ProjectHR

By IRI ConsultantsBusiness Entrepreneurship Management

ProjectHR episodes

September 05, 2024 Pre-Merger Preparations: Building a Blueprint for Successful Integration - with guest Terri Campbell
This episode based on the PeopleResults blog titled "Pre-Merger Preparations: Building a Blueprint for Successful Integration".
27 min
July 25, 2024 How to Avoid Common Pitfalls in System Implementation Projects -- with guest Betsy Winkler
In this episode of ProjectHR, host Jay Kuhns is joined by Betsy Winkler, a Lead Consultant at IRI Consultants, to discuss the complexities and challenges of system implementation projects. Betsy shares insights on how companies can avoid common pitfalls, emphasizing the importance of designing for the future state, considering the ripple effects of new systems, and enhancing the user experience. They also explore the critical role of communication and the value of involving teams in the planning process. Whether you're in the midst of a system implementation or planning one for the future, this episode offers valuable strategies to ensure success and minimize disruption.
16 min
June 27, 2024 Immersive Culture Change — with guest Charlotte Ntreh
Charlotte Ntreh and Jay Kuhns discuss immersive culture change.
16 min
December 19, 2023 Change Management In An Era of Mergers & Acquisitions
Sheri Browning and Jay Kuhns discuss change management during a period of mergers and acquisitions. Listen now to their expert insight and strategy!
16 min
November 07, 2023Why Psychological Safety Matters
Workplace safety has been a serious concern since the industrial revolution prompted workers to form unions and demand better and safer working conditions. Because risks to physical safety were typically industry specific, industries developed regulations independent of each other, and unions rose to prominence to focus on enforcing those regulations.
In 1970, the U.S. passed the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act to pass, regulate, and maintain standards and regulations, so physical safety has been a top priority for organizations for many decades. However, the same can’t be said for psychological safety, which we’re examining today.
Workplace Safety and Wellness
As mentioned above, organizations across the country place a high priority on physical safety as evidenced by regularly scheduled safety meetings and well-defined measurable safety practices. Recently, there has also been a greater emphasis on wellness in terms of how we practice healthy habits to enjoy better physical and mental health.
However, the most significant contributor to workplace safety and wellness—known as psychological safety—has yet to be fully addressed. This is because the concept of psychological safety is too often thought to be some kind of touchy-feely idea that doesn’t contribute to an organization’s bottom line.
Unfortunately, this belief is sadly misguided and is regularly contributing to low employee engagement scores, undesirable turnover, and apathetic workers who turn to unions who they believe will force their employers to make them feel psychologically safe.
What is Psychological Safety
So, what exactly is psychological safety and why does it matter? In its simplest form, psychological safety is what an employee believes is true about their workplace that inspires them to be the best employee they can possibly be—with the best interests of their employer and their employer’s customers in mind.
This belief is established when the day-to-day environment in the workplace reflects the four stages that humans progress through in order to be fully invested. These stages are outlined below.
When an employee, in any job and at any level in any organization, believes they matter and they belong, they feel included and safe to be themselves.
When this employee believes it’s safe to ask questions, give and accept feedback, and make honest mistakes they can learn from, they feel safe to learn.
When this employee believes their skills and abilities matter by the way they receive acknowledgement and recognition, they feel safe as a valuable contributor.
And when this employee believes it’s their responsibility to look for ways to make everything better, they feel safe in speaking up and challenging the status quo with facts and data because they see an opportunity for improvement.
How Managers Can Support A Psychologically Safe Workplace
Effective managers know how to manage and lead. This dual skill set is instrumental in creating a workplace where employees feel psychologically safe and driven to support their organization’s mission and values. These manager-leaders understand that all four phases of psychological safety create an integrated system that inspires and motivates the workforce. They know they must:
Show employees how important they are by responding to what they hear.
Encourage employees to ask questions and provide honest and meaningful responses that make sense to the employees work and life experiences.
Invite and train employees to participate in process improvement activities and encourage them to challenge the status quo.
Creating a culture that emphasizes psychological safety increases employee retention, reduces employee turnover, decreases physical safety incidents, increases employee engagement, strengthens teamwork and innovation, and inspires each employee to be the best contributor they can. That’s why organizations must prioritize psychological safety as much as they do physical safety—and why partners like IRI, who are well-versed in the ins and outs of workplace safety, can be helpful in making this happen.
At IRI, we are experts in leadership development, employee training, organizational communication and organizational development. We use this expertise to regularly help organizations develop and implement engaging and personalized programs to maintain and elevate company performance. If you’re interested in upleveling your organizational development strategies, contact us using the chat on the right to discuss the next steps, or give us a call at (313) 965-0350.
12 min
November 02, 2023 Why Residents and Fellows Have Been Organizing
The Labor Movement resurgence includes medical resident organizing. GME programs urged to engage, respect, and listen strategically.
13 min
August 29, 2023Mastering Leadership Transitions: A Framework for Success in the First Three Months
Whether you’ve just stepped into a recent promotion, received a fresh leadership assignment, or been given the brand new title of CEO, the initial months of your journey are a critical juncture. This is where the foundation of your success is forged, and the trajectory of your leadership path takes its shape. In this blog post, we delve into a comprehensive framework designed to empower you with the strategies and insights necessary for not just surviving, but thriving. The art of mastering leadership transitions is a skill that separates the exceptional from the ordinary, and by grasping the essence of this framework, you’re poised to embark on a journey of accelerated growth and achievement.
Unfortunately, only a few leaders fully grasp the significance of these first three months and how they can ultimately determine their success or failure. All too often, leaders rush to make changes to prove themselves, leading to missteps and failures in their first months on the job. Leaders needing help transitioning to a new role may fail to meet performance expectations. Here are some of the most common leadership derailers:
Common Leadership Derailers
Not adapting to the culture.Leaders who act against the established culture risk isolation and disconnection from critical information, leading to bad decision-making and eventual failure.
Not engaging in social learning.Leaders need to engage with their organization and prioritize meeting and talking with others instead of just reading and thinking, as this can cause them to become isolated and unapproachable. In the early stages, decisions based on intuition and strong feelings may be more important than financial analyses.
Attempting too much.It is common for leaders to attempt to handle numerous responsibilities simultaneously, leading to increased stress levels and a decline in overall productivity.
Framework for an Accelerated Successful Transition
