Cruising Altitude

This episode of Cruising Altitude features a conversation with Elizabeth Bryant, Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at Southwest Airlines, hosted by Nicole Alvino, CEO and co-founder of FirstUp. Elizabeth and Nicole discuss the importance of employee engagement and its impact on organizational success. The conversation explores Southwest's employee-centered approach, leadership development strategies, and the link between employee treatment and customer experience. Bryant shares insights on creating a culture of learning, valuing employee contributions, and fostering an environment that supports growth and innovation across Southwest's 75,000-strong workforce. Listeners gain valuable lessons on personalized employee journeys and the significance of leadership in enhancing employee satisfaction and company profitability.

Quotes

*”If you treat your employee well, they in turn will treat your customers well. And by doing that, they'll come back and that will make your shareholders happy. By that, what I mean is genuinely care about your employees, put them at the center of our decision making model, involve them  in problems and opportunities and challenges, trust them that they know what to do, and then they can make the right decisions. When you empower people to do that, they will do well. They make good decisions.”

*”How are we ensuring that the employees of Southwest Airlines are feeling seen and valued for the skills that they bring? So much of that actually is about leadership development. It's about equipping our leaders with the tools and the skill set to bring out the best in our employees.“

*”Leadership is something that, there may be some innate qualities, but I fully believe that leadership can be taught. And there's an investment that needs to be made on behalf of the organization in order to do that well.”

*”I think there's a difference between a healthy and a smart organization. In a smart organization, you hire in the right people that have the background and the skillset. But the healthy is all about the EQ and that ability to connect with what's important in employees’ lives.”

*”An environment that allows failure to happen and to have a growth mindset, it doesn't always mean you're moving forward. And sometimes we will make mistakes as we're growing. So to have an environment that recognizes that mistakes are part of it, they're part of the growth, and as a leader, to be equipped with the tools and the skills to help employees as they are working through that, and it's a supportive environment versus a punitive one, I think is important as well.”

Time Stamps

[0:41] Introducing Elizabeth Bryant, SVP & Chief People Officer at Southwest Airlines

[1:30] Southwest Airlines: A People-First Culture

[3:28] Learn more about Elizabeth Bryant's Background

[5:36] Southwest Airlines' History and Culture

[8:15] How to Support Employee Development and Career Growth

[11:38] Leadership Development at Southwest Airlines

[18:37] Using Data to Enhance Employee Experience

[22:25] Translating Employee Experience to Customer Experience

[24:38] Adapting to Workforce Changes

[28:43] Personal Stories and Reflections from a Career at Southwest Airlines

Links

Connect with Elizabeth on LinkedIn

Learn more about Southwest Airlines

Thanks to our friends

This episode is brought to you by Firstup, the world’s first intelligent communication platform. More than 40 percent of Fortune 100 companies use our platform to connect with their people, design and deliver personalized communications, and gain engagement insights throughout the employee journey. That’s how they give their employees better experiences from hire to retire. Learn more at firstup.io

This episode of Cruising Altitude features a conversation with Brittany Polanco, Director of HR Innovation at Diageo, hosted by Nicole Alvino, CEO and co-founder of FirstUp. They discuss the critical role of leadership in shaping the energy and attitude of work, whether in-person or remote. Brittany shares insights on the importance of empowering leaders, co-creating employee experiences, and driving organizational innovation. They also explore the integration of AI in HR and the future of the HR function. Brittany, who has over 10 years of HR experience including roles at Hilton Worldwide and PepsiCo, emphasizes the need for leaders to have a clear vision and create environments that encourage creativity and collaboration. The episode touches on the importance of psychological safety, the nuances of employee experience, and the significance of continuous learning.

Quotes

*”Leaders who haven't been shown or given that empowerment creates a cycle of them not having that space to take ownership, to really drive results, to lead. And I think that ends up coming down to the team below them or the colleagues around them. So I really think that there's so much importance on the folks that you bring into your team and particularly the leaders that you bring in to be able to start this behavior. It has to start somewhere.”

