This episode features an interview with LaToya Lyn, Chief People Officer at Help Scout. Fascinated by the connection between employee and employer, LaToya has wanted to be an HR practitioner since she was 16. Her impressive career spans multiple executive and leadership roles in HR and Talent Strategy at publicly traded billion-dollar companies like LivePerson, Compass, and Oscar Health. On this episode, LaToya sits down with Amanda to discuss how HR leaders influence the human experience in the workplace. She also shares how Tina Turner influenced her career and why CEOs are responsible for Diversity and Inclusion.
This episode features an interview with LaToya Lyn, Chief People Officer at Help Scout. Fascinated by the connection between employee and employer, LaToya has wanted to be an HR practitioner since she was 16. Her impressive career spans multiple executive and leadership roles in HR and Talent Strategy at publicly traded billion-dollar companies like LivePerson, Compass, and Oscar Health.
On this episode, LaToya sits down with Amanda to discuss how HR leaders influence the human experience in the workplace. She also shares how Tina Turner influenced her career and why CEOs are responsible for Diversity and Inclusion.
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“Out of all the organizations I’ve worked for in the past, it [Help Scout] really focused on what the people experience means to them. It is held at the same bar as the quality of the product and what we do for our external clients. And it really, really makes the job of Chief People Officer so meaningful. What I do there is very forward-thinking; how to grow and scale the team, how to create policies and practices that make sense for people to feel growth, and also treat employees like adults. We're very transparent in every way, we share everything, we hold space for people when they have questions or concerns. So it's quite a very unique organization.” – LaToya Lyn
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Episode Timestamps:
*(1:51): How LaToya got into HR
*(3:27): LaToya’s current role at Help Scout
*(3:40): Why LaToya chose Help Scout
*(4:25): Segment: Story Time
*(4:48): How LaToya’s education prepared her for working across industries
*(7:55): How can HR leaders help employees during these tough times?
*(11:51): How Tina Turner inspired LaToya’s relationship with work
*(15:27): Segment: Getting Tactical
*(15:39): The only way DE&I will work
*(24:13): Segment: Ripped From the Headlines
*(27:44): Segment: Asking for a Friend
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Links
Connect with LaToya on LinkedIn
Amanda Berry: LaToya, thank you for joining me today. How are you?
LaToya Lyn: I'm doing great. I'm doing fantastic.
Amanda Berry: I want to start a little bit about your background. You have such a strong background. I've been reading about you online. Will you talk a little bit about how you got into HR?
LaToya Lyn: Yeah, so I actually wanted to be an HR practitioner when I was around 16.
LaToya Lyn: Uh, 17, which is the topic that I've gotten. It's kind of unusual. I grew up in New York city, all of my friends are artists, you know, is a high energy city. Everything is go fast, you know? And then also there's a lot of retail and I worked in retail and I worked in different organizations. My first job was at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in downtown.
LaToya Lyn: And, you know, I was so connected to the interaction between the employees. The employer, like the management structure, what we were told to do, how we connected to the entire experience, the patrons that came and saw the place, the actors, I was just so connected to all of that. Now I did not have that language at 16 over the years I've developed it.
LaToya Lyn: And I, and I always was interested in. And understanding the dynamics of how people go through their career journey. Why do they choose jobs? Like it was interesting because it was very diverse. It was like, it was, it was my first job and then at 16 years old, but then there was some people there when I was much older than I was doing the same job who were, you know, kind of doing this every single summer and had different interests and things like that.
LaToya Lyn: And I just thought that was so fascinating. Um, so that's kind of like started to peak my. In the space of HR.
Amanda Berry: Awesome. So that's, I was going to ask you where your passion for people came from, and it sounds like really was that first role where you being to make all those connections. Tell me a little about your current role as Chief People Officer at Help Scout.
LaToya Lyn: Yeah. So Help Scout is, I want to say one of those companies that really what attracted me to that company really out of all. Organizations I've worked for in the past, you know, really focused on what the people experience really means to them. It is held at the same bar as the quality of the product and what we do for our external clients.
