Transcript
Speaker: Hi everybody and welcome to a special edition of Fractional Frequency.
Speaker: We're doing an extra episode this week because we are thrilled to introduce you to our brand new Principal Consultant and Fractional CHRO, Jenna Ferrua.
Speaker: Hi Jenna.
Speaker: So this episode is focused on getting to know you, introducing you to our clients and our network,
Speaker: and just sharing a little bit about your journey and what's next.
Speaker: Let's get started.
Speaker: Tell us a bit about your professional journey.
Speaker: What experiences have most shaped who you are as a professional today?
Speaker: Well, I have spent the last 12 years in HR, but what
Speaker: that really gave me was a deep understanding of how businesses actually run and how pivotal people are to that.
Speaker: I've had the opportunity to work in very different environments.
Speaker: One was incredibly intense and fast paced, which pushed decision making and performance in a real way.
Speaker: And there were things that were done really well
Speaker: And definitely things that, you know, I would do differently.
Speaker: But that's where a lot of, you know, the learnings come from as you grow.
Speaker: I've also worked, you know, a much larger organizations where it's about, you know, 40,000 people plus.
Speaker: And there was such a strong emphasis on individual ownership, but individual impact as well.
Speaker: And that's not easy to scale.
Speaker: So it gave me a different perspective on, you know, leadership and accountability at size.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I think what shaped me the most was that being in an environment where there there's nowhere to hide.
Speaker: And you quickly see what works, what doesn't, whether it's leadership or org design.
Speaker: And, you know, you feel the impact of those decisions, you know, in real time.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And so I would just say that I basically learned to understand what the business is trying to achieve and then apply a people lens to drive outcomes and not just the useless fluffy stuff.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The, the process and compliance, like some of it has to be done, but it's so much more than that if you're going to have an effective people, uh, people organization.
Speaker: So you've chosen now to step away from a very successful career within some great companies and, uh, decided to go into fractional consultancy.
Speaker: So why?
Speaker: So this was a very intentional decision for me.
Speaker: And honestly, I didn't really understand the fractional piece of it until I looked into it and, you know, spoke to you and to get a better idea.
Speaker: I love my time in house.
Speaker: I learned a lot from being, you know, embedded in one organization, but I realized that I wanted to extend my impact, you know, beyond a single company.
Speaker: What I enjoy the most is, you know, basically stepping into really complex situations and, you know, working closely with leadership and solving problems through, you know, real people.
Speaker: And I think that fractional consulting allows me to do that across multiple organizations and,
Speaker: Honestly, I love shit shows.
Speaker: Am I allowed to say that?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I'll call it something else, but it's just, it is what it is.
Speaker: And I love coming into those situations that aren't perfect, you know, perfectly figured out and being a part of that solution.
Speaker: And I think that fractional consulting allows me to still be, you know, very hands-on roll up my sleeves and get in there and, you know, help the business to move things forward.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Now, it's so true.
Speaker: And I think that's a common thread in a lot of people that I know that go into starting up their own business is that they're so easily bored when things are running smoothly.
Speaker: Like, it's just where's the challenge?
Speaker: Me and Erin had this exact same conversation when we decided to set up Strativist.
Speaker: We were like,
Speaker: I just, I get into somewhere and it's a total mess and I fix it all.
Speaker: And, you know, I just get a couple of promotions and then I sit back and I'm like, Hmm, now what?
Speaker: And so we're just, you know, after doing that a few times, they're like, maybe we need to think about something else.
Speaker: Um, so can relate to that so much.
Speaker: Um, so as you step into this next chapter, what excites you the most?
Speaker: I guess I kind of answered that obviously not saying that everything's a show, but, um, I'm most excited to truly work with different teams and, you know, help them at really critical or pivotal moments that they're at in, you know, the stage of the company that they're at, you know, bringing clarity, a sense of calm, some, you know, laughter when needed and help leaders like build the organizations that are high performing yet sustainable.
