CPO Leadership Matters: An Interview with Maura Winston

Our CPO Leadership Matters series highlights the complex and far-reaching position of Chief People Officers, as their role in the boardroom becomes increasingly prominent. Through the voices of top people leaders, we discover how the CPO can align the people function with commercial objectives and transform conventional practices into strategic assets. 

What is your background? 

I have a background in organisational business psychology, having earned a master's degree in this field. I joined Accenture right after college, focusing on large-scale transformation projects and working closely with technology and strategy teams. This experience was invaluable, as I was part of a relatively young and small practice, which provided me with significant exposure to business leaders who valued change management and organisational design skills. 

My family later moved to Australia, where I reconnected with Accenture and was invited to join the Federal Court of Australia where I managed a transformation programme to introduce electronic court files and courtrooms. My role was to guide judges through behavioural changes and expectations as the court transitioned from traditional hardcopy processes to electronic services. This project involved working closely with the Chief of the Federal Court and rolling out the initiative to other jurisdictions in Australia. I spent 10 years in this role, including three years working remotely from Ireland with travel to Australia every quarter. 

I was then approached by Cairn Homes. Although the construction industry was not initially on my career radar, my diverse experience across various sectors made my skillset highly transferable. At Cairn Homes, my role has never been solely focused on HR; instead, it is about driving business performance through organisational design, building leadership teams, enhancing capabilities, and scaling the business. When I joined in 2019, Cairn had 100 employees, and now it has nearly 500.

What are the key components of an effective people and cultural strategy that aligns with business objectives? 

The most important element is actively participating in setting business objectives. I collaborate closely with our CEO and leadership team to establish our enterprise objectives, which include six overarching goals that we are ultimately responsible for. These incorporate the relevant people components, such as attraction, retention, diversity and inclusion succession planning, career development, collaboration and joint vision. From there, it becomes easier to develop a strategy, as the people component is embedded into the annual enterprise objectives from day one.  

Our annual initiatives are tied to our short and long term incentive plan targets, which include engagement scores, diversity targets and learning and development initiatives and feedback.

This year, we aim to enhance female representation at all levels of the organisation, ensuring development and career opportunities for women within Cairn and the wider construction industry. We've also worked extensively on fulfilling the wellbeing and mental health needs of our staff. 

Can you share some of the key challenges and opportunities you encountered as CPO? 

One of the primary challenges was adapting to the fast pace of an entrepreneurial and agile business. Our CEO, with a clear vision, sets a rapid course for our goals, which was quite an adjustment coming from the judicial sector, where decisions could take months. At Cairn, we act quickly, we have an excellent operating platform which allows us to move from receipt of planning to having diggers on site in no time. This swift execution demands a careful balance of workforce planning and strategic allocation of resources.  

Mobilising our teams efficiently and supporting them from the start is crucial, as it allows us to begin building homes as quickly as possible.  

What trends do you foresee shaping the future of People and Culture?  

In the construction industry, discussions about female representation are quite common, largely because the sector isn’t naturally aligned with a high female presence, mainly due to pipeline issues. Only about 10% of students entering STEM fields are women, and many of them do not end up in the construction sector. 

The question of equality remains a challenge, but an emerging trend I see is the focus on equity. While equality ensures equal opportunities, equity involves recognising that men and women may have different needs at different stages of their careers.

Creating a culture that balances the company’s performance needs with individual requirements is crucial. This involves acknowledging that careers are marathons, not sprints, and that committing to individuals with specific needs does not have to be forever. This approach will be key to future success, especially with the current war for talent and low unemployment rates. High salaries are being demanded, and the difference will be made by leveraging the equity card. 

What advice would you give to aspiring CPO leaders looking to make a significant impact in their organisation? 

It's about really understanding the business and how you can contribute to its commercial success through uniting people and high performing cultures with the business agenda. You cannot operate in a vacuum of the core business agenda and its commercially aims. As a CPO, you need to be effective in translating the business agenda into the people strategy, and provide a top class employee experience which will ultimately translate into top class business performance. 

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