The Managing Consultant of Diadems Global Support Services Limited, a Lagos-based human capital management consulting firm, Modupe Bankole, has stormed the Human Resource (HR) space with avowed commitment to helping organisations achieve high performance and improve value returns.
Since February 2016, when she set up the company, Modupe has been leveraging her over 20 years’experience at local and global organisations, with the last 12 years in senior management positions, to dangle some unique value propositions to organisations seeking to significantly improve their overall performance.
For instance, the certified HR professional has in the past five years carved a niche for herself in the HR space by rendering services that are context specific and best fit for organisations undergoing peculiar challenges.
It was Modupe’s response to the awareness that the bulk of in-house HR professionals in Nigeria and beyond are bugged down by administrative work, which leaves little or no time for resourceful strategic support for the wider business.
According to her, Diadems Global Support Services Limited is a service organisation with competence in human capital management, backed with requisite certification to support businesses and organisations with value-adding services; ensuring that they focus on their core businesses.
“At Diadems, we offer professional support and business solutions anchored on experience, competence, passion and customer service. We critically support you through all the aspects of human resource management by evaluating issues as they impact your business, and consequently deploying our expertise and competence to proffer the needed solutions,” Modupe said.
Explaining further, she said: “Our human capital management approach offers the benefits of competent, efficient and effective back-room service without intruding into your daily operations. We are not only a service provider, but a value-adding partner positioned to help your organisation achieve high performance and improved value returns to your principals.”
To make this happen, Modupe, a graduate of English from the Lagos State University (LASU), and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Lagos, told The Nation that Diadems has a team of professionals with experience across sectors but with expertise in the HR value chain.
More importantly, the company, she said, understands business from operational, financial and market perspectives hence, the advice it gives are professionally aligned with the entire business, not just the people.
“We are members of the Netherland-based Hofstede Insight International Consulting Network, which is renowned for its expertise in helping organisations determine optimal culture.
“We are also PROSCI Change Management certified and our team members are certified by international and national professional bodies including Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI), Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), Nigeria Institute of Training & Development (NITAD) etc.,” she added.
Apart from her high-profile certifications and membership of professional associations, Modupe also earned Special Executive Masters Programme (S.E.M.P.) in Human Resources Management from University of Huddersfield Business School, United Kingdom (UK). She also attended the Leading Change and Organisation Renewal programme at Harvard Business School.
A thoroughbred cross-functional professional whose experience includes Business Development, Marketing, Customer Service and HR, Modupe was a member of the Governing Council Hotel & Personal Services Employers Association (HOPESEA) from 2015-2019. She is the Vice Chairperson, National Membership Committee of the CIPM.
With her intimidating credentials and hands-on experience, coupled with her passion to change the narrative of HR practice, Modupe told The Nation that her foray into the human capital management space was motivated by her desire to help close the huge gap especially in the area of organisational culture and how it impacts individual and institutional performance.
“Despite improvements in the HR space, I still see huge gaps especially in the area of organisational culture and how it impacts individual and institutional performance. I truly believe our overall organisational performance will significantly improve if small and large businesses pay more attention to this area. So, Diadems brings its expertise to bear on this and across other HR value chain,” she explained.
The Diadems’ expertise, which Modupe draws so much strength from, The Nation learnt, stemmed from her hugely rewarding career that traversed a mixed bag of very useful roles including Marketing, Sales, Business Development, Customer Service to HR, with the privilege of working in sectors such as Hospitality, Manufacturing, Agriculture and Services which includes Legal, Logistics, Consulting and Leasing.
Besides, Diadems is a member of the Netherland based Hofstede Insight International Consulting Network, which is renowned for its expertise in helping organisations determine optimal culture. Accordingly, Diadems’ capacity to help organisations determine optimal culture stems from its understanding that HR strategy is dependent on current business objectives and organisation’s capabilities in terms of people, tools, finance etc.
“We are talking of HR approach with consideration for sector, industry, size, resources. The competencies of your workforce and the support they receive in terms of soft and hard skills determine the efficiency of your organisation which in turn impacts the bottom line and ultimately, is a competitive advantage,” Modupe stated.
The expert emphasised: “Diadems not only solves people’s challenges, but resolves business challenges too. We are an impartial partner.” And these are not empty claims. Many projects completed by the human capital management consulting firm or are in progress attest to Modupe’s soring influence in the HR space.
For instance, her firm undertook the Performance Management System project for the Federal Civil Service, Institution-wide Organisational Culture Alignment for the Lagos State University, and Institution-wide Performance Gap Analysis for Lagos State University.
Diadems also did Capacity Development Programmes for Secondary Schools for Inoyo Toro Foundation, Human Resource Management in the Hospitality sector, for Hospitality Business School, as well as New Trends in Employee Recruitment for the Lagos State University Career Development Centre, among other projects.
However, Modupe’s rising profile in the HR space is not without surmountable challenges. One of them is client’s initial resistance to accepting professional advice because company XYZ is doing a different thing. Putting it in perspective, she said: “We have to convince them (clients) that the business objectives, resources etc are not same so strategy may not be similar.
“As an example, if you engaged Diadems for a project on Interdepartmental Efficiency and you tell us to run a soft skill programme on Interpersonal Relationship, we want to know why you think you need that particular solution. In our experience, the issues may be deeper. It could be poor job description, irrelevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), poor accountability matrix, cultural hindrances, inefficient policies/procedural manuals etc.”
But as Modupe assured, Diadems has a diagnostic tool used to extract root causes. “The purpose of training is to close gaps. When you effectively do this, you can measure good return on training investment,” she said, noting that another challenge is client biases based on company’s size. But as she pointed out, “Bigger is not necessarily better and pay should be determined by value of output not perception of size.”
Despite the challenges, Modupe is unwavering in her single-minded focus to positively impact the HR and strategy value chain. Encouraged by her focus areas, which include Performance Management, Organisational Culture, Learning & Development Interventions and Change Management, she is currently working with a Massachusetts based company in the US on how to expand into the Nigerian and West African market.
Although Diadems, which is based in Lagos, has presence across Nigeria, its ambitious expansion plan will see its footprints in markets across Africa. “We are agile and mobility is a major advantage,” Modupe stated.
She also announced plans to establish a hub that will provide administrative tools, technology, experts and needed support aimed at encouraging entrepreneurs start their businesses.
Diadems also plans to scale up its capacity development for students in secondary and tertiary institutions with a structured approach to choosing and starting a career. “There is a gaping hole in this area. This is part of our responsibility to the community and the nation,” Modupe told The Nation.
The company already runs a mentoring programme, in conjunction with partners. The programme targets young graduates, women groups and those in career transition.
In addition to post exposure to the International Centre on Sexual Exploitation, Diadems organizes Sexual & Gender Based Violence (SGBV) seminars to create awareness and assist those in need.
Some of these interventions will, hopefully, help address perceived gender biases in the workplace, which, by Modupe’s admission, are even worse than they seem. According to her, gender biases are rooted in cultural and societal nuances, and the solution starts with the acceptance that the gender disparity exists in workplace.
She, however said thankfully, that realization is finally getting into public discourse. “Gender equity in workplace starts with the facilitation of equal opportunities right from the provision of education. I am not one to say that some jobs should be reserved for a particular gender, but I am so sure that equal opportunities will throw up more women not just in the work place, but in the top positions,” she said.
The HR expert added that “Organisations can further help by reviewing inappropriate policies and assessing the culture – not what we say we do but what we actually practice. Organisations should be aware that they can be held vicariously liable by the courts in cases of sexual harassments in the workplace. Diadems offers sexual harassment policies and training as part of its services, for instance,”