Speaker: And I'm really excited to work alongside, you know, the team at Strativus in all caps.
Speaker: That's focused on real outcomes.
Speaker: And I just really resonate, you know, with the brand that you two have created.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We couldn't be more excited to have you.
Speaker: And I think that's a great jumping off point for one of the things I wanted to get into around around brand.
Speaker: And I hope this won't feel like an interview since I interview half of my day every day.
Speaker: I really got to check myself on how I had to flow through.
Speaker: But I would love to talk a little bit about just sort of the red thread in how you lead and advise.
Speaker: What does that feel like?
Speaker: with your clients and partners?
Speaker: Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker: I would describe my brand as transparent, accountable, empathetic, and grounded.
Speaker: very much align, um, with leadership, uh, that value the company's purpose and people ahead of ego.
Speaker: Um, that's really important to me and, you know, ensuring that we are, you know, we're obviously, let me step back, a company can't fix everything, right.
Speaker: But a company obviously has its goals and we're
Speaker: we're ultimately there, HR, right, to be able to help them achieve that.
Speaker: But you also have to have your, you have to be driving the performance, but having that empathetic side associated with it, right, to help the people.
Speaker: And at the end of the day, you can't do business without people.
Speaker: So they shouldn't be viewed as two separate things.
Speaker: They should be viewed as one and how they complement each other.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: We're so similar in that.
Speaker: And that's why we did a podcast a while back, just really deep diving into the values of strategists and, you know, why people first always was like the first one that we came up with, because you can be business focused and you can be very, have very high standards and still do right by people.
Speaker: You don't have to pick like you can do all of those things.
Speaker: in all aspects to their entire like employee life cycle.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I think that's the part that is really important to hit on is from, you know, the pre-hire process, obviously, Aaron, you know that really well.
Speaker: And then to sometimes the termination piece of it, right.
Speaker: But ensuring that employee experience is well-received on their end.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, that makes a ton of sense.
Speaker: And I think there's, there's so much alignment with, to Amy's point, our core values and how we love to do business, the types of,
Speaker: customers that we prefer to do business with.
Speaker: You talked earlier to Jedha about being really results focused.
Speaker: And I think that's, you know, a really critical, but sometimes rare quality to find in the HR community.
Speaker: And I'd love to maybe learn about an example, right?
Speaker: Like a people bet maybe that you've made in the past that paid off commercially or for the organization.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So
Speaker: You know, one that stands out to me the most and one that I'm most, not most, there are many, but I'm really proud of, was improving voluntary attrition by linking performance to compensation.
Speaker: And it was something that there was a process in place, but it was something that needed to be, you know, undone and evaluated.
Speaker: So what I did was there was no clear understanding of why people were leaving.
Speaker: There were a lot of assumptions, right, naturally, but not, you know, any real data to act upon.
Speaker: And so the first step is getting clarity and understanding or getting feedback from the people, right, of what was happening and having forums that allowed that and being able to capture the insights
Speaker: But additionally, having it in a system where HR and the managers were also held accountable to take action, right?
Speaker: Because I mean, something I live by is like actions speak louder than words.
Speaker: And what's the point of giving feedback if you're not going to actually make any changes to it?
Speaker: And at the same time, we updated the compensation bands to be market competitive and increased
Speaker: transparency and engagement through all hands and provided just communication.
Speaker: And, you know, so people understood just how, you know, performance connected to awards.
Speaker: And over the course of a year, we reduced voluntary attrition from 28% to 9%, which was the lowest that had happened for that company.
Speaker: So that was something I'm really proud of.
Speaker: That's incredible.
Speaker: I don't know about you, Amy, but that work is something that's been talked about at nearly every environment that I've been a part of and never actually achieved.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Well, yeah, because it's like sometimes some hoods are too expensive to look under.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So good for you for influencing it in the right direction.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Seriously.
