Human Resources Consulting. Interview with Manuel Díaz Ruíz.

Human Resources Consulting. Interview with Manuel Díaz Ruiz.

MANUEL DÍAZ RUIZ serves as Technical Director of Human Resources Consulting at IN DIEM. He develops work team and productivity organization plans with prodigious speed and efficiency… and, although not mentioned in this interview, his professional career has faced challenges in top-tier organizations, both private and public, in this country: IBM, CANON, POLAROID, CSIF, TELE 5, PROSEGUR, SIEMENS, AXION, CAJASOL, CAJA SUR, CAJA MADRID, EGMASA, ONCE, UGT, FREMAP, DETEA, ISLA MÁGICA, SEVILLA FC, GRUPO JOLY, VIMCORSA CÓRDOBA MUNICIPAL PUBLIC COMPANY, HUELVA URBAN PLANNING, CADIZ PORT AUTHORITY… and countless City Councils and public companies.

Within his duties at IN DIEM is the management and provision of consulting services aimed at: the design and implementation of organizational models, Personnel Selection, Job Descriptions, Job Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Staff Training; as well as innovation programs related to entrepreneurship, startups, financing, smart capital, and European grants.

Our colleague Anna interviews him and asks on your behalf…

Anna: What does a Psychologist do in the world of Human Resources and Business Organization?

Manuel Díaz: My professional beginnings were in Personnel Selection, applying test batteries and conducting psycho-professional interviews. My viewpoint back then, as it remains today, was that to properly carry out a Personnel Selection process, it was not enough to understand the position to be filled; one had to know the environment in which the new employee would work and, logically, have a deep understanding of the company and its philosophies and strategies. This led me over several years to consult for numerous companies in different business areas, and in each of them, I learned something new, which began to give me a global vision for understanding each client’s strategies.

Therefore, when I went to a new client, I had already experienced their situation or a similar one with another client, making it easy to extrapolate that experience. Consequently, clients began to trust me, as they understood that my practical training was very versatile.

Anna: From Seville to Madrid and to Europe…

Manuel Díaz: After five years working in Human Resources Consulting, primarily in Personnel Selection, I was presented with the challenge of moving to Madrid as a Senior Manager in the Consulting and Management Area of one of the “Big Four,” where I held that position for several years, expanding my professional services to Comprehensive Human Resources Management.

I was no longer just doing Selection; I incorporated Training Plans, Salary Policies, Incentives, etc.

Anna: And how is the jump to Organizational Consulting?

Manuel Díaz: Basically, my work is supported by the trust the client places in the Consultant. Over time, you become their confidant, and they ask for your opinion on many matters within the company… and outside of it.

Certainly, professional successes strengthen your position with the client, making you an extraordinary support for the managers of Client Companies who, ultimately, ask you for help on numerous fronts—not necessarily within your area of expertise—but you seek out the best professionals so that, through clear and transparent alliances, they provide the service to your client.

Anna: So, you become a manager…

Manuel Díaz: Clients do not want to have many interlocutors providing services; they prefer to speak with only one who coordinates the teams, and that is essentially my job.

Because of that and my accumulated experience, you become a sort of one-man band capable of doing everything from Personnel Selection to the complete Organization of a Company.

Anna: And… how is the work done?

Manuel Díaz: The principle is always the same. We do not undertake any work without first conducting a diagnostic study of the Company’s situation at all levels, analyzing strengths and weaknesses and proposing what we call a “recommendation board,” where we indicate all the measures the entrepreneur must take to face the challenges they intend to undertake.

The next step is to define the Company’s organizational charts, both Hierarchical and Functional, with an exhaustive Job Definition and Evaluation.

With this tool in our possession, we work in two directions. On one hand, we prepare the Human Resources Management Manual, and on the other, we prepare all kinds of Procedure Manuals for each area of the Company, thereby defining the Organization, the Jobs, their functions, and the work processes.

Anna: In the years you have been working, you must have seen everything, right?

Manuel Díaz: Yes, indeed. Consider that when working with numbers or machines, the limits are clearly defined, but when working with people, the nuances, individual viewpoints, and their scales of values and priorities often surprise you. You have to learn to value people’s viewpoints in an objective, almost mechanical way. The same phenomenon is interpreted in a thousand ways by people, and even more so when it refers to labor or economic issues.

Anna: You talk about the workers, but the employers must have their own issues too…

Manuel Díaz: Without a doubt. That is where the professionalism and ethical standards of each of us come in, to accept or decline a work assignment that might border on illegality or not comply with the law.

Anna: For example?

I had an unfortunate experience with an employer who did not want to hire a disabled woman. She had polio in her legs. But the job was at a weighing scale window in an olive company. The most important part of the position was basically handling spreadsheets fluently. Furthermore, the girl was charming, perfect for dealing with the staff who brought the trucks.

Anna: And successes?

Manuel Díaz: The greatest success is when the phone rings and it is someone who wants you to work for their company because someone has spoken well of you.

We always say that our best salesperson is a satisfied customer.

Can you tell us about some cases?

Manuel Díaz: Well, look, one I feel particularly satisfied with was when I organized Sevilla Football Club. Three years after the reorganization, the Club had balanced its accounts and was playing in the UEFA Cup, which has been followed by so many triumphs since.

In fact, other First Division clubs have contacted me to replicate the model in their clubs; we shall see.

Another case I am very proud of was the selection of the first eighty workers for Diario de Sevilla prior to its launch. We completed that work in three months, working flat out every day of the week, including Saturdays and Sundays, and at ungodly hours. Every time the President of Grupo Joly sees me, he tells whoever is with him who I am and the work I did.

Anna: But currently, your range of professional services is very diversified…

Manuel Díaz: As I mentioned before, in the end, you are a generalist Consultant who helps clients with specific Organization and Human Resources issues, but you also support other areas such as Quality, Auditing, Entrepreneurship, and most recently, we have created a service office for European grant applications, which we call the European Management Bureau.

We work for both private companies and the Administration at Local, Regional, and National levels.

Anna: You are based in Seville…

Manuel Díaz: After a few years away in Madrid, Paris, Brussels, and Frankfurt, although I have always maintained an office in Seville, I came to the conclusion that I could live wherever I wanted, as in the end, it is a matter of the last plane you take during the week.

And I decided that Seville, my homeland, is a wonderful place to live.

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