Royal Mail’s graduate scheme was the first step on the career ladder

Kennedy throws in that, after medieval history at the University of Hull, he studied a Master’s in medieval Latin literature at the University of Warwick. It rolls off his tongue as though it were a course as familiar as computer science. It doesn’t surprise me that with a degree like that he dabbled with the thought of a life in academia, yet making money from it didn’t look like a viable option. “My dad told me that he didn’t think there were an awful lot of jobs in medieval history anymore and joked that I was perhaps 100 years out of date,” laughs Kennedy who duly took the advice and signed up for one of the UK’s largest graduate schemes with Royal Mail. It was a sensible move and being part of a workforce of around 250,000 in such an iconic brand was always going to deliver an experience like no other.

The usual graduate rotations ensued, and the young Kennedy found himself being asked to run the Investors in People accreditation programme for the business. “I was like a football player being traded into HR and that’s where it started really.” The exposure to learning and development exposed him to all the stages a business must go through when it’s heading for privatisation. “It was a really interesting time. They were bringing in the likes of Alan Leighton, former Director of Selfridges, BHS, and BskyB to name but a few and Adam Crozier who went onto become the CEO of ITV and the Football Association – both big hitters. Their role was to professionalise the organisation for flotation.”

The celebrity status that was surrounding Kennedy continued when he was taken under the wing of Kevin Green, who’s boss was Tony McCarthy, another very well-known HR leader who had already served as Group HR Director at British Aerospace, before taking on that role at British Airways. “He came to the Learning and Development centre and said to Kevin Green, ‘Who’s the graduate over there? He looks like he’s doing an Ok job but he’s coasting’ – it was the first time I was spotted as someone that had potential,” explains Kennedy.

It was the nudge that he needed, he admits that he has a good sense of self-awareness and knew he could be doing more. On the back of that chance meeting, he became McCarthy’s right hand man. “The only rule was to go to every single meeting except for the one to ones and board gatherings.” Kennedy flew in the role and spent the next 18 months learning anything and everything. He refers to it as an ‘extraordinary’ opportunity. During that time, he encountered the power exerted by the Trade Unions and huge changes in employee pensions. The HR team at the Royal Mail was at the time made up of no less than 3,400 staff – an eye watering number reminiscent of an army. “It was mind boggling because there was HR in the centre, HR in Royal Mail and Parcelforce, HR for HR’s sake and everything was siloed,” admits Kennedy. The obvious occurred and the HR numbers were significantly reduced to something more meaningful, with a ratio of one HR professional to every 33 members of staff rising to 1 - 100.

Kennedy was in his mid-20s and was by his own admission, ‘considerably’ younger than the HR leaders he was working alongside. The experience elevated him and some, not only was his card marked as a rising star, but it allowed him to ‘miss out a few levels.’ “I learned so much at McCarthy’s elbow in that time and from that I was able to take a big job in HR overseeing all the mail centres around the UK and Northern Ireland. It meant I was in charge of 650 HR professionals, so it was huge,” he recalls.

It was by his own admission a ‘daunting’ jump. “I was seen as the man that had missed out all the ‘hard stuff’ and hadn’t got my hands dirty in Doncaster mail centre for example. I had to approach it with a level of humility. The HR staff had been doing their job in those places for a long time and were highly effective.” As we continue to talk, it becomes readily apparent that Kennedy’s people skills are innate, in a way for HR leaders that should be so but often isn’t. “I began by listening,” he says. Months ticked by in which he did just that and then it was time once more to take action. Kennedy set about establishing an internal consultancy approach to replace the transactional HR that had preceded it. “I was enjoying it, and it was being received well but then out of the blue I got a call from British Airways.”