The Best of the Best CEOs To Work For

Human Capital's regular interviews with CEOs from companies with some of the best human capital management practices allow us to get a broad overview of what the best of the best in leadership, management and team building are thinking about their organizations and how they work with HR. This month's CEO Best Practices article features "the best of" past interviews with top leaders.

Dave Lissy, CEO
Bright Horizons Family Solutions

HC: What advice would you give to mid-level and senior HR executives on how they can use their expertise to advance the goals of their organizations?

DL: The key is that HR professionals understand the business objectives of their companies. They must understand our pain points. They must know not only where we hope to succeed, but where we are vulnerable. In some cases, HR is not as connected as it should be.

HC: How can HR achieve this knowledge and connect more effectively with upper management? 

DL: HR tends to be focused on people. Part of their role is to be in a support function to employees, so it is easy for HR to sometimes focus too much on providing services and not focus enough on thinking strategically about the organization's goals. But in order to support the employee population, HR needs to be in tune with the real business challenges. It helps them respond to employees effectively and make choices that are in the interest of the company. HR must be able to make business cases that address the pain points, vulnerabilities, and challenges of the company, so that they are not just seen as a department that only takes care of issues or performs an administrative function. 

This is a challenge. I have a unique viewpoint of leading a company that sells its services through HR decision makers. I sit across from the HR executive and must understand their needs, but I also see HR's role from the viewpoint of a CEO.

HC: From that unique vantagepoint, what tactics can HR use to demonstrate the value of various initiatives?

DL: It comes down to a mindset. Many HR professionals have positioned themselves appropriately in their organization. They understand the way the wind is blowing and can deal with changes appropriately. But beyond that, HR professionals must listen to the opportunities of the business unit, and try to directly make the case for the initiative they are trying to quantify. Anecdotal stories are valid, but they must be accompanied by a business case that includes return on investment and benchmarking metrics. You won't always be successful in these attempts, but you will gain respect by offering a well-presented case. As a result, you have developed a level of credibility that may be helpful when presenting another initiative.

Kerry Clayton, CEO & Director
Assurant

HC: What value does HR bring to your organization as it moves forward?

KC: Being a public company and having your stock traded allows all employees to identify with the business and what we are doing. We are in a service business. Our product is our people. We have no tangible product; we are selling a promise and our image. In addition, we are dealing with people who are in distress, so they have high expectations and emotional sensitivity. We must deal with them respectfully and in a way that goes back to our values. We can tell people that they are wrong, but we must do this in a considerate fashion.

To do this, employees must understand what we stand for. It is a careful delicate balance between doing what we need to do to deliver the product and at the same time recognizing the customer's dignity. The product is a contract, so there are times we have to say no, but keeping that balance can be difficult. A foundation must be in place in which employees have the tools to keep that balance, as well as the right environment to work effectively. At the end of the day, employees make their own decisions on how to do their jobs, but we can provide the culture and tools to guide them.

Al Stubblefield, CEO
Baptist Health Care

HC: Tell us your thoughts on leadership development.

AS: Being the best "doer" in your department doesn't make you a great leader. So another key was recognizing that when you promote the best "doers," you also must teach them how to lead in a way that supports the kind of culture you want. We make major investments in leadership training because it's that important.

For example, every quarter we take 600 people, 12 percent of our workforce from all departments, off site for a full day of leadership development. The training always focuses on developing specific skills like conflict management or leading effective meetings. It revolves around one of the pillars of our culture, like quality, people, service or financial growth. The same leadership principles work for managers in every department, whether it's food service, our nursing home division, housekeeping, accounting, the business office, the lab or medical teams. They all attend together. They have a great time, but they also learn a lot.

You can only go so far on "rah-rah" emotion and then you have to teach people specific skills. This doesn't have to take years and years. In nine months, we went from the 20th to the 75th percentile in customer satisfaction.

HC: Were there some leaders who just couldn't adapt to the new way of thinking?

AS: Yes. When we said we wanted to dramatically change the culture and raise customer satisfaction ratings within nine months, there were some senior officers who said it was an impossible goal. They were let go. We were that committed to our ideal. It was a difficult transition but it led to a great change for the better. Our turnover has decreased for the sixth year in a row to about 12 percent.

Chuck Carroll
President, W.L. Gore

HC: What are some of your key expectations of W.L. Gore's HR department?

CC: Hiring and retention of top talent and helping them thrive in our environment are critical. Another is executing training and development in a broad sense relative to business needs. I also expect that HR will focus on the integration of business and people issues. When change occurs, HR needs to be a change manager. The ability of organizations to change and adapt is critical, but it often results in angst on the part of associates. HR can be a valuable asset in managing the concerns of associates.  Finally, HR must be a champion of the culture and core values.

I mentioned communication skills earlier, and those come into play in the HR arena when managing conflict resolution with personnel and within the business. At times, HR folks are also called upon to facilitate a meeting where tough but key decisions are being made.

HC: How has HR helped W.L. Gore become a successful business?

CC: First, I would cite the HR team's ability to bring in top people from outside the company and maintaining our top talent inside the company through retention. That is particularly important to us, because we look for a certain type of fit, a person who can thrive in our organization. HR offers a significant contribution by maintaining the great team we have today.

Our HR department has been a true champion of our culture. They look for the culture to create an environment in which teams can do their best. The culture helps energize associates and helps teams operate effectively, which creates good business results.

Another area in which our HR department is key in producing business results is growing the skills of leaders and associates. Our HR department has also been instrumental in facilitating change and ensuring conflicts are addressed. They encourage direct communication and that is not always comfortable for those involved.

Roger Valine, CEO,
Vision Service Plans (VSP)

HC: How closely do you work with HR and what are your thoughts on that department's strategic importance?

RV: At one time, long ago, I was in the camp that viewed HR as more of an obstacle than a support mechanism, but I was wrong.

HR: is like the heart of us. In the early days we called it the personnel department. When we grew to around 400 employees, we began the HR division. It brought a deeper richness and helped employees to understand this organization and embrace the culture more quickly.

HR makes sure that we're treating people right, that we're training and supporting them well, and it performs that all-important recruitment function: It delivers the best people to the hiring managers. I don't know what I would do without HR. We're probably three times better as a company because of what our HR department contributes.

HC: Many business priorities compete for your attention each day. Where does the concept of positive employee work culture fit into your priorities? How and why do you make time for it?

RV: Bottom line, I spend more time on our culture than anything else. It's the heart and soul of our business.

If you take care of it, you don't have to have a procedural manual because the people will know how to respond to something according to our guiding principles and will know what to do.

You spend less time trying to control things and problems are stopped at the front end by the kind of people you hire. I spend a lot of time on strategic planning and working with our board on policy, too, but nothing is more important than keeping our culture as it should be.

I've always had an open door policy. We used to have Dear Roger mailboxes, which now are mostly replaced by e-mail. These are simple things that really work. We don't have two sets of rules for different people in the company.

We have one cafeteria where everyone dines; I like to stand in line with everyone else and sit with different people and get to know them at lunchtime. This helps everyone to understand we're all in this together. We all share the same kinds of challenges in our lives, in our homes, such as raising teenagers. We talk about things we have in common. This eliminates walls. I'm always looking for ways to eliminate walls between people.

My father was a farmer, and, as I was growing up on the farm, I noticed how he and my mother always treated everyone they interacted with in a respectful manner, no matter who was working for whom. The very simple principles work: Treat others the way you want to be treated.