Leah Buckley

▶0:00HostWelcome 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 Leah to the Built by People podcast. Leah, thank you so much for joining us today. And as a starting question, I always love to ask if you could share a little bit more about your career journey.

▶0:52GuestAbsolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I think my career journey in HR was non-traditional, as I think a lot of those of us in the space have that. I went to UCLA thinking I would be a doctor or a lawyer and came out and feeling like neither of those was the right fit for me and really started just exploring things that I enjoyed doing. I ended up after college getting hired at Target looking for a seasonal position just to pay rent, and it turned into an entire career in their executive team leader program. Learning operations and getting to work in that space. As part of that program, I got assigned to oversee the employee relations and assets protection function, and that was sort of my first toe dip into the edges of the HR space. Ended up loving it, but still worked in operations for a number of years and moved my way up there until I moved over to Amazon a couple of years later. I had still been interested in the HR space, but enjoyed the operations space and figured I would continue on that path for the foreseeable future. Got really lucky or unlucky though, in that when I started at Amazon, our our business partner had resigned and moved on, and we spent about a year without that. And it was really interesting to get to start to help my peer leaders navigate tough things and do their first terminations or create engagement events, you know, for the team there and really start to step into that space and do what I had seen my past HR partners do. And I absolutely loved it. And I think that's really what solidified my decision to move my career in that direction. Started by getting some mentors at Amazon to see what it would do to be able to jump from operations into HR, and I went back and got my MBA with a concentration in HR and really moved my way in that space. Once I graduated, I was able to get a business partner position with Amazon, started out supporting the tech business, then went into the logistics business and got to lead there over COVID, and then started moving into head of HR positions at smaller companies to help them scale. So, it's been a really exciting career journey. I think I've gotten to see so many different types of companies from the behemoths like Amazon to small startups, to things in the creative space, finance, and now education. So, it's been a fantastic learning experience and really fun to get to see how different organizations work and how you can impact culture in organizations with just wildly different cultures and structures over the years.

▶3:16HostLeah, looking back, was there a key moment or key person that shifted your career path?

▶3:23GuestThere's been several. I would have to say my dad is probably the one that shaped it the most. I think from the beginning of my career life, even at 16 and things like that, he was really teaching me those lessons of how to understand what you can bring to the table, how to sell yourself, how to like, you know, make room for yourself and not, you know, get too caught up in titles or putting people on pedestals and things like that. So, I think he really gave me that foundation. I think my first manager at Target, her name was Kisa, was probably one of the biggest developmental figures in my career, just from teaching me how to give and receive feedback and everything about perception and leadership and learning to lead your peers as you move up, and so many great lessons that I learned there. And I think I've had so many great folks, my, my manager at Amazon, when I was getting my degree, Tina was probably one of the biggest influencers in helping me navigate that transition, that career jump from the operational space to the HR space. And she's been a huge cheerleader for me as well as I've started to try and build in this area. And I couldn't have done this without any of them. There's probably many more out there too, but yeah, short answer is yes. Long answer is I could probably keep going and really talk about how many people have, have been kind and shared their expertise to really help me get where I am now.

▶4:42HostLeah, can you tell us about a moment in your career where something was on the line and the decision you made and what happened next?

▶4:51GuestIt's a great question. I think the one that comes to mind the most was we're in an acquisition process back when I was at TIGS, and we were really at those go/no-go phases and doing a lot of work to try and make sure it was the right move and, and making sure that we could get everything over the line in time. And due to the nature of acquisitions being crazy, it really came down to the wire. And we had to do a lot of decision-making on what we would do with their compensation. Would we agree to increase them in the first 6 months, which is what they're asking for? Would we do it with our regular cadence? How would that impact the folks at Tegus versus the acquired company? And a lot of things like that. We decided to make the commitment to right-size their salaries upon acquisition and take that on, on top of everything else we were kind of planning to do in that Q4 time period. The acquisition went well. We were able to make adjustments. I do think it helped a lot with earning the trust of the new company and being able to come through and say, we said we would do this, here's what we did, and we do intend to treat you right, which is great. And it really took some navigation to make sure we could do the right things for the folks that were at the original company as well, but I do think it was the right choice to make, and we're able to get it to be a successful outcome. It was a bit of a leap of faith, but it worked out.

▶6:10HostLeah, what's the most meaningful change that you've made in a company that employees still feel today, and how did you make that happen?

▶6:23GuestIf I had to guess, I would say that it's probably building business partner teams in certain companies. I think as I've transitioned from really mature companies like Target and Amazon that have these amazing leadership development programs and all these resources for new managers, going into the startup space, one of the things that stood out the most was how much it takes to get those resources in place and how hard it is for managers to learn to lead without those resources available that I was fortunate enough to have as I developed. So, I think there's so much more beyond just business partners that you can do in the L&D space to develop managers, but I do think that in terms of immediate relief and really giving folks support and that lifeline. I think that building business partner functions for certain companies has helped a lot with making sure that key leaders have that thought partner, somebody to lean on, somebody to make it feel less lonely, you know, to be at the top and, you know, and try to make those tough decisions and make folks happy and all of the things that come with management. And I think it's helped a lot with folks feeling like they have a partner in the HR space versus, you know, an administrative function alone and things like that. So, I think those I've definitely seen some impacts of that, and a lot of really strong relationships that have lasted over the years come from, you know, the business partner and business head relationships that have come from those moves.

