Exclusive Trusted Magazine Q&A with Andrew Stotter-Brooks, Vice President Learning & Development @ Etihad Aviation Group
Could you tell us about your career path and how you have evolved in the HR field?
Andrew Stotter-Brooks: Early part of my career first 15 years was as an operator. My experience working in operations has and continues to provide incredible insights. As Covey tells us ‘Seek to Understand before you seek to be understood’ Lesson well learnt. The more that you seek to understand the needs of your customer the more effective you become. In my experience Humans have 4 needs - A need to be respected, a need to be heard, A need to be acknowledged and a need to be remembered.
What are the high-impact HR practices in your organisation?
Andrew Stotter-Brooks: We use KDB methodology in our Performance Measurement tool, the tool provides clarity and simplicity to both team members and managers and helps to remove ambiguity as our team members follow their careers with EAG. The model is briefly outlined below.
KNOW: What team members need to ‘Know’, the theory and knowledge, this includes the knowledge and skills they require to be competent as an Etihad employee.
DO: What team members must ‘Do’, these are examples of how team member can demonstrate in practice the expected skills based on their knowledge and experience and helps managers understand what good looks like
BE: Finally, the ‘BE’ – helping team understand how the use of relevant skills, tools and knowledge is important to make them successful in their current role and potential future roles.
How we rate team members -
Beginner: Team member demonstrates basic knowledge and limited experience. May need support from others and frequent guidance
Experienced: Team member demonstrates practical experience and is able to demonstrate those behaviors without assistance
Expert: The “go to” Team Member in this particular skill or behavior. Is able to guide others and is a role model in this area
How can we strengthen the contribution of HR professionals in supporting transformations?
Andrew Stotter-Brooks: It’s critical to be agile and create rapidly forming and disbanding teams drawn from business expertise. We have strong Coaching and Mentoring Programmes that support this process. We place great importance on coaching our teams. ‘Say less, ask more’ The expert is always the team member, she is closest to the problem. The more that we apply this mantra the greater the ownership and engagement we see from our teams.
What are the key skills of employees that you consider to be priorities for development or reinforcement in 2021 - 2022?
Andrew Stotter-Brooks: Communicating and leading remote workers, Coaching (It never ends) and ‘Teaming’ (Agile) Impact – the ability to influence others in a meaningful way.
What managerial practices do you consider to be priorities for development or reinforcement in 2021 - 2022?
Andrew Stotter-Brooks: Resilience and Mental Toughness plus Coaching and Mentoring
