Kitti Dobi: A Proficient Human Resources Leader Responsible for Strategic Change in the Organisation
Top 10 Outstanding HR Executives of the Year 2023
Hungarian
Bankholding, currently the second largest banking group in Hungary, is
executing one of the most significant merge projects of the financial sector in
Europe. An industry where women’s representation at the executive level is only
20 percent globally. At Hungarian Bankholding this ratio is already a unique 45
percent, and the organizational pillar of the transformation is managed by a
female executive, Kitti Dobi.
As the
Group Head Human Resources (CHRO) at Hungarian Bankholding, she considers that
vital ingredients for a strategic change include thinking outside the box,
constant dialogue and cooperation as the central corporate value and heart of
decisions, speed of execution, and finding the right talent. All of that
requires diversity. Not just of background, but also of cultural beliefs, age,
and indeed gender.
Kitti
graduated from the corporate finance programme of the Budapest University of
Economics. In 2003, she began working for Procter & Gamble as a regional
manager, overseeing various HR procedures. She was in charge of all talent
practises for the region after first overseeing talent practises like
recruitment, diversity, and L&D. She was asked to speak at the 2006 World
Diversity Leadership Summit conference in New York based on the diversity
initiatives she had pioneered and introduced in the area. She gave a
presentation on her work in the EE region. Given that she had just graduated
and begun her career, she feels that was a significant recognition and lesson
for her as a young professional. She asserts, “I am very grateful for
my first employer investing in my professional development and starting my
career as an HR leader.”
Extensive
Work Experience
Between
2008 and 2010, Kitti managed the establishment (HR business partnering and
talent supply) of Vodafone’s international operations centre in Hungary, then
held the position of manager responsible for HR processes. She obtained her
international OPP MBTI coaching qualification in Oxford.
From 2010
to 2014, as HR Director of the European and African service centres of BP,
Kitti managed the establishment of the company’s international HR function and
service units in Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. She shares, “We
won the best SSC award in Europe in the people and culture category during that
period; it was a great recognition for my whole team and the work we did
together to build up the shared service centre from scratch.”
Between
2014 and 2016, as the Eastern European Principal Client Services Manager of
Alexander Mann Solutions for their GE account, Kitti worked in the fields of HR
service management, account management, and customer management to broaden her
knowledge and move out a bit from the corporate HR area to the commercial side.
At the end of 2016, she returned to corporate HR as the managing director of HR
for the former MKB Bank, which is now leading the merger of the 3 financial
institutions. Even while engaged in this huge transformation work, Kitti was
still able to win several HR prizes in 2022, such as family-friendly workplace
in Hungary, best workplace for women, and best internship program. She was also
selected as the HR leader of the year in Hungary in 2022.
Industry
Insight
Looking
back over the last 20 years in the human resources industry, Kitti is
absolutely convinced that the past three years in particular have been when HR
professionals at all levels have learned the most important lessons because of
the pandemic and other crisis situations. These difficulties brought the HR
field to a new level, where HRs are now more adept at coping. The real
challenge, in Kitti’s opinion, is the ongoing merger of three financial
institutions from Eastern Europe. This process is, while not a mission
impossible, a truly unique undertaking, never before seen elsewhere in Europe
either: having to merge and transform three culturally different banks into a
brand new one, building new HR systems, values, competencies, and behavioural
standards while keeping employees motivated in the middle of the economic
downturn and following a massive two-year pandemic. This process is also
difficult for Kitti and her colleagues because once the new organization’s
values are established, they must be implemented. She says, “We needed
to be really forward-thinking as to how we can encourage engagement within the
organisation.”
Adopting
the Processes
When Kitti
was hired in 2016 as MD of Human Resources, her first task was to transform the
MKB Bank’s very traditional, antiquated hierarchical culture into something
more competitive. She did this by creating a strategic HR function and
institution while also upholding the demands of the Hungarian workforce. It
took until 2020 to complete this extensive cultural shift. This milestone was
then followed by the profound transition the company is currently undergoing:
the merging of three unique cultures and three large Hungarian financial
institutions into a unique, brand-new bank. This process started at the end of
2020 with the establishment of the Hungarian Bankholding as the parent company
for the 3 banks – and will last well into 2024 to fully merge the banks in
terms of their IT systems, operations, brands, products, and infrastructure.
