From Cost Center to Profit Driver: HR's Path to Strategic Business Impact

Welcome 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 Elaine to the Built by People podcast. Elaine, thank you so much for joining us. And as a starting question, I always love to ask if you can share a little bit more about your career journey.

Yes. Oh, Dave, thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here and just really honored to get a chance to share my perspective. So thank you very much. But yeah, when I think about my career journey, I think of it as an exciting mix of growth and learning and a fair amount of trial and error for sure, with probably a dash of luck. I started in HR many moons ago when I moved to the US and quickly realized that HR wasn't really just about managing people. That it was about creating a thriving ecosystem. I've worked at places like DaVita, where I managed HR ops for a $2 billion acquisition, to leading global transformations at great companies like PepsiCo and Dun Bradstreet, Aerotech, Northwell Health, and then of course, more recently at Stripe. I've had the opportunity through all those roles to drive change, I think, that has really driven sustainable growth. When I get asked this question, I always like to reflect on what's the most formative professional experience, and I have to say it was my very first one. And I've been listening to the podcast and I've heard many people say the same thing because I was a chief of staff for Tony Robbins. And Tony Robbins, many might know, is a well-known performance coach. And while HR was part of my role from the get, it was also a chance to just dive into the entire business that Tony had and operations, events, huge large-scale events, product development. Communications, you name it, I did it. And those skills that I learned on that really wild ride for a couple of years, I think they, I still lean on them today, right? Resiliency, creativity, adaptability truly was formative for me. And Tony taught me that everything is figureoutable. So that is like something I take with me wherever I go. And he taught me that you never should say you have a problem., and that you should always reframe things to say you have a challenge to be solved. And I know that sounds simple, but it's powerful. So I think that is a really formative one. And then I would just say, probably the cornerstone of this conversation is what's really unique about my career is recently I've not only been leading HR, but I've also been running a multimillion dollar P&L with everything reporting to me. And it's all thanks truly to my stint in technology the last several years. So thank you to TaxJar and Stripe. A whole new perspective on the relationship between people strategy and business outcomes. And so that has also been game-changing for sure.

Elena, you transitioned from HR leadership to running a P&L. What were the biggest eye-opening moments that changed your perspective on business operations?

Yeah, great question. Well, I think as an HR leader, we're usually focused on the people side, right? Like talent, culture, retention, all those things. But running a P&L, I think, has made me realize and actually feel the impact of every decision from workforce planning all the way through when folks are leaving an organization. Every decision really impacts the bottom line. And so I really learned quickly that financial discipline, things like cost management, ROI, they're really not just buzzwords. They're literally critical to driving growth. And so I think probably the most eye-opening moment for me was understanding that. When you align people strategy with financial performance, it moves beyond this nice-to-have thing to say and into something that's just a must. Those two things really have to come together. And so I think I've become more strategic in how I've invested in talent and resources the past several years. And I think now I really think in terms of both human and financial capital. And for me is really important so that I can maximize the overall success of the unit that I'm running.

Elaine, building on that, how has that experience as a GM transformed your view of HR practices? And then, you know, particularly around performance management, business partnerships.

Yeah. Yeah. So again, so being a GM has really shifted my perspective significantly. You know, immediately sitting on this other side, you know, when you have a true HR business partner by your side, because there's someone that they understand how the business works, they understand how we make money, they understand the growth plan that you've put in place, and they come to you recommendations on how to set the people in the organization up for success. And so for me, that practicality of being a GM has also honed me in, you know, to what I'm really looking for in my HR partnerships. And so I'm not looking for transactional. I'm not looking for just supportive, although of course those are like table stakes now for me, like those things have to work really well. But I think the power is in, do you have somebody who understands what's truly going on in your business? And I think you mentioned performance management, setting clear goals and aligning those goals with the company objectives is a must. That's crucial. I would say this great learning for me is clarity. Clarity is everything to the team, and it's not enough to simply evaluate performance once a year. That's another learning I've had that you really do need ongoing meaningful conversations that keep employees engaged and accountable. And so I like to say you've got to be constantly communicating to your teams, do more of this, do less of that, right? Because people need to hear, is it working now? That's great. Do that. And you know what, let's adjust here and let's move away from that. You need that sort of real-time performance management versus something that happens like once a year after the game has been played, so to speak. And I'm a big fan, one of the big things I would also say is, big fan of leadership team quarterly calibrations. I think these are crucial business mechanisms. Leaders are accountable for the performance on their teams, right? And you should have a leadership team that wants to showcase their team skills. And also is brave enough to be vulnerable about where the gaps are on their teams or what's not going quite so well, that you create then this shared ownership of talent performance. And when you're calibrating together in a much more consistent and routine way, because it's really true that it's no good if one, just one section of your team is doing great and the other team isn't. Like, you need more of a holistic team performance in order to achieve maximum velocity in health. And so I think those are the big learnings around performance management. I would just say real real-time calibration, it really sets the pace and it really sets the execution and course correction for a business to succeed. And those are the things that come to mind. I would also say performance impacts profitability. It impacts how HR really delivers a high-performance culture. And so I think that shift in all of this for me as GM and also somebody who's ran HR and has worked in HR is that you realize HR practice should never be done in isolation. They really need to deeply integrate themselves into the business and the objectives in an ongoing way.