*”[On] the topic of employee experience, I am a neurodiverse leader. It's something that has played a big role in my career. I think it's been a tremendous strength for me and it also, I think, broadens my perspective when I think about the employee experience. And just as we as a society get more and more in tune with all the different facets of what that can mean and how we can support employees best, is definitely a passion point of mine.”

*”Honestly, I think that at this point, employee experience is just a must-do for everyone at the company. I think that It's clear how competitive it is and what standards we need to have as an employer to attract and develop and retain the best talent.”

*”In a world of what does ‘great’ look like in employee experience, there is so much nuance. But I do believe that the more that you can allow each individual to bring their strengths and their creativity, and the more you make a structure where you appreciate and pull in the strengths and skills of those and other functions and other teams, that's what I've really appreciated.”

*”There's something beautiful when you give yourself permission to be human. You know, we show up every day in these jobs and with these people who we spend so much time with. And the more we can embrace our full selves the more that we can really connect at a human level, I think the better the work, the better the experience.”

Time Stamps

[0:52] Meet Brittany Polanco, Director of HR Innovation at Diageo

[4:26] Brittany's Role at Diageo

[5:37] Understanding Diageo and Employee Personas

[7:42] Challenges and Innovations in HR

[11:14] The Importance of Employee Insights

[17:03] Balancing Leadership and Employee Experience

[23:23] Future of HR and AI Integration

Links

Connect with Brittany on LinkedIn

Learn more about Diageo

Thanks to our friends

This episode is brought to you by Firstup, the world’s first intelligent communication platform. More than 40 percent of Fortune 100 companies use our platform to connect with their people, design and deliver personalized communications, and gain engagement insights throughout the employee journey. That’s how they give their employees better experiences from hire to retire. Learn more at firstup.io

This episode of Cruising Altitude features an insightful conversation with Tim Gerend, President at Northwestern Mutual. He previously served as Northwestern Mutual's Executive Vice President and Chief Distribution Officer. The discussion with host Nicole Alvino highlights the critical role of data in understanding and improving the employee experience, drawing a direct correlation to business success. Gerend shares his journey and the various leadership roles he's taken on at Northwestern Mutual, emphasizing the company's mission-driven culture and the focus on providing exceptional employee and client experiences. The conversation also explores the importance of technology, including AI, in creating efficiency and personalization for both employees and clients, aiming towards a future where personal growth and business growth go hand in hand. Sponsored by FirstUp, this episode provides valuable insights into leveraging data and technology to foster a culture of excellence and teamwork.

Quotes

*”The power of data not only is going to help our clients, but in addition to knowing more about our clients than anyone else, we also know more about our advisors’ businesses. So as we get more data, we're going to have more insight and understanding of how do you build a great business.”

*”We have a culture that's highly abundant, so people do a lot of sharing. So while they're independent contractors and they all want to grow and be great and maybe that's be on stage or meet whatever their business goals are, they also are really excellent at helping each other and so we're bringing them in to this culture where we have an expectation that they're going to be really good at what they do, they're going to serve their clients and their community at the highest level. And they're going to give back, and they're going to help others. And I think it's one of the great characteristics of our culture that our very best give back the most. And we want that to be the experience from when people start day one.”

*”This is really a people business. It's certainly true in the field where it's relationship building and all of it that you would expect, but I think what really makes this place is the caliber of the people, very mission driven. Really smart, focused on doing the right thing. And there's a lot of teamwork. For a really big company, we're a Fortune 90 company, so we really have one P&L statement. What that means is we're all kind of in everybody's business because everything we do is connected. We've got one field force, we've got one client experience. And I love that part of it because I've always liked being part of a winning team. I think when you can have people working on something big together and you can do more together than you could alone, that's hard, but it also for me has been really rewarding.”