Transitions are periods of opportunity and chance to start afresh and make needed organizational changes. But they are also periods of acute vulnerabilities because you need an established working relationship and a detailed understanding of your new role.
You’ll struggle later if you don’t gain momentum during your transition. Balancing action and learning helps you succeed long-term. Here are the key components of our framework for successful leadership transitions:
Understand your business situation
Diagnose the situation to develop the right strategy.
Avoid the “one-best-way” thinking.
Identify the opportunities and challenges.
Gaining success through negotiation (with your boss, peers, direct reports, etc)
Build relationships
Agree on the diagnosis of the situation
Determine how to work together
Create a plan for action
Create your team
Communicate short and long-term goals.
Gain team member’s feedback.
Create new team processes.
Stay the course
Maintain discipline and focus on your transition daily.
Careful planning is crucial when transitioning your career. Every successful career is a series of successful assignments, and every successful project is launched with a successful transition. The most dangerous transition can be the one you don’t recognize is happening.
At IRI, we know exactly how critical leadership transitions can be for an organization. Through careful consideration and strategic planning, we believe that transitional times can lead to improved employee engagement and productivity. We know that every business is different, and each requires its own holistic and customized approach for their leadership. Contact us today to discuss the next steps, or give us a call at (313) 965-0350.
15 min
August 15, 2023 Managing Yourself In Times of Change
Learn how to manage others by managing yourself first. Navigate emotions, engage your team, and drive successful transformations.
13 min
August 10, 2023How to Navigate This Year’s ‘Hot Union Summer’
“Hot Union Summer” – you may have heard this term on the news or seen it floating around your social media channels, and that’s because it’s been a summer filled with strikes, fights, and wins for labor unions. While summer may be coming to a close, it doesn’t look like this trend is going away anytime soon, so we’re sharing our labor expertise to help you stay informed and understand how you can respond to ongoing union activity at your organization (or avoid it altogether).
What is Hot Union Summer?
Large corporations like Amazon and Starbucks, as well as organizations from a slew of other industries like film and television, hospitality, healthcare, logistics, higher education, automotive, and more are facing increased discontent among their workforces. Union organizers are taking to social media using hashtags like #HotUnionSummer, #RedHotLaborSummer, #OnStrikeSummer, and #SolidaritySummer to draw attention to their cause.
While California is a hot spot, especially with the increased media attention on the Hollywood strikes, this movement is spreading across the country. Regardless of location or industry, discontent among the workforce is a universal issue for employers right now. Issues range from more traditional organizing topics like pay and benefits, to post-COVID problems like return-to-work policies, and newly emerging challenges like how to use (or not use) AI in the workplace.
With all of this in mind, it’s important to be informed, stay alert, and take steps to be proactive.
Prevention Planning for Union Avoidance
Many organizations will wait until they see active union organizing (or have a union petition) to address employee concerns. That’s a mistake, as employers are significantly limited in what they can fix once a petition is filed.
Instead, prioritize a Labor Relations Readiness Assessment now. If implemented correctly, this can provide a strong foundation in employee relations and teach managers how to better engage with their teams on multiple topics, including unionization. Here is how to get started:
Plan – Identify your goals, determine your approach, understand your existing resources and infrastructure, and outline the actions needed to create and sustain a true state of readiness.
Educate – Give your C-suite, board and senior leaders, HR team, operational leaders and employees the tools and materials they need to understand the impact of unionization.
Assess Vulnerabilities – Prioritize vulnerability assessments, Digital Media Intelligence and company-wide, site-specific analysis of data gathered with recommendations for action steps.
Communicate – Build on expected and trusted channels to include a multi-media strategy that reaches every stakeholder where they are.
Develop Leaders – Create an understanding that maintaining a direct connection with employees is part of a leader’s job.
Engage Employees – Establish (or enhance) a clear and consistent feedback loop so employees know exactly where to go with questions/concerns and can feel confident they will hear back.
Remember – even if you’re not concerned about union activity right now, it’s never a bad idea to remind employees of what makes your organization a great place to work.
Rapid Response to Union Activity
On the other hand, maybe you suspect the start of—or currently are being affected by—this summer’s union activity. If you feel in over your head or like you don’t know how to respond, take a deep breath and consider the following action items:
Readiness Response Team (RRT) – Create an RRT that is comprised of a multi-disciplinary group of leaders, trained to serve at the first sign of union activity.
Conduct initial awareness meetings and communications – Schedule meetings with your senior executive and leadership teams to gauge activity and discuss awareness talking points and responsibilities.
Schedule training – Implement training for key internal stakeholders that focuses on understanding the union organizing process, early warning signs, communications rules, and the NLRB.
Conduct a communications audit – Conduct manager interviews and voter assessments and develop communications materials that are responsive to real-time developments.
If you’re even further down the road and are preparing for an election, consider contacting IRI Consultants to help you navigate the process. Having the assistance of a team of experts can help you focus on your employees, ensure they have what they need to make an informed decision, and start to build a stronger organization and culture, regardless of the outcome.
At IRI, we empower organizations to navigate workplace challenges, improve employee engagement and productivity, manage labor relations and implement effective communication strategies to achieve their business and advocacy goals. We believe every business is different, and each requires its own holistic and customized approach to communications. Whether you need an internal communications assessment, guidance in developing your internal communications strategy or social media strategy, digital media intelligence, crisis communications services, media relations, or media training, we have expert communications consultants who can quickly provide a specialized solution. Contact us using the chat on the right to discuss the next steps, or give us a call at (313) 965-0350.
10 min
August 03, 2023Best Practices in Employee Relations – Ulta Beauty
Episode 4.23: Join us for another installment of our “Best Practices in Employee Relations” series. In this episode, we are pleased to be joined by Devon Byrne, Vice President of People Enablement at Ulta Beauty. Ulta Beauty is the largest beauty retailer in the United States, and an award-winning organization, recently recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of the “Best Large Companies”, one of the “Best Employers for Diversity”, and one of the “Best Employers for Women”. Here, she explains:
Why Ulta Beauty has staying power in an ever-changing retail landscape, and how its Employee Relations approach has played a role in that success;
How the diversity of their associates and of their workspaces has allowed them to be more thoughtful about their approach to employee relations;
The value of employee relations teams partnering with DE&I teams; and
Why prioritizing care for associates makes it possible for those associates to show up as their best selves, each and every day!

