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Meet Cathy de Jongh, a Human Resources veteran of 20 years based in Wellington, New Zealand
Cathy now runs a practice helping Human Resource Leaders create a more strategic approach to structuring their workforce and organisation.
Cathy sees herself as an HR Architect. She works with a high-level view of organisational team structures, fine-tuning their workforce, ensuring maximum efficiency. Cathy guides her client organisations to focus on being strategic, matching company goals with their ideal future workforce.
As well as being a people strategist, facilitator, mentor and speaker, Cathy is also in the process of writing a book. 'Making the Shift' will be out November 2020 and is based around Cathy's passion for a more strategic Human Resources world.
Cathy answers the Wellington Hustle interview project questions about her vision, setbacks, wanting to give up, traps, inspiration, motivation and breakthroughs.
What was your vision when you first started your venture?
Right from the start, I joined the Thought Leaders Business School. This has helped me shape, develop and grow my practice. It also has a great community of people to interact with and learn from.
Selling myself ended up being a particular personal difficulty. In the beginning, it felt quite yucky. That surprised me. In my role as an HR manager, I often had people approaching and selling themselves to me. Now it's me doing the selling.
My approach to selling is to observe and help. What value can I add to this organisation? How can I help them? That's a different proposition. I'm learning to change my mindset around selling and to get more comfortable doing it.
I was a public servant for 20 years. I classed myself as an internal consultant then. I worked in big organisations, connecting with people and working out how I can help them. But this is quite different.
Over time I'm getting more and more used to selling. It's becoming something that I enjoy. I know what I'm offering can help them.
How did you deal with early setbacks?
It's taken me longer to grow my practice than I imagined. Working out my place in the market and where I can add value.
Currently, I'm helping a really small agency with their workforce strategy. This is giving me real insights into the needs of different kinds of companies. Originally I imagined that I'd work with bigger organisations, helping up-skill their workforce planning. But this small agency has nobody skilled in workforce planning and needs help. They know they need to do something different. They just don't know how to go about it. This is where I can really add value.
In terms of setbacks, you just have to keep ongoing. Have faith that something will eventuate and the world will provide.
“Selling myself ended up being a particular personal difficulty.”
Was there a time that you wanted to give up?
Yes, there have been times. Sometimes I think that I should just get a job. People leaving their HR positions generally move into contracting. Everybody I know seems to be doing it. They all suggest "Why don't you just talk to So in So about a role". And sometimes I feel that I should. There's nothing wrong with contract roles. I imagine that I'll move in and out of them as my practice evolves.
There's a person who I really admire based here in New Zealand, Lisa O'Neil. She's really motivational with lots of energy. Lisa encouraged me to create a mojo playlist of songs that I love. So, on days when I just can't be bothered, I play my mojo playlist. It really lifts my mood.
It's the simple things that help, like telling myself a different story. If I'm calling people up to do business, I have to have conviction and engage at the right energetic level.
Were there any traps that you fell into?
I'm currently developing a lot of intellectual property (IP) and I'm working on a book. One trap is that I can spend all day reading and thinking. I do really enjoy that. But, it is all about having balance and discipline.
I can be a workaholic. Now that I run my own practice, I must ensure that I don't work every day. My work boundaries have been taken away and I now need to learn when to restrain myself.
I'm now focused on my health and wellbeing. Starting and ending my week differently. I take my daughter to work on a Monday morning. I'll go for a long walk around the harbour and think about the week. I really enjoy that. Then to end the week, I spend Friday afternoon in a yoga studio. I'm a fond believer of shaping what your life looks like, creating a routine and living a life by design.
“On days when I just can’t be bothered, I play my mojo playlist. It really lifts my mood”
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What inspires and motivates you?
It's often the people who I work with. I've been lucky to work with some inspiring leaders. Working with motivated people who have a strong vision. Mostly I work alongside senior leaders and I'm inspired by supporting organisations making a difference. With my background in human resources, I can help develop their people and better the organisations' chances of making that difference.
