Clinton Wingrove is director and principal consultant of Clinton HR, a Camberley-based consultancy that helps organisations employing between 50 and 1,500 people strengthen their senior leadership teams.
His work targets the accidental managers the Chartered Management Institute put a figure on in January, when it said 82 per cent of managers are promoted into their roles without any formal training. Drawing on more than 40 years in leadership, HR and executive roles, he combines organisational analysis, bespoke training and one-to-one coaching.
He tells Business Matters why technology is an enabler but people determine success, and why his father’s advice still shapes the way he works.
What do you currently do at Clinton HR?
At Clinton HR, I work with organisations employing between 50 and 1,500 people to strengthen their senior leadership teams. I help address the skills and capability gaps that often arise when people are promoted into management roles on the strength of their technical or functional expertise rather than their leadership capability and aspiration.
My work combines organisational analysis, bespoke leadership training, experiential development programmes and one-to-one coaching. Where appropriate, I also support clients in redesigning key HR processes to ensure their people, leadership and business objectives remain aligned.
What was the inspiration behind your business?
The inspiration behind the business came from three defining experiences.
The first was when I was 11. After I passed the entrance exam for my local grammar school, my headmaster visited our home and advised my parents not to send me, saying they could not afford it and that I would fail. My father’s response shaped my life. He told me I could either let others decide my future or take responsibility for my own path.
I chose the latter, went to the school and succeeded. Ever since, I have tried to make my own decisions and live with the consequences.
The second came early in my career, when I helped lead the design phase of a major distribution centre automation project. The technology, systems and processes all worked as intended, yet the expected productivity gains failed to materialise.
The reason was simple: we had focused on the systems but not on winning the hearts and minds of the managers leading the change. It taught me that technology is an enabler, but people determine success.
The third was a growing belief, developed over more than 40 years in leadership, HR and executive roles, that organisations often promote excellent technical specialists into management without giving them the leadership skills they need to succeed. That is where many business challenges begin.
Clinton HR was built to help organisations at that tipping point, strengthening leadership teams and helping managers become more effective leaders.
Who do you admire?
In keeping with my belief in making my own choices, I will name just two from a much longer list.
The first is Ricardo Semler, who transformed the Brazilian company Semco by challenging traditional management structures and giving employees far greater influence over decisions, from salaries and working arrangements to business direction. It was far more than a management experiment. Semco became a highly successful business, and his ideas continue to be studied around the world.
My second choice is Patty McCord, former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix. She helped shape Netflix’s distinctive culture by questioning many accepted HR practices, including annual appraisals, leave policies and conventional approaches to talent management. Her focus on candour, autonomy, responsibility and high performance has had a significant influence on modern leadership and people management.
What I admire about both is their willingness to challenge accepted thinking and put trust in people. That is a philosophy that has strongly influenced my own approach to leadership and HR.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
Of course; that is the value of frequent reflection. I would have followed another piece of advice my father gave me more diligently. He said that, to get the most out of life, we need to follow the five Ws of personal growth:
- Always determine Why you need to learn and develop, and never assume you have all the answers.
- Work out What you need to learn and develop, as it changes.
- Have a Way, a clear process, for determining how you are going to achieve that learning and development.
- Ensure that you have behavioural triggers and support that work With you to keep you on track.
- Make sure that you have the Will to put in the effort needed, and then openly commit that you Will do that.
Those same five Ws now sit at the heart of the Management Mastery framework we use with managers.
And I would have thanked my wife far more often for the unwavering support she has given me over more than 52 years.
What defines your way of doing business?
Demonstrating CARE:
- C: ensure clarity of understanding at all times.
- A: provide assurance, especially in difficult times.
- R: recognise the client’s efforts and achievements; it is their success that we are aiming for.
- E: demonstrate empathy; it is the client who experiences the challenges, demands and outcomes the most.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
For anyone starting out in HR, I would say three things.
First, decide whether you want to lead a life largely governed by others and the perpetuation of the status quo, or whether you want to map new paths for yourself and others.
Second, do not view change as a series of events or initiatives; it is now how the world continuously works. Lean into that.
Third, believe that you can make a massive difference, but that there are no perfect solutions, only what we believe to be the current best. Be prepared to acknowledge that, and continually rethink and try again.