Speaker: I also, maybe this is sort of the talent side of me talking, but I'd love to talk a little bit about people in leadership positions and your sort of assessment of that.
Speaker: That's such a big piece of a company's journey, especially when they're early stage.
Speaker: And so how do you spot when a company is ready for its next phase of people leadership?
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: I feel like there's so many things, but the obvious one that stands out to me is
Speaker: is inconsistency where different parts of the business are operating in silos or completely different ways depending upon the leader.
Speaker: You know, I think while leaders are also responsible for their employees' performance and having those conversations, right,
Speaker: I think that if leaders are spending too much time on people issues, then driving the business, I think that that could be a red flag for just the foundation is off and it needs to be relooked at, right?
Speaker: There's friction, there's unclear communication, unclear expectations, and, you know, decisions basically slow down and then you could see attrition, you know, have an uptick, right?
Speaker: So I think
Speaker: Ultimately, it's something that needs to change.
Speaker: And essentially what was working, you know, when first started isn't working now and there needs to be a course correct.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: And what have you seen?
Speaker: I'm just sort of curious as you think about, you know, teams that you've supported in the past, where, where there's an inflection point, where do leaders either tend to overcomplicate or underinvest when it comes to people's strategy?
Speaker: This is a really good question.
Speaker: I think leaders tend to overcomplicate the programs and underinvest in the fundamentals, AKA the people.
Speaker: And you don't need 50 initiatives.
Speaker: You need clarity.
Speaker: So you need to just take a paper or something and just scratch out all the things that, you know, doesn't make sense.
Speaker: No one even knows why you're doing it.
Speaker: And you just have, you know, an organization where it's like chickens running around with their heads cut off.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: And it's just not productive.
Speaker: And so there needs to be clear expectations.
Speaker: I think at the same time, companies underinvest in leadership capability.
Speaker: We throw people into positions that they are not set up for.
Speaker: you know, when you wonder why this manager is failing, it's like, well, actually the company put them in that position to not set them up for success.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So there just needs to be, leaders need to know what they're being held accountable to.
Speaker: So then that can trickle down as well.
Speaker: Additionally, and I know this is going to, this might be controversial and.
Speaker: I love controversial.
Speaker: Oh my gosh.
Speaker: Is AI, and I'm probably of the unpopular opinion, but I think leaders, you know,
Speaker: are sometimes focusing on the wrong things, expecting it to solve everything and over-indexing on that.
Speaker: And while AI is an incredibly powerful tool or just powerful in general for efficiency and modernization, it can't replace the foundation or the people.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: you can't have you can't have ai build your culture unfortunately not yet not yet maybe one day we're just not there yet yes there's many iterations that need to happen yeah oh i agree so much with everything that you just said uh how many times have we felt so sorry for the part uh for our like partners and peers in the business that are like why are you guys doing another initiative and it's like
Speaker: I don't, I couldn't tell you.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know what happens sometimes that, you know, that is so important that you've got something to write on a slide or
Speaker: it becomes more important than creating the space for the people in the business to be productive.
Speaker: It's yeah, it's do not support.
Speaker: And then, yeah, I agree.
Speaker: Leadership training.
Speaker: It's always the thing that comes up.
Speaker: It's, you know, our leaders aren't having difficult conversations.
Speaker: I feel like I've been hearing that for 20 years.
Speaker: Like our leaders don't know how to have difficult conversations.
Speaker: Maybe you don't have the right leaders.
Speaker: I'm like,
Speaker: You know, maybe you need to think about that before you make the promotion.
Speaker: Like, I get it.
Speaker: They're a great IC.
Speaker: They've done really well.
Speaker: But, you know, that's not necessarily going to be your person that can deliver that work at scale.
Speaker: That's a different skill set.
Speaker: But, yeah, it's a fascinating continuous cycle.
