By Deborah Asantewaah SARFO
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)-People Factory Limited, Dr. Hazel P. Berrard Amuah has advised female human resource (HR) professionals to embrace and leverage competition to propel growth in their respective companies.
For HR professionals to harness competition, a powerful catalyst for growth, she encouraged them to initiate “cross-border conversations” with their competitors in the industry.
Speaking at the Ghana Employers Association’s (GEA) 10th anniversary Women in HR Conference, she described how her previous position as the company’s CEO saw significant growth as a result of adopting cross-board conversation with competitors during the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
“In my first year as CEO, the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme hit this country. Beyond calling my boss, board and team, I spoke to every competitor in the industry. ….. at the end of the period, all who were part of the conversation are businesses that grew above the average industry growth.”
She added, “Competition is a friend and not an enemy, depending on how you use the resource to your advantage”.
Elaborating on the event’s theme, ‘The Power of HER; Redefining HR Leadership’, she explained HER as an acronym for Humility, Empathy and Resolve – charging professionals to execute their responsibility with humility, understand what their workers are going through and be resilient to deliver at all times.
The Vice President-GEA, Victoria Hajar, in her welcome address underscored the conference as a “platform that inspires, encourages and equips women in HR with the needed tools and knowledge” – adding that it aims to promote the sharing of innovative ideas and best practices to improve career advancements and organisational performance.
For her part, HR Director-Africa Global Logistics Limited Edith Akosua Gyamfi in a panel discussion indicated that one main challenge of HR is balancing the needs of workers with available resources in the organisation.
She added that economic challenges in the country, coupled with low performance of the company, make the situation more challenging.
“You have workers demanding a whole lot and leadership of the company expects you to manage those expectations. It can be very challenging in a company that is not doing so well. Also, in the economic conditions that we are in as a country, high inflation and price of fuel continue to take a toll on workers. So how do you support them and at the same time get the organisation to operate and stay afloat,” she said.
Suggesting some solutions to challenges within the HR fraternity, Director for Resource Development and Membership Services-GEA, Yvonne Asare Yeboah, highlighted the need to leverage AI and technology to create a flexible working environment, especially for women to execute their roles well both at work and at home.
“For females, the biological role that we play prevents us from taking up leadership roles at work. With the implementation of flexible arrangements for women, they can give of their best at their offices and also concentrate on domestic chores,” she said.
