Logan Sutherland
VP, People and Culture
Stampin' Up!
Episode 234
HR's true influence: Shaping lives, building managers, changing the world.
Current chapter: Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built By PeopleApril 14, 2025 · 17:35
Thesis
“HR professionals wield significant influence, not just within organizations but globally, by enriching employees' work lives, aligning them with their potential, and thus positively impacting their overall well-being and communities.”
Show notes
Career Insights and HR Leadership: Logan Sutherland's Journey
In this episode of the Built by People Podcast, host Dave welcomes Logan to discuss his extensive career in HR.
Logan shares his journey from a young business enthusiast influenced by his father's floral shop to leading HR departments in industry giants like Microsoft and smaller firms like Stampin' Up.
He highlights key milestones, including his MBA in organizational behavior, various pivotal roles at Microsoft, and transformative experiences at Bluehost and Nelson Laboratories.
Logan delves into his passion for building management capability, establishing effective listening techniques, and transforming HR teams from transactional to strategic business partners.
He concludes with advice on the significant impact HR professionals can have on individuals' lives and broader communities.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:59 Logan's Early Career Journey
02:06 Transition to Microsoft
04:29 Experience at Bluehost and Beyond06:09 Current Role at Stamping Up
07:10 Building Management Capability
09:57 Effective Listening Techniques
14:08 Transforming HR Team Members
16:21 Parting Advice and Conclusion
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What you'll take away
- 1Prioritize building management capability, as managers are a primary predictor of employee success and happiness, multiplying positive effects throughout the company.
- 2Institute regular and healthy one-on-one conversations as the 'basic unit of leadership' to diagnose and prevent issues between employees and managers.
- 3Utilize a mix of broad-scale (annual/monthly surveys) and high-fidelity qualitative (Lunch and Listen sessions) listening techniques to genuinely understand employee sentiment.
- 4Foster business acumen in HR teams by integrating them into weekly business updates, staff meetings, and cross-functional discussions to provide context and strategic insight.
- 5Provide non-traditional, challenging on-the-job experiences for HR team members to expand their view of the business and transform them into strategic partners.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Choosing to leave the medical devices field at the beginning of a global pandemic for a paper crafting company proved to be a great decision, contrary to conventional career wisdom.
- •Advocating for an HR person to serve as an acquisition integration manager, a non-traditional business role, met with skepticism but successfully expanded the individual's and the team's strategic impact.
In Logan's words
“I think I see managers as one of the key fulcrum points for anything we want to do with our employees as a company. They are a strong predictor of success and potentially happiness for employees.”
This quote emphasizes the foundational importance of managers in influencing employee outcomes.
“I feel like that's the basic unit of leadership is good, healthy conversations with employees.”
This distills effective leadership into a fundamental, actionable practice: consistent communication.
“I just pick, have a random sampling of employees, 5 or 6 employees. We provide a lunch and just ask them what's going well, what we can do better, and what ideas they have.”
This describes a practical, high-fidelity qualitative listening technique to gather genuine employee feedback.
“Giving that on-the-job experience where you're doing something that may not be a traditional HR role is a huge way... to totally expanded their view of what HR could do and what our business was.”
This highlights the power of experiential learning in transforming HR professionals into strategic business partners.
“The work part of our lives, given the amount of time we all spend at work, is really significant. And anything we can do to improve that work portion of life improves the person and helps their life better as they go home and are with their loved ones or community or family.”
This powerfully articulates the ripple-effect impact of HR work, extending beyond the workplace to personal well-being.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Managers often fail to recognize their role as leaders and continue to operate as individual contributors or 'best technicians'.
- •Many organizations lack a consistent practice of regular, healthy one-on-one meetings between employees and managers, leading to communication breakdowns.
- •HR teams with transactional backgrounds frequently struggle to develop business acumen and participate strategically in broader company operations.
- •Leaders in fast-paced business environments find it challenging to effectively listen and connect with employee sentiment at both individual and broad scales.
- •There is often internal skepticism from business leaders about HR professionals taking on non-traditional, strategic roles outside of typical HR functions.
In this episode
Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built by People
Dave Nelson has wanted to be a business person since he was 7
Tim Ferriss on His Career Journey
Building management capability is a passion of yours as an HR leader
Developing Managers: The Key
How do you establish effective listening techniques to stay connected with employee sentiment
How to Listen to Employee Sentiment
When building business acumen in HR teams, what strategies have you found most effective
Developing Business acumen in HR Teams
Logan has helped transform an HR team member from transactional mindset to strategic partnership
Have You Changed the HR Team's Mind?
Logan, what parting advice would you like to share with our community
A HR Professional's Last Words
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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