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.
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
Connect with Shawn on LinkedIn
Shawn Pfunder: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Cohesion Podcast. I am Shawn, and today I'm joined by Britt Byers. She's the EVP of HR for North America at Kyowa Kirin.
Shawn Pfunder: 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 Pfunder: Welcome to the show, Britt.
Britt Byers: Thank you, Shawn. Glad to be here.
Shawn Pfunder: Oh my gosh. Sometimes I get the spiel and I'm just so excited to talk to you. It's like I mumble.
Britt Byers: It was a mouthful anyway, right? I know.
Shawn Pfunder: It was great. The best part, and I think why, is I'm speaking to you and you've been, you've had roles in industries I haven't talked to anybody about before.
Britt Byers: You're kidding!
Shawn Pfunder: So I've never talked to somebody, leadership stuff, HR stuff, communication stuff, all those things that are really important in any company, I've never talked to somebody from the pharmaceutical industry about it. Nervous about that. You control my drugs. Yeah, no. So we've got some quick questions at the top to get to know you a little bit, and we'll kind of get into your history.
Shawn Pfunder: What brought you to this place on a day like today? First off, what are the five most open apps on your phone?
Britt Byers: Okay. First, I have two phones. HR person, right?
Shawn Pfunder: Oh, wait, are they different phones? Is it like an Android and a,
Britt Byers: No, well, they're both, yeah, they're not, I would be crazy. They're both iPhones, but you know, it's a good way to put work away on the weekend.
Britt Byers: And then, you know, if something comes up, HR wise, the work phone gets taken.
Britt Byers: I'll go with my personal phone. So Spotify, always listening to music, podcasts, helps with my drive time when I'm on the way in. So that is a mainstay. The other ones would be Facebook, I know that's old, so then I also have, I know, I'm like on the verge of like, why are you still in it, right?
Britt Byers: But I'm at that age. And then I'm Instagram too, because I have two college daughters, right? And so I'm, I'm trying to manage like, let me keep up with things on both ends. And then LinkedIn, and then I would say, if I'm being truly honest, Amazon.
Shawn Pfunder: And what you do for a living, obviously passionate about it, you've been doing it for a long time.
Shawn Pfunder: What's the biggest common myth about your field of expertise and what you do?
Britt Byers: I think that if it were outside of like work walls, people, you know, if I say I'm in HR would say, Oh well, you, you're, you just fire people. Hire fire. You're the HR police. It's never really a, a good connotation. It seems like it goes to the negative side of the HR.
Shawn Pfunder: I'm really curious. I've been thinking about this a lot. Why do you think that persists? Like after the days of Like slides in the office and fighting for great food. And I want to make sure that, you know, like sort of creating equity and performance, like whatever, like it still persists, that still comes up.
Shawn Pfunder: Why, why do you think that?
Britt Byers: Yeah, I think it depends on where people work and what environment they're in. Like I believe in, you know, the industries I've been in that HR is a strategic partner, right? They're hugely helping. Drive the agenda for the business when it comes to the people side of things. So I think that it just depends on what it looks like in other spaces.
Britt Byers: And maybe more often than not, it could be a little bit more of the order taker, or it could be someone who's perceived as coming in to play the manager role and maybe circumvent things that are being done in different ways elsewhere. But. Yeah, it's unfortunate that's the view on it sometimes, but I've been lucky that it hasn't been that way in my work experience.
Britt Byers: So I think it just depends on people's personal experiences or things that they hear about from others. And I also think it varies by industry and company.
Shawn Pfunder: Yeah. If you were to, I guess, run into somebody at your employee, there's, at your company, there's an employee that you're talking to. Yeah. And you definitely get the impression that they're like, oh yeah, you're, you're HR if I'm having a conversation with you.
Shawn Pfunder: Things, things are going south right now. Yeah. How, what do you do to either put them at ease or make sure that they know that if there's a, that if there's a challenge or something's going on, it's like. You're both on the same side, and the challenge is on the other side of the table. You've been doing this for a long time, so I'm just curious, like, what do you do to put people at ease, or put your teams at ease, or build that rapport so they know that you're not just the, hey, accounting gives you the sheet.
Shawn Pfunder: You go through the sheet. Like, alright, we gotta get three people, who are we gonna get rid of?
