Trevor has been with Deloitte for 22 years
Trevor Page has worked in various parts of the Deloitte, from being an HR Manager at first to setting up a Human Capital consulting practice for the firm's Singapore business and finally being part of the Deloitte South African Partnership. He was also responsible for developing the organisational design framework for Deloitte globally, which has helped to triple global revenue in Organisational Development services over the last five years.
“I’ve recently handed over that position to a Canadian colleague. Nobody ever stays in a leadership position for very long at Deloitte and that allows people to get a more wholesome career path and bring in younger talent. I think that’s why I’ve stayed at the company for such a long time,” said Page who, on Tuesday, met with CHRO SA community manager Didi Sehume.
On what it takes to lead a global team of people on any project, Trevor says the key is to get the best people in from the onset because that reduces the amount of hands-on management that is required.
“If you allow them to drive their own ideas, they flourish because they are capable people in their own right. So I was there in a role to guide them rather than instruct them on which direction to take,” he said, adding that HR as a function is ultimately about helping people get to the point where they are professionally as capable as they can be.
Interestingly, he said he doesn’t rely much on his academic training or distant experience that he has received because HR and the world of business evolve so much each year. Given the rapid technological advancements, he believes that one can actually discard a lot of what one thinks one knows about business and people management almost every four years. Rather, he ascribes to the notion that constant learning and upgrading is vital to remaining relevant as a professional both in consulting an as an HR executive.
Says Trevor: “The work I do today is totally different from the work I was doing 5 years ago...We have a millennial board in our firm, which advises us on issues affecting their generation and their views of the future. We asked them what kind of consulting solutions they think will be required in the future, and their recommendations are very different from what we’re doing today. While this is quite daunting it is also very challenging and exciting.”
