Background
Two people and culture executives have described how moving from large corporations to smaller businesses reshaped their approach to people strategy. Anne Bastian, chief people officer at Liberty Financial, and Daniela Kotevski, head of people and culture at TMRW Music Group, both left large institutional employers to help build HR functions inside leaner organisations.
In Australia, where both executives are based, small businesses employed more than five million people, or 42 per cent of the private sector workforce, according to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO).
Current situation
Bastian, who has been with Liberty Financial for 25 years, previously worked in HR at ANZ. She said that at a large company, 'you never really know your value and your contribution' and there is 'no real immediacy of awareness to your impact and influence.' Joining Liberty, then a startup lender, offered a different rhythm, which she described as 'startup mode' with an 'active learning, active cycle of cadence, of agility.'
Kotevski, who has spent most of the past decade building HR functions from the ground up at smaller organisations, including Fitness Passport, joined TMRW Music Group as its first dedicated HR leader. She noted that small organisations have 'much smaller budgets' but are expected to achieve the same outcomes. 'We have to be very creative as leaders in SMEs to try and get the same outcomes but on much smaller budgets,' she said.
Impacts
Both leaders said the trade-off between resources and influence defines what it means to lead people strategy in small and medium-sized enterprises. Bastian highlighted the proximity to outcomes: 'If things aren't working well with your internal teams, then your customers are impacted by that – so you feel closer to the end person.' She described small business culture as a 'pack' rather than a collection of silos, requiring everyone to be aligned and calibrated.
Kotevski said the role demands range that larger organisations tend to divide across teams. 'You're the touch point for every single function within the HR space,' she said. 'You're essentially responsible for everything that goes well and everything that doesn't go well.' She also pointed to a gap in professional support for HR leaders operating alone or in small teams, noting that most industry conferences and summits target large corporates rather than the SME cohort.
Future outlook
Scenario analysis: The possibilities below are not certain predictions.
As HR leaders increasingly move between large institutions and smaller, founder-led businesses, the experiences of Bastian and Kotevski point to a broader industry conversation about what 'strategic HR' looks like when there is no large team or established playbook. Neither leader described one model as superior; both suggested the right environment depends on what an individual HR professional values most, whether that is scale of influence or scale of resources.
If the trend of HR leaders moving to SMEs continues, the demand for creative, budget-conscious people strategies may grow. However, if professional support networks remain focused on large corporates, solo HR leaders could face continued isolation. The future of small-team HR leadership may depend on whether industry bodies and conferences expand their focus to include the SME cohort, which could provide more representation and resources for those in leaner organisations.
Source: hcamag.com
