STRATEGY WATCH
Career-wise
Managing talent
Challenging future
successfully making more money.
That's what I call leveraging from the
network and exchanging knowledge.
I believe governance is the key for
facilitating knowledge exchange. In very
complex organizations, mechanisms
must be designed to support self-
governance along global, regional and
local lines. This includes clear reporting
lines and well thought out policies for
every area. There is a lot more scope for
improved governance within RI. Global
Human Resources (HR) is certainly on
the right track. At the recent senior
management meeting, our new Global
Head of HR, Wim Dufourné, outlined
policies for creating a leadership team
and evolving policies to facilitate best
practice. (See sidebar.) These
mechanisms are practical and create
an enormous amount of goodwill.
TW: And the bottom line
RD:To say we are happy with the
performance is an understatement.
Well done everyone. H
One of the most promising presentations at the recent
senior management meeting was Wim Dufourné's,
the newly appointed Global Head of Human Resources
(HR) for Wholesale. He fills us in on what's in store for
HR in the near future.
'If-you look at Rabobank's history, we started out with a
domestic outlook,' he says. 'Today the Group has a strong
global focus. To continue on this path we need to ensure
that all businesses and regions are coordinated, our people
are fulfilled career-wise, HR tools are effective and that we
are spreading our vast internal knowledge throughout the
organization.In order to ensure all regions are represented
in HR, Dufourné has set-up a HR Leadership Team, made
up of HR people drawn from around the world. The role of
the team is to make sure communication is filtered effect-
ively throughout the Group, global goals are achieved and
to ensure HR is equipped to support Rabobank people.
'It's an old cliché, but it's true: people are our biggest asset,'
says Dufourné. 'And we need to ascertain whether current
personal development programs are working. Talent
Management is not a new concept but we need to start cap-
italizing on it. It involves assessing the talents our people
have, how they want to develop them and how Rabobank
can help them to do this. In short, we want to get a match
between what employees want and what the organization
needs.It's about setting objectives and managing expect-
ations from both sides. Knowledge-sharing is another area
Dufourné is keen to expand. 'There's no point in keeping
our expertise confined to one department, country or even a
region - we need to share it. Asia's Professionals' Exchange
Program (PEP - see page 23) is just one way we are already
doing this. HR in the Americas is in touch with Asia to see
how the scheme could work there - a perfect example of
sharing best practice throughout the network,' he says.
HR is an integral part of the organization - but it is not in
the lead. It enables the business to achieve its goals.
Dufourné continues, 'HR tools and information help
Rabobank people, who in turn accomplish Group strategy.
If we have well-informed HR people and transparent
processes, we can perform our role more efficiently. That is
what the new global approach, such as the Leadership
Team, will facilitate.Although he is currently looking at
ways to standardize the HR organization, Dufourné insists
it's not a case of 'one size fits all'. He adds, 'The challenge
for HR now is to see where things overlap and how we can
streamline things by sharing our knowledge effectively and
achieve operational and functional excellence.'
Wim Dufourné joined Rabobank as Global Head of
Human Resources for wholesale In February 2003. Dividing
his time between London and Utrecht, Dufourné brings over
twenty years of multinational HR experience to the Group.
The Word I 7
