Kleos Africa Blog

BRIEF BIO

Jude is a Nigerian whose experience in Human Resource Management (HRM) is multifaceted. His paid employment and consultancy experience in HRM cuts across industries like education management, pharmaceutical and FMCG, IT/AI, media, construction, banking, agro-allied services, recreation and tourism as well as a couple of others tied to ongoing consulting projects. His areas of expertise are job analysis and evaluation; recruitment and selection; HR strategy formulation; change management as well as setting up of HR departments. In addition to these, Jude delivers lectures on HRM to aspiring and practising HR professionals. He writes opinion eds on HRM too.

Tell us a bit about yourself

I hold a B.Sc. in Psychology and an M.Sc. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from University of Ibadan. As an undergrad, I was President of the Nigerian Association of Psychology Students, UI and as a graduate student, I was Governor of the Industrial-Organizational Psychology class and the combined class (i.e. all specialties in the Psychology Masters programme).

I am a CIPM certified HRM practitioner who considers himself a scholar-practitioner because I operate in the interstices of theory and practice—I strive to bridge the academics and practice gap. Before HRM practice, I was a researcher. Principles of research still shape my practice.

What made you choose your specialization in HR Consultancy?

I chose to leave paid employment for HR consultancy because I needed to truly practise and engage the full spectrum of HRM. I was not comfortable with the fragmented practice or would I say, buffet approach to HRM in paid employment. I was interested in offering strategic and sustainable solutions to organizational (structural and people-related) problems that required me to dig deep and occasionally, think outside the box. I settled for my chosen areas of specialization because I needed to have some focus and I considered those areas a perfect fit for my skills set.

Why did you choose to register as an HR consultant on Kleos Africa?

I chose to register as an HR consultant on Kleos Africa because I share in the vision of the Founder, Glory Enyinnaya, who is a friend and a former colleague. Moreover, Kleos Africa is a platform with a reach that affords me the opportunity offer strategic and sustainable solutions to structural and people-related problems in companies, especially start-ups.

What is an HR solution?

Simply put, an HR solution to organizational issues are strategic solutions to people-related issues in companies. These solutions must be informed by thorough organizational research, HR audit etc. and they must be practical and sustainable from a business point of view.

Why are HR solutions important?

Organizations are fundamentally about people. Though numbers are of utmost importance to many business owners and rightly so, these numbers can only be attained by a competent, engaged, and satisfied workforce. People-related challenges, in companies, over a period negatively impact the bottom-line due to avoidable costs like turnover costs, loss in productivity, wastage et cetera. These costs make profit-making an elusive goal.

Offering practical and sustainable solutions to structural, process- and people-related challenges guarantee business growth because people drive numbers and sustain brands. HR solutions that are practical and sustainable guarantee business continuity. At the core of HRM is the non-negotiable goal of advancing business objectives through meaningful engagement of human capital.

What are the elements of a good HR solution?

A good HR solution must be robust in the sense that it engages four (4) different aspects: HR audit, strategy formulation, implementation, and measurement of impact of deployed strategy.

1. HR Audit – Every meaningful HR intervention must start with some current position analysis. What policies, SOPs, practices etc. exist? Are they in use? How effective and sustainable is the organizational structure? Stretching it further, you might want to examine documents like employee exit forms, appraisal documents, if need be. You conduct a thorough diagnosis to have a deep understanding of the HR system. Beyond the checklist, engage stakeholders too.
2. Strategy formulation – Based on findings and insights gained, you formulate a strategy that must align with the business strategy. This strategy must take into consideration manpower capacity and capabilities. The strategy will eventually come down to tactical deployment of key functions and programmes within the spectrum of HR functions.
3. Implementation – A good strategy must be implemented systematically and in concert with key stakeholders especially top management and line management.
4. Measurement – The impact of implemented strategy must be measured through use of relevant metrics, and where none exists, proxies. This ultimately helps determine how good the strategy was.

What advice do you have for an entrepreneur who is considering obtaining an HR Solution?

I think an entrepreneur faced with people-related challenges and is willing to engage an HR consultant to provide solution is on the right path. The key thing is to ensure that upon engagement, he or she provides the needed cooperation and support to the HR consultant. I advise the entrepreneur to approach the process with an open mind because some solutions may be unanticipated but are in the best interest of the company.

Need to have a short discovery session with Jude? Reach out to him on the KleosAfrica platform today.