Authentic leadership strategies for Building a Compassionate Workplace

Listen to the full podcast here as Britt speaks with Cohesion Podcast host Shawn Pfunder, or read some key excerpts below.

Shawn Pfunder: Today I'm joined by Britt Byers. She's the EVP of HR for North America at Kyowa Kirin. With almost 30 years of experience, Britt has held senior roles in the pharmaceutical industry and the financial services sector. Her experience includes a wide range of HR roles with deep expertise as a strategic business partner to commercial teams, research and development, and global functions.

Shawn: As an HR leader, what do you do to either put people at ease or make sure that you're both on the same side, and the challenge is on the other side of the table?

Britt: Just a willingness to show the person that you truly care, and that time is important, and you're willing to dedicate that time. I've never said no to anyone who wanted to meet or have a conversation and, I think that when they see that you're, whatever level you're at, that you're willing to spend time with them and to listen and offer advice and to be available for something in the future or redirect them to somewhere that they could get what they need. I think that goes a long way.

If you can put yourself in someone else's shoes, if you can be there in that moment and demonstrate caring and empathy and listening, that goes a long way. Even if you don't solve whatever that person is looking to solve, they feel like they've had a voice and a space to have a safe conversation.

Shawn: Not always about solving. That's a really good point.

Shawn: Tell me about how you pivoted in your career.

Britt: This was one of the biggest risks I took. I had been in financial services and got promoted every year. It was going good, right? You're a VP, you're 30, you're managing a team. And I was like, you know what? I'm not sure I want to be in financial services.

So, I took a voluntary package. And I took two years off. I told my parents: I'm going to leave this good paying job and I'm going to take time off. And when I run out of that severance and a little bit of extra that is saved, I'm going to target a move to healthcare. And they were like, really, you want to do this? I'm like, no, trust me. It's going to work out. This is the right thing for me. It was the best gift ever spending time with my daughter, having my second and being at home versus working full time.

I think I would have never landed where I am if I didn't take that risk.

Shawn: Yeah. That's awesome that you were able to do that. What shifted for you thematically within your role within HR, within leadership development, from financial services to pharmaceutical?

Britt: In the pharmaceutical environment, what has really been compelling and a great thing to kind of latch on to is the absolute end result of helping the patient.

There is a bit of a gift in that, in this industry, of being able to hear directly from patients and the stories that connect and really provide meaningful purpose.

Things that I have seen people do in this industry – coming together in a crisis, helping a patient in need – are the most moving things I've been part of. For me, it was the connection beyond the day-to-day work to something that gets to the hearts and minds of people. And that is a drive that is unmatched, unparalleled.

I have seen people who are far removed from the patient who say, I'm not sure how my day to day impacts that work. And we've been able to make that picture for them. I've been in town halls where there is not a dry eye in the room after seeing a patient video.

People should gravitate towards areas where they enjoy, because we spend a lot of time working. I know there is the day-to-day, right. People need to pay bills and do things that get food on the table. But if you do have a choice, most people would choose to have something that really excites them and motivates them and that they're proud of when they leave.

For me, I'm proud to work for the company I work for.

Here at Kyowa Kirin, we have scientists who actually developed a drug that we are now taking through development to commercialization. And now we're going to have a manufacturing plant, the first one outside of Japan.

Shawn: What other leadership themes have you seen in your career that we might not be looking at or focusing on that you think is important as far as finding leaders, training leaders, inspiring leaders.

Britt: Some are tried and true, like authentic leadership, because people can see through that easily, and being inclusive and agile, because things are always changing. The one thing that is really front and center for us is enterprise leadership. You can see really clearly when someone's just worried about their own function and they're kind of looking at things in a silo.

Our executive team has been working very diligently on enterprise leadership, focusing on the understanding that we're all in it as a team. That means that I'm just as invested in a decision about how we commercialize something or how we go about supporting a research project and that I'm willing to give my budget to help.

Shawn: That's huge. You know, and it's interesting because we remember most of the time when there are difficult business decisions that affect people. The business has to be successful for us to be able to do this work.

Britt: Yeah. It’s been wonderful to see it. Our executive leadership team, we've been going through this high performance teamwork for the last year and a half. And everybody does it. The time we're spending together, the self awareness, that we're listening to each other, reflecting on, peer coaching feedback, having the discussions in the room, putting it out on the table and having a leader who holds you accountable to all of those high performing team behaviors.

I mean, 20 percent of my goals is how I show up from a high performing team behavior standpoint. You've also got to role model it. It sets a great tone and culture and it's hugely impactful to the business and to the people.

Shawn: You mentioned in a previous conversation that you had a, like a campaign around being kind. Can you tell us more about that and that effort?

Britt: It launched in the summer, following the Olympics and just knowing where things were going with the election. Then there were the assassination attempts and, things like that that were just coming up.

We said, you know, this is a really good time to reinforce that you may experience a lot of things outside these walls and you may have different backgrounds, perspectives, but we want you to know that our workplace is a place where you can feel safe. And we want all of our employees to be respectful and kind. You don't know where people are coming from and what they're dealing with in their day to day. And so just, if you can do anything, just be kind, you know?

Shawn: Yeah. I think just acknowledging that whatever the stress level might be, the anxiety might be. You can also get caught up in that people are stressed out because so and so got their way or we're going this direction, not this direction.

Britt: I agree. There's a lot of emphasis placed on roles leaders have to play, but you don't have to do it alone. I think one of the great things we have at Kyowa Kirin is our Culture Ambassador group

There are about 30 people cross functionally, and their aim is to work on things that are important to our employees and that impact our culture in a positive way. This group is by far the best thing I've seen in all my years of HR. They are dedicated, passionate. They're working on things that change each year depending on the engagement survey or company priorities. But everything that they're working on, they feel is actually being heard and enacted upon.

So for me, that's one of our greatest successes as a culture.