McInnis-Day has been in her current role since October 2013. Before being elevated to the executive suite, she was SAP’s vice-president of human resources for North America, having begun her career at SAP America, Inc in September 2002. Before that, McInnis-Day was director of human resources at Verticalnet, Inc between 2000 and 2002, and consultant, performance and rewards, at Mercer from May 1998 to November 2000.
In that time, the digital revolution has transcended business and society, something which McInnis-Day says is an important factor today in the people SAP hires, and a factor that all businesses should take heed of.
“We want leaders and employees that have high agility. Those are the type of leaders we need in the digital space,” she says.
SAP aims to make the engagement between themselves and the customer happen as quickly as possible. Inseparable from this is how communication within the organisation flows from top to bottom, from side to the middle, and vice versa.
“How quickly does a concern get addressed, how quickly does a resolution get back to the customer? That is a key concern for a high-tech, fast-paced moving organisation. The things that are barriers to high engagement and agility is when we have formal silos or where people aren’t engaging across the organisation,” McInnis-Day says.
“We look at how you build a business model to bring in all components that are needed for that one topic, that one product, that one market, and we ensure that it is very streamlined internally to get things done and also to engage with the customer.”
Ultimately, everything taking place within the business must be focused on the customer.
“I do think there will always be hierarchy in organisations. I don’t think you’ll ever get away from it, but it’s important to not have too many layers from the top to the bottom so it doesn’t impede productivity,” she says.
This manifests itself in the physical layout of the office, which, according to McInnis-Day, can be anywhere. As technology develops and the need for specialised skills increases, highly sought after professionals cannot necessarily be counted on to be in the same place or come to the office every day.
“It allows us to find talent in any place because people need different types of flexibility wherever they are in their life,” she says.
Offices help to promote togetherness and a sense of ‘team’ within an ecosystem, but one aspect of the working space that McInnis-Day feels needs further exploration is the outdoor space. In Germany, SAP used woods and trails where tables can be set up to host meetings. In nature, people are more creative and focused on the task at hand.
Asked about dealing with millennials within the organisation, McInnis-Day immediately pointed that millennials, as a group, carry many labels but broadly speaking, all of us at a similar point in our careers were millennials, or what she refers to as “early talents”.
“It’s almost saying that a whole generation is the same. I don’t like to ‘other’ group people, but it happens everywhere and it is really confining.”
What does make younger employees today different from their predecessors is their leveraging of technology. This has arguably made them more communicative and vocal in the workplace, which McInnis-Day suggests is often confused with being demanding or entitled.
Managing such a mindset requires a thoughtful approach, but it can empower an organisation if harnessed the right way.
“They’re going to be more vocal and not hide, meaning we can be even more innovative. They won’t hold back because of hierarchy, they’ll ask brave questions, they’ll speak up in meetings and be less hindered, which I believe is the right way to be,” McInnis-Day says.
“They’re a great way to get different views and different ideas. You can use a group like early talent to make things thrive, to drum up employee engagement and new initiatives that can live in an organisation.”
The focus of the HR department is always outward, on others within their organisation. This can lead to a dangerous training gap forming where HR professionals are not part of the development programme for employees within the business.
McInnis-Day says it’s a legitimate concern for any HR department.
“We’re probably the last ones who do training for ourselves. You have to deliberately have that as part of your overall people strategy. You typically have an HR person for HR, and it’s not an easy role, I must say,” she says.
“HR needs to remember they are a special and very strategic and powerful part of an organisation and leaders that recognise that realise that strength. The more they educate, the more they take care of themselves, the stronger the company will be.”