Melanie Lepine is a passionate people leader with a specialism in talent and development. Known for her inclusive leadership style, her passion for innovation and change and her firm belief that the HR, Talent and Learning and Development leaders have a unique opportunity to influence and drive the strategy and overall results of an organisation.
As a thought leader, she regularly speaking at conferences and participates in networking events.
Her key areas are Global Change Management, Strategic People Planning, Innovations in Learning and Talent Development. With experience in the Retail, Finance and Premium Travel and Lifestyle sectors and proven success both face to face and in a virtual environment. A passion for culture change, employee engagement and development and a proven track record achieving metric driven targets through empowering people.
“There was just that feeling of not just going through the motions, doing these things with a purpose. She cared about that purpose and in her care about that purpose, she cared about us. That made us want to care about what she cared about.”
May I just start off by asking you what the word soul does mean to you?
I think it is about authenticity, but I think it’s about much more than that. I think it’s about purpose and I think it’s about having a voice. And I think it’s about really being connected to the people, the person, the business, depending on your circumstance. For me, it’s about believing. It’s about believing in and feeling a part of whatever it is that you’re in and with. I think in a nutshell that is what it feels like to me. It’s made up of lots of different things to come to a point where you have got soul in an organization, but I think, high level, that’s what it means to me.
How important is it in business?
It’s hugely important. I think what’s interesting is you don’t hear many organizations talk about soul, do you? You hear them talk about engagement, but I don’t think engagement is soul. Soul feels so much more than engagement. Engagement to me is a high level. “Yes, I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, because I know what it is and I’ve got some kind of a purpose”, whereas soul feels much more meaningful. I feel it is much deeper. It’s a visceral thing. Soul. It comes from a place of: “I believe in this and I want to be a part of it, and I’m connected to it”, rather than: “I know what I’ve got to do and therefore I am doing it.” Does that make sense?
We’re in this crisis at this time and we’re hoping that all these people working from home are able to stay motivated, stay focused, stay productive. If we just say: “We’re going to do a team day once a quarter or once a year, where we’re going to really get people and “ra-ra-ra” them up just before we do our pre-engagement survey…” – and suddenly we expect them to stay connected to the business, it’s not going to work. And that’s not going to work now because suddenly everyone is at home with their own distractions and their own priorities. So, unless you’ve got a real soul connection, I think you’re going to lose people. Aside of the base driver of: “I need some money and I’ve got to continue to work, I’ve got to live”.
So, I think an example of that is while I was furloughed. I’m three months out of the business and I’ve got four direct reports, one who’s on maternity leave, so three. Two have stayed in the business and one is furloughed alongside me and yet I continued to have a weekly meeting with my team. On Teams, in a light-hearted way, in the evening with a drink. The focus was not work, because half of us weren’t working. It was about that connection that says. “I still care about you and what’s going on in your life. Whether it be that you’re planting your bedding or whether it be that you’re struggling to keep up with work because there are half the people there; it matters, I care about you.”
And therefore, we all care about each other. Because we are all in that connected group. That’s for sure not me dictating that we are going to have a meeting, it’s that they all want to get together because that connection is there. They don’t want to lose that just because two of us aren’t working. And so, for me, that’s the soul. It means that everybody that’s in that environment, team, organization is there because they want to be. Because they’ve got a genuine care for the people, the purpose, the reason for being.
Can you give us an example of a business driven with soul? How did they achieve this?
This Photo by Tesco Baldock is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
Tesco is where I started. That was my first ten years. So, it was my foundational, career building start. And I suppose it was the first big organization I had worked for and it was at the time when Tesco was on the up. Terry Leahy was in charge. He really grew that business. But again, he did it in a way that was about the people. At that time, I did a lot of change agency work with the organization. I did a lot of stuff about partnership and how do you take your people with you, but also helping them think about their customer. And you help people to think differently about the way they respond to their customer.
And so, for me, it comes back to the notion of soul, and the connection to what you believe in. They’re the things that I believe in: I really believe in people; I believe in developing and growing and helping people be the best that they can be. And that has always been a part of me. And I think Tesco, at that time, really embraced that. And so, I felt connected to their purpose.
So, even down to the simple statement: “Every little helps”. For me, that could be such a glib, throw-away comment? But it resonates with me. It says it’s not about a big, bold, brash show of investment or connection or whatever. It’s about a little thing will make a difference. A little thing can help somebody to have a different life, or be better, or grow, or whatever. And I think sometimes it’s language, isn’t it? Sometimes it’s the language that people use. Does that resonate with me? Does that connect with me? That helps. I suppose it’s the cultural piece isn’t it? Culturally, I felt very aligned to Tesco and therefore it was much easier for me to feel soul in an organization that uses language that I use. I would shop there anyway, so the people that are using that organization feel connected to me and I feel like I am helping people. It would be like my mum or my gran, so I felt connection, because every part of it felt like something that was important to me or connected with me.
How about the best leader you’ve experienced? Someone who truly led…with soul?
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
If I think about the leader that I feel has led me with the most soul, it actually was somebody at American Express. And she had real passion and energy, but she had a real authenticity and humanness about her. She could really motivate me, but not because I needed motivating, not, “Here’s a carrot, you need to chase it” – but just she was very good at understanding who I was and what I needed, as well as for the rest of the team. She understood that and could adapt herself to really drive us. But drive us in a way that didn’t feel like we were being driven. We wanted to do it for her, because she was so passionate, she was so connected, she was so just human.
What did she do specifically that motivated you so deeply?
I felt she knew me and knew who I was. In all of our conversations, she was interested in my family, she knew their names, she knew what they were doing or what state of their life they were in. And I’ve got quite a complicated family, but she still knew that and would often ask about them. To understand what was important, what was going on. So, personally, she was always very connected to me. She was empowering. She would ask me my views, she would encourage me to speak up and out in front of people. And not just with just her. But in front of her leaders and in front of our senior leaders. She would always recognize all of us in the right way, and I suppose that’s the key for me. It wasn’t just gushy, gush: “Melanie’s amazing, Melanie’s amazing…” – it would be: “Natalie (who’s her boss), Melanie’s done this piece of work, I want her to talk you through it because she has done X, Y, Z that was really strong on this project.” So, she was specific about what it was that worked and what it was that wasn’t.
She also loved the company, so she was a bit of a lifer in American Express and she completely ‘got’ them. So, to your point about that legacy and that history, she could bring that to life as well for us. We did lots of innovation in our roles, we did learning labs and thinking about how we could change up learning in the organization. So, she would be looking at how to reduce the time in the classroom; how we can do virtual learning and speed up the time in the classroom. And we do that because actually that is going to give us more time for the people to develop them on stuff that they want to be learning, rather than just learning the induction stuff that they’ve got to do. We want to do that because then we are going to have more time where we can elevate their skills somewhere else.
There was just that feeling of not just going through the motions, doing these things with a purpose. She cared about that purpose and in her care about that purpose, she cared about us. That made us want to care about what she cared about.
This interview is one of 60 I’ve completed this year with a mix of past customers and other leading industry figures. Do connect with me on Linked In or get in touch via our website if you’d like to know more about the research findings and/or explore how to drive your business forward…with soul.
You can book me to speak personally at an event or meeting, online or (circumstances allowing) face to face.