Time Stamps

[0:27] Meet Tim Gerend, President at Northwestern Mutual

[0:30] The Power of Data in Shaping Business and Advisor Success

[0:43] Tim Gerend’s Journey and Insights on Employee Experience

[1:16] Creating a Culture of Excellence and Giving Back

[11:33] The Role of Technology in Enhancing Employee and Client Experience

[16:59] Looking Ahead: The Future of Northwestern Mutual and the Role of Data

[21:33] Tim's Personal Leadership Philosophy

[22:50] Closing Remarks and How to Connect with Tim Gerend

Links

Connect with Tim on LinkedIn

Learn more about Northwestern Mutual

Thanks to our friends

This episode is brought to you by Firstup, the world’s first intelligent communication platform. More than 40 percent of Fortune 100 companies use our platform to connect with their people, design and deliver personalized communications, and gain engagement insights throughout the employee journey. That’s how they give their employees better experiences from hire to retire. Learn more at firstup.io

This episode features an interview with Shaelyn Otikor, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Digital Workplace Strategy at Northern Trust in the Asset Servicing business unit. The Asset Servicing business unit contains 15,000 of the company's 25,000 employees across 20 countries. Shaelyn has been with Northern Trust for over 28 years. And today, our host Nicole Alvino is talking with Shaelyn about re-engineering digital employee processes for greater efficiency, empowering employees to drive their own career at Northern Trust. and not being afraid to get in the weeds.

Quotes

*”As we think about digital employee experience, we have to build out various personas based on the regions, the roles, and the groups, and then try to address digital employee experience based on those personas and what the group of individual employees are working on.”

*”As a financial services firm, we're not exactly sexy out there. It's not something everyone's really trying to get into in this day and era. So, we definitely want to show employees that we are on the cusp of FinTech - we are both financial and technology - and that there are places at our company, capabilities and tools where they can hone that skill set, and they don't need to leave to go to a technology company. So when we onboard new employees, we want to introduce them to the freshest, the coolest, the savviest tools we have out there.”

*”My goal is always to match the internal employee experience to their external experience. They have all the cool apps, social media, they know how to fly. But then they come into the office and we're still kind of highly regulated. We're on old archaic systems, legacy and infrastructure, and it can be a bit frustrating to new employees. So it's nice to have this space that we can expand it to anyone interested, anyone who wants to learn the skill or develop it and give them these opportunities to grow their career at Northern Trust.”

Time Stamps

[1:02] Meet Shaelyn Otikor, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Digital Workplace Strategy at Northern Trust in the Asset Servicing business unit

[2:59] The Power of Personalized Digital Employee Experiences

[9:18] Leveraging Data for Enhanced Client and Employee Interactions

[13:53] The Impact of Digital Transformation on Employee Onboarding and Engagement

[18:33] Shaelyn's Personal Journey and Leadership Philosophy

[27:37] Finding Clarity and Inspiration: Shaelyn’s Personal Space

[29:36] Shaelyn’s Life Mantras

Links

Connect with Shaelyn on LinkedIn

Learn more about Northern Trust

Thanks to our friends

This episode is brought to you by Firstup, the world’s first intelligent communication platform. More than 40 percent of Fortune 100 companies use our platform to connect with their people, design and deliver personalized communications, and gain engagement insights throughout the employee journey. That’s how they give their employees better experiences from hire to retire. Learn more at firstup.io

This episode features an interview with Andrea Ferrara, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for PepsiCo Beverages North America. PBNA is PepsiCo’s $21 billion beverage business and Global Foodservice with a portfolio that includes Pepsi, Gatorade, Rockstar Energy Drink, and more. Andrea is a 30-year veteran of PepsiCo and currently leads the HR function for their 60,000 employees across 400 locations in the U.S. and Canada. In this episode, host Nicole Alvino and Andrea discuss forming a psychological contract with employees early on, balancing standardization and customization of the employee experience, and building a change practice to agilely meet employee needs.