Speaker: um ai yeah i i love this topic i loved it i loved it two years ago when everybody was going crazy and had to implement it immediately on everything even though they had no idea why or what they were doing i love it this year when we're starting to finally think about ethics which is which is nice um but still you know there's a lot of over expectation under delivery from a lot of the tooling that's out there and a lot of
Speaker: the realities of when you're dealing with complex, complex things like people's personal data.
Speaker: You know, you want to be thoughtful from like a security and compliance perspective.
Speaker: But yeah, I'm excited to see how this how this keeps going.
Speaker: Like I, I have it on good authority that like, you know, we're all going to be millionaires, and we're not going to have to work.
Speaker: So I'm ready for that day.
Speaker: I'm ready for that day to come.
Speaker: Um, I, I, my husband tells me all the time, he's like, it's just, you know, he's an investigator by the way.
Speaker: Like he has no, he doesn't use AI ever.
Speaker: Um, so, but he's like, you know, it's, it's gonna, it's gonna take over everything.
Speaker: I'm like, while we are still creating products and services for humans, there might need to be a little bit of a human involvement in there.
Speaker: A buffer at some, in some capacity for a bit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And even we were talking to another founder, was it yesterday or a couple of days ago?
Speaker: I don't know, I'll lose track.
Speaker: Are you asking me?
Speaker: Talking about founders a day.
Speaker: But I'm thinking about this specific one.
Speaker: You've got to give us more.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The legal and compliance gal.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And we asked her if she'd considered like any automation for her role.
Speaker: She's like, globally, privacy laws and regulations change so frequently.
Speaker: It's just not worth your effort to get it.
Speaker: all hard coded so that you can just click it in there.
Speaker: And it's like, Oh, here it pops up because it changes all the time.
Speaker: And you, if somebody is like paying you to make sure that they stay compliant, you can't make a mistake.
Speaker: And so she was like, there's no replacement for me as a, like as a professional to check and make sure that I'm up to date with information and that I'm sharing that with my clients.
Speaker: And I was like,
Speaker: It's true.
Speaker: It's true.
Speaker: My favorite thing, I'm going to peel us out of the AI spiral for a second about what you just said, Jenna, is the back to basics, just 101 of things.
Speaker: All these examples are flooding my mind, but I'm thinking about...
Speaker: An experience in particular of joining a company and, you know, I'm in a leadership position and they put me through a three day leadership academy right when I joined and I'm like, you know, maybe I'm going to learn about kind of their leadership culture.
Speaker: It would be great.
Speaker: And it was, you know, all kinds of like abstract concepts and just really bizarre.
Speaker: And then I find that I'm reporting to someone who like doesn't really know how to give me feedback in the moment or has more time like having, you know, just, you know, passing on a piece of feedback that someone gave her and having a conversation about it.
Speaker: And it's like,
Speaker: just striking how over-indexing on the big, heavy programs and struggling with the little things day to day, it is so real.
Speaker: So real.
Speaker: So real.
Speaker: I couldn't agree more.
Speaker: So let's talk about your practice.
Speaker: I am so excited to see where you take this.
Speaker: What are some of your aspirations for your practice within Stratomus?
Speaker: You know, they might sound...
Speaker: really basic, but I think they're really important, you know, and mean something in terms of impact, but to build a practice, you know, that's known for driving the real business outcomes through people.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: like I've said already, I know, um, was that being, you know, partnering closely with leadership teams through like critical inflection points, right.
Speaker: Whether that's scaling, restructuring, or trying to unlock like the next level of performance, um, and to help them make real, you know, changes that actually stick, um, and not just presenting them with a deck that has 5,000 words and means nothing.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: They're like, what do you want me to do with this now?
Speaker: You just wrote, you know, gave me a dissertation on what to do, but how do you actually apply it in real life?
Speaker: And so I just want to be known, you know, as someone that actually can, you know, come in when stakes are high and make an impact that actually, you know, matters.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: And you talked about inflection points.
Speaker: Tell us more about that.
Speaker: What types of companies or moments are you most energized to support?
Speaker: Well, it's not just, you know, shit shows.
Speaker: I love everything.
Speaker: But I did touch on that earlier.
Speaker: But I would say it's the companies that are in, you know, the in-between, you know, stages where they had success, you know, they had success, you
Speaker: But what got them there isn't getting to the next level, perhaps that, you know, rapid growth or something with, you know, leadership and performance just plateaus.
Speaker: So, you know, I want to step into, or the companies that energize me is like the real space, right?
Speaker: Being able to work with people that want to be challenged or open-minded and are also, you know,
Speaker: adaptable right because I think oftentimes you can be very set in your ways and not want to understand the reality um so companies that are you know wanting to accelerate right and I think under companies that also understand that you know people strategy is at the center of it right and being able to have that um that culture felt throughout everyone if that makes sense
Speaker: Yes, it does.
Speaker: Companies ready to accelerate.
Speaker: I think that is, I love the way that you just sort of package that.
Speaker: And there's so much opportunity.
Speaker: And I think so many companies that are finding themselves at those points, I think it's, you know, not only the moment in time for them in their growth, but the pressure of the AI evolution, the pressure of the macroeconomic environment that we're in, it's all just converging.
Speaker: And there's
Speaker: an incredible amount of opportunity to go around this community.
Speaker: So thanks for walking us through that.
Speaker: I think we're gonna dive into some like fun personal questions.
Speaker: So Amy, take it away.
Speaker: Yeah, the fun questions are me.
Speaker: So I will go ahead.
Speaker: So outside of work, what helps keep you grounded and recharges your batteries?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: My family, 100%.
Speaker: My children who keep me on my toes and, you know, keep me grounded and humble me real quick.
Speaker: You know, my friends are also my world.
Speaker: And believe it or not, breathing exercises, you know, it's truly incredible what breathing can do for you.
Speaker: And it's just been a game changer in keeping me grounded and bringing me back to, you know,
Speaker: chill.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I have a friend who's a breath works consultant and she like those sessions.
Speaker: Pretty good.
Speaker: Yeah, they are pretty good.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: But you have to really be in it.
Speaker: So it's like phone on, you know, do not disturb.
Speaker: Like catch yourself.
Speaker: You have to just do it.
Speaker: And it's, you know, it's 10 minutes and you just think like, I can do 10 minutes of just focusing on this.
Speaker: Um, and it helps you just kind of get through the day better.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I should have her like do us a little virtual session.
Speaker: Oh, I would love that.
Speaker: It's pretty cool.
Speaker: Have you ever done it, Erin?
Speaker: No, I'm just, I'm in awe, but it sounds great.
Speaker: You would be so uncomfortable because there's some of it where you have to breathe really weird.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And so I can just, I know you so well.
Speaker: I know you'd be like,
Speaker: I don't want to do this with people.
Speaker: It's like body breathing where you're like, you're instructing you to, to breathe through your body in certain ways.
Speaker: Like I'm breathing.
Speaker: What do you do?
Speaker: Like I'm breathing.
Speaker: And so it just takes a minute to, it takes a little bit to figure it out.
Speaker: And you're like, okay, I feel something now, but it takes a minute.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: I trust no one.
Speaker: So this is why you're just, you're picturing me in discomfort.
Speaker: I'm picturing myself there.
Speaker: But it still sounds fun.
Speaker: I'd be so game.
Speaker: It'd be one of those things you'd have to do with the camera off, I think.
Speaker: That's for sure.
Speaker: Probably.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Next question.
Speaker: What's something people might not expect when it comes to, you know, something about you?
Speaker: These questions are always hard because you never know what's the reaction.
Speaker: I would say...
Speaker: that I horseback ride and I'm unbelievably good at ping pong.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Some may call it table tennis, but I am really good at that.
Speaker: That is a good fun fact.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, again, this is, this is, uh, you know, self-review here.
