'There's no one day that is the same'

Human resources wasn’t the first industry Kay Goodman had in mind when she first started her career, but it is one where she has since thrived.

“When I was much younger, I actually wanted to be a school teacher,” she told HRD Australia. “As my career progressed, I wanted to do psychology and then law.

“And I landed in HR really having been part of organisations where I've helped manage people.”

Goodman is the vice president of Accor Academy and Talent Development, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific (MEA APAC) and in 2023, she was selected as one of HRD Australia’s 100 Human Resources Leaders to Know.

At the time, Goodman said in a statement, “This recognition is very humbling and is a testament to the collaborative efforts of the entire Accor team.”

And speaking to HRD, she said one of areas she enjoys the most about her role is the variety of responsibilities.

“There's no one day that is the same,” she said. “It changes every day. One day I could be coaching, the next day I could be designing a program, the following day sitting in a strategic leaders meeting reviewing what the organisation needs to move to that next stage. So there's a lot of innovation, there's a lot of opportunity for creativity and I just get a lot of personal fulfillment from it.”

Joining Accor as an HR leader

Global hospitality business Accor has more than 5,400 hotels and operates in 110 countries. Goodman joined the company in 2018 where she was initially responsible for the learning and development division in the Pacific region. At the time, her team wanted to create an academy without boundaries.

“Originally, our team was structured so that the person in Queensland delivered to Queensland, the person in Victoria, delivered to Victoria et cetera,” Goodman explained. “So we removed those boundaries or borders so that we could have the L&D professionals playing a more critical role across the whole of the Pacific and not just in their own state or their own area of responsibility.”

In 2018, Goodman’s team also rolled out a ‘Heartist’ program – a combination of the words ‘heart’ and ‘artist’.

“It's how we bring the heart into hospitality,” she explained. “‘Heart’ is everything we do comes from the heart and ‘artist’ is that we're experts in service. That program initially started in 2018-2019 and then we revamped it again in 2022. And we started programs to help our leaders on ‘How do you lead from a heartist-centric culture?’”

Learning and development at Accor

The Accor Academy and Talent Development serves as the hospitality group’s learning and development division. It not only serves the hotels but adjacent businesses as well, Goodman said.

“It's very much a people-orientated role, where we can impact not only the individual but then also the organisation's culture,” she said. “We deliver leadership programs or soft skill programs to really build the capability level of all levels in our business. We operate off a leadership capability framework – so we build the capability through the organisation from entry level right through to our most senior leaders.”

Since joining the L&D division, Goodman has been involved in revamping and elevating the company’s leadership programs. This included being part of the team that developed the Global Leadership Program.

“We have seen incredible success with individuals who have come into the programs and been elevated into more senior roles, have worked across the organisation on a variety of projects, that have had incredible visibility at our most senior level in the business,” she said. “And it's created a lot of personal fulfillment for them, as well as creating that career opportunity.”

Goodman has been recognised for her work at Accor. During her tenure she received two Bernaches Awards – a company award that recognises the exceptional achievements of employees. Only around 20 of these awards are given out across the 300,000 Accor employees each year, Goodman said.

Looking toward the future

For the year ahead, Goodman is most looking forward to seeing the work her team has put into play in 2023 come to fruition.

“The last 12 months have been getting us ready to really run in 2024 and bringing the three academies together [across MEA APAC],” she said. “Each of the academies operated separately and individually. And so for the last 12 months, taking a deep dive into the capability levels of the team and then working on a strategy of how we bring the three together to be able to deliver a consistent approach across the business. Which is what 2024 is about, is making sure that we've got a really consistent way of learning and development focused on not only our culture, our brands, but building the capability levels of our teams.”

And for individuals hoping to enter the HR sector, Goodman shared this piece of advice:

“You don't have to restrict yourself to one industry, you can work in any industry when you're in human resources,” she said. “And it's same in L&D, you can work in any industry.

“All you need to do is understand the industry, understand what the industrial relations landscape looks like, understand how the organisation operates, understand the strategic direction. And the rest you can innovate, and you can create and you can contribute. There is so much that is available in the profession of human resources.”