Marcus Waters CFHRNZ
What led you to a career in HR and the position that you are in currently?
Throughout my career I have been involved in the development and guiding of others in one way or another. My early career was in outdoor education, running experiential education programmes for young people. I helped develop life skills, confidence, interpersonal maturity, and leadership capability in 100s of young kiwis. I became curious as to what attributes enable people to work together effectively. This fascination led me to complete a Masters degree at Waikato and then into a role as Human Resource Management consultant. I was heavily involved in training needs analysis, training design and delivery; helping organisations develop the skills they needed to succeed. I transitioned into an HR manager role and was influenced by Dave Ulrich’s work and embraced the business partner approach. Next, I was keen to tackle the challenge of shaping HR strategy for an entire organisation and so moved into a General Manager HR position. It’s the team leadership I really enjoy and the challenge of pulling on the cultural levers around the executive table.
Are there any specific highlights of your career that you wish to share?
Across my career I am most proud of the coaching, training and mentoring of staff within my teams. From leading small team to large teams, I have invested effort into the development of others. This has involved teaching and coaching graduates new to the profession through to mid-career professionals. It’s when years later that a few of these professionals have expressed their thanks I’ve felt a warm glow of satisfaction. There have been more tangible career moments, such as restructuring a business unit of 300 staff after the Christchurch earthquakes in a dignified way. Or growing a civil construction company, again after the earthquakes, from 100 staff to almost 500 over the course of 18 months, without hurting anyone!
What career advice would you give to someone early on in their career in HR?
Try to work for or gain experience in an organisation with good HR systems and processes. Learn the foundational HR pillars in an organisation with best practise - good recruitment systems, remuneration structure, industrial relationships, Te Ao Māori practises, etc. These best practises are often in larger organisations that have the resources to invest in good systems (but not always). Learn what good looks like. Try to find a mentor, maybe someone who works for a different organisation (you may be able to find someone through HRNZ). Learn from others that have been there, done that. HR is contextual, what works in one organisation may not work for another. By learning the best practise principles of people management and gaining experience across a variety of situations you’ll develop insight and start to recognise what HR approach is going to work best in your organisation. Go to the HRNZ meetings and grow your network of HR professionals.
Please describe your journey towards becoming a Chartered Fellow. How was the experience?
In 2017 I moved into a GMHR role and felt an obligation to give back to the profession. I joined the Southern HRNZ branch and then after a couple of years I joined the HRNZ Board. I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the Board, and felt we set a good direction and made some quality decisions. Becoming a Chartered Fellow has been something of a 20-year journey, each role building on the skills and experience of the previous. The application process made me reflect on my experience, mistakes made, and lessons learnt. Over the last year I have assessed HRNZ members wishing to become Chartered members. It’s been good to see so much interest from HR professionals wishing to have their knowledge and skills recognised through Chartership. It’s testament to the maturing of the profession and hard work of the HRNZ team.
What are the next steps in terms of your career now that you are a Chartered Fellow?
In the last couple of years, I’ve developed commercial skills and moved into operational leadership; however, my leadership approach has been shaped by my years in Human Resource management. I’m keen to keep assessing as I’d like to see HRNZ chartership continue to grow and be something that HR professionals naturally aspire to. I think it should carry the same mana and prestige as other professions that have chartership. I’ll continue to advocate for the HRNZ and the value of membership. I am interested in health and wellbeing and would like to further my knowledge and understanding in this important field.