Speaker: I don't know if someone else would say that I was good at either of these two things, but, um, this is my opinion of myself.
Speaker: As rated by myself, I am top skier at ping pong.
Speaker: I don't know if anyone else would agree, but that is me.
Speaker: Horseback riding, I feel like in Texas, like that.
Speaker: Oh, no, that tracks.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, now we've got some interesting ones here.
Speaker: Who makes the best breakfast taco in Austin?
Speaker: I feel like this is going to be a very contentious topic between Erin and I because she lived...
Speaker: here too.
Speaker: Yeah, I put that one in.
Speaker: Yes, yes.
Speaker: I'm curious what you may think.
Speaker: But I actually would say Veracruz, the Mija tacos.
Speaker: I mean, I also love taco deli.
Speaker: I guess I just the simplicity of it I like.
Speaker: So that's, that's my choice.
Speaker: What was your choice?
Speaker: I think I'm a one taco fan, but there was also like a really small stand.
Speaker: I lived southeast of the city, like deep southeast, south of Bastrop.
Speaker: And there was this little family owned stand that made the best tacos ever, like homemade tortillas, carnegie sada.
Speaker: Oh, my.
Speaker: It was incredible.
Speaker: Just so good.
Speaker: The food trucks that I didn't realize was such like a phenomenon in Austin, they definitely have the best.
Speaker: Well, it's ruined me.
Speaker: I can't go to a Mexican restaurant in Raleigh.
Speaker: I can't eat like a tortilla you buy at the grocery store because the H-E-B tortillas are phenomenal.
Speaker: The butter tortillas.
Speaker: You can buy a candle, Amy.
Speaker: You can buy a candle that smells like the H-E-B butter tortillas that they make.
Speaker: Nothing compares.
Speaker: Nothing compares.
Speaker: You know, coming from the other side of the pond, the obsession with tacos just is so strange to me.
Speaker: Like, it's so interesting.
Speaker: But this next question I can really get behind because I am a huge fan.
Speaker: What is the best product that you can get at Bucky's?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, you think that obsession with tacos are interesting?
Speaker: I think the obsession with Buc-ee's is so fascinating to me.
Speaker: And mind you, I have been there, I have been twice.
Speaker: And I will say it is a personal experience.
Speaker: I know, but I, so there was one in Bastrop, which Erin, you, right?
Speaker: It was closer to you.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then the other one, which I can't think of, it's like on the way to Houston, perhaps.
Speaker: So anyways, I've only been to twice, but I have to say without a doubt, it's the Beaver Nuggets, which is that caramel corn snack thing.
Speaker: I mean, that's the best thing I've had there.
Speaker: And okay.
Speaker: Also, I think they probably have the best restrooms I've seen in any.
Speaker: Oh, hand it down.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, all of the artwork.
Speaker: Like it's, it's just one of the best.
Speaker: That is probably.
Speaker: Who's buying that artwork?
Speaker: I've asked that.
Speaker: I'm like, who, I don't understand.
Speaker: And it's, it's great.
Speaker: It's so interesting.
Speaker: The little price tags on them.
Speaker: I'm like, who's come to a gas station and gone to the bathroom and gone.
Speaker: I need that.
Speaker: That one.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And do they just take it off the wall or like, how does that.
Speaker: And then do they replace it?
Speaker: It's like such a.
Speaker: Yeah, like where is their inventory from?
Speaker: You know, is it all different?
Speaker: Yeah, I'm so curious.
Speaker: Me too.
Speaker: I've been to bookies more than you, Jenna.
Speaker: And I live where there is no bookies.
Speaker: How?
Speaker: How have you done that?
Speaker: The good old American road trip that I've been subject to multiple times.
Speaker: It's a whole experience, though.
Speaker: My husband and I joke that we're going to tell our kids that Bucky's is Disney World so that we don't have to go to Disney World because it really practically is.
Speaker: I mean, you can spend several hours in there.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And all I mean, all the stuff to buy, like the food and non-food.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: It's pretty it's pretty cool.
