Scott Leuchter
Chief People Officer
Empower Pharmacy
Episode 373
Empower Your Workforce: The People-Centric HR Strategy for Organizational Success.
Current chapter: This podcast is sponsored by Previ. Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees
Built By PeopleDecember 18, 2024 · 16:25
Thesis
“The bedrock of effective HR and organizational success is a people-centric approach, leveraging continuous development, data-driven employee experience optimization, and flexible frameworks to empower individuals to achieve their best and serve a broader purpose.”
Show notes
The 'Built By People' podcast episode features an extensive interview with Scott Leuchter, the Chief People Officer at Empower. Scott shares his non-linear career journey, which includes a decade in the military, transitioning into recruiting, and eventually moving into various HR roles. He later delved deeply into HR through advanced education and consulting roles, eventually landing his current position. Scott discusses key lessons from his career, emphasizing the importance of flexibility, continual learning, and a people-centric strategy. He also highlights the value of data-driven decisions and fostering a positive employee experience. The discussion includes insights on continuous learning, development, and strategies for retaining top talent in today's competitive environment. 00:44 Guest Introduction: Scott Leuchter 00:49 Scott's Career Journey: From Military to HR 03:44 Lessons Learned Along the Way 04:58 The Importance of People in HR 06:26 Optimizing Employee Experience 08:37 Fostering Continuous Learning and Development 10:32 Leveraging Data and Analytics in HR 11:47 Qualities of an Effective HR Leader 13:56 Retaining Top Talent 15:39 Parting Advice and Conclusion
What you'll take away
- 1Prioritize people-centricity: everything HR does should optimize employee experience, as employees are the business.
- 2Holistically measure employee experience: track specific microexperiences and their impact on key business outcomes like performance, productivity, and retention.
- 3Implement structured continuous learning: develop an enterprise-level program based on core competencies to foster ongoing development and reinforce critical behaviors.
- 4Embrace data-driven HR: integrate evidence-based decision-making anchored in accurate data into the organizational ethos.
- 5Regularly engage with employees: leaders should consistently check in with their teams to understand their needs and actively respond to feedback to enhance retention.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Instead of blindly adopting 'agility,' HR leaders should focus on 'freedom in a framework,' balancing structured processes with necessary flexibility.
In Scott's words
“The core of it comes down to people. You have the right people doing the right work, doing the right things in the right way. And that's really what's framed my point of view around being an HR leader is, you know, there are lots of different types of HR leaders for different, you know, experiences. And the thing that I really try to drive with our team here is that everything we do should be about optimizing our people and their experience.”
Highlights the fundamental belief that people are the business and HR's role is to optimize their experience for business success.
“I've identified about 18 different types of experiences that impact our broader experience and was able to actually here within Power recently, we measured our overall employee experience. We measured each of those 18 factors to see how they are contributing to the overall. And more importantly, we measured the impact of those factors on 4 key business outcomes, which was performance, productivity, people's intent to stay, and their intent to recommend people to come work here.”
Demonstrates a practical, data-driven approach to understanding and measuring the multifaceted nature of employee experience and its business impact.
“This idea of sort of continuous learning is just paramount to giving our people the experience they need to be successful.”
Emphasizes the critical role of continuous learning as a foundational element for employee success and a positive experience.
“Certainly you have to be flexible... having flexibility, or as I like to think about, freedom in a framework. I think as an HR leader, you have to have a framework for how you do what you do, when you do it, et cetera, but you also have to allow for freedom within that framework.”
Offers a nuanced perspective on leadership, balancing structured processes with the necessary adaptability in dynamic environments.
“At its core, whether you're a supervisor or manager up, is spend time with your people every month, ask where they're at, how are they doing and what they need to be successful. And serve that and provide that for them.”
Provides a simple yet powerful actionable strategy for leaders to engage and retain top talent through direct connection and support.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Organizations struggle to identify and measure the specific microexperiences that truly impact overall employee experience.
- •Companies lack clear, actionable data linking employee experience factors to tangible business outcomes like performance, productivity, and employee retention.
- •HR leaders need effective and continually reinforced frameworks for continuous learning and development tied to core organizational competencies.
- •Many organizations are still on a journey to effectively leverage data and analytics for evidence-based HR decision-making, indicating a need for robust tools and expertise.
- •Retaining high-performing talent ('10xers') remains a significant challenge, requiring proactive leadership engagement beyond general mission alignment.
In this episode
This podcast is sponsored by Previ. Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees
Built by People
Dave Johnson spent 10 years in the military before going into management consulting
Exploring Your Career Journey
Scott says the concept of a career is probably very different going into school
Scott Gothenberg on His Career
You started your career in the military, then went into recruiting
In the Elevator With HR Leaders
What are the key factors that contribute to a positive employee experience in your perspective
What is the positive employee experience?
How can HR leaders foster a culture of continuous learning and development within their organizations
How to Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning and Development
How can HR leaders leverage data to make informed decisions about their workforce
How Can HR Leaders Leverage Data to Make Better Decisions about
What qualities make an effective HR leader in today's complex business environment
What qualities make an effective HR leader?
The war on talent continues. Curious to get your perspective on some effective measures
How to Keep the Best Talent
Scott, any parting advice you'd like to share with our audience
A Taste of Built by People
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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