Quotes

*”One of the things that I noticed post pandemic was that people's needs and wants pivoted quickly. Their tolerance for you not making corrections has gone down dramatically. People want more of an immediate correction. We can never take our eye off the ball. You can't get comfortable.”

*”You've got to build a change practice. You need to build an organizational effectiveness and a team effectiveness practice. You've got to have survey expertise, the ability to really have, I would say, high caliber change was probably one of the biggest points of differentiation for us.”

Time Stamps

[0:48] Meet Andrea Ferrara, SVP & CHRO North American Beverages and Nutrition at PepsiCo

[4:28] What’s the scope of Andrea’s role at PepsiCo?

[6:55] How does Andrea meet the needs of employees across locations, departments, generations, etc.?

[10:42] How does PepsiCo balance human interaction with automation in the employee experience?

[12:49] How does PepsiCo use digital tools to train its leaders?

[13:39] What data does PepsiCo tune into when it comes to supporting a great employee experience?

[17:00] Who else is critical to talent management at PepsiCo?

[18:47] What is PepsiCo doing right that has kept Andrea there for over 30 years?

[21:25] Does PepsiCo have a framework for its employee experience?

[24:48] What advice would Andrea give someone entering a role like hers for the first time?

[26:10] Where does Andrea find a sense of mental clarity and do her best thinking?

Links

Connect with Andrea on LinkedIn

Learn more about PepsiCo

Thanks to our friends

This episode is brought to you by Firstup, the world’s first intelligent communication platform. More than 40 percent of Fortune 100 companies use our platform to connect with their people, design and deliver personalized communications, and gain engagement insights throughout the employee journey. That’s how they give their employees better experiences from hire to retire. Learn more at firstup.io

This episode features an interview with Nicole Alvino. Nicole is a visionary entrepreneur and CEO with a passion for transforming the employee experience. As the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Firstup, a leading enterprise SaaS company, Nicole is responsible for driving innovation and growth in employee experience, engagement and communications. She believes that investing in employees is key to building high performance cultures that improve the top and bottom lines of any business, and is proud to call 40 of the Fortune 100 customers. In this episode, Nicole talks about how the employee experience starts with the pre-hire motion all the way through retirement, how to hyper-personalize it for each employee, and working cross-functionally to deliver a truly exceptional employee experience.

Quotes

*”The employee experience is something that every single leader needs to get better at, full stop. It is all about our people and understanding how we can connect them to the purpose of the company, their job, and how they feel a sense of belonging. This is the only way that we move business forward.”

*”With any time of difficulty, crisis, or change, there are two things that I always do: Lead with transparency and empathy. I think you have to be incredibly transparent, with clear communication so people know what is going on, what you expect of them as a leader, and then how you will continue to support them throughout this difficult change. So that piece with communication at the core is so important, and the empathy goes hand in hand.”

Time Stamps

[0:33] Meet Nicole Alvino, Founder & CEO of Firstup

[3:25] Where did the idea for the Cruising Altitude podcast come from?

[4:41] What are the challenges Nicole faces as CEO of Firstup?

[5:59] How does Nicole create a world class employee experience at Firstup?

[9:00] What metrics is Nicole tuning into to know employees are having a successful experience?

[11:14] What are the best experiences Nicole has had in her own career?

[12:36] What lessons has she learned about fostering a positive employee experience?

[14:07] How does Nicole lead during times of difficulty or change?

[16:08] Where does Nicole do her best thinking?

[17:47] What’s one thing Nicole always does, and one thing she never does?

[18:35] Where can listeners connect with Nicole?