Britt Byers: Right. Yeah, I think that a lot of it comes from, you know, the interaction that they have with you. So oftentimes, you know, if people haven't spent time with HR and You're meeting with them one on one and you create this rapport and they have a broader understanding of being heard, listened to, or that there's other, you know, resources that are available to them.
Britt Byers: But I think it softens the You know, kind of the angst, if you will, that they might have with sitting down with HR or understanding, you know, how much broader that role is in supporting employees in total. It's not, you know, linked to the manager, if you will. It's really, the goal is supporting the workplace, the environment, culture, the employees.
Britt Byers: So I think that oftentimes I'm told by people, Oh my gosh, it was, you know, so great to talk with you. And I feel so much at ease and you know, I just have a whole different view on how I see things with the support I could get here. I was afraid to go to HR or I wasn't sure how it would go. And so I think a lot of it really depends on like the tone you set when you're sitting with people.
Britt Byers: And making them feel comfortable and just feeling heard, right? Listen to, oftentimes it could just be a sounding board. It's not like HR is going to say, you came here and now I have to, I have to go do something with this, or I'm going to take this and respond in this way. Sometimes it's a thought partner, you know, and sometimes it's just a way to bounce things off of someone.
Britt Byers: So yeah, for me, I think it's kind of how you make people feel when they come in and talk with you.
Shawn Pfunder: Yeah, yeah. Do you have any go to questions to get to know somebody or to kind of put them at ease or build rapport with them?
Britt Byers: I don't think of anything as like a, a go to, if you will. I think for me, it's creating like trust and like just really being there in the moment with someone fully present.
Britt Byers: Like, I think people are often surprised how much time someone's willing to dedicate to them. You know, I'm often in a situation where someone books 30 minutes and we're together for 90. It's just the conversation goes further and being able to really show and demonstrate that that is important to be with that person in the moment and to be there to help.
Britt Byers: Sometimes it's, you know, responding to a quick text. Can you chat for a minute? You know, if you're in the office, could I come and see you? And I think that just that willingness to, you know, 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, you know, 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.
Britt Byers: I think that goes a long way. I think if I had any go to questions or things like that, it might not feel genuine. So I just try and be in the moment and kind of reflect back, you know, what I'm hearing. And I think empathy goes a long way. Like there's times when, you know, myself included have been in situations that are tough to work in, you know, there's nobody that escapes that or things where they're striving to do something differently and they just don't quite know where to go.
Britt Byers: So. I think, you know, if you can put yourself in someone else's shoes, you can be there in that moment and demonstrate caring and empathy and listening and 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 Pfunder: Not always about solving. That's a really good point. And so now getting into your past, first, before we talk about financial industry and the pharmaceutical industry, how did you end up doing what you're doing?
Britt Byers: Full disclosure, I wanted to be an elementary ed teacher, okay? I had no thought of HR, I wasn't focused too much on studying, and then I was told maybe we should go with psychology, add that into the mix, and then, you know, I get out of school, and I was like, I'll be a social worker, right, I always loved helping people, I was always volunteering growing up, had a nurse for a mom, you know, she worked at a nursing home, volunteered there, I was like, social work sounds great, And then I did that job for about 24 hours, okay?
Britt Byers: I didn't, I, I, I know, this is like the worst story to tell, but I think, you know, the misses get you to the right place. And I ended up at a placement agency, just, like, starting to do some administrative work and getting, like, at the time, administrative assistance. You know, into some places where they need attempt support.
Britt Byers: Did that while I was getting my master's. And then I thought, well, I'm in psychology. Let me go with industrial and organizational psych, right? They didn't have majors in HR when I was in college, really. And HR was personnel. And so I kind of just started to fall into it a little bit. And once I was in, when I was taking the master's, I was like, this is cool.
Britt Byers: I really like this. I get the connection with people, right? Like I want to help people. And I didn't realize you could do it in the work environment. I was mostly thinking about in the clinical or kind of in a community setting. And so then I just ended up in banking as an HR generalist and worked my way up.
Britt Byers: And then I was, you know, just trying out different jobs. So it really did not happen with a plan.
Shawn Pfunder: Yeah. Well, it's the best. I mean, you, that's hard to say, like, meaning you can pivot if it doesn't work out, then move on to the next thing.
Britt Byers: I agree. I mean, I think for me, one of the biggest risks I took.
