Courageous & Afraid

Being a big-picture systems thinker, (and might I add, neurodivergent) I generally am very planful, and whilst I enjoy the present, I tend to be very future-focused. Typically, anything to do with change excites me, as I thrive in being able to bring forward the current state, future state, and enjoy working through details of the change bridge puzzle for success with planning and implementation.

There is nothing like a big change management (OD) project that impacts all talent and underpins time, quality, and cost, to make one’s heartbeat elevate. Throughout my career, I’ve been presented with some unique growth challenges, and this short blog is about an experience de-partnering with a professional employer organization (PEO).

When I first learned of the many issues aligned with a past PEO partner, I felt daunted as a new People Leader and wrestled with, is it “good enough and can we get by another year”, or do we “pull the band-aid off and pivot quickly” scenario?Especially being a team of one (aside from one talent acquisition team member), without additional resources and shared services support team, nor an in-house finance team, or IT team to aid in the future APIs to support the ever-evolving untangling and re-establishing processes required for future success.

Sprinkle on other business as usual (BAU), and change initiatives occurring in parallel, (did I mention the environment being a rapid triple digit growth startup), and open enrollment, and time constraints due to contractual obligations (we had something like three days to achieve our obligated “notice period” of transition).

The OKR was, O: research & diligence to find vendor partners to replace PEO partner, benefit broker and new partners including payroll and 401k, the KR: new vendors scoped and determined by end of July, new broker/partner plan designs and integrations with all new vendors in place by October. Yup, a very short runway for such a change initiative!

Being a conscious leader who is optimistic and strives to embrace being vulnerable, it was clear to me that this transition would be full of vulnerabilities, as well as growth opportunities. Whilst there were lots of lessons learned through this particular journey, below are a few that surface immediately upon reflection:

• Decision making addressing root cause vs symptoms is key
• Comfortability with being able to pivot
• Criticality of a project plan
• Communication was paramount
• Collaboration (with internal and external) and alignment was supreme - find the best A player partner external vendors!
• Demonstrate radical responsibility (all parties involved)
• Prioritize for self and team-compassion and wellbeing
• Accept vulnerabilities
• Mistakes and mishaps can and will happen
• Walk the talk of integrity and transparency
• Take time to celebrate

I am ever so grateful ?? for having experienced the challenge (might have a few more gray hairs! ??) and value the deep relationships ?? built during this change initiative.