My First Year of Twelve

Last month marks one year since I joined Twelve as the company’s first People Business Partner. What a year it has been! Since then, the People Business Partner team has expanded to include Tanisha De Leon, Alison Wang, and—as of a few weeks ago—Kimberly Bringas (welcome, Kimberly!). Also rounding out my broader People Ops team are the dynamic duo of Kim Brown (People Ops Generalist) and Josh Neugebauer (Senior Manager of Total Rewards). To say I am obsessed with this team would be an understatement. I’m thrilled by this growth and very grateful to now be fully transitioned into my role as Twelve’s Director of People.

As we’ve grown as a company, the People and Workplace org (led by the fearless Nikki Hampton) has put a tremendous amount of effort into developing and scaling new programs, processes, and policies. A major 2023 focus for the People team was manager development—from manager basics like running effective 1:1s to more advanced leadership topics like active listening, coaching and developing others, and making and managing clear agreements. Our goal is to train and coach our people managers to best support their teams. For a company of our relatively small size, we’re doing a commendable job of creating infrastructure to ensure that as we grow, we grow in the right direction.?

An important pivot?

As is common within the startup space, we’re moving fast and often experiencing a lot of change, all at once. One of the biggest shifts we’re currently navigating is a move into what is referred to as a “high-performance culture” which means a culture in which employees perform well because they are engaged, valued, and continually learning. Twelve has an extremely ambitious company mission: to eliminate global emissions and build a fossil-free future. The myriad steps and goals on the path to success will require everyone here to stay focused, drive things forward as efficiently as possible, and make sure we’re all doing work that’s tied to our mission. People who will thrive at Twelve now and moving forward are those who embrace collaboration and iteration, and who can adapt to change as it’s happening.?

Part of the shift into a high-performance culture includes evolving to an environment where we hold each other accountable, and where we aim to give clearer direction and have better systems in place for tracking progress toward our goals. A recent example of how we’re doing this is our employee engagement survey, which we just sent out in November. The intention with the survey is to give our employees a voice and to take action based on their feedback. The People team and senior leadership are committed to being transparent about where we are as a company—and also to holding ourselves accountable for the action plans that will follow as a result of the survey data. It’s going to be a really meaningful moment for us all to work together toward positive change.?

As we move into this next phase as a company, what we don’t want to happen is persistent burnout. We don’t want “high-performance” culture to become “grind” culture, where employees are working unsustainable hours and feeling under-recognized for their effort. We have definitely run that risk in certain departments, especially on the teams tasked with getting our technology up to performance standards. In response to recent weariness, the People Business Partners worked with engineering leadership to make sure everyone’s concerns were heard, that there was acknowledgement of pain points, and that they continue to work with leadership on a positive path forward. At the end of the day, we want all Twelve employees to have the flexibility and work-life balance necessary to show up as their best selves at work.?

Enabling success?

Speaking of the People Business Partners, I want to give them extra recognition for how effectively they have embedded themselves into the teams they support. The fact that the Business Partner team has built true partnerships with the leaders they support says everything about how fantastic a job this team is doing. And as a People team, we are fortunate to have Nikki leading us with empathy. She speaks often about our team’s role as being to enable the folks doing the work that will lead Twelve to success—which is why we’re so focused on ensuring the best possible experience for all of our employees, whether they’re based in our Bay Area HQ, remotely, or they’re part of our new Plant Operations team in Moses Lake, Washington.?

When I think ahead to the next year of Twelve, I’m excited for the traction the People team is gaining in collaborating with leadership. The company is very different now than it was when it was just 50 people, or 100—or even at the beginning of this year. Evolving the employee experience to reflect the needs of our current and future organization is going to be essential to our success. This includes the work our Talent and DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) leader Kylin Ellison is doing to drive forward a meaningful DEIB strategy. I’m especially excited about her momentum, and I look forward to Twelve becoming even more of an environment where all employees can thrive.

Looking for an opportunity to have a tremendous impact while working with phenomenal teammates toward a better future for our planet? Check out our open roles—we’re hiring!?