Britt Byers: Was the career break I took in between financial services and pharma. And so I had been in financial services and got promoted every year. It was going good, right? From the outside, like, Hey, you're a VP, you're 30, you know, you're managing a team. And I was like, you know what? I'm not sure I want to be in financial services.
Britt Byers: I don't feel like. I didn't feel the connection. Like I'm a very values based person. Like I have to feel like the work I'm doing, like connects with things that are important to me. And because I had worked in healthcare settings, like growing up. And wanting to help people. I was like, I need to get to something that makes me feel good about showing up day to day.
Britt Byers: And that's no disrespect to the environment I was in, in the financial services area. I mean, loved, you know, the people I worked with, I got great opportunity, but I was like, I need this spinning wheel to stop and I need to direct myself to something. And so I took a voluntary package. And I took two years off.
Britt Byers: I had my second child and yeah, I took, and I'm telling you when I sat down and you know, I was married at the time, I had one baby and I was already juggling daycare and work and travel. And I told my parents, I'm like, 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.
Britt Byers: You know, it's either going to be pharma, it's going to be hospital. It's going to be something in that setting. And they were like, really, you want to do this? I'm like, no, trust me. It's going to work out. Like, this is the right thing for me. It was the best gift ever spending time with my daughter, having my second and having an understanding of being at home versus working full time.
Britt Byers: And targeting a change in career. I think I would have never landed where I am if I didn't take that risk.
Shawn Pfunder: Yeah. That's awesome that you were able to do that. I think. Even on a micro level, we've got listeners that think about, okay, I'm not going to take two years off and have a kid. There's always that nervousness of, okay, I think I'm going to do this or I really want to do this and I've got to either pause, take a little bit of a break, get things in order and then, and then go, maybe I have savings, maybe I don't, maybe I'm working at Starbucks for three months before I move on to the next one.
Shawn Pfunder: But that's bold and wonderful, courageous to do something. What shifted for you thematically within your role within HR, within leadership development, things like that, from financial services, pharmaceutical?
Britt Byers: I think a couple of things that I can think of thematically. One is that in the time that I, when I was in banking and financial services, there was mergers and acquisitions.
Britt Byers: I mean, every three to six months, like it was probably what was burning me out too. You know? And so that cycle of change, they were excellent in changing the signage, putting in new systems, all of those things were like ready to go, right? Just move, shift. And that is an excellent aspect of what they do well from a technology perspective.
Britt Byers: I think thematically when I look at the changes for pharmaceutical industry and change is the More emphasis that I was able to place on the people change, right? It was just, there is a lot that comes with that and getting an organization and people to a new vision or a new way of working or feeling integrated after a merger and not just changing the name and the signage, but talking about what that means.
Britt Byers: So I think I got excellent experience in volume of merger and acquisition and change and moving things quickly overnight. Sure. We'll make sure we have the staffing plan for this and we're going to, you know, do this and it's boom overnight, done. It was the time for the culture. And I think part of that was probably the pace of things too.
Britt Byers: It was just take it over, right? Just buy up everything, small thrift savings and get to the big banks at the end. The other piece would probably be the focus on kind of the core purpose of work. There was always an emphasis on the customer, you know, we want to drive for a customer experience. But I don't know that that permeated all of the organization.
Britt Byers: I think it depended on the role that you were in and really bringing that together to kind of build the momentum you would want to have in really connecting to the services that you provide. And so I think in the pharmaceutical environment, what, you know, has really been compelling and a great thing to kind of latch on to is the absolute end result is the patient or helping.
Britt Byers: And that is what visibility to it day to day and the storytelling of that, which I think you can do in many different environments, regardless of what you are doing from a product and service, but there is a, a bit of a gift in that, in this industry of being able to hear directly from patients and the, the stories that connect and really provide meaningful purpose.
Britt Byers: I mean, things. That I have seen people do in this industry to help in situations and come together in a crisis or a patient need are the most moving things I've been part of. And I think that that motivates people when they are feeling like, what effort do I have in me today? Right? Like, maybe I'm having a rough day and something comes at the end and we know we've got to get product to patients who are in an area impacted by a hurricane.
Britt Byers: Things that need to be to patients who live with chronic diseases or family members, caregivers, you know, who are impacted. I think that for me was, you know, 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.