LaToya Lyn: And it really, really makes the job as chief people, officer so meaningful. So, you know, what I do there is, you know, very, forward-thinking how to grow and scale the team, how to create policies and practices that make sense for people to feel growth and also treat employees like adults. We're very transparent in every way we share everything.
LaToya Lyn: We hold space for people when they have questions or concerns. So it's quite a very unique organization.
Amanda Berry: Awesome. Awesome.
Amanda Berry: I'm going to move into our first segment called story time.
Amanda Berry: Just start a little bit and talk about your dual master's degree in industrial organizational psychology and organizational behavior. And then I know you also have experience in a lot of different industries. Can you talk a little about how your education has prepared you to work across industry?
LaToya Lyn: Yeah.
LaToya Lyn: So I mean, my education really, and I would say, say that five times fast. It's so long. It's so long. So a lot. So my education, I was extremely intentional. I decided to go to Brooklyn College because I felt that that institution, um, anyone who is in psychology or any type of like major in that area, like in that area and they faced.
LaToya Lyn: Well-known psychologist influenced the industry either went there or. The chairman of who created my program, Dr. Buzzy Chanowitz . He was a student of Abraham Maslow who did the, the hierarchy of needs, you know? And I can give you more examples of, you know, where like some of these very famous studies were done at Brooklyn College.
LaToya Lyn: So the energy around like psychology of the workplace in IO, psychology really was really rooted and had a pretty strong program. I was intentional in that sense where. I focus every single fiber of my being into my education. So I didn't work for two. I worked in a laboratory, um, in a, in a, in a cognitive neuroscience laboratory to kind of like, you know, have some pocket money, but I really like focus myself and, and I think what was so rewarding about this, I really wanted to dedicate time to really understand.
LaToya Lyn: The dynamics of humans and individual within the workplace. I never wanted to, I wanted to this, I don't want to be the typical HR person that pushes paper around bills, policy doesn't influence, you know, motivators or intent. And I want to be able to be in a space where I can challenge business leaders and also show up as like, almost like a product leader.
LaToya Lyn: Like I have this expertise, I have this knowledge it's I have. And when I enter into workforce, like I'm going to bring that with me. So that's how my education really influenced what I did. Typically when people, with my degree, they go into like people in. Because it's a lot of experimental psychology, a lot of like, you know, understanding how interactions work.
LaToya Lyn: You know, if you do this one thing and get this outcome, like, what are we looking at? We're not looking at from a data-driven standpoint. So there's, so that's typically the runway, um, of my role. But I decided to, I thought very big of my career in, in grad school. And I said to myself, okay, I'm going to learn this stuff because I know this is like the center.
LaToya Lyn: And I feel like people are going to care about hearts. If I go back a little bit, I, I worked in a cognitive neuroscience lab in my undergrad, and I got an undergrad in neuroscience and I wanted to really like use that brain science to kind of show like more teeth into what I do. I'm going to ask the right questions.
LaToya Lyn: And I wanted to kind of say to myself, when I get into the workforce, like I am going to be a different kind of HR people leader than the rest of my peers tenured or not. And I want to be able to move light years. Uh, of how they're thinking and that's how that's influenced my
Amanda Berry: that's awesome. I want to talk about a little bit dive into that a little bit, um, and can make a connection between what's happening right now in the world that the pandemic and all the, you know, social injustice and just how humans are feeling, you know, it's a scary time.
Amanda Berry: It's a whole new way of living, working, being at home, going to the grocery store. Everything's changed drastically and it's been tough. It's tough on humans who are also employees. You know, as someone in HR and also a leader, what should HR and leaders be doing to help humans who are employees along during this time,
LaToya Lyn: this is, might be a very provocative statement, but I think I need to make it as hard as it has been for the pandemic and social and rests and all the things that we needed to do what we've been doing and how I've been working.
LaToya Lyn: I strongly believe that this held up a serious mirror for a lot of HR leaders to work and be different and businesses to open up their minds, hearts and souls to the value that the department brings. And unfortunately it took an event like. Or a series of events like this to kind of get to that place.
