CHRO IN ACTION Resilience is everything If there’s one word to describe the past few years, it’s uncertainty. Whether it’s the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising inflation, the energy crisis or the cryptocurrency crash, businesses have had to adapt quickly to change. Some organizations have even thrived since they have the right mix of people and technology to adapt to changing conditions. Kerry Dryburgh, Chief People Officer at bp calls this the platform of opportunity. “It’s about leading transformation internally and then looking beyond, considering the challenges externally, to make a difference in the world” she says. “It’s about purpose and how we respond to societal expectations. And then it’s about engagement and the commerciality.” There are examples of this everywhere in the organization. On a high level, all of bp’s HR tools and data are in the cloud, all to ensure that employees have the best possible experience. Moving forward, Dryburgh expects to be able to use analytics and insights for a real-time look at employee sentiment—and react quickly, if necessary. For instance, Dryburgh’s team found that bp employees who work for great team leaders are 15 points more engaged than those who see their team leader less often and receive less feedback. Moving forward, bp is creating an agenda focused on driving engagement and performance. “So, it’s having that discussion as opposed to it being about what we intuitively think we need to do...[and] underpinning the ‘why’ in a much more robust way.” Dryburgh has also found bp is well positioned to support the greater good, beyond what’s traditionally expected of a CHRO or HR in general. She worked with external partners, including NGOs, to create a system of support for refugees—not just connecting them with jobs, but linking all the other aspects as well, such as determining if someone needs language training or financial support to cover the costs of requalification. It’s a complete rethinking of the talent strategy in a time of upheaval that not only helps the business in a time of crisis, but also the people most affected by that crisis. Ultimately, Dryburgh sees resilience—and leveraging that platform of opportunity—in three facets. The first is transformation and using HR tech and talent to help the company evolve and grow to meet its goals in a constantly changing world. (To this end, bp is aided by Accenture’s transformation GPS tool to help them understand their progress on the journey.) The second is embedding the importance of transformation and talent throughout the C-suite and with the board and opening the door to collaboration. And the third is leaving a legacy, so that the company and the communities it serves are all better off than when she arrived at bp. Her advice? “Think bigger than the seat that you sit in.” 28