Shawn Pfunder: Yeah. That completely makes sense to me. Like when you're looking at the mission of a company, and I don't even necessarily mean the mission statement or the thing that you repeat over and over again, like you could absolutely tell a great story working in banking, financial services. I admire the paramedic over the banker most of the times in my life, not because one's more important, but one of them is like, Hey, you're going to make sure that I live through the next 12 hours.
Shawn Pfunder: It's interesting, like how those things can be compelling for different people, perhaps it's just what they're motivated by. Your, your history and why you wanted to move into that, obviously, I think was to support people on that level and why you made the move over to healthcare.
Britt Byers: And I think that's a choice people have and kind of where they work and why they want to work there. And, you You know, 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. And I've been in town halls where the whole room is not a dry eye in the room after seeing a patient video.
Britt Byers: Right. Yeah. And it's just like, if you're in the right place, you know it, and I agree with you, and that's where there's choice, and where people should gravitate towards areas where they enjoy, because we spend a lot of time working, right, we should be in a place that kind of matches, and I know there is a day to day, right, people need to pay bills and do things that get food on the table and other areas, 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, right?
Britt Byers: Like engagement, a big piece of that is, you know, I'm proud to work for the company I work for.
Shawn Pfunder: Yeah. Yeah. Proud of the work that we do and contribute to. I had a conversation years ago with a son of mine. We were just sitting at the dinner table and I, I, how many people were involved Getting us this chair that you're sitting on, talking to me.
Shawn Pfunder: And that there had to be somebody that grew the wood. There had to be somebody that then cut it down. There had to be somebody that took, there was a designer that put it together. There was somebody that then manufactured it. And these are all people that have families that supported them so they would be able to do, you know, you've got thousands of people involved.
Shawn Pfunder: And me being able to have a conversation with my son over. Probably bad meatball sandwiches, you know, hanging out together. And they don't know that the first person that grew that, you know, the bamboo for that chair or whatever it is, doesn't know the impact of me, but it happens with each other. And that connection is even shorter at a business.
Shawn Pfunder: If you get the mission and you get leaders behind the mission and they're able to tell that story, then we're able to find some meaning in our work. Even if it's not the place where. we really want to be or maybe we're looking to grow in our career. There's not really opportunity here, but there's still most of the time meaning in your work. That's why the business exists.
Britt Byers: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, here at Kyowa Kirin, the great stories that exist from point of research, like a scientist 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, like.
Britt Byers: We have everything in the full stages, and I've not experienced that in the past. So to me, it's pretty cool to go from being at a research site and talking to a scientist that worked on a product that is coming through to commercialization. And then we're going to have people who are actually getting that product packaged and out the door
Britt Byers: in patient's hands. I mean, the full spectrum of the things like, and when you talk to the people who are touching it, and I've worked in environments where I've been in distribution and supply chain and the people who are packing and picking. Right. Who are putting things on the line and into the trucks.
Britt Byers: There is definitely a way to connect the value of the work. I spent a lot of time doing that in a prior life with. Corporate functions who are not in the day to day of commercial. And we worked with Disney doing some really cool like service excellence and building up this work to say, you know, like how you add value and then bringing it from the spectrum of just seeing how it can come to life.
Britt Byers: And that if you're an accounts payable and you're paying the bills. To get the, the beakers and the test tubes and things you need for the science experiments, and then into the boxes and other aspects that get it out the door, that there really is a connection made, but you have to work at doing that.
Britt Byers: It does to your point, take leaders who are gifted in storytelling, who are bringing it forward and consistent messaging, but it's powerful when it happens. It is.
Shawn Pfunder: Yeah. Well, what other leadership themes have you seen in your career and anything that that we might not be looking at or focusing on that you think is important as far as finding leaders, training leaders, inspiring leaders.
Shawn Pfunder: Like what are some of the themes that you've noticed recently?
Britt Byers: I mean, I think, you know, some are tried and true, which are authentic leadership. I think that people can see through that easily. Inclusive. You got to be agile. Things are changing. Some of the things. That are probably being here for us front and center, our enterprise leadership, because I think that, you know, 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.
Britt Byers: So I think for us, you know, our executive team has been working very diligently on enterprise leadership that, you know, we're all in it as a team and, you know, that means that I'm just as invested in this decision about how we commercialize something or how we go about supporting a research project and that I'm willing to give my budget.
Britt Byers: If I see a need in another area to support a compelling need, I mean, that's really where there's skin in the game, right? Usually people are super protective.