LaToya Lyn: But this is the type of work that is being pushed and required required of us. Now is the work that we should have been doing from day one. And example of that is we really need to be focusing on the human experience within the workplace. There is. This concept where you leave your self identity at the door and you come in and you assume the identity of the organization, that's actually a quote from, um, Adam Smith.
LaToya Lyn: And you know why I'm so against that, it's like, Industries have been for at least for like the last like hundred years. Right. It's been kind of like, you're almost like a factory worker in a sense. Managers never really cared about their people's personal lives. Managers and leaders didn't really care about the health and safety of their employees.
LaToya Lyn: Managers. They're really curious about the social experiences of their employees. Businesses never really cared about all that. All they did really are they worried about is like, you're sitting at a desk doing a job. You're here from nine. You leave at five and I get to look at you all day, doing what I'm asking you to do.
LaToya Lyn: And the pandemic blew everything up. Company's gone public, you know, Oscar went public during the pandemic. Good work has been able to get done. And w you know, and people are realizing like, oh, we can be at home. We can actually trust our employees. We actually can focus on the, so as hard as I think the hardest part for a lot of my fellow colleagues and any challenges that I brought through myself is to pivot, you know, and this is the actual work that we need to be doing.
LaToya Lyn: We need to be caring about mental health for our employees. You know, how many babies have we seen in zooms? We're giving views of people's homes and their kitchens. And we're hearing like the dog barking in the background, like work has now become real life. And people have to ask and hold space and ask questions about the human existence, as opposed to the tactical deliverables.
LaToya Lyn: Yeah, absolutely.
Amanda Berry: That's exactly what I've been thinking about this. We're not talking about the employee experience anymore. We're talking about the human experience in their homes because it is, it is a more difficult, you know, watching, uh, reaching employees when they're teaching their children because they can't go to school.
Amanda Berry: It's just been, it's just been a while. It's a while, two years, I want to make one more connection to this. I had a really great time reading stuff you've written and watching presentations you've given. And I would ask our, our listeners, if you've got the opportunity, just do a Google search, a toy's name and watch them, the stuff she's on it.
Amanda Berry: It's, it's really power. It's really impactful. It's smart. It's fun. It's everything, but I want to focus on that. What's love got to do with the presentation you did on the big Tina Turner fan big lot of respect for her while she's been through in her life. But in that disrupt talk, you talked about loving yourself and loving your job.
Amanda Berry: You gave that talk right before the pandemic. I believe in December, 2019. Um, of course, like we just talked about the pandemic became a very big, difficult time, and that was just one part of the difficult time the last two years have been. When you think about that, is there anything you would add to that now about loving oneself, loving one's job, given what we've all been through in the past two years?
LaToya Lyn: Yeah. Um, so it's so funny that presentation that I did was an ode to self-care within the workplace. It was a time where I've had many colleagues kind of going through some personal matters and having to make hard decisions about the career and themselves. And also kind of like, oh, a call out to the businesses on like really understanding what love has to do with it.
LaToya Lyn: You know, if you don't love your job, don't be in it, you know, do something different. I know that, that, it's a very privileged thing to say because some people have to work. You know, some people have to kind of put food on the table for their families. And really, I think I'm pushing it on the businesses to really make sure that people can have a loving relationship.
LaToya Lyn: People spend 80% of their time at work. It shapes our existence, right? We always say our friends and families shape us, but actually, you know, where you're spending your time, your view on the world, if you know your view on hierarchy, your view on, you know, integrity of work in business really comes from the workplace.
LaToya Lyn: So it's so funny, you know, I was thinking about. Presentation and Biggie Smalls has a lyric that, where he talks about, you know, blowing up like the World Trade. And he actually wrote that lyric several years before 9/11. And I felt connected to it in a sense of like, even like in retrospect, putting that presentation out there and then this happening, right.
LaToya Lyn: And how care and self care in this space really asking ourselves what love has to do. I think in parallel to Tina Turner, you know why I used her was, you know, if anyone's seen that movie or her know her story, I'm also a. And I'm also a fellow Buddhist and the same Buddhists like that. Tina Turner's in, I chant with the SGI USA and she's also a part of that.
