Interim Interviews with… Minako Honda

Our Interim team here at Macmillan Davies works with a range of fantastic interim professionals. In the latest edition of our ‘Interim Interviews’ series, Sophie Atkinson, Senior Consultant in our Interim Recruitment team, speaks to Minako Honda, a skilled OD HR Director who specialises in cultural change and leadership development.

Tell me about your career to date?

I started as a sixth-form teacher - helping misbehaving students who were unwilling to study, which led me to my career in ER and Learning & Development within HR. Because of my teaching experience, I can always find solutions, resolve people's behavioural issues, and quickly develop my HR members to move up to the next level.

I started a HR role in global mobility, taxation and visas in Fujifilm. This involved recruitment and rewards in Tokio Marine (insurance), including various ER duties and restructuring within the Union in Japan Airlines. From the Mitsubishi role, my job became more European/global projects such as cross-cultural training, talent acquisition, HR shared service, GDPR, and European ER (restructuring).

After a while with Mitsubishi, I felt a strong need to experience a non-Japanese organisation, so I moved to the UK/global engineering company Meggitt PLC in Basingstoke. Unlike London, Basingstoke was not a multinational working environment. It was so exciting to have such an opportunity to learn something completely new! On my very first day, I saw that people were stunned to see me, a Japanese-speaking English doing a HR leadership role. Their reactions motivated me to work harder there as I wanted them to recognise my skills to work with them. I learned so many things from this assignment that I cannot count.

Since then, I have worked as Global HRD for SafetyKleen and Halma PLC SPS to undertake cultural change programmes, diversity & inclusion (D&I) initiatives, and leadership development schemes. Wherever I have worked, I have learned different aspects of the D&I agenda and gained skills related to cultural change and leadership development. My D&I implementation plan was based on my own experience. Being from a minority group myself, I had very challenging times at work and socially, which have later become fundamental to the skills I use when looking at D&I within businesses. A successful D&I agenda will make employees happier, create a better brand, and bring in more business.

After working with global leaders at Meggitt, Safetykleen, and Halma PLC, I strongly felt the need for executive coaching skills, so now I am an accredited Executive Coach, in addition to a Fellow member of CIPD (FCIPD). I always like to learn and develop my skills.

What attracted you to a career as an Interim specialist?

When you are a permanent HRD, it is difficult to avoid company politics. If you are an external consultant, you would not have full access to the people in the organisation.

As an interim HRD, I can meet everyone and independently assess the company culture and leadership skills to deliver change without being hindered by politics. The interim role has objectives with a timeframe, which could be changed depending on how the project goes. Sometimes the project was not quite what the hiring manager expected, so it was a very exciting challenge. Also, seeing the change I made at the end of the assignment and that people were happier made me very satisfied.

What has been your most enjoyable/memorable part of a project thus far?

My work was successful and recognised by all stakeholders (employees to boards of directors).

• At the end of my assignment, many people asked me to stay longer or permanently as they saw the positive changes and would like the changes to continue
• When I found a root cause for negative company culture and fixed it by communicating with all levels of stakeholders. I was delighted to see that people were happier than before I started.
• When I changed an employee's behaviour by coaching, management recognised and appreciated his change.

What are some of the core skills you use as an Interim HR?

My core skills centre around cultural change, D&I, and leadership development.

I first assess the current culture, D&I, asking the leadership team about their desired culture, and then plan how to get there. I listen and communicate with all stakeholders to understand the culture. Sometimes it leads to interesting and meaningful discussions with leaders on their leadership style and the influence that can have on the company.
Everyone needs to learn continuously to keep growing, and leaders are not different.

What is the best piece of career advice you have received?

As an HRD, what I do in HR is to be compliant, fair, and transparent. This makes recruitment easier, retaining employees, better company brand and employee engagement. Understanding people’s feelings (empathy) is important when I restructure a company. I support people in being able to find their best option.

Anything else you would like to add?

Cross-cultural leadership development – This is a hot topic and something I feel passionate about. I truly think cross-cultural teams are better functioning, more efficient and more innovative.

Coaching & mentoring - Using coaching/mentoring to resolve HR matters instead of perceiving them as ER problems. This approach can create a positive working culture

Get in touch

Minako is immediately available and won’t be on the market for long. To discuss further please contact our interim consultants:

• Sophie Atkinson – satkinson@mdhr.co.uk – 07930 086 518

• Amy Smith – asmith@mdhr.co.uk – 07946 173 393

Alternatively, if you require candidates of a different calibre for your business’s interim needs or if you would like to discuss how you can become an exclusive Macmillan Davies Professional, please contact the above.