Watch: EVP HR at Shell talks about leadership attributes, effects of diversity and inclusion

The Executive VP HR Downstream of Shell joined HRD Connect to share his thoughts on what exactly classes as ‘leadership attributes’. Gerard Penning is a specialist in leadership, talent management and in building and shaping agile organisation structures.

He presented the idea of how language may help to understand leadership:”If the language is simple, people will be able to engage with the idea of leadership better.” He also spoke about diversity and inclusion, stating that: “What we learned when it comes to diversity and inclusion is that it’s relatively easy to hire diverse people, but if that diversity is not embraced, if the different skill and the different capability is not used to reaching better business outcomes, you do not have the positive [effect] of that diversity. That’s where inclusion comes in.

“What we try to do around inclusion and inclusive leadership is to teach, help, support and coach leaders to listen, first and foremost more intently to the people; and include in the decision-making process diverse thoughts and ideas in order to get to better outcomes. It sounds simple and that is rather hard to do, and that’s why we make a point out of it.”

Watch the full video below: