*edited for clarity
Hey Claude!
So can you please describe your role in your words and what a day in the life is doing what you do?
So I’m a people partner, so traditionally in HR business partner, and I actually I come to A once a week.
So my position, the breadth of it as of late, has been coaching and supporting our leaders through whatever it is that they need on any given day, right?
A lot of times it’s difficult conversations, a lot of times it’s performance management.
It’s employee relations like interpersonal like things that they have going on within their teams, and a lot of management coaching.
A lot of different hats.
So with all those different hats.
What’s your favorite one that you wear?
What’s something you look at and think “This is something that I’m super passionate about.” Or “This is what I think I do best.”?
Managing through ambiguity, I would say.
The company is growing and it’s changing and with the company growing and changing, there are a lot of things that are great, right.
And so a lot of times we’re uncomfortable through change.
We’re uncomfortable through processes and systems that we don’t understand.
Being able to guide our leaders through the maze of change that’s constantly happening in our organization is something that I enjoy.
That’s awesome. I feel like you must be so well-suited for that because, we have all this new leadership, and they have all these great new ideas that we’re wading through.
Yes.
At the compound at least.
Not everywhere.
I just wanna honor like my team members who do the same work in these different areas. Because I also share the compound with quality, and the people partnering with quality also do a fantastic job at supporting the team there.
Oh, absolutely. So who’s your favorite person to work with? Whether it’s directly in your team or at the compound as a whole, I’d love to kind of hear about the people you love to work with.
That’s not fair.
I work with an amazing team of people, I don’t have a favorite to be, to be honest.
I have an awesome team.
Then tell me about your experiences and what makes them so special.
The collaboration, we are very good at supporting one another and we’re really good at holding space for one another and sharing best practices.
And we’re just really good at supporting one another, to be honest with you.
That’s what I love about my team.
Partnering and then the people operations.
Excellent team. And then even at the compound the managers and supervisors that I support are fantastic human beings.
Everyone’s got such a unique role and a unique part they play in making all of these different functions work, so I love that you’re giving that credit to the people who are doing their job so well.
Yes, yes.
Have you always been in this HR people partner role, even prior to Empower? I’d love to know more about that.
I have over a decade of HR experience, so, yes, I’ve been in the HR world for for quite some time, I’d say.
That’s awesome.
So what brought you to Empower then?
I was in consulting prior to coming to Empower and I just didn’t feel like I had enough skin in the game. When you’re a consultant, you don’t see things through. You play your part and then step out and go play another part somewhere else.
You know, I missed the accountability.
Now, I have some accountability. I own processes. I can see a project through. I’m working with the same people continuously, which comes with being in an industry.
And there’s always new things to learn in this industry. New things are always happening, and while that happens in a lot of different industries, you have to be prompt when it’s people’s health.
So what is something in all these different aspects that you’ve had to navigate?
Was something that you think has been super impactful, whether that’s a processe or an interaction you’ve had with a team member?
Something you think about and say: “Oh, yeah, I think that was really powerful.”
I think managing through the human capital of the organization, I think that’s that’s meaningful.
You know, we’re ensuring that we have the right training, we have the right people in the right places, who feel safe and comfortable to do their work in a safe space. And eventually when we’re doing all of that correctly, we are setting up the right environment to be able to serve our patients, right?
So managing through the human capital is, I believe, my biggest contribution to the organization.
I love that and kind of pivoting on what you said with patients.
Our mission is to help folks live healthier, happier lives.
I’d love to know in your words what that means to you, how you contribute to that in your goal and how you think the organization is growing with that in mind.
For instance, this week I spent quite a bit of time reviewing job descriptions, right?
Making sure that we have the right job description for the position that you’re recruiting for. Again, just making sure you have the right quality and the top talent coming in here, and making sure that they understand how impactful the work that we do is. How impactful the products that we produce are. How impactful our processes are to making sure that we are getting to our vision.
We are serving our patients.
We are providing affordable healthcare for our patients, so, the smallest things I do on a day-to-day basis, impact our people. It makes sure that we get the right people in the door, and when we have them in the door, we are taking care of them as we should.
And that they are in the right environment to do the right things to be able to contribute to our to our vision.
So how would you say you are growing with Empower and how is Empower helping you to grow?
So pharmaceuticals is a different world for me.
The industry’s completely new. The environment is completely new. The requirements. The regulations.
And one would think as an HR professional that’s not really applicable, right?
But in order to understand what the people are doing, how to best serve the employees, the leaders, you have to understand what the processes in the systems, in the industry, in the market – look like.
So, my growth at Empower is not just from an HR vantage point, right?
It’s from an industry vantage point as well, and in order to be able to best serve the organization, I have to understand the business.
What are our products? What are the regulations? How do we make them? How do we know how? What does that look like precisely?
Understanding processes and the regulations that impact us so that I’m able to best serve our leadership.
I feel like that’s something that’s so true for a lot of new folks coming in is a lot of us don’t come from industry and there is so much to learn. But I do also feel like Empower gives you a lot of good resources and there’s always somebody who’s willing to chat with you about it, so you can understand a little bit more.
Yes.
I’m constantly learning something new from our directors and our managers about what quality looks like, or something new about the sterile manufacturing process, or a new process in the clean room.
Yeah, time and time again.
All right, last question.
Yeah.
So what is a benefit that you use from empower that you really enjoy?
I love that we get free compounded medicine.
I’m looking forward to being able to be a client of the organization as well.
Well, thank you again for sitting down and chatting with me for taking a couple of minutes out of your day.
Thank you for reaching out and I hope you have a fabulous rest of your day and a great weekend.
Alrighty, thank you. Have a great rest of your day.