Speaker: It's a very eclectic range of things that you didn't know about.
Speaker: and still not sure that you need there's like an interest it's just a we it's like a very there's like an it's like an overpriced home goods in a gas station yes yes that situation but I love the I love the little bookie fella you know all the novelty items and the bathrooms are absolutely clutch when you're on a on a road trip
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Well, I guess, I guess it looks like that's our last, last bit of fun questions.
Speaker: We're going back into some serious questions, but rapid fire.
Speaker: Does that mean like one word rapid fire?
Speaker: Is that how rapid one sentence?
Speaker: I think, I mean, you might struggle with one word, just looking at a couple of these to like,
Speaker: Yeah, I think it's just the question, I don't know.
Speaker: Whatever you feel like, it's late, it's Thursday.
Speaker: I know it's not coming out on Thursday, but feel for us that this is what we're doing on our Thursday nights.
Speaker: One thing that every founder should prioritize in their people strategy.
Speaker: Clarity.
Speaker: I would say clarity as it pertains to their, their not strategy that just what, what they're trying to achieve and make it simple.
Speaker: And also then what are the expectations for the employees in order to reach the company's goals?
Speaker: Beautiful.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: One signal that it's time to bring on a fractional HR leader.
Speaker: sure there's more than one, but, um, I would say, uh, you know, the people issues again are consuming the time of leadership and running the business, you know, in perhaps a different direction than what the business is trying to do.
Speaker: And it's derailing them from focusing on what the business is trying to achieve.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: And then finally, one habit that you've observed thematically in great leaders that you've worked with.
Speaker: It's funny because Aaron kind of.
Speaker: What is it you gave you hit on it, but I gave like the foreshadowing of what I was going to say, but it's that leaders address things quickly early.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Or on time, if you will.
Speaker: And leaders, you know, make decisions because I think people also can get in decision paralyzed, right?
Speaker: Like they just don't paralysis.
Speaker: I'm so bad at that decision paralysis.
Speaker: And that will impact more than, you know, that impacts everything there or the business and just having things move forward.
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: Well, Jenna, thank you so much for your time and letting everybody get to know you a little bit more.
Speaker: How can the audience connect with you?
Speaker: They can connect with me on LinkedIn and they can, and then the Strativist in all caps, and they can connect with me via my email.
Speaker: that I am happy to provide whenever.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Send a, send a little message.
Speaker: Send a pigeon.
Speaker: She'll let me know what it is.
Speaker: Um, I can, who should consider fractional HR support and when?
Speaker: Who should consider HR support?
Speaker: Fractional HR support.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: I think this is open to anyone that is needing, you know, HR support, whether it be small, large, you know, a startup or something that has grown larger.
Speaker: We're here for anyone and everything.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I think that there's, there's not one time.
Speaker: It's always nice to either be in the beginning when shit gets hard and also just any closing that needs to happen.
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: When we got into this, we really were 100% convinced we'd only be working with startups.
Speaker: Like we were just really sure that, you know, they don't have their people teams established.
Speaker: But what has transpired to Erin's point earlier through the economy, through teams being downsized in favor of kind of new technology implementations,
Speaker: that the the small to medium companies and you know even slightly larger can get themselves in a position where they need help navigating through and sometimes it's like okay this is a great solution for us on a long-term basis or sometimes it's hey i need you for six months to come and undo some of this uh some of this disaster zone that we're in um so yeah
Speaker: it really does feel like it's a variety of people that need to lean on us.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker: Okay, but we always wanna put out an invitation to founders and leaders that if they want to get greater clarity on what we do, how we can support,
Speaker: and why Jenna would be the perfect addition to your team.
Speaker: Reach out, let us know.
Speaker: We'll be happy to set up some time with you.
Speaker: But thanks, Jenna.
Speaker: Thanks, Erin.
Speaker: Thanks, everybody.
