Christy Harris

▶0:01HostWelcome to the Built by People podcast, where we share the stories and insights of the world's top HR leaders. Join us as we dive deep into the minds of HR executives, uncovering their strategies, challenges, and triumphs in shaping today's workforce. I'm excited to welcome Christy Harris to the Built By People podcast. Christy, thank you so much for joining us today. And as a starting question, I'd always love to ask if you could tell us a little bit more about your career journey.

▶0:56GuestYeah, thanks for having me today. I currently lead HR and employee communications for a company called CCC. We're located in the Chicagoland area, and we're a business-to-business software as a service, you know, tech company. Prior to that, I spent 21 years at Allstate. I had the privilege when I worked there to sit in and lead every area of HR. I spent half my career there being an HR business partner, really learning the business, learning how to understand how Allstate made money. And then I worked in every different HRCOE, and so I feel really grateful about that time, and it really helped me prepare for the role that I have today. Long ago before that, I actually worked in finance for just a couple years and realized that I could take the analytical students that work with people, and that's what I was most interested in doing.

▶1:58HostChristy, part of our conversation today centers around vulnerability and authenticity in the workplace. Can you share some examples on how to be vulnerable and authentic in the workplace?

▶2:11GuestI think authentic and vulnerable really sort of starts with being who you are, you know, as a, as a person. And that can be really challenging, you know, at at times. You know, we grow up in organizations and we look and see what success looks like, you know, and the leaders that, you know, work for us or work for who we work for. And, you know, sometimes you think that you have to be fit from the same cloth. And the reality is, is that it's really hard to be someone else. Um, outside of you, it's not something that you can sustain, you know, over a period of time. It can be really scary, uh, to be vulnerable. I think vulnerable requires you to maybe admit sometimes when you don't know the answer, maybe when you, uh, need help solving an issue. So what I have found though is that when you are vulnerable people give you a lot of grace, and that actually encourages you to be vulnerable again. It almost sort of reinforces, uh, that behavior. Now, you know, it is scary, and I, I remember one time that I had just gotten promoted, and I was promoted amongst my peers, and I was very nervous to ask, which now were my direct reports, were my peers, like, what am I doing well, or what could I do differently. And I almost didn't ask it because I was fearful of what the response was, but then I realized I'm never going to get better if I don't ask for feedback. And their feedback was very fair, and without it, I don't think I'd be the leader that I am today.

▶4:03HostThat's great. My next topic is around establishing credibility, and I think it ties nicely into these topics around being vulnerable and authentic in the workplace. What are some measures HR leaders can take to establish credibility among C-level peers?

▶4:20GuestWell, I, I think first of all, you gotta do what you say. I mean, there is one of the things that creates credibility, but also, you know, trust is the gap between what you say and what you do. And the closer that there's, you know, where those two align, the more trust, you know, people put in you, the more credible you have. And I think one of the things, the best thing you could do is really sort of invest in those relationships with your peers. Trust, you know, occurs over time, but so does credibility. And, you know, in order to really best support the business or best support your peers, you need to understand what their motivators are, what are they trying to achieve, And then where do you think you can help them achieve those, you know, goals or those initiatives or help them resolve like whatever kind of issue or opportunity exists for them? You may not be able to do it all alone, but if they know that they have someone that they can confide in, talk through, be a thought partner to, that adds to your credibility as well.

▶5:28HostI'd love to ask how you're tying HR to the business strategy to be more integrated from a commercial perspective?

▶5:36GuestYeah, I think that's actually one of the opportunities HR has is how do we think from a commercial, you know, orientation. When I first got to this company, HR was really well-respected and had built, you know, programs and initiatives, but it really wasn't anchored against any kind of strategy. And so when you start to think about like, what is the land of opportunity that you can work on? What is it that you could bring forth to help contribute to the overall culture or the business? It's hard to actually evaluate those when you're not anchored against, you know, anything. And so within the first few months that I was here, I actually was very intentional in building a relationship with the head of corporate strategy,. And I basically said to him, you, you and I are gonna be best friends because in order to build a talent strategy, in order for me to build the HR functional strategy, I need to understand what the business strategy is. I need to understand what are our biggest opportunities so that we can align our priorities against those. And so we, we created together an HR, you know, framework and strategy, and then we actually did a lot of interviews with some senior leaders to say, you know, how mature is HR across these different domains? And, you know, how proactive versus reactive are we? And then how important is it that we are strategic or proactive? Because obviously you can't be, or nor should you be strategic across every discipline. One, you probably can't afford it, but two, it probably doesn't actually drive any more value creation. And then we set out and created our strategy, and now we're in year, you know, 3 and continuing to help evolve the impact that HR has in conjunction with the business. And I'll tell you that there were certain things that I don't think the business actually even knew that they could ask for, you know, HR to do, or that HR could actually make a difference in. And, You know, that really sort of is the evolution, but you need to, you need to build those, you need to build those connections. You need to have business acumen and you have to think from a commercial

▶8:01Hostmindset. As an HR leader, what are you doing to grow and take risks within your organization?

▶8:08GuestYes. I mean, some, you know, obviously you have to take calculated, you know, risks and you need to make sure that you understand the risk-reward scenario. But this is, I think, is still in conjunction with what is the business strategy, where are the opportunities that, A, maybe you can afford to take more risk because the downside is maybe mitigated or isolated. Maybe you're trying, you're piloting in a certain area so it doesn't, you know, really matter if you don't get it right, or, you know, what is the— what are the strategic bets you're going to make? Because it is critical in order to enable the growth either of, you know, the people within the organization or the overall, you know, business outcomes.

▶9:03HostWhat parting advice would you like to share with our audience?

▶9:07GuestOne is, is I think for HR is to is to be curious. A, demonstrate learning agility. Two, these are two factors that I think if you're curious about the business, if you're curious about individuals, and you think from a commercial mindset, all of those I think are recipes to making sure that you align HR with the business. And when you do that and show value, you're just given that much more opportunity to drive even more impact. And that's, that's a fun place to be, not only for you, but for your team and for the organization.

▶9:47HostKristi, thank you so much for joining the Built by People podcast. It was great to have you involved.

▶9:51GuestThanks a lot.