CSHRP Member Q&A - Christine Ofori, Chief People Officer @ Amyris

CSHRP is "Your Community for Strategic HR Partnership" and was founded in 1994 as a non-profit membership organization exclusively for senior HR/People Leaders. For membership information, please visit: https://www.cshrp.com.

As Amyris Chief People Officer, Christine Ofori is responsible for leading and integrating all facets of Amyris’s HR goals, including people strategy and enhancement of company culture in order to deliver and enable business growth. Christine brings many years of HR leadership experience to Amyris, including successful integration of people, technologies, processes and cultures. Most recently, Christine served as Vice President of Human Resources at Amyris where she guided all aspects of employee development, staffing and business partnering. Prior to that, she spent over eight years with Equinix, Inc. as Senior Director, Human Resources supporting the Americas Region. Christine studied Business at the University of Minnesota. 

CSHRP: How did you get into HR in the first place?

Ofori: I have to say that HR found me. After college I wasn't sure where I should start, so I joined a staffing agency where I was responsible for interviewing candidates and placing them into temporary/contract roles. This was my first introduction into recruitment and hiring. From there I moved into Talent Acquisition and then Talent Management and more. I love that Human Resources has so many disciplines and experiences to offer.

CSHRP: Given the ever-expanding list of responsibilities that CHROs face now, how do you juggle different priorities?

Ofori: That's the beauty of HR, as the environment changes, we must change with it. You will always have to juggle priorities so it is important that you focus on what is important. Not everything requires the same focus, so make sure you understand what will have impact. Reflecting on 2020 and today, we have had to navigate a pandemic, create a new way of working and I bet none of us had that in our strategy. We all had to pivot to meet the changing environment.

CSHRP: Any lessons from your firm's Covid response that apply more broadly to the art of driving transformation?

Ofori: We did an amazing job navigating our work as an essential business and keeping employees safe at the same time. We responded well to work from home needs and productivity was at an all-time high. The lessons were the costs on mental health. No one had answers, yet we were all facing the same challenges. I would have done more in these areas much earlier to support our people. Being agile and taking the time to understand what each person needed was so critical. There isn't a one size fits all so you have to create flexibility so you can meet the employee's needs. We often see what is at the surface and there is so much complexity below the surface for each person.

CSHRP: Most people are wired to like certainty over change, because change involves more risk. How do you get the whole organization to be open to the transformation process in the first place?

Ofori: Luckily we are an innovative company so change is expected and constant. To that end, change can be stressful and isn't easy. The biggest question that needs to be answered when you are proposing a change is, why is the change needed and why now? This transparency can help when trying to gain buy-in for the change. We have had huge success with engaging employees across the organization to help us think through business challenges. That could range from COVID response to a business transformation. Engaging employees directly gives you broader perspectives and change leaders embedded in the organization. You often gain insight into things you wouldn't have known otherwise. There is little patience for the traditional change management process in our fast paced business so this approach helps engage employees without delaying progress.

CSHRP: Given the year we just lived through, what are the X-factors that matter the most in your leaders now?

Ofori: The key x-factors are; passion, curiosity, accountability, & inclusion.

CSHRP: If you're hiring for your team, what are the key one or two questions that you ask in job interviews?

Ofori: When candidates are providing examples of their work/projects, it's important to understand why they did things the way they did. This is a window into how they would work with others and how they navigate different environments and challenges.

CSHRP: Who were the most important influences early on that really shaped who you are today?

Ofori: I have had several people that have touched my life and influenced who I am today. Not all of these experiences were good, but I find that the poor examples were often as beneficial as the good ones. It really comes down to how they made me feel and then how did I want to make others feel. Professionally, I have had many mentors both within our HR discipline and outside. What these leaders had in common was that they believed in me and invested in me.