Authentic Leadership Strategies for Building a Compassionate Workplace with Britt Byers, EVP, Human Resources North America at Kyowa Kirin
12/17/24 • 36 min
This episode features an interview with Britt Byers, Executive Vice President of Human Resources North America at Kyowa Kirin. With three decades of experience, Britt has held senior roles in Pharmaceuticals like Sanofi and Novartis, as well as in financial services at Bank of America. She has deep expertise in R&D and global functions as well as Shared Service leadership with oversight for HR Operations.
In this episode, Shawn and Britt discuss the importance of authentic and inclusive leadership, strategies for easing employee anxieties, and the power of showing kindness in the workplace.
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“Before you react to something in a meeting or a conversation, or if someone's upset, just be there in the moment. You might have a difference of opinion, but you're just creating a space for the conversation. But it is on leaders, I think, to create the tone that you're not numb to what's happening. You can’t not mention something. Otherwise, you just don't look genuine. You don't look like there's a leader you can trust who's just not acknowledging something that could be an awful environment.” – Britt Byers
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Episode Timestamps:
*(02:54): Getting to know Britt
*(14:34): The shift from financial services to pharmaceuticals
*(18:10): The importance of meaningful work
*(23:01): Leadership themes and enterprise leadership
*(27:51): The importance of being kind in the workplace
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Links:
Connect with Britt on LinkedIn
Follow Kyowa Kirin on LinkedIn
This episode features an interview with Britt Byers, Executive Vice President of Human Resources North America at Kyowa Kirin. With three decades of experience, Britt has held senior roles in Pharmaceuticals like Sanofi and Novartis, as well as in financial services at Bank of America. She has deep expertise in R&D and global functions as well as Shared Service leadership with oversight for HR Operations.
In this episode, Shawn and Britt discuss the importance of authentic and inclusive leadership, strategies for easing employee anxieties, and the power of showing kindness in the workplace.
-------------------
“Before you react to something in a meeting or a conversation, or if someone's upset, just be there in the moment. You might have a difference of opinion, but you're just creating a space for the conversation. But it is on leaders, I think, to create the tone that you're not numb to what's happening. You can’t not mention something. Otherwise, you just don't look genuine. You don't look like there's a leader you can trust who's just not acknowledging something that could be an awful environment.” – Britt Byers
-------------------
Episode Timestamps:
*(02:54): Getting to know Britt
*(14:34): The shift from financial services to pharmaceuticals
*(18:10): The importance of meaningful work
*(23:01): Leadership themes and enterprise leadership
*(27:51): The importance of being kind in the workplace
-------------------
Links:
Connect with Britt on LinkedIn
Follow Kyowa Kirin on LinkedIn
Previous Episode
Rethinking Communication: The Benefits of an Email-Free Environment with Ellen Maier, Human Resources Director at Zignaly
This episode features an interview with Ellen Maier, Human Resources Director at Zignaly. Ellen is an experienced HR leader committed to enhancing remote work settings and empowering employees. With a strong background in HR and organizational psychology, she fosters an inclusive and growth-focused culture for the Zignaly team.
In this episode, Shawn and Ellen discuss creating trust within a remote team, the importance of personal connections in the workplace, and benefits and practices of being an email-free organization.
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“When you say email-free, it's equal to clutter-free. When you consider you're wasting so much valuable time because, time is money and you also have an amount of energy. The crazy thing is that everyone that works with email, they start reading, checking everything in the morning. Once they finish that, they have no other energy to do anything else. You can miss important information, important updates.” – Ellen Maier
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Episode Timestamps:
*(02:12): Getting to know Ellen
*(06:39): Building a trusting remote culture at Zignaly
*(22:14): How Zignaly manages an email-free work environment
*(28:51): Strategies for global team management
*(37:11): AI in human resources
*(41:47): What’s next for Zignaly and Ellen
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Links:
Connect with Ellen on LinkedIn
Next Episode
The Ripple Effect: Leading with Empathy, Insights and Innovation with Donald Knight & Miriam Connaughton
This episode features an interview with Donald Knight, Venture Partner at Valor Ventures and Miriam Connaughton, Chief People and Experience Officer at Simpplr. Donald’s expertise is in creating a culture where employees thrive and has a proven track record of constructing scalable global strategies that support international expansion. Miriam utilizes her three decades of HR consulting experience to shape and deliver a great employee experience, through dynamic HR strategies and AI-powered technology.
In this episode, Shawn, Donald, and Miriam discuss the concept of high-performance cultures, how fostering human connection and empathy in the workplace can combat loneliness, and the impact of AI on workplace dynamics.
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“Historically, our profession has been rooted on five major time periods. It started because of being administrative in nature. Then from administration, we went into compliance. From compliance, we went into employee satisfaction. From satisfaction, you got companies that are focused on how do they engage their employees, mainly through this lens of productivity. Last, I think the best companies understand that they want people to be fulfilled. If you want people to be fulfilled, you got to recognize that there's plenty of talent at your organization that just isn't. There is a large sentiment of loneliness.” – Donald Knight
“If you have lots of people with similar habits, that becomes the culture. It's habit-creating. If managers in general are good at creating psychological safety in an organization and they have a habit of practicing that, then people will generally report that's a cultural trait here. I feel really included and I feel like I can be my authentic self because it's very psychologically safe here. It doesn't just happen because you say it, it happens because people have healthy habits around that on a daily, moment-to-moment basis.” – Miriam Connaughton
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Episode Timestamps:
*(02:35): Getting to know Donald and Miriam
*(08:46): Being an intentional leader
*(17:56): High-Performance Index and the ripple effect
*(27:28): Loneliness in the workplace
*(46:56): Incentivizing human-centric leadership
*(53:29): The role of AI in enhancing employee experience
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Links:
Connect with Donald on LinkedIn
Connect with Miriam on LinkedIn
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