▶7:41HostLeah, when did you have to make an unpopular decision for the long-term good of the organization, and how did you bring people along for that ride?

▶7:51GuestIt's a good question. I feel like every decision that HR gets to make has some elements of unpopularity in it. I think, One of the ones that probably got the most noise and fear and anxiety was also when I was at TIGS, we had acquired companies and we had multiple payroll cycles, things like that that were going to make it very, very hard to scale and let TIGS move as quickly as it wanted to, to achieve its goals. So, we had to make the choice to align the pay periods, and the way that that would do it would require a little bit of a delay between paychecks for folks, which is obviously impactful. Like, this is why most folks are here is to be able to afford the lives that they want. So, we did a lot of explaining the whys, which I think for any unpopular decision is the foundation for getting people to come along with you and helping them really see what you're seeing and that, you know, it's not a small decision. It's not something that we're taking lightly, but here's why it's important. Here's how it's going to be better down the road. So, we both adjusted the pay cycle and moved from paying in advance to paying in arrears and things like that that would really allow the company to be successful and did almost a, almost 9 months of advance notice and education sessions and putting together hardship program availability just so folks knew that there was a safety net if they need it. And it ended up being a really smooth transition and big impact in the company long-term. People were able to get paid in a way that they understood a lot better and just really handle the new, the headcount growth that they were seeing a lot better. And by the time the change happened, I think folks realized it was not going to be as unpopular as they, you know, were a little bit worried about, but I think making sure they understood what we were seeing and why we felt this change was needed and bringing along with us was, was the key to making that a good change.

▶9:38HostLeah, what's a leadership move or HR initiative you've repeated in more than one company just because it works so well?

▶9:47GuestProbably building out competencies and leveling. I think it's a very foundational element that is I think taken for granted at a lot of more mature companies, but like being able to play in that startup space, seeing the impact of folks not understanding how to control their careers has made it just even clearer to me just how powerful of a tool that can be and how important it is for folks to feel their own control and agency over how they earn and where they go in their career paths. That's something that I've brought to several companies. It's something I'm working on with our leadership team here at AOPS right now. And I think it's something I would probably bring to any company that didn't have that. I think the ability to understand what's expected in a role, how to promote, how to internally transfer, all of those things, and then being able to use that as a foundation for career conversations, pay conversations, everything else, like, to me, I think it's a really, really critical piece for any company to have and definitely worth the lift that it takes to build something like that.

▶10:41HostLeah, say, say another HR leader wants to implement that within their own organization. What's the first step you would recommend that they take to get that off the ground?

▶10:52GuestIt's a great question. It'll definitely depend on where the company is at, but I think for me, what I would recommend is making sure that all of the levels of the foundation beneath that exist. So, as we were taking a look at starting that initiative at AOPS, we actually worked as a leadership team and came all the way back down to, let's redefine our company values and then go from there. So, I think trying to build an initiative like leveling and competencies on top of You know, a core value set that's not serving as your decision framing or decision-making framework and all of the things that, you know, it really should capture makes it very hard to execute those goals. So, I would say my biggest piece of advice is make sure that like all the foundational steps are there. Like if you can, if you're left with whys, you know, when you try to go into those things, then there's probably foundational steps before that. So, I think just making sure you take the time to build it properly and make sure it's meaningful and specific to the company. Is really, really important versus trying to kind of layer it on top of something that might not be the strongest foundation.

▶11:55HostIf you could leave one piece of advice for our community, something you wish you had known earlier in your career, what would it be and why?

▶12:04GuestProbably so many things. I think one of the biggest, or definitely a piece of advice I love to share with folks, is just to, as much as possible, try to disregard those things like titles, tenure, things like that. Like, it can be so intimidating to come in new in a space and to speak up and share share your ideas or disagree or, you know, just otherwise insert yourself, especially when you're dealing with, with senior folks. And I remember when I was starting out, I had so many preconceptions of like, oh, you know, they're in X, Y, and Z position, they must know the right answer. There's no way my voice is needed in this room. And I think getting rid of that unlocks everything. And I think as a senior leader myself now, I love so much when my teams and the folks that I work with speak up, value their voice, feel confident in their opinion, and actually act as thought partners and peers to me, and then things like that. And I think it's a dream team for me to be able to have that. And I think that I wish everybody kind of starting out in their career knew how valued that is by senior leaders across the board, and honestly, just how great ideas truly do come from anywhere. So, I think that trust and really setting those preconceived notions aside, would be the advice I'd give to almost anyone.

▶13:16HostLeo, thank you so much for joining us today on the Built by People podcast. It was a pleasure to have you involved.

▶13:21GuestWell, thank you so much for having me. It's been great to be here.