Over the years I've helped a lot of different people with their careers. They might start at an entry-level role and 10 years later I'll see them to a director role. I enjoy helping people harness their potential and watching them find success with their careers. That's my 'Why'.
Can you describe a breakthrough that you're particularly proud of?
I've always wanted to write a book. So I spent this last year testing different ideas.
I need to be careful and choose a topic that I'm still interested in. After writing a book I'll then have to promote and talk about it for the next year. Some authors write books on past experiences. But by the time they finish, they're ready to move on.
I recently hired a booth at the HRNZ Expo to display my theories and to receive feedback.
My breakthrough was how well people connected with my ideas. It's great to know that I'm producing something that's going to be useful for others. And not just something that I'm interested in.
The book is about helping HR functions to move from being operational to more strategic. Research says an HR function that's 20% more strategic goes from being typical to a high-performing function. While discussing my theories with the HR Leaders, they all nodded. We can be more strategic, but there's so much that gets in the way. It was really helpful to test my ideas on this topic and discuss possible solutions. I really believe it's something that will make a difference to these organisations.
The book will be used together with my program, Making the Shift. I facilitate discussions with HR leadership teams so they can make the shift to be more strategic. Helping them see what can be focused on, what should be stopped and what capabilities they may need to make the difference.
Has your vision always been clear and how has it evolved?
No, but it will continue to evolve.
For my next book, I'll be exploring the change of perspective. This fits moving from an operational to a strategic mindset. It's all about looking at things differently.
My vision has changed in terms of realising that I can add value to smaller organisations. That's something I hadn't contemplated earlier. As I talk to more people, learning about their issues, my thinking has evolved.
“You’re in charge, it is your identity, don’t feel constrained.”
WHAT IS BRAND TO YOU AND ITS IMPORTANCE?
When you set up a business based on your name, the brand is connected with your reputation.
For me, it's the reputation that I've built up over the years and what I'm known for.
I'm still learning about brand through the Thought Leaders Business School.
I find it a little weird associating my business brand with my name. I'm still getting used to it. Think about your brand as the persona you're creating. That helps separates it from yourself.
One of the founders of Thought Leaders Business School, Matt Church, he has a strong brand around the name Matt Church. But he says if you knew him personally, you would call him Matthew. The Matt Church brand is what he's creating.
Also, think about what's out in the world about you. Some of it you have put out there yourself. But mostly it's what other people think about you or have experienced with you that counts. It's a real balance weather you control your brand or it controls you.
WHAT HAVE YOU IMPLEMENTED BRAND WISE? WHAT'S HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT?
If your a Thought Leader then sharing your knowledge and personality will impact your brand over time. This allows people to get an appreciation for who you are.
I quite often meet with the people I'm connected with on LinkedIn. They often comment on my posts, even from months ago. Sometimes it does feel like I'm posting content into a black hole. So it's nice when in conversation a person complements me on the content I'm sharing.
When writing, I'm conscious of creating articles that people will find useful. As the number of my connections grow, the broader range of people I have to share my ideas with.
DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR OTHERS STRIVING TO IMPROVE THEIR BRAND?
Be purposeful, but also be light. Know that it will evolve and don't be afraid of that. People don't take as much notice of you as you may think.
You're in charge, it is your identity, don't feel constrained.
In the space that I work, we quite often talk about the reputation of your organisation in terms of being able to attract people. It's all about attraction and retention. It's surprising how little people think about that.
What new employees experience on day one and what they experience every day is the culture and its values. There are the spoken aspirational values and then there's actually what people experience. There's something of value to what new people to your organisation experience on their first week. It's always interesting to ask them what they've seen. Before they become indoctrinated into the organisation.
Connect with Cathy
If you have enjoyed this article and want to start a conversation with Cathy, you can reach out by:
Website: cathydejongh.co.nz
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cathy-de-jongh-nz
Please don’t forget to tell Cathy that I sent you.
Interview and photography by Corporate Headshot Photographer, Tim Morrison (all rights reserved)