All photos courtesy of the United Nations.
“The traditional managerial grid model
and its further developments advocate
balance between these two dimensions,
usually defined as two leadership ‘styles,’”
says Voelker. “However, I have observed
in my now 20 years of practice that this
is only partly achievable, because the two
styles of leaders have different strengths.”
Voelker, a native of Cologne, Germany,
and a holder of the Global Professional in
Human Resources (GPHR®) credential,
began his journey toward human
resources when he was young. He says
he could never handle seeing blood, so
he forged his own path in the area of
The UNFPA’s HR team
needs to maintain a level of
credibility with its clients
and also among its peers,
especially within the UN
system. ... [Voelker] has built
credibility over the years
by staying up to date on the
latest trends, and the GPHR
has contributed to that.
between employees. “Our work in the
field can save lives,” he says. “If someone
in the field comes up with an idea or a
new way to do something with technology
that we can take into a village and use to
save lives, we need a way to communicate
it quickly and effectively amongst our
employees.”
Voelker says that understanding your
personality and emotional strengths
and weaknesses can help you make the
most of your strengths: “Tom Rath’s
People come to me at
meetings to ask questions,
and I am part of a group
to professionalize the HR
function within the HR
group.
research at Gallup showed that a small
investment would easily bring out hidden
strengths. However, it will take a lot more
investment to move the needle in an area
which is not part of your strengths or
potential talent.”
This is why Voelker believes that both
types of leaders — task-oriented and
socio-emotional — should lead in tandem,
just as fathers lead together with mothers,
tribal chiefs lead together with medicine
men and women, and heads of state and
religious leaders leave each other their
own leadership space.
Voelker says that, for companies,
this would mean going beyond keeping
everyone focused on personal goals.
All photos courtesy of the United Nations.
psychology.
Within psychology, he was further
intrigued by organizational development.
He found a passion in training and began
conducting leadership training, first on
his own and then as a consultant for
PricewaterhouseCoopers and Arthur
Andersen.
As a consultant, Voelker began
working in HR systems and on wide-scale
system implementations. The more work
he did within human resources, the more
he learned that it is interconnected with
all parts of the business.
His interest in certification for UNFPA
staff is inspired by his GPHR certification
experience. “The GPHR is a big inspiration
for the professional certification program
that we have,” says Voelker. “We have
different types of learning that we offer
our employees, including self-learning,
virtual classrooms and email tutors. I
like that professionals get involved. They
teach the next generation of employees.”
Voelker cites a presentation at a
conference a few years ago as a source
for his attitude toward learning. The
presentation focused on an air pilot
training system, which was highly selforganized and focused on transferring
knowledge to the next generation. Voelker
says, “Our leaders have so much to
teach the next generation, and we have
to ensure they don’t leave with all their
institutional knowledge. It needs to be
shared.”
Voelker wants to implement a similar
model within the UNFPA and says he
wants to encourage the creation of
“professional organizations” within the
organization: “If you need an expert on
maternal health, we would have someone
within the organization. And that person
would create their own certification
requirements and transfer his or her
knowledge on.”
Voelker also hopes that implementing
a training model with certification will
encourage greater communication
26 CERTIFIED
2014: Volume I
www.HRCI.org