If you prefer to read along while you listen, we’ve done all the hard work for you! We listened back to this episode and took notes below, and access is free!

Why Ulta Beauty’s Retail Model Has Exceeded Expectations While Other Retail Operations Struggle
Ms. Byrne, the current VP for People Enablement at Ulta Beauty, said many factors are at play as to why Ulta Beauty has staying power in an ever-changing retail landscape.
The first factor has to do with how leadership makes decisions. At Ulta Beauty, leaders contemplate both the guest and retail associate in decision making efforts.
This is done by asking questions like:
How will guests react to this decision?
How will associates react to this decision?
Will an associate be successful in being able to sell this product?
The second factor contributing to Ulta Beauty’s success is allowing guests to utilize them as a one-stop shop. Not only does this beauty product and makeup retailer sell prestige and mass cosmetics, but the organization also provides eyebrow waxes and salon services.
The leadership team came to this one-stop-shop approach by figuring out who the ideal Ulta Beauty guest is, what they want and delivering that to the guest in the best way possible.
By listening to guests and associates, and doing what’s right by both groups, the company’s success happens naturally as a result.
Additionally, Ulta Beauty’s response to COVID-19 allowed the organization to become more successful.
As a result of COVID, Ulta Beauty had to change and become more agile.
COVID-19 has critically changed the way they operate by allowing more remote work. While many other corporate HQs allow for remote work, Ulta Beauty has rolled out remote work opportunities for those in the retail locations and distribution centers.
This helps with feelings of equity across employee groups, no matter their job type.
A challenge of rolling out remote work for some of these locations meant teaching managers how to approach managing in a different way. This yielded questions like:
How do you manage from afar?
How do you manage in a remote environment?
How do you conduct a store visit when you can’t get to the store?
How can you still be connected and engaged with your employees if they’re not in person?