Links

Connect with Nicole on LinkedIn

Learn more about Firstup

Thanks to our friends

This episode is brought to you by Firstup, the company that is redefining the digital employee experience to put people first and lift companies up by connecting every worker, everywhere with the information that helps them do their best work. Firstup has helped over 40% of the Fortune 100 companies like Amazon, AB InBev, Ford and Pfizer stay agile and keep transforming. Learn more at firstup.io

 Welcome to Season 3 of Cruising Altitude, the podcast to help you deliver exceptional employee experiences at scale. This season, we’re introducing our new host, Nicole Alvino, founder and CEO of Firstup.

The mission of our podcast is to help you deliver irresistible employee experiences so you are empowered to retain and grow your top people, deliver a high performance organizational culture, and ultimately move your business forward.

This is hard at any size organization, but for those organizations with 30,000 employees or above, this brings additional challenges and opportunities to really elevate that employee experience. 

We have an incredible lineup of guests who have managed employee experience with organizations over 30,000 people. They will share their best practices on how to engage from the back office to the frontline, how to leverage generative AI for good, and how to continue to use data to deliver on personalized experiences at scale. 

Let's get ready to take off for Season 3 of Cruising Altitude brought to you by Firstup.

This episode features an interview with Richard McColl, Vice President of People Technology at Walmart. Richard applies Human Centric Design, Design Thinking, AI, and Technology to the associate experience at Walmart. Prior to joining Walmart, Richard served IBM for over 18 years, having held several leadership roles including Vice President and Senior Partner, Talent Technology Practice Leader. And on this episode, Richard is discussing the ins and outs of Walmart’s Superapp, applying design thinking to the employee journey, and crafting one seamless digital experience that can do everything from inform employees about their credit score to support their mental wellbeing.

Quotes

*”Our associates shouldn't need to know all of the different business platforms that we use to support them. What they should do is enjoy an end-to-end experience that stays with them and is frictionless.”

*“As we think about superapps at Walmart, we don't just think about people experiences as a standalone container. We also think about people experiences and how they're embedded with all of the capabilities that that persona will need to be effective.”

*“We've had many different benefits programs available to associates. And we pride ourselves on that. But if you have those across a number of different systems, you're putting a friction point of discoverability, navigation and different experiences and logins. All of those things create the potential of lower adoption.”

*“When we haven't used design thinking from an end to end approach to implement a tool that's part of a process and not an experience, we've missed the mark.”

Time Stamps

[2:41] Flight Plan: Get to know Walmart and the intricacies of leading People Technology there

[5:54] First Class: What are Richard’s best practices for fostering a great digital employee experience at Walmart?

[8:38] What’s a superapp?

[13:45] How is Walmart incorporating educational experiences into the digital employee experience?

[17:25] Turbulence: What can we learn from the bumpy employee experiences?

[25:56] Smooth Landing: What advice would Richard give other employee experience leaders?

Links

Connect with Richard on LinkedIn

Learn more about Walmart

Thanks to our friends

This episode is brought to you by Firstup, the company that is redefining the digital employee experience to put people first and lift companies up by connecting every worker, everywhere with the information that helps them do their best work. Firstup has helped over 40% of the Fortune 100 companies like Amazon, AB InBev, Ford and Pfizer stay agile and keep transforming. Learn more at firstup.io

This episode features an interview with Jami Schultz, Senior Director of Employee Relations and Development at Canon USA. Canon is a leading provider of consumer, B2B, and industrial digital imaging solutions. In her role, Jami makes sure employees love their jobs, and she solves people problems every day. In this episode, she’ll share what tools, ideas, and programs set her, the company, and employees up for success.

Quotes

*“Employee Relations is really the employee's first go-to person for any issues, questions relating to their employment experience. Whether it's about their career, their performance, if they're having issues with their manager or a coworker. That all comes to their HR business partner first.”

*“One of our strongest assets in our culture is the people. So many people at Canon, if you ask them what's one of the things they love most about their job, it's the people. It's the relationships that we have with our colleagues, with our management team. And that's definitely what I have found, too. It is just such a collaborative, collegial environment.”

