Black History Month - An interview with Bukola Bayo-Yusuf

Introduction by Chikere Igbokwe

Black History Month, which started in the US, is an annual event remembering important people and events in the history of the African Diaspora. In the UK, it runs throughout  the month of October.

This year, Black History Month takes on even greater significance. 2020 has brought a number of injustices to the forefront, and the Black Lives Matter movement has gained further prominence. We have seen that everyone is taking on the injustices of racism. This is not black versus white – it's everyone fighting what is wrong.

As I work in the HR field, I felt that it was important for me to showcase a number of black senior HR leaders in this field. Over the month, we will publish a number of interviews with senior HR leaders. We hope this will inspire the next diverse generation of HR professionals and help senior leaders to understand and recognise the importance of a diverse workforce throughout the organisation.

Chikere Igbokwe, Associate Director, Macmillan Davies

Bukola Bayo-Yusuf, VP Global Performance Effectiveness Partner – Barclays

My love affair with HR started in my final year of an Accounting and Management degree when I realised that I in fact did not want to become an accountant much to the dismay of my mum who wanted me to walk in my father’s footsteps. HR was the elective module in my final year and I absolutely fell in love with it and went on to do a Masters and haven’t looked back since! Today, I am a results-driven Global Performance Partner focused on defining and developing the performance vision and strategy for a global company with over 89,000 employees. A critical part of my role is focused on developing an internal communications strategy in order to embed key messages as well as helping senior leaders enact performance management solutions in order to enhance colleagues’ and thus business performance. I also have a strong track record in various facets of HR from large global matrixed institutions including Talent Acquisition, Employee Relations, Reward, Diversity & Inclusion, Strategic HR Business Partnering and Leadership Development. I am married with three children who keep me on my toes and in my (very little) spare time I lead a pre-marital guidance course for couples who are about to be married.

Q&A

What time does your alarm go off and what is your morning routine? (You can talk about any exercises you do, or if you read etc)

My alarm goes off at 6.45 and my morning routine normally consists of getting three kids up and ready to go to school/nursery! Because of their ages they are currently all at different schools/nursery so I currently have three drop offs to contend with in the mornings.

How has covid 19 and the fact we are all working from home changed your routine?

WFH full time has its pros and cons definitely. I love how flexible my work day is and being able to drop/pick up the kids more is certainly lovely but I find that there is the tendency to work longer hours and not know when to ‘switch off’ as the boundaries between work life and home life is very blurred.

How do you feel right now? (About 2020, Covid 19, BLM)

I have good days and bad days as I am sure everyone does. Some days I bask in the silver lining of 2020 and enjoy more family time and then some days I am overwhelmed by the weight of all that has happened and how things won’t be ‘normal’ anytime soon - for some reason this happens mostly when I go to a shopping centre or anywhere that used to be full of people and anytime I notice just how much has changed (closed shops/restaurants, masks everywhere) I just feel so overwhelmed! With regard to the BLM movement however my emotions are very stable. I am motivated. Motivated to act and not just talk/vent/moan. So a close friend and fellow HR leader and I are working on something to change the narrative on young black talent. Watch this space!!

What are you responsible for at Barclays?

After a long stint as a senior HR business partner I decided to get some specialist experience so for the last two years my role has been Global Performance Partner and I focus on defining and developing the performance vision and strategy for a global company with over 89,000 employees. A critical part of my role is focused on developing an internal communications strategy in order to embed key messages as well as helping senior leaders enact performance management solutions in order to enhance colleagues’ and thus business performance.

How did you get into HR?

HR was the elective module in my Accounting degree and seemed to be the only 2 hour lecture I stayed awake in! I went on to do a master’s and got my first HR role in Merrill Lynch and the rest as they say is history 

Describe your typical day

Well earlier I stated I set my alarm for 6.45am but what I didn’t say is any one of my other three alarms AKA kiddies might wake me up first (sometimes all three! Lol) once I drop them all off at their respective places I get back and its work work work. It’s currently a really busy period for me so I’m working long hours at the moment. I am very disciplined when it comes to Fridays though and won’t take any meetings on Friday unless it is exceptionally urgent. Friday is my give back day so I do a lot of thinking and strategising on Friday both on ideas for work but also other initiatives that I am interested in or passionate about.

What has been your greatest challenge in your career to date?

Gosh there’s been loads but one that does stand out is when I did a HRBP role as a mat cover. It was my first HRBP role and I was still quite early in my career. In my first week I had to streamline policies post a huge company merger which included hosting town halls and manage a major global restructure program with numerous regional regulations to consider. That has been my steepest learning curve to date but also the most rewarding role I have done!

What advice would you give younger people getting into the profession today – in particular minority candidates?

Work on your confidence!!! I have spent a significant portion of my career in recruitment/talent acquisition and one thing that is the common denominator amongst top talent is confidence! I have seen people with a lower technical competence get the job just because of how well they carried themselves. Now I am not saying don’t be on top of your game/industry as those who aren’t eventually get found out but the way you carry yourself and the confidence you display goes a long way and sometimes I find that sometime culture or gender can act as a barrier to this so definitely something I would like to flag to those in their early careers.

What was the best career advice you were ever given and by who?

Two great pieces of advice I hold on to: 1. My mum always says to me to manage up as well as down – this means your interactions with your manager are important and that relationship shouldn’t be top down as there is a level of influence you can display so things work in your favour. 2. My husband always says – ask for feedback and push to get developmental feedback not just the good stuff.

Can you recommend any books and or podcasts?

Book: I am currently reading Susie Ramroop’s ‘Be the leader you want to see’ and I totally recommend it to everyone especially women in leadership or those who have their sights set on leadership. Way too many nuggets!! Podcast: Jesus and Jollof by Yvonne Orji and Luvvie Ajayi because everyone needs Jesus and Jollof always makes my day!  On the real though it’s a fun podcast and always manages to brighten my day.