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Reflections On Employee Relations Best Practices At Ulta Beauty
The team at Ulta Beauty makes it their mission to care about the whole individual who comes to work every day, which includes their non-work life.
At every level, the leadership of this organization asks themselves how they can put this principle into action.
A few concrete ways are Ulta Beauty’s Employee Assistance Program, two 24/7 phone lines, and being able to deploy on-site counselors and perform critical incident stress debriefs.
Another way they focus on employee relations best practices is by examining the experience of the job candidate.
Understanding that many guests choose to apply for work at Ulta Beauty, Ms. Byrne considers the onboarding process begins even when someone is a retail guest.
The fact that Ulta Beauty often turns passionate guests into prospective associates is a sign that they have created a positive retail atmosphere.
Often, if an applicant has a negative experience with the employment journey at Ulta Beauty and doesn’t come to work at the organization, the company will try to correct the poor experience that they faced.
Additionally, Ulta Beauty prioritizes taking care of associates by helping them show up as their best selves daily by providing resources.
This can look like offering employees more opportunities to get involved through an employee app called WorkJam or employee recognition practices like sending e-cards that highlight when a team member has exhibited a company value.
Ulta Beauty also creates internal monthly campaigns that hone-in on topics like workplace violence, domestic violence, or mental health awareness.
How Ulta Beauty Utilizes Employee Care Hotlines As An Employee Relations Best Practice
“The whole point of that is that if we care for our associates, and we fix whatever issue or resolve whatever concern they’re having, they will turn around then and be able to better serve our guests.”
Internally, Ms. Byrne’s team changed its name to the Associate Care and Support Group to reflect this level of care, offering two distinct hotlines associates can contact about their issue.
This team is split between two divisions: specialists who handle HR investigations and a human resources service center, which focuses on gathering and working on associate concerns.
Ulta Beauty’s shared services center takes thousands of calls from associates.
Those who are a part of the shared service center utilize the mantra “once and done,” meaning an associate should have a resolution to their employee-relations issue within the span of that phone call.
Ulta uses the data and trends from these calls to get a pulse on the employee experience.
After COVID, these call centers reported an increase in assistance provided to associates for mental health issues, as well as for workplace violence issues.
Using this internal data with data from guest services, social media, annual employee opinion surveys, and loss prevention can offer a complete picture of the associate experience, yielding powerful action planning for the next year.
How DE&I Efforts Relate to Employee Relations Best Practices
Another way Ulta Beauty empowers employees to show up as their best selves is by having a significant intentional push towards DE&I.
The Ulta Beauty DE&I team provides deep training regarding cultural competencies that aims to provide nuance and insight into how people behave and why they do what they do.
Additionally, the DE&I team is staffed by a diverse group of employee relations advisors. This allows for an individual to be able to speak to someone similar in race, culture, or background, giving the associate an outlet who can more empathetically understand what they are going through.
Additionally, the company understands diversity not just to mean the diversity of its employees but also the diversity of work environments and employee groups.
Each employment location can offer different challenges and opportunities.
The types of challenges associates face in the over 1,300 store locations can be different than those challenges hair stylists may face in the same locations, which may greatly differ from those of the company’s the distribution employees, as those centers run 24/7 – and all of those experiences also differ from those officing in the corporate headquarters.
Employer relations best practices at Ulta Beauty mean deploying a personalized strategy in dealing with diverse challenges.
While all employees receive similar resolutions in terms of consistency, timeliness, and equity, managing a situation may look very different depending on where the individual works.
Ulta Beauty faces this type of diversity head-on by equipping employer relations personnel with specialized training and assigning a division of specialists to one specific employee group.
This allows a specialist to focus on one internal market, and employees, in turn, feel more comfortable and more heard in their concerns.
Devon Byrne’s...
35 min

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The world of Human Resources changes quickly, and keeping up can be tough! That’s why the team at IRI Consultants brings you ProjectHR, a bi-weekly, 30-minute podcast designed to provide the knowledge…

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