Joy Todd
VP, Human Resources
AVI Systems
Episode 303
Ignite Impact: HR's Imperative to Embody Values for Organizational Growth
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleFebruary 12, 2025 · 13:34
Thesis
“HR professionals must deeply align their personal values with their organization's values and actively embody them to be effective leaders and advocates, especially in rapidly growing, employee-owned companies.”
Show notes
Inheriting a role that someone held for 15 years isn't just a transition — it's an organizational identity question. Joy Todd walked into exactly that situation at AVI Systems, an employee-owned technology integrator in rapid growth mode, and she spent the first weeks doing something that turned out to be the most strategic move possible: listening.
Joy's path to VP of HR ran through marketing and data analytics — a background she credits with giving her a different lens on people problems. At AVI Systems, she's used that lens to transform an HR function built for a smaller, slower organization into one that can support a company scaling across multiple locations without losing the culture that made it worth working for. Her approach to that transition was methodical: first understand the current state completely before changing anything. Then build the team, refine the policies, and train the organization on what strategic HR actually looks like — because many managers had never worked with a true HR business partner model.
AVI is employee-owned, and Joy is clear that this structure creates a different kind of engagement accountability. Employees who own the company have a genuine stake in its culture, and that creates both opportunity and obligation: the values alignment between individual employees and the organization has to be real, not aspirational. She's also built deliberate mechanisms for maintaining culture consistency across geographically dispersed and remote workers — a challenge that scales with every new location and hire.
- Leading HR transformation after inheriting a long-tenured role — why listening first is the highest-leverage strategy
- Scaling HR for rapid growth — building foundations strong enough to support organizational expansion without losing culture
- Transitioning to an HR business partner model — training the organization to understand and use strategic HR effectively
- Culture consistency across multiple dispersed locations — maintaining shared values when employees aren't in the same building
- Employee ownership as a culture accelerator — what genuine organizational stakes do to engagement and accountability
- Values alignment as a hiring filter — why matching personal and organizational values predicts long-term performance better than most assessments
Built by People is sponsored by Previ, the private pricing network that saves employees an average of $2,200/year on essentials like cell phone and auto insurance — free for companies to launch and maintain.
What you'll take away
- 1When stepping into a new HR leadership role, prioritize listening, observing, and learning the organization's current state and leadership goals before implementing changes.
- 2To scale HR effectively during rapid growth, focus on building a strong foundation with strategic team investment, refining core processes (talent acquisition, onboarding), and investing in leadership development.
- 3Transitioning to a proactive HR business partner model requires training the organization on the value HR delivers, aligning with business goals, collaborating closely, and continuously learning about the business and its people.
- 4Maintaining consistent company culture across multiple, dispersed locations (including remote workers) is achieved through strong top-down communication, intentional connection activities, empowering local leaders, and fostering a shared sense of ownership (e.g., ESOP).
- 5For HR professionals, a strong alignment between personal values and organizational values is crucial for effectiveness, fulfillment, and genuine advocacy of the company's mission and culture.
What most organizations get wrong
- •The culture here is stronger than some organizations that are even entirely in person. (Challenges the idea that remote/distributed work inherently weakens culture).
In Joy's words
“Eventually, I went back to school for my MBA. I was working in a data analytics role. And I took the HR class that was in the core business selections, and I fell in love. And I pivoted immediately to HR. That was my true passion.”
Highlights a pivotal moment and passion for HR, demonstrating a non-traditional path.
“A big first step for me was aligning with our leadership team because I really needed to understand the goals, the vision, and the priorities for HR at AVI, which was formed in part by a lot of extensive discussions to grasp their different perspectives on what they see as the most critical HR issues, as well as the broader organizational issues.”
Emphasizes the critical importance of leadership alignment and comprehensive organizational understanding for new HR leaders.
“People come to AVI because we're known for our culture, we're known for our growth, we're known for all the great things that we're doing. We are growing gangbusters, but again, the culture's what's bringing that in. So we have to be intentional in order to continue to cultivate that.”
Underscores the direct link between a strong, intentional culture and attracting top talent, even amidst rapid growth.
“One thing is we're really lucky to have strong communication from our CEO and President, Jeff Stavener. The leadership team has a really strong servant leadership style. Those things play a crucial role.”
Illustrates the foundational role of visible, servant leadership and transparent communication in maintaining culture across a distributed workforce.
“I would say in HR, perhaps more than in other careers, it's essential that you really have a great fit with your organization's values and practices because as HR professionals, we're leading the charge in carrying out employee actions, communications, and decisions.”
Offers key career advice for HR professionals, stressing the importance of value alignment for effectiveness and fulfillment.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Outdated HR policies and practices hinder efficiency and effectiveness, requiring a significant overhaul to support growth.
- •A lack of a comprehensive onboarding process leads to slower integration and impact for new hires during rapid scaling.
- •A lean HR team struggles to retain existing knowledge while simultaneously building out new functions (like L&D).
- •The absence of a formal compensation system makes it difficult to maintain competitive total rewards and attract talent.
- •Specific policy gaps (e.g., harassment training) can expose the company to increased risk and compliance issues.
- •Maintaining a consistent company culture and integrating acquired companies' cultures across 40+ dispersed locations (including remote workers) is a continuous challenge.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
David Miller shares a little bit about his career journey
How to Start Your Career with a Dream
David Miller was tasked with transforming HR at AVI during rapid growth
Have You Changed the HR Function at AVI?
AVI has hired 370 people in the past year alone
How Vertical Venture Is Scaling an HR Organization
You mentioned moving from a traditional passive HR function to a more proactive HR model
What Have Been the Key Elements of the HR Transformation
AV maintains a consistent company culture across 40+ locations
What Makes a Consistent Company Culture?
Being in sync with your organization's values makes your job more fulfilling
Joy Epstein on her last day
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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