliant, would enable agility rather than take it away. This is a new skill I have learnt and it is something I have passed onto the team. I often say to them; “can we take this from 5 pages to 1?”  For me, the lesson learnt here is that we should not make the simple complex, but rather make the complex simple.

You need to get up close and personal with your data

My mentor has also helped me understand the benefits of interrogating your data. In Private Equity businesses it is so important that you have metrics and KPI’s for everything you do – at the end of the day, every project, piece of work, policy, procedure and programme needs to add value. Metrics also enable you to course correct and pivot quickly when necessary, ensuring you remain consistently aligned with the company’s needs.

Being part of this mentorship has been invaluable to me; I would highly recommend finding a mentor to other CPOs that have recently transitioned into the PE world. “In those first few months, it’s critical that CPOs find a community to talk to in order to help address some of the opportunities and challenges they face, and occasionally offer a sanity check!  Transitioning from FTSE to PE is not impossible; it is different, and if you can find the right mentor to help you navigate the difference you can often dramatically enhance your speed to value creation.

If you would like to find out more about this mentoring initiative, or speak more about HR in Private Equity, please get in touch with Katrina.