Louie Lugo
Chief Human Resources Officer
North Range Behavioral Health
Episode 283
Unlock Growth: Why HR Leaders Must Master Business Strategy.
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleMarch 5, 2025 · 15:34
Thesis
“Louie Lugo's core belief is that effective HR leadership hinges on understanding the business model to bridge people strategy with business strategy, fostering a culture of trust and strong relationships that enable both organizational success and individual authenticity.”
Show notes
Navigating HR Strategies and Employee Alignment with Louie Lugo.
In this episode of the Built by People podcast, sponsored by Previ, host Dave D'Angelo welcomes Louie, the CHRO at North Range Behavioral Health. Louie shares his unique career journey from a professional musician to an HR executive and discusses how CHROs can create internal success stories.
He also explores aligning employee work with their strengths, bridging people strategy with business strategy, and the role of job descriptions in boosting engagement and retention.
Louie emphasizes the importance of relationship building, measuring HR success, and fostering a culture of trust and collaboration. He concludes with advice for HR leaders to remain positive, dream big, and lead with kindness and gratitude.
00:00 Introduction to the Built by People Podcast
00:16 Sponsor Message from Previ
00:45 Guest Introduction: Louie's Career Journey
02:00 Creating Internal Success Stories in HR
03:26 Aligning Work with Employee Strengths05:13 Bridging People Strategy with Business Strategy
06:20 Boosting Engagement and Retention
07:58 Measuring HR Success and Authenticity
10:09 The Importance of Relationships in HR
13:35 Louie's Parting Advice for HR Leaders
15:28 Conclusion and Farewell
What you'll take away
- 1CHROs must deeply understand their organization's business model to effectively align people strategy with business strategy across all sectors.
- 2Implement performance management approaches that align employee work with their strengths, potentially adapting clinical concepts like solution-focused brief therapy.
- 3Cultivate a high-trust environment where employees and managers feel comfortable engaging with HR, turning challenges into opportunities for success stories.
- 4Recognize strong relationships as a critical 'work output,' fostering collaboration, productivity, and psychological safety through transparent communication.
- 5HR leaders should actively resist becoming jaded, maintaining a positive vision for the HR function, leading with kindness, gratitude, and owning their mistakes.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Louie suggests that HR should not primarily alter job descriptions to fit individuals, but rather align job content with program needs, then fit the right qualified person.
- •He posits that 'relationships' are a 'key work output' for HR and managers, challenging a purely quantitative metric focus and highlighting the intrinsic value of connection.
In Louie's words
“Ultimately what we're tasked with is bridging people strategy with business strategy. And to do that, it really requires understanding the business model, regardless of what sector that is.”
This quote defines the fundamental strategic responsibility of CHROs in aligning human capital with organizational goals.
“If someone in a specific program might be struggling, but they what they do, you know, they're highly qualified, they might be a better fit for a different program.”
This highlights a strengths-based approach to performance issues, suggesting re-alignment rather than just corrective action.
“I have a lot of gratitude and value for is that our people feel demonstrably comfortable approaching HR for a number of different concerns, both at the employee and the manager level, which, you know, I think as we know is not true everywhere.”
This emphasizes the critical importance of building trust and psychological safety within the HR function.
“If you have good relationships with those around you, it is easier to get things done. There's a synergy, there's a productivity piece that is very real.”
This underlines the practical, tangible benefits of fostering positive workplace relationships beyond mere camaraderie.
“We help people who help people. We don't make widgets and there's nothing wrong with making widgets, but when we get to help people who are doing the work to help others who are really in need. And we're actually in these programs, seeing what's being done and knowing how our support helps others be their best to support others. That's incredibly fulfilling and motivating on an intrinsic level.”
This articulates the deep intrinsic motivation and purpose found in mission-driven HR roles, particularly in healthcare.
“We have to make a commitment to ourselves as HR leaders and professionals to not get jaded, to not be jaded, to think up, to assume up, to envision what we think the HR function or the people function should look like and kind of reverse engineer from there.”
This offers powerful advice for HR professionals to maintain optimism, vision, and proactive leadership despite potential challenges.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Employees are concerned about covering monthly expenses (e.g., cell phone services), indicating a need for financial well-being benefits.
- •Managers face intense challenges and may lack the necessary support to navigate complex employee situations effectively.
- •Employee work performance struggles require strategic intervention, potentially through re-alignment or specialized performance discussions.
- •A lack of psychological safety prevents many managers from having necessary hard, vulnerable, and transparent conversations, hindering resolution and relationship cultivation.
- •HR leaders and professionals risk becoming jaded by negative experiences or a lack of understanding/support from management, leading to a 'downward spiral.'
- •Some HR leaders struggle to articulate their needs and 'what to ask for' from their management teams, impeding HR's strategic influence.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Dave was a professional musician by trade before diving into human resources
The Career Journey of Human Resources
How can CHROs create internal success stories that showcase HR strategies
How can CHROs create internal success stories
What approaches do you use to help employees align their work with their strengths
How to Enhance Employee Job Satisfaction and Performance
Curious how you bridge people strategy with business strategy
Bridge People Strategy and Business Strategy
Louie says changing job descriptions can boost engagement and retention among employees
Employee Engagement and Retention
How do you measure the success of some of these HR initiatives
How to Measure the Success of HR Initiatives?
Relationships are a key work output at NorthRange Behavioral Health
Relationships are a key work output
Louie, what parting advice would you like to share with our audience
Louie's Last Words for HR
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
Expand transcript (0 words)
Transcript is not available yet.