Jackie Dube

▶0:00IntroWelcome 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.

▶0:39HostI'm excited to welcome Jackie to the Built by People podcast. Jackie, thank you so much for joining us. And as a starting question, I always love to ask if you could share a little bit more about your career journey.

▶0:49GuestSure. Well, thanks so much for having me. Always love to talk about people-related topics. So I've been in HR almost my whole career. I've worked in different industries between homeownership companies, law, etc. About 15 years ago, I started working in the startup technology field and was working for an organization that was producing and commercializing electric maxi scooters. And that was around 2008. And I always say that was my MBA in basically 2 years because we grew that company. We're a global company and then ended up ended up filing bankruptcy when the recession hit in 2008, as no one was buying very expensive electric toys. At that time, I was looking for a new opportunity, and I got introduced to Mike Zanni, who's actually my current CEO. But about 2009, I was introduced to him for the first time, and he was just hired at a wellness company called Shape Up in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was employee number 9 hired from the two founders to build that company, Series A financing, et cetera. He had just finished a project where he acquired a company that had 150 employees. He was like, this is really hard to change a company and a culture when you have this many employees. And so, at this new opportunity, he is like, I'm gonna hire someone in strategic HR first. And he had to convince these two 26-year-old bootstrap founders that he was gonna hire someone in HR when they, really didn't have any employees. So I was introduced to Mike at that time, and we built that company, the culture, etc., together. At that time, Mike had used a tool called the Predictive Index, which is where I work now, to really help intentionally build that culture and team. It's just a tool that's guided my career ever since. It's been a mainstay and a requirement in any position that I've taken, including in my own consulting practice that I built. Actually, almost 10 years ago, Mike acquired the Predictive Index. He loved the company so much, and at the time I had my own business. Mike became a client of mine, or the Predictive Index, as he knew he was going to build the company really fast, and I helped to establish culture and hire the team. And 10 years later, I'm here in my dream job as the Chief People Officer at PI.

▶3:14HostJackie, thanks for that great introduction. Can you tell me about a time when behavioral data or analytics helped shape a critical hiring or leadership decision? What was the challenge and what data did you use and what was the outcome?

▶3:28GuestSure. And I mean, there's so many examples of this, really. You know, I can use an example. We were hiring a head of sales, and typically when you go in to hire a salesperson,, right? They're generally outgoing, they can build relationships, so you trust them immediately. There's usually a good conversation. And if you just rely on the relationship building in the interview process, you tend to overlook some of the critical things that make a successful sales leader successful. Do they have the ability to work in conflict or controversy, to drive a decision or put pressure on, to close a deal? And so by using the behavioral data, We're able to learn more about those types of behaviors and drives about a person that don't necessarily come out in the relationship that you're building during the interview process. So it's super beneficial to really understand how a person will work in the job in the future versus necessarily, you know, what you're learning only in the interview process. So it's kind of matching data and intuition and Obviously experience tells some things, but one of my core philosophies is like, what can the person do in the future? So really looking at behavioral science in a sales perspective is very critical because you tend to get very high extrovert

▶4:50Hostfolks in those roles. Jackie, how have you helped an organization move from traditional hiring methods to a skills-based model? What roadblocks did you hit? And how did behavioral assessments support that transition?

▶5:04GuestSure. So, you know, I say it's like moving the Titanic, so it's not something that you can do overnight. But I do believe that your leadership has to believe in a tool or in a science or in any process that you're driving to change. The way that it worked for me is I was able to— and I'll say this as an organization, you know, outside of the the one I had told you when I was first introduced to the Predictive Index. But when I took it with me elsewhere, it's really about getting leadership to trust the tool that you're using. We started with getting them to understand and become self-aware about their own behavioral drives and profiles and skills and how they relate to their job. So starting there is a good data point. And then I always say start small, try it with one hire, and then over time, you can, you know, using your outcomes of like, these are successful hires, these are people that we are able to move in the organization beyond just the role that we hired them to do. I think then it starts to really become belief, like, wow, using this type of data really helps drive better outcomes for the

▶6:13Hostbusiness. Jackie, can you tell me about a moment when cultural or generational tensions surfaced in the workplace how did you or your team approach the situation and what practical strategies helped bridge the gap?

▶6:27GuestSure. So, you know, I think about— and I'll just say feedback is a big one. You know, Gen Z, for example, generally likes more timely feedback, in-the-moment feedback. And when you have your leadership who potentially was Gen X or from a different type of culture or environment, that can come off as needy, right? They just want all this feedback all the time. And so, that definitely creates a lot of tension. We set up processes to encourage feedback sessions and one-on-ones, and every employee should have a one-on-one every other week at least. But really getting teams to put charters together around how people like to receive feedback. So it's an individual basis. Like, I like more in the moment. I prefer to have it in a more structured place. And so once you learn what the preferences of a person, those tensions start to go away and you end up getting the best out of the person for the job that they're doing.

▶7:29HostJackie, what parting advice would you like to share with our community?

▶7:33GuestSure. So, you know, I think about the times that we're in now and there's uncertainty in the future or in the economy. And, you know, I think that clarity and transparency is kindness, and that's what employees are looking for. And the more clear and transparent that you can be as an organization, as to your strategy, as to what's coming around the bend, I think that your employees are just better off. They trust you more, and they're more engaged. So clarity is kindness would be my parting advice.

▶8:10HostJackie, thanks so much for joining us on the Built by People podcast. It was a pleasure to have you involved.

▶8:14GuestThanks so much. It was a pleasure to be here.