LaToya Lyn: And she really leaned in on her career in a way where she worked through a lot of challenges personally and professionally to get what she wanted. And there's a famous part in the movie where she's divorcing from her very abusive husband, Ike. And she's like, he's like, I want to keep the car. I want to keep the house, all the money, everything that she's like.
LaToya Lyn: All I want is my name. Just like, all I want is my name. So that branding of who you are, it's so important to take your name, own it, and really connect as, as you go through your career, really feel confident in the decision that you made, where they've been great ones or bad ones. You can really understand, like the love that you have will it really has to do with this.
Amanda Berry: I know self
Amanda Berry: care has come up a lot in the past years as well. So I thought I'd be remiss if I didn't ask that question. Um, another great presentation you've given, I want to move into the next segment is called getting tactical,
Speaker: um, trying to figure out tactics and it'd be prevalent, honest, and I didn't have to worry about tactics too much.
Speaker: Here I am in charge and driving to see why didn't you sleep? Suit tactics, tactics.
Amanda Berry: Yeah, this is really just like, I would love to hear how you would do some, some things I want to start with D and I, um, you've talked quite a bit about that space, diversity, equity and inclusion. Um, I know personally, I would love to see more of a focus and change around diversity and inclusion within, uh, as more than just a function in a business, but it becomes the DNA of a business.
Amanda Berry: And we have a lot of, uh, listeners who are in HR and internal communication, um, that can. How can we in HR or internal communications help build in that change within a business. So that it's more than just a function. It is, we are more diverse. We are more inclusive.
LaToya Lyn: Yeah. I mean, I'll start here and then I'll, I'll give a tactical example on how to do it.
LaToya Lyn: Um, you know, diversity inclusion is my life because I am a woman of color. In the LGBT Q community IAA as well, and immigrant families, you know, mild learning disabilities, all the things you can think of. Like, that's just me, I'm all of those things as a human. And you know, when you think about how that impacts my life and others, like other, other people's lives, the passion behind that becomes very clear.
LaToya Lyn: I think now from a tactical standpoint, the only way that it'll work, it's not standing up a department. I don't think that's what really, what it does. You could, I think that's, you can kind of like use that as an education or like a, a place where, you know, people can like run programming and things like that.
LaToya Lyn: I think there's a lot of really great work that comes out of those departments. The only way that it works is if the head of diversity inclusion is the CEO of the. Period. If, if that is not your it, that is not your situation, then you are going to have a hard time really pushing any systemic changes. Um, the person that's probably doing the DNI role or running the department is probably struggling.
LaToya Lyn: And the thing that we have to do is make it, like, if, like, if you want to do this thing, Then you have to be the head of diversity, um, at Help Scout. Before I got here, my CEO said to me, just because you were a black woman, doesn't mean that you have to run diversity. You can be you're my partner in this, but any moment you feel like you're holding the burden of pulling this over, that I'm doing a bad job, I've done something wrong.
LaToya Lyn: And that was like before I even started like here and what he did was here, all the things that I've been doing. And obviously I need some partnership on like how to like integrate it in certain areas, but I'm, I am, I am facing the company every single day. I'm facing the leadership, every single.
Amanda Berry: Is there something in that when he would, when the person prop that up to you and said, here's what I've been doing, that you just saw a glaring hole that maybe people listening can go, yeah, we can, we can change.
Amanda Berry: We can do something like that. Like, what are some of those ways? I'm just very curious. So you coming in and looking at that saying like, this is very common that companies aren't
Amanda Berry: doing X,
LaToya Lyn: I mean, listen to Amanda. Like I think if your leadership team is not aligned with. Then it's going to be very difficult for you.
LaToya Lyn: And I'm just going to be very honest. I think where you can take steps is present information, do listening sessions with your BIPOC community, leaning into your ERG. If you have them and provide that information up into whoever it needs to hear what's going on and then ask your CEO, what type of community would you like to build?
