What it Means to Be a Part of the SSON Family

Simon Brown and Gerard Hussey are HR experts with decades of experience. The two met in the 1990s when both worked on the same HR team at SmithKline Beecham Consumer Brands (later known as GSK, and then more recently Haleon). The two HR Directors went down their separate career paths in 1995 but have both been trailblazers in the HR shared services space. In the 28 years since Simon and Gerard have worked separately with six different organizations to set up HR shared services and GBS. 

A few years ago, Simon and Gerard reconnected via LinkedIn and discussed their similar career paths. Simon, who was already a contributor to SSON recommended Gerard check out the site. Since then the two have hosted a podcast series, co-wrote reports, and contributed several articles to the SSON website. Despite their recent collaboration the two had yet to revitalize their friendship in person with Simon located in England and Gerard in Republic of Ireland.

This May, after nearly three decades, Simon and Gerard finally got to shake hands once again at SSOW Europe in Lisbon, Portugal. 

SSON Digital sat down with Simon and Gerard to discuss their relationship, the state of HR, and their work with SSON. 

The One Constant in HR Shared Services 

Both Simon and Gerard feel that in their 20+ years in the HR shared services space the function has faced a lot of change as new technologies and operating models have emerged, however some things will always stay the same.

“While so much has changed with the rapid growth of GBS across all functions, the one constant has been change resistance, initial change resistance and having to overcome that resistance,” said Simon.

There is always initial change resistance when implementing HR shared services, regardless of the era. This is because people are naturally resistant to change, and they may be worried about how the new HR model and HR Information System will affect their jobs.

Having been leaders in the implementation of HR shared services, Simon and Gerard know the importance of presenting a strong business case to stakeholders to overcome any hesitancy. 

“When implementing service operations, you need to be clear why you’re doing it and what you’re trying to achieve,” said Gerard. “And you build that through your business case.”

Another piece of advice Simon and Gerard shared is the need for Sustained Sponsorship from management during the operations transformation. Transformation can be a rollercoaster journey, and the destination won’t be reached unless leaders support the changes throughout. On a similar note, Gerard adds that a common failure mode is to talk too early about the new future and how good it will be.  He advises that “it never hurts to under-promise and then over-deliver.” If you set the expectation for shareholders, managers and employees that the transformation might be an arduous process, you get engagement and support during the inevitable settling-in stage, and as a result you build ‘confidence and trust’ in the new service.  

The SSON Experience

Simon first heard about SSON in 2008 while he was the HR services director for Coca-Cola Europe. He took some of his team with him to a SSOW Europe in Budapest at a time when they were early in the process of establishing shared services.

“We had to sift through the sand to find some nuggets of gold,” said Simon. “But sure enough we found enough gold to bring back some important knowledge with us following the conference.”

At this conference, Simon met Barbara Hodge, the editor-in-chief of SSON, who invited him to present a case study on the journey of establishing a virtual shared services organization for Coca-Cola. This was the beginning of a 15-year partnership that has seen Simon present, write and collaborate with SSON. His HR Strategist Column, and Simon Speaks With Shared Services Leaders articles were popular with SSON readers.

Gerard would become an SSON member years later after reconnecting with Simon via LinkedIn in 2020 and found that SSON offered the type of professional experience he was looking for.

“I’m a great believer in having an outside-in view,” said Gerard. “Too many individuals and organizations are insular and don’t make enough of an effort to look outside for best practice and new ideas.”

SSON events provide Gerard the opportunity to get that outside-in view. Gerard uses conferences as an opportunity to benchmark his work with other organizations, something that he previously had to orchestrate on his own.

As collaborators and contributors for SSON, Simon and Gerard have found they make a well-rounded duo. When the two first reconnected, they found that each were concerned about some methods of operational transformation that organizations were utilizing and determined a podcast would be a great medium to share their insights.

“We are complementary to each other,” Gerard said. “We don’t disagree, but we each have our specific hobby horses, so we make sure the other isn’t falling down a rabbit hole.”

Reunited Again

Despite co-hosting a podcast series together, Simon and Gerard had yet to meet face-to-face since they worked for SmithKline Beecham in the 90’s. That changed on May 22 this year at SSOW Europe in Lisbon, Portugal.

Not only were both men attending the conference, but they were scheduled to present during HR Shared Services Day. Both Simon and Gerard arrived at the conference and had little time for a reunion as they were quickly shepherded to the stage 25 minutes later.

Simon and Gerard were introduced by another SSON contributor Tim Palmer. Then the two began doing what they had done countless times in the past, talking about shifting trends in the HR shared services model.

For the next 45 minutes, the two experts discussed the shift to an employee-focused HR experience, the new technologies required to drive digital transformation, and much more.

They referenced a Research Insights Report on “The Challenges and Complexities of Running HR in Global Services Operations“ which they had co-written with Barbara Hodge and Tom Olavi Bangemann at SSON Research & Analytics. 

“Overall, it was a good experience at SSOW Europe,” said Simon. “After we finished at HR Shared Services Day, we were able to go out and celebrate the work we had done together over a nice Portuguese meal.”