Shawn Pfunder: I know, like this person left, I still have that headcount, right? I'm going to use that headcount for something.
Britt Byers: I need that headcount, right? Like I'm not giving that up.
Britt Byers: I have seen really compelling actions and behaviors and decisions here where people say, I heard what you need, I'm going to give this money out of my budget for that in our last budget cycle. Right. And I think that is telling and it's also acknowledged and brought to life so that even those who weren't in the room that heard about it, the stories are told so that other people can kind of understand.
Britt Byers: And I think that cascade of, I want to do that, right? That's a great thing to be able to do. So you have to really role model it and you've got to get that going through the cascade in the organization. I think if you get people operating that way, that is momentum that is unstoppable.
Shawn Pfunder: 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.
Shawn Pfunder: The business has to be successful for us to have, to do this work. Like ultimately that, that has to be at the top. So the business is successful. We get to have jobs and we get to work. If the business is growing, we get to have more opportunity, make a bigger impact, do other types of things, but that's collective.
Shawn Pfunder: It's not, if my department is successful, I'm going to keep doing lots of work. My department is successful and we're awesome, but the business is tanking.
Shawn Pfunder: What do I got? I got six months of just being awesome as a, like in HR, but we're short sighted when it comes to budget time, the things that are going on and where the needs are.
Shawn Pfunder: That is serious leadership. I, like, I agree. That's a big deal.
Britt Byers: Yeah. I, I think it's been wonderful to see it. I have, you know, it's been talked about in past and what we wanted to see and I just hadn't seen it prior. So I will, you know, I will say it's, it's been a real strong change and I think our executive leadership team, we've been going through this high performance teamwork for the last year and a half.
Britt Byers: And everybody does it, right? It's not like this hasn't been done and there's, you know, different ways to go about it. But I will say that, you know, the connection to the time we're spending together, the self awareness that we're listening to, reflecting on, peer coaching feedback, you know, 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.
Britt Byers: I mean, 20 percent of my goals is how I show up from a high performing team behavior standpoint. That's all of the exec leaders have it in their goals. And I think that that's a kind of a factor that not everybody puts in place and making that known and emphasizing it, you know, people are going to pay attention to it, but you've also got to role model it.
Britt Byers: So I think it's a joint effort, but to me, that's been the most compelling kind of shift from something that I think is so important. It sets a great tone and culture and it's hugely impactful to the business and to the people.
Shawn Pfunder: Yeah. There is not only, I think, pressure or anxiety at work, but just anxiety in general.
Shawn Pfunder: Like people don't show up to work and then all of a sudden they drop whatever's going on in their personal life, whatever's going on in the world, whatever's going on politically or you brought natural disasters and things like that. You mentioned in a previous conversation that you had a, like a campaign around knowing this and everything that's going on, that you had a, I hesitate to call it a campaign, maybe it was a campaign, about being kind, like, like, be kind.
Shawn Pfunder: Can you tell us more about that and that effort?
Britt Byers: I mean, I think for us here, it launched in the summer, kind of following the Olympics timing and just knowing where things were going with the election. Of course, I think right after that there were the assassination attempts and, you know, things like that, that were just coming up.
Britt Byers: And the whole premise was communications and HR, we just kind of talked about things that are happening outside our walls and said, you know, this is a really good time to kind of reinforce that. This is a safe space for you, right? You know, you may experience a lot of things outside these walls and you may have different backgrounds, you have different perspectives, things that you may be agreeing with or not agreeing with, right?
Britt Byers: And we want you to know that this is a place, our workplace, where you can feel safe. And we want all of our employees to be respectful and to be kind when thinking about where people are coming from. So really for me, the be kind piece was, I don't know if it's around the area you live in, but after COVID kind of happened, there was this be kind sign that showed up in my community.
Britt Byers: And they would keep passing it around. And so I see it on like doors and in signs of window shops where the stores are. And I thought it was just such a nice sentiment that you don't know where people are coming from and what they're dealing with in their day to day. Right. And so just, if you can do anything, just be kind, you know?
Britt Byers: And so I think when we were talking about it, those were the words that resonated with me and thanks to our communications group, they came up with a great way to tie it into something that was happening at the time, topical. And we sent it out and I got a lot of notes coming back saying, thanks for putting this out at this time.