LaToya Lyn: And here are some solutions to kind of do it, right. So I think that's the most tactical thing you can do, you know, indications of success is that. You're CEO is presenting this at the board level, which happens at Help Scout.
Amanda Berry: What does that look like? What is the, what it gets presented? I assume there has to be some discussion on as, as, as much as I hate to put it this way to cheap and as a return on investment, right.
Amanda Berry: If you're coming in setting this up, how do you show that there is success in setting up like a diversity inclusion part of that company?
LaToya Lyn: Yeah, so you're doing so how, how we do it as we have trainings, we have a post-survey. And I'm a pre-survey and a post-survey after the trainings. And we measure changes between that.
LaToya Lyn: And we found changes that are having. The next phase of it is the application side and continuing to conversations as things go and making those investments. So an example of that is we will have like a cohort of leaders come together and talk about, you know, what they learned, talk about real life, examples that they can implement.
LaToya Lyn: And what we're really asking them to do is not come in with any shame, but coming with curiosity, because this is what's important for our culture. So that's how.
Amanda Berry: The hR internal communications leader. And even to some extent, like, you know, it, oftentimes I work with those groups to have better communication, whether that'd be, you know, how do we tell better stories and reach people?
Amanda Berry: So you talk a lot about like storytelling, you know, have been good, being a good storyteller that shows diversity, um, and brings, you know, all the voices to the table. I guess my question is you said students too, you know, with lead HR, Is there, is there some way we could all be working together better to help with this effort?
LaToya Lyn: And I think I said it it's like the first step is get your CEO aligned. Like, like this is an operation. Like the people team, the HR team, their operational functions, right. We support and help the business grow and scale we're program managers. Like we, we make sure things go in and out the right way and the most effective and efficient way we create good experiences and things like that.
LaToya Lyn: And I think the problem that we have here is that we put it on the HR department to do that. That is not the role. Okay. So I think the tactical from my experience what works and what doesn't work that does not work, what works is, get your CEO aligned. Right. And so you're seeing to answer your question specifically, collect the.
LaToya Lyn: Collectively get your CEO's organized around leading those efforts, because if you do it on your role is still just an HR transaction. Anyone who's listening. And I'm just like speaking directly to my HR peers, you're shaking your head. You're nodding. Cause that's right. It's like, how do you get buy-in?
LaToya Lyn: How do you get, you know, folks to come kind of like follow what's going on? You know, it, it always comes better and always lend a better message when the leader. Of the function and, or the CEO is driving this initiative and not putting it on the burden of the holding the bag for the people team. Very similar to what my CEO said, what I, what we're not going to do is have you only hold the bag on this?
LaToya Lyn: Like, it's my burden. I'm going to take it on. I designed the team, I hired the people. I designed my C-suite. I made my decisions and I can't come and have you like fix it all. Cause I'm making these. Right.
Amanda Berry: All right. Thank you for that. I, I will move on. I think that sometimes there, I feel like my even myself making loss from those connections, um, getting the CEO, getting all leaders aligned can be a bit of a challenge, you know, across different ed, across companies.
Amanda Berry: So I, I appreciate you. That's the hard work I was helping and I'm joking myself that I was hoping you could give me, like, step one, do this step two is do this. So please do this. But they see, I'm getting to see online does is a great step.
LaToya Lyn: I, yeah, that is the biggest step. I mean, there is, I have no, like very, just like all of us were kind of like in this organization.
LaToya Lyn: I think there's sometimes a misconception that sometimes like, even like people of color, like have like the answer for diversity inclusion. Issues, but like, just to also be clear, like, you know, this is a system that was not created by people of color. This is we're living in this system. We I'm just trying to figure out how to navigate, you know, in the right way.
LaToya Lyn: Um, but to your point, you know, Tense, tactically. Start with you, CEO.
Amanda Berry: Thank you for that.
LaToya Lyn: No problem.
Amanda Berry: Let's just switch gears and talk about this idea of remote work. I assume. You're are you, are you able to work remote? Are you working remotely?
LaToya Lyn: So help first is a remote first company. Help Scout has been remote from day one.
