Turbulent not still, waters run deep

Recently on a panel, I was asked for my ‘go to’ piece of career advice. I told the audience of talents it would be when leaving one role for another, take the opportunity to reflect on learnings, that eventually turn into nuggets of wisdom for the next big thing. Not only is this a cathartic exercise, but it also serves as a blueprint for others, a little like the letter that is placed in the top right-hand drawer of the desk in the Oval Room, by every past US President to the preceding one. As my career has progressed, these reflections too have grown, now they represent the scale of how the workplace has changed, what employees and colleagues want, and the impact of achievable but ambitious People strategies.?Reflecting on when I joined adidas, it was a time of great employee turmoil, demands globally on racial equity were resounding - my role was to help steer and create more confidence for our employees that our company was continuing to put people at the heart and center.?

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Accountability and credibility start with listening.

One of the important learnings during those early months was something so overrated, but simple - the power of listening. Of course, differing perspectives and experiences are essential to ensure that organizational change is targeted and meaningful, but the work can’t stop there. Diversity training is a foundational step, but it must not be a tokenistic band-aid. We needed to listen to our colleagues, empathize with their challenges, and act on their contributions,?otherwise, we would have been merely salving our consciences and not demonstrating our will to change. This focus continued to hold us accountable as a corporate giant with over 150 million customers worldwide, many from ethnically diverse backgrounds, so it was clear we had to ensure our external image was reflecting our internal reality. And focusing on that sooner and faster would be my first reflection. Organizations that have gone through crises and trauma have a lot to say, and need the requisite space to do this. We still have much progress to make but modern companies have no option other than to listen, consider and act.

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Sector know how is irrelevant when what’s required is (moral) leadership.

I reflect on my career change from Financial Services to Sporting Goods, banking being more complex, mature, and regulated and rather than being influenced by trends, innovations and consumer preferences, financial services is affected by economic conditions, government policies and interest rates.

But a CHRO’s skills and experiences can be applied well in any sector, the key is getting to know the sector, by again listening to employees, understanding the consumer base and nature of products. Let us face it, best practice HR is not rocket-science – many companies have successfully led through crises because of strong, professional and adaptable HR departments, especially in these last years of multiple macro-economic challenges. HR is recognized by fellow practitioners as the operating conscience of an organization, but now this conscience is coupled with an insistence and focus that transcends through and past the boardroom, a direct consequence of colleague intention and the equity they want to see.

Here’s the beef - industry sector is irrelevant when navigating crises, but what is needed are leaders who understand and can act with empathy and insight - having the courage to ask those difficult questions to understand more and listen how employees are feeling – and from an HR standpoint, being able to provide the right programs and policies to help employees navigate these challenging times. As an HR professional, there have been moments in my current role where I have had to follow through on company decisions which have sometimes touched the border of my own ethics and moral compass,?but ensuing I have articulated my opinion, being listened to as the only woman on the board, accomplished with an exceptional different set of experiences, and mostly having a different viewpoint needs deep courage to voice - but then acting as one team for the company is the only way to lead effectively and pragmatically.

It’s not enough to listen - Put yourself in a position to hear

My last reflection would be the power of the collective voice. Employee passion at adidas is palpable, you feel it in the offices, the gyms or running track to the social spaces where adidas employees meet. This passion is the thread between all colleagues and leaning into this has helped us move and progress on culture - harnessing these minds and voices, makes it a companywide movement. In 2021, we conducted our employee listening survey – no big deal, most companies have these and ask for feedback yearly. But we were listening to only half of our employees, the ones in our corporate centers– so we overcame the practical obstacles to ensure we listened to our retail and DC employees, 30,000 of them. This was a phenomenal step in ensuring we could take positive action inside our firm, for our future. This has now continued for the last years but organizations need to be ready and open to receive both positive and development feedback – feedback is the lifeblood of a progressive company, and a pre-requisite is an environment of psychological safety. With close to nearly 80% of the company opting to participate, we have been able to effectively improve the workplace from employee listening but as always, expectations increase as our world becomes more complex and challenging for our employees.

The experiences I have gained at adidas have been unique and myself and the team have undoubtedly grown across the many challenging moments along the journey. One purposeful action I will continue to practice is the power of listening - there is nothing more natural than listening and giving someone your full attention, this way, the connection is solid, and the insights and trust gained are innumerable. The power of listening is core to the successful changes we implemented as an HR department and as I think about my next role, I want to reflect on the difference between listening and hearing, acknowledging, and acting. Giving time, my undivided attention and empathy meets a fundamental need of the person across the table from you.

A take away from my time at adidas is that, as with all transforming organizations, there is a time quotient. An organization can only grow and change as quickly as the culture and senior leaders will allow.??It’s always important to aspire to be an organization that has a people plan with purpose, at the heart of everything.?Values, respect, ethics, and inclusion must be evident everywhere – and not just captured in value statements and townhall sentiments, but rather, it’s what you see, experience, witness, and actually feel.?Listening and truly hearing to employees is a vital way to help unblock issues, amplify the needed behaviors and interventions to create the culture desired.

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