*“I've always said, ‘If you are gonna spend so much of your day to day in a job, you better like the people that you're spending all that time with.’”

*“Now we've really settled into what we call a hybrid work style for the majority of our employees, where we are all in the office together two days a week on the same two days, and then we're able to work remotely three days a week. So I love to say I think it's the perfect balance in terms of time together in the office to be collaborative, to have that experience of connecting with each other, but also having the flexibility to work from home.”

*“One thing that has been very important to us for a couple of years and became even more so coming out of the pandemic, was doing our employee engagement surveys… That's really important because that gives us direct feedback from the employee population as to things that they think are working, things that may not be working as well. It's listening to that feedback and actually making meaningful changes as a result of that feedback.”

*“Sometimes it's those cross-divisional recognitions that mean so much because it's wonderful to know that your manager or someone in your management chain is recognizing your work. But to hear that someone else in a completely different division is recognizing your contribution and thanking you for that work is very, very meaningful. So I think that was a big strategy for us, was finding a way to give employees on the spot recognition that they were looking for.”

*“A lot of times HR will help almost serve a mediator function. We will help the employee and the manager find a better way to communicate, make sure that the manager is properly communicating the expectations to the employee, and making sure the employee fully understands the expectations.”

*“The big lessons learned for the future are definitely communicating. Giving as much advance notice of important things as possible, and just being able to react and respond quickly to changing outside circumstances.”

*“Always listen. Listening is so, so, so important. If you really listen, first of all, it lets the person that is coming to you with an issue feel like they're being heard. And that's often what an employee needs, just as much as anything, is to be heard.”

Time Stamps

[00:00:00] Jami’s start in HR

[00:02:30] How HR can problem-solve

[00:04:56] Maintaining positive relationships with employees

[00:10:16] How Canon uses engagement surveys

[00:17:36] Celebrating employees for a positive company culture

[00:24:27] Navigating the hybrid workspace

[00:30:34] HR as a mediator

[00:37:47] Listening as the end-all, be-all

Links

Connect with Jami on LinkedIn

Check out Canon USA

Thanks to our friends

This episode is brought to you by Firstup, the company that is redefining the digital employee experience to put people first and lift companies up by connecting every worker, everywhere with the information that helps them do their best work. Firstup has helped over 40% of the Fortune 100 companies like Amazon, AB InBev, Ford and Pfizer stay agile and keep transforming. Learn more at firstup.io

This episode features an interview with Tope Sadiku, former Global Head of Digital Employee Experience at the Kraft Heinz Company, one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world with $25 billion in global sales. Tope has recently moved into her new role as the Strategic Planning Lead, Transformation, Agile and Digital Revolution at Kraft Heinz where her focus is to increase employee productivity and creativity through the use of technology. And on this episode, Tope is describing her work and research on how we move, achieve objectives, connect, and collaborate between physical and virtual spaces.

Quotes

*”Technology is like a part of the medical toolkit. I used to call technology my medicine. I had access to a number of different tools and solutions [to] address the symptoms and even the root cause.”

*”When it comes to transformation, there's a difference between disruption and destruction. There is some level of disruption and sometimes we can get very excited to the point of destruction. Knowing where that line is very, very important.”

Time Stamps

*[9:40] The Flight Plan: Get to know the Kraft Heinz Company

*[16:43] First Class: Best EX practices at the Kraft Heinz Company

*[23:44] Turbulence: EX lessons learned

*[25:13] How does Tope lead in stressful situations?

Links

Connect with Tope on LinkedIn

Learn more about the Kraft Heinz Company

Thanks to our friends

This episode is brought to you by Firstup, the company that is redefining the digital employee experience to put people first and lift companies up by connecting every worker, everywhere with the information that helps them do their best work. Firstup has helped over 40% of the Fortune 100 companies like Amazon, AB InBev, Ford and Pfizer stay agile and keep transforming. Learn more at firstup.io