LaToya Lyn: It's been around for 10 years and we have no plans of being anything else. And this is also the future.
Amanda Berry: That's great. Well, maybe, you know, I think that there's been a really difficult shift for a lot of companies clearly the past two years. I mean, I've even seen it, just, you know, one of the things I like to talk about folks and see how they're doing, even just that new employee onboarding, right?
Amanda Berry: That experience matters so much to new employees in a remote work environment or virtual work environment. Can you talk about maybe the difference that you've seen at Help Scout versus other places that weren't remote of, how they're doing that engagement really well, virtually in remote.
LaToya Lyn: So I'm going to take it to a very filler.
LaToya Lyn: So I work in tech, most of my experiences in tech, and I think the biggest, and I would probably say in my, my other colleagues who work in other industries, there is nothing like being physically in front of some. Right. There's no exchanging of energy. Um, being in a room with someone breaking bread with them, like that is something you really, you, it automatically break, you know, pulls people together much closely.
LaToya Lyn: I think where the challenge sits is I don't think this hybrid hybrid and remote like thing that people are doing. I don't agree with it. I think that people need to look at. What am I holding on to? And I think here are the themes that I'm hearing is that the holding onto the physical. Right. So like physical culture, meaning all the things that we did physically in the office is never going to be as good with using online and kind of discounting that opportunity.
LaToya Lyn: Um, also, you know, what really, what, what is important for people? You know, why do people need to get together, like setting intent around why people should get together and be in a physical space? Um, so at HelpScout we do an excellent job, you know, bringing our people. Through an onboarding process where you can meet colleagues and really focused on a personal experience.
LaToya Lyn: And that's something that we do here. Another thing that we do is twice a year, we pay for an all expense trip to a destination for us to have fun. I'm going to actually make an announcement on my LinkedIn, that we are taking the whole team, the whole entire company to Dublin, and we're renting on a castle and we're paying for every single expense and accommodations.
LaToya Lyn: And we're doing all kinds of fun activities. To really build that bond together and to continue to do work where we need to also, you know, from a culture and engagement score standpoint, we were at 98% work-life blend blend favorable, like, because we can, and we understand that like people should give the best 40 hours of their.
LaToya Lyn: Whether it's at nine to five, whether it's seven to eight, whatever it is like, you know, people should because people have lives and families and people need to kind of work in jungler and we trust our people. So, you know, for those that are, are in spaces, I really can't speak too much about the hybrid model other than.
LaToya Lyn: It is difficult to manage the culture there. And if we are answering the question around, we're not holding on to our fiscal space, we're not holding on to the fact that we just renewed our lease and this multimillion dollar building. And we can't let it go. We need our money's worth. If we can't hold on to all these other things and also making the decision around, gathering people with.
LaToya Lyn: And, and, and giving up budgets and structures for people to kind of do those things. Um, then I, I really don't have much to say, and also remote is going to be the future. I think we're kind of dragging our heels. I say maybe in five more years, there'll be the thing that we do and less work that people actually need to be physically in the office to perform.
Amanda Berry: Yeah, I hope so. Who would move into our last segment, which is called, asking for a friend,
Speaker: destined for a friend. Hey, asking for a friend.
Amanda Berry: I say to employees out there who are struggling with work work-related problems or struggling at work to be successful, it could be because the pandemic or any other reason could be their pay is enough, or they don't belong with her boss. Like what, what advice would you give them?
LaToya Lyn: Um, maybe we can take one.
LaToya Lyn: Maybe we can narrow it down. So which one of those? Cause they all have different answers. So if so, which, which ones, which, which, so tell me what your friend would want to.
Amanda Berry: When I'm thinking about this, this came to me because I was thinking of the great resignation and the impact that that's having. So let's, you know, people are, are leaving roles.
Amanda Berry: Um, I'd say what I, from what I'm running primarily because of pay, but also on work-life balance and money, or may, uh, going back to, they don't wanna go back to the office, the pay and they want better work-life balance.
