More rock star stories of women & HR, ten more top tips
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Human resources
Recently I facilitated a panel discussion of senior Human Resources women for BCHRMA in order to tease out and build upon their stories. What a night! The panelists hummed and the audience responded. Here are the mistresses of HR stories:
- Janice Antaya-Finlayson (VP, HR for Best Buy Canada)
- Joan Burgess (Director of HR for the City of New Westminster)
- Jay-Ann Fordy (Chief HR Officer of Coast Capital Savings)
- Karen Oyhenart (Director, HR for Diversity & Inclusiveness at Telus)
No matter the differences.
No matter if they came from a supportive family or if they went it bravely alone.
No matter whether they’d spent their career in the same organization for some 34 years,
Or changed both sectors and organizations,
There were remarkable similarities.
Here some of the themes these successful women shared (part two) (see part one here):
- spend time IN the business – understand the business: cultivate the skills to be able to take a deep dive in
- have active conversations about the business because it will give you credibility
- lean into and follow your intuition
- be a lifelong learner
- life is short so follow your passion
- embrace change and know that your ability to embrace it may be stronger than your business’ ability so cultivate being a proactive change agent
- getting buy in, creating ownership, facilitating engagement are critical skills – exercise those muscles
- balance being bold and being certain with being open and questioning
- know that context and culture can change everything, especially perspective
- the journey towards access, inclusion and diversity is complex and critical
And you? What has worked for you and what are you continuing to work on?
Tags: BCHRMA, best buy, city of new westminster, coast capital savings, corporate storytelling, Human resources, janice antaya-finlayson, jay-ann fordy, joan burgess, karen oyhenart, telus
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