Elaine, you mentioned the importance of HR leaders understanding the business they're in. What specific steps would you recommend for HR professionals to develop their business acumen?

Yeah, such a great question. And I would just say HR pros, you have to understand how your company makes money. I mean, really understand it. And you have to really be comfortable with the drivers of what the business looks at in terms of financial and operational metrics. I think it's just crucial for you to understand things like revenue drivers and cost structures and how HR investments directly impact profitability. And so I think that first step is just learning those pieces. You learn how the business generates revenue and what the key performance indicators are. That's table stakes, I think a really powerful exercise is just the simple, go ask your finance team to walk you through the company's financials. Ask them what's driving growth, ask them where the pain points are. If they say a term or a concept you don't understand, ask. You'll earn so much more respect if you ask questions versus pretending that you get it, right? Everyone likes to share their knowledge and finance people are no different. They're not scary. They really can become a key partner to you and it's around you, that knowledge is it's just there for the taking. So I'd say that's the first, immerse yourself in cross-functional collaboration. So, you know, go understand the challenges faced by all the departments of your business, even if it's not in your remit, like you're in a certain section and not another, still go learn marketing, sales, product development, engineering, you'll gain such a broad view of the business that way. And then maybe last but not least, either shadow if you can in different colleagues' departments, go run a small project. Outside of HR, where you have to orchestrate and coordinate outside of your discipline. And then if you're really crazy like me, then go do a stint in operations. If you can, go hold the baton, right? And there's so much for a quarter or two even. You will be forever changed, very much like me. Maybe that also gives someone on your team a chance to go step into your shoes. So you've got like this two-for-one development. I'm just such a big fan of job rotations and actually doing the meaningful work versus just a pure shadow. That's important if that's all you can do, but if you can go get your hands dirty, I would say go do that.

From your unique position of having been both an HR leader and a business GM, what do you believe makes the difference between a great HR business partner and an ineffective one?

Yeah, gosh, great question too. A great HR business partner is a true collaborator. Right? They don't just provide advice and support. They bring solutions that are aligned with business outcomes. I think that's the big one. They understand the business strategy. They're thinking proactively about how HR can contribute to the company's goals. They're not just trusted advisors, but they are role models of how to give tough feedback that fosters growth, that you can count on them to shoot you straight. And for me, those are the really standout skills versus Ineffective or less than high impact for me are, like I said, they're too transactional, right? They focus on the how rather than understanding the why behind a business decision. And they're not really aligning the HR initiatives with the business needs. They're just pushing things out because it's a moment in time and it's time for this thing or that thing. And I say with great respect for HR, but I'm— go away. I don't have time for this particular thing that you've decided you want to roll out if it's not going to drive my business. Forward, then we're going to have a hard time together. I just, I think we, when you function in that way, you become more of a bottleneck for the business, which is such a rotten spot to sit in because nobody's winning in that scenario and everyone's frustrated. So I just think the key difference is the ability to add measurable value, right? Really measurable value, both in terms of talent and financial impact. That's what sets you apart in my book.

Elaine, what are the most common misconceptions HR professionals have about running a business and how can they overcome those?

One of the biggest misconceptions I think we hold when we're just thinking pure HR is that it's just business is just operations and finance, right? And we're the people side and they're over there on ops and finance. I think that disconnects us and disconnects us from the numbers side of things, which I think is a bit of a mistake. I think business success is truly not just about profits and margins. It is about people. And so the misconception, I think, is thinking that the two are separate. And I think we as HR folks, we need to become really business savvy. We need to understand that every HR decision impacts that bottom line. Although we're trained to think in terms of processes and policies, and all those things are important. I think running a business is about agility and adapting to changes really quickly. So I think the misconception we could change and we could really never not be at that table is just learning to balance structure and process with flexibility. I think that's key.

Elaine, what part of your experience would you like to share with our community?

Wow. Gosh. How long do we have? There's so much. I think, look, probably this one, which just is what pops straight into my mind, which is don't underestimate the power of relationships. Truly, whether you're in HR or any other field, building really strong, trusting relationships across your organization will really pay off in the long run, right? These relationships are the ones that allow you to collaborate and contribute. You can push things when you need to, when you need to move the needle on something, because you've got people in your corner. You've got more of a chance to drive success if your relationships are really solid and always be willing to learn. You don't have to be right in every room. You don't, you can listen more than you can talk and still really be contributing because like the business world is constantly evolving, right? And so the best leaders in my book are the ones that, you know, they can adapt, they can learn from their mistakes. And continue to grow. I might put a PS on this building relationships thing. I was just coaching someone the other day, go and fix the relationship that's just not quite working. And we know that we've got those, the ones that are super optimized and the ones that are a little less. If something's not firing on all cylinders, don't wait, lean into the less easy relationships because I've often found that those are the ones that if you really work on them, they take you to the next level and If you're brave enough to lean into that, I think that can be a game changer in terms of your career really thriving.

Elaine, thanks so much for joining us on the Built by People podcast. It was a pleasure to have you involved.

Great. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.