LaToya Lyn: Here's my take on the great resignation. Um, it is, I am looking at, it Help Scout as benefiting from that, by the way, are people.
LaToya Lyn: Yeah, people want something completely different. People want to work in a company where they're treated like adults, the thought leaders that they are within their specialties, given the trust and autonomy to, to be creative and do creative work. And a lot of, a lot of, for a very long time, there has been such a grind.
LaToya Lyn: You know, for so many people, so many people I know colleagues have done back-to-back IPOs. I know colleagues that have done all kinds of different things, and this is a grind and, you know, people are resigning for so many reasons. You know, some people are, you know, after the pandemic and seeing how life is so precious that you can turn around and someone could pass away from this, this disease, from this.
LaToya Lyn: And then you kind of look at yourself and be like, what am I doing all this for? Like, what moments am I missing in my life to where I can't do things? Can I explore the world? Can I be somewhere and come back? Like all these different things. So, I mean, so one of my team, um, uh, one of my recruiters, uh, spent like the last three months in Barcelona because that's what he just wanted to do and got his work done.
LaToya Lyn: And it was great. And I, and the only requirement we had for him was. Uh, of what you're doing and all the food you're eating. And so it's really giving people that freedom to, to, to live and work and get work done. Obviously there's deadlines. We have OKR, is there a goals? The business runs and functions.
LaToya Lyn: There are meetings that people need to be a part of and, you know, and think through. But for the most part, we really like work around that. So for anyone. So if anyone who's dealing with the great resignation and you're making a decision. Going back to know what's love got to do with it. It's like what's more important to you in your life and people are making decisions based on that.
Amanda Berry: That's great. Um, what do you think the biggest challenge is facing HR in the next five to 10
Amanda Berry: years?
LaToya Lyn: The ability to be less tactical and more strategic, the ability to. B business leaders, as opposed to this is what my CEO's is when my leader wants me to do so, I'm going to do it. And for us to stand up an industry that really understands what motivates people, not what motivates people at work only what motivates people and this faster people can get to that answer and say like, Hey, business leaders, this is what actually what people want.
LaToya Lyn: Or this is how you're going to get the most out of people from a motivation standpoint, understand the human condition and educate the business on what that looks like. That is where the that's, where the industry is going, because there's going to be more stuff happening to CA and there's lot of things are indicating that, that we should be.
Amanda Berry: Yeah. So
Amanda Berry: really focusing on that human experience and how to meet people, where they are. Well, everyone's trying to get better at their jobs. You have had incredible career. Like I said, I've really enjoyed listening to you watching you talking to you today, but what's next for you?
LaToya Lyn: I mean, you know, what's next for me is I am at Help Scout and I am enjoying my time there.
LaToya Lyn: And I plan on, you know, being there to help the team, the, you know, the company grow and succeed. And that is, you know, every morning I wake up so thankful for that opportunity. Other things that I am doing, I will be on February 12th. I'm gonna put it on my LinkedIn. I'm going to be speaking at Harvard business school.
LaToya Lyn: Really talking about very similar topics, um, alongside with the, uh, ex CEO of Deloitte and a commissioner WNBA, really just really speaking about like what this actually means and using some of my Cardi B lyrics to kind of like help translate to our group. And so you can find me there, but for the most part, like, you know, doing my best work, growing and developing my team, putting Help Scout's, brand and culture out there, it's the best culture, the results, and the people show it and just continue to, to, to grow that organic.
Amanda Berry: Great.
Amanda Berry: LaToya. This has been very informative and, and, and a lot of fun for me to sit here and talk to you and learn from you before I let you go. Will you tell our listeners where they can find you on LinkedIn, maybe spell your name as well?
LaToya Lyn: You can find me on LinkedIn. Please reach out. Send me a message.
LaToya Lyn: If you want to. I always reply. LaToya Lyn, L A T O Y A L Y N. I have like a little Afro and a yellow top. If that's me and. Please feel free to friend me or send me a message. Uh, and thank you for listening.
Amanda Berry: Thank you for joining me. This has been great.
LaToya Lyn: Awesome. Thank you.
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