Britt Byers: Like there's a lot going on and there still is, you know, and we just went through multiple hurricanes, right? We had employees and family members who were impacted. All of those things come up time and time again. And I think it's just kind of stepping back to say, before you react to something in a meeting or a conversation, or if someone's upset, you know, just be there in the moment and you might have a difference of opinion, but you're just creating a space for the conversation, right?
Britt Byers: You don't have to agree with it. You don't have to see it the same way, but just listen out of respect. I mean, after the election, I came into the office the next day and there were different responses from happy, sad, depressed, right? Excited. Like all of those ranges of emotions. And I sat with people, some people were crying.
Britt Byers: And I think you have to kind of be there with anyone who's dealing with whatever's happening. So we will continue to bring that to life as things are happening around us, 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. You don't have to have an opinion about it, right?
Britt Byers: Or put that there, but you need to acknowledge it's happening, right? 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 could be an awful environment, right? War, you know, Hamas, Israel, all of those things have been happening in the last year.
Britt Byers: And there's just so much going on in Ukraine, et cetera. And like, we've often struggled with just putting out a communication to just remind people that. There are EAP resources, here to talk if you need it, anything we can do, right, to outstretch a non learner.
Shawn Pfunder: Yeah. I think just acknowledging that whatever the stress level might be, the anxiety might be is also outside of, like sometimes you get caught up in that, oh, people are stressed out because so and so got their way or we're doing, we're going this direction, not this direction.
Shawn Pfunder: And it could be that it's not politics or something, but it just could be their dad's in the hospital. Yeah. Yeah. And you don't know, and so they're acting weird, or they freak out or they get upset about something. And that assume benevolence, be kind, just goes a long way. I, you know, if I take nothing out of this conversation, besides the, like you mentioned leaders being focused on their team success, of course, but also the success of their peers, the success of the company, that it's Outward, almost like a, I was going to say sunshine, let's hippie out, right?
Shawn Pfunder: But instead of this downward light into their teams or trying to be, help them be successful or see what's going on, that it's outward. It's not, Hey, you're a leader. Make sure this team is successful. You're a leader. Let's try to make everybody successful in the company.
Shawn Pfunder: And then this Be Kind approach to doing it, that it's okay just to provide the space.
Shawn Pfunder: Not having an opinion, necessarily. That's not the important part. It's creating the space for somebody just to be a human being.
Britt Byers: Yeah, no, I agree. And, you know, I think there's a lot of emphasis placed on roles leaders have to play and you don't have to do it alone. Like, I think one of the great things we have at Kiyowakirin is this culture ambassador group.
Britt Byers: And 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. And, you know, when I say this group is like, By far the best thing I've seen in all my years of HR that they are dedicated, passionate.
Britt Byers: 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. Like last meeting we had, it was, you know, in the middle of the year and we were talking about burnout. So think about all the things going on for people and stress and like even taking time off, you might still not be able to enjoy that if you're really burnt out or stressed.
Britt Byers: And so we were putting together a plan as an executive committee about how to address that. And we instituted a summer shutdown that we're doing every year on top of our year end shutdown. But the best part was the culture ambassadors came to us and said, Hey, we were thinking about, you know, emphasizing more time off and really putting a focus on mental health.
Britt Byers: And we said, guess what? We've just had three meetings talking about it as an EC, and we think we came up with a solution. What do you think? And they were like, this is amazing. It's like, we actually were, you know, usually in organizations, you'll find that top down, they're not connected with what's happening.
Britt Byers: And this time was like a perfect demonstration of We're on the same page. We know the issues that exist and we're trying to solve them and we're doing it together. Like it's just powerful. So leaders can't shoulder everything, right? And you need the commitment of employees to do things, but you also need their ideas and you need to act on it.
Britt Byers: So for me, that's one of our greatest successes as a culture.
Shawn Pfunder: Oh, I love it. I love it. This has been awesome. Well, before I let you go, can you let our audience know where they can find you, where they can learn more about Kyowa Kirin.
Britt Byers: Sure. So you can find me on LinkedIn. And for us at Kiwakirin, just the KKNA website, kkna.kyowakirin.com.
Britt Byers: And LinkedIn, all our social channels. So, we're in Princeton, California, Toronto, and North Carolina. So any of those, any of those neighborhoods come visit. Thanks, Shawn.
Shawn Pfunder: Yeah. Thank you.