Kitti shares, “Once the merger got under way, the first particular task
was to put together the management team.”
Kitti was
chosen in May 2021 to serve as the newly formed organization’s Chief HR
Officer. She was given the responsibility of developing a new strategy by the
year 2025 for merging and evolving into a new, competitive, profitable,
sustainable regional market leader financial institution. She further adds that
the end result of this unique process will be one of Hungary’s and hopefully,
in the long term, the region’s largest banks, a modern financial institution
with 2.3 million customers and, at the same time one of Hungary’s largest
employers with more than ten thousand employees.
Views
while Leading
Despite
having a nearly 100-person HR team and holding regular leadership meetings,
Kitti believes it is critical to maintain personal contact with each member of
her team in order to hear their opinions and gain insight into the organisation
as a whole. To stay in touch with this engaging employee network of 10,000
people, Kitti uses a variety of strategies, including ambassador meetings,
community network gatherings, branch visits, line manager training sessions,
skip-level meetings, various forms of team gatherings, and so forth.
Kitti seeks
to develop a company into a direction that is future-proof and whose success
can be measured even by global standards. More specifically: Under her
leadership, the new company values—such as collaboration, respect, and
accelerators of change—were developed and released in October 2021. Following
the establishment of the new values, Kitti was able to create new leadership
models, competency models, performance management systems, and much more. After
that, teams for middle management were created, again using the new cultural
roadmap as a model for the skills the business required. This is a delicate and
robust task at the same time: building on the legacy and tradition of the three
banks, as well as the best practises of the three banks, while also creating
something new, a brand-new bank with a new identity from an HR
standpoint.
Surrounded
by Loved Ones
Kitti has a
family of two beautiful and intelligent children (ages 13 and 8), a fantastic,
supportive husband, and she considers herself very fortunate to have a larger
family to turn to when she needs assistance. In Kitti’s view, it is crucial to
be able to understand when one needs help and asks for it. She says, “One
needs help as a leader, as a woman, as a mother, and as a human being. This
need has to be recognised and acted on.”
Kitti feels
fortunate to be surrounded by family and friends who are able to help. This is
how she keeps her balance, and she would not be able to do so alone. She
asserts, “I need my ‘me time’, need to do my exercises, support my kids
at school, have great family holidays and so on, and all these require careful
planning and help.”
Success
in Human Terms
“No
matter the volume of a task, the challenges, the required changes, and cultural
transformation, I will always measure success in human terms,” says Kitti. To her success is
creating an inspiring working environment where the company’s colleagues can
make their mark and enjoy long-term professional development while at the same
time, they feel good and feel that they are a part of a team and community.
Another aspect of the human side that Kitti measures as success is
when colleagues and friends she hasn’t seen for 5–10 or more years turn to her
for advice and guidance on professional issues and career matters.
Plans
for Personal and Professional Growth
The banking
business is changing, the whole banking ecosystem is changing, and the new bank
will be part of it. Magyar Bankholding wants to preserve the best practices of
its member banks and build on a very solid banking foundation. Kitti
says, “We can now rethink at the same time what banking is, and we can
rethink the rules of the game.” She very much believes that the new
MBH Bank (the new name, as of May 1, 2023) will, over time, be noticeably
different in the way it treats its customers, in the way it can think about
customers in a broader way than day-to-day banking in the traditional sense.
She also adds that the new culture focuses on this element, keeping unique
customer service front and centre of all the organization’s activities.
As long as she maintains a healthy balance between her personal and professional lives, Kitti says she is satisfied and content. She did not have higher and better ambitions when she was younger. She constantly has fresh ideas and new objectives for the future that she wants to work toward and achieve, but maintaining balance is always important to her.