Kirsty Hunter

1) Can you introduce yourself and your role at innocent?
Hello, I’m Kirsty and I have the privilege to lead the Marketing Function at innocent, which is a team of just over 100 people across Europe

2) You joined innocent from Britvic in March 2020. How did you personally find it taking on a new leadership role in Covid?

I joined innocent back in March 2020. I was about 10 days in and we went into a national lockdown, which for me was working from home, home schooling two children; but in addition to this  my husband put his back out and could not move for around six weeks and we had just started work on an extension on our kitchen…. I do not think you could have made it up!   

My well-structured 30,60,90 day plan was thrown in the bin within 10 days. I will not lie, there was a period not long after I started where I really thought ‘can I do this?’. The usually ‘mechanisms’ I would have used to establish myself in my new company where not there. Like the informal chats and catch ups with the team and my peers, lunch or drinks after work, time round the table reviewing and discussing creative, the team building and the collaboration. Things that would help build trust, credibility and have a positive impact on my health and well-being. My wobble wasn’t the job or the company, the wobble was the unprecedented situation we were all in.

3) How have you adapted your leadership style to lead your team remotely? What was easiest and what was most challenging?

I think we have all learnt, and continue to learn, through this situation. I am naturally a  more intuitive person, so I really missed being able to get a feel for things: sensing the team, the room, knowing what people are really thinking (especially being new to a business). So I have found this tough and means I have needed to work extra hard to get that ‘sixth’ sense, taking time for those  informal interactions and time for a bit of fun and laughter.  Really dialling up empathy and compassion was a big priority for me – people were going through a lot on both a professional and personal perspective.

We put a lot of emphasis at innocent on our teams’ health and wellbeing. From hints and tips, painting and yoga classes, Feet up Fridays, time away from screens, to more professional support. Interestingly a focus on giving and receiving feedback which has been really important.

When we’re remote, we can’t rely on our body language or even facial expressions to communicate our meaning, so the clarity of the words we use becomes more significant.  Especially when giving feedback or helping people understand where things are going wrong, being thoughtful and prepared with those words has been even more important in lockdown.

 4) We are all hearing about ‘The Big Resignation’ currently affecting companies. What are your people telling you they want from you and your leadership to retain them?

What we are hearing is working for a Purpose and Value driven business. I think a lot of people have reflected on what do they really want from the company they work for, and that is definitely more than just salary.   

At the start of the pandemic when the world stopped, we also saw nature flourish and people reconnected with a sense of community.  We are seeing more people wanting to do their bit help people and the planet and therefore they want to work for a business that reflects this, is taking action and importantly enabling them to take action.  Fortunately, at innocent, being a business that balances people, planet and profit has always been at the heart.  We are on a continuous journey in this space, to ensure we remain pioneering and are inspiring wider change, not just because it’s the right thing to do but because it’s what our people expect of us.  

We’re hearing about career needs too – our people want support to plan how they grow and what comes next. Frequency and quality of conversations between leaders and their teams has been critical in making people feel valued and developed.

We are also hearing the need to be more tailored for the individual and this means having more flexibility. This could be through flexible working or having more flexibility around our ‘innocent experience’ for example we offer free breakfast for everyone in the office. How do we make this as relevant going forward for all when people will be doing a mix of home and office working?

5) What new skills and training do you think leaders should be investing in to create high-performing teams in 2022?

Humility, agility, creating more collaboration, building foresight, I think particularly from a marketing perspective it needs to lead in creating the vision of the future, building excitement and inspiration.  

We’re also applying a ‘teaming’ approach – that idea of using our talent in an agile way to build temporary teams with divers experience and thinking to tackle gnarly problems.

 6) What are your plans for this year for working practices? What are you hearing is most important to your people to retain them?

This year we are moving towards flexible working with a strong emphasis on in person connections. We have invested in our office culture over the years creating a great and healthy office environment, saying that being together doesn’t necessary mean in the office this may be at an agency, or at a customer, or meeting together at a coffee shop.

What we see is that everyone is individual so creating that flexibility either in ways of working or in our innocent experience is really important. Within this we want to listen and learn together with our teams we will continue to experiment, learn and adapt as we create a better ‘new norm’ for innocent.

A approach that has been very well received in the business is our shadow board here. This enables us to keep connected to what is really needed/wanted by employees across the business.  If you don’t have a shadow board in your business, I’d recommend exploring how this can work for you and help retain your best.