[Transcript]
Narrator (00:00):
Hello HR Professionals. Good news. This episode of the Love Your People Podcast is valid for 0.5 professional development credits towards SHRM, CP SHRM, SCP and HRCI. Recertification. Stay tuned to access your certification code.
John Duisberg (00:21):
Welcome to the Love Your People podcast. I'm your host, John Duisberg, and if you're new here, this is the podcast where we explore how people-first strategies help organizations and their teams flourish. In today's episode, we are driving into the challenge that many leaders face, which is aligning employee engagement initiatives with measurable business outcomes. Joining me are two incredible leaders, Mark Hickman, CHRO at First Bank and Jerrold Hill, Vice President and Head of HR at Fiserv. Together they share practical strategies, impactful stories, and examples of how they're leading their organizations with a people-first mindset. Whether you're looking to elevate your engagement strategies, inspire your teams, or drive greater impact, you'll leave this episode with actionable insights to apply in your own leadership journey. Let's jump in.
(01:13):
Thank you all for joining us on the Love Your People Live podcast experience. Super excited for the show. Today, we have two incredible leaders joining us, and I'm going to introduce them here in a moment. But the topic that we're going to dive into is something I've just, I've been hearing from leaders lately and it's, Hey, we have this engagement strategy. We are either planning on moving forward with this engagement strategy or we have it in place today, but how do we align it to the business? How do we show that business impact, right? And ultimately that ROI for the investments that are being made. And so our goal today is just to learn from the experiences from our guest. And our hope is that, hey, there's ideas and insights that you can take and that are going to be meaningful and helpful as you look to be a people-first leader inside of your organization.
(02:17):
So for anyone who's new to the Love Your People podcast, my name is John Duisberg, I'll be your host. I'm a senior strategy advisor at ITA Group, and we as an organization, design employee experience strategies and have a platform to manage and run those, right? And so all things employee recognition, performance incentives, team connection survey, and because of this work, we just learned so much from the organizations we work with and we started to see how leaders were doing amazing things to invest in their people. And we said, we need to share these stories, right? We need to highlight and put a spotlight on some of the awesome examples that leaders are demonstrating, and with the hope that we're going to build that people-first community and you'd be able to gain ideas and different types of perspectives that you can then apply inside of your own teams and your own organizations.
(03:15):
And so that's really our objective today. Definitely, like Tim said, let's keep that chat, moving questions, put 'em there. We're going to leave plenty of time at the end so that you have the ability to ask questions directly to our guest today as well. And I'm just super excited to have this discussion. So I'm going to go ahead and introduce our guest. First, I'm going to introduce Mark Hickman. He's the chief Human Resources Officer at FirstBank and I believe around 3,500 associates overseeing and based in Nashville. Mark was kind enough to host my team and had a wonderful time visiting them with them there in multiple states that FirstBanks in all throughout the southeast. And then I also want to introduce Jerrold Hill, vice president and head of HR at Fiserv, where he is leading HR for four product organizations with over 600 people, but part of an organization with over 40,000 associates. So I'm really excited because Mark and Jerrold, you guys are going to be able to bring just different perspectives, 3,500 person organization and a 40,000 person organization. And so just really appreciate you both joining us and being willing to share. So thank you both for being on the show today.
Mark Hickman (04:38):
Thank you, John.
John Duisberg (04:40):
Yeah, absolutely. Well, let's jump right in. And Mark, I'm going to start with you. For our audience who may not be as familiar with FirstBank, please just give us an overview, but also the scope of leadership that you have in your role as A-C-H-R-O. And then if you don't mind, let's transition. What are some of the priority engagement initiatives that your team is focusing on as we enter the new year here?
Mark Hickman (05:06):
Yeah, no, great. Thank you again, John, and it's a pleasure to be with the HR community to share some of my experiences. So FirstBank is headquartered out of Nashville, Tennessee. We operate in Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, and Georgia. So we're about 1500 employees, so not 3,500 John, but about 1500. And we are probably one of the larger community banks in the country, so about 13 billion assets. And really it's all about how can we continue to grow organically in everything that we do day to day and the role that our actual associates play in part of that growth strategy. So one of the things that is really important for us is the first thing is to make sure all of our associates understand what the company's mission is, which is building a better future, and that means for our customers and our associates and our community.
(06:07):
So we're really invested in all three of those aspects and want to see the best from each of those constituents. Also, as we think about it for our frontline people, those are the people that really, when you talk about FirstBank, that's what the brand is, that's what the culture is. So it's all about what our frontline employees and what our associates bring to the table and how they take care of our customers and serve our community. So that's really the first main thing when we think about how to frontline associates really engage and understand is one, to understand the strategy. So truly being able to articulate what organic growth means and how do they play a role in that. Another thing that we're trying to do is from an HR perspective is to make sure we have a connection with all associates across the company, not only when they're from a hiring or firing perspective, but through their whole life cycle at the company. That's really important for us to understand and build that relationship and rapport with each and every associate so they know that HR is here to support them through their growth and development and their journey with the company. So I think that is also a very important factor when you talk about engaging associates, particularly from the HR side, because sometimes in smaller organizations, they don't have that interaction with HR maybe that they do in larger organizations.
John Duisberg (07:40):
Yeah. Mark, one of the things that you said there that just got me my wheels turned in was that the frontline associates, when a customer is interacting with them, that's what FirstBank is. That's their experience, that's their perception, is their interaction with that frontline associate. And so everything that you're saying, making sure that they understand the purpose, the mission, and reinforcing that, that really resonates just being that they are interacting every day with your customers.
Mark Hickman (08:17):
Yeah, I mean, I see it every day. The face of the company are all of our people across our branches, people who deal one-on-one in the mortgage space with our specialty lending group, with our investment groups. Those are the people that really, when someone talks about FirstBank, that's what they think of. They don't think of people at the headquarters necessarily. They think about who they interact with on a day-to-day basis.
John Duisberg (08:43):
Yep, got it. Totally makes sense. And then that drives the engagement strategy because how do you support those frontline associates who are creating the customer experience? So I love that. I'm going to turn to Jerrold here for a moment. Jerrold, I want to bring you in on this conversation. Similarly, for our audience, if you don't mind just giving an overview of your scope of leadership inside of Fiserv as just a quick overview of Fiserv organization as well, just in case anyone isn't as familiar. And then talk to us a little bit about some of the priorities that your team's focused on when it comes to an engagement perspective.
Jerrold Hill (09:24):
Certainly. Thank you so much, John. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here and engage in this rich dialogue around a topic that's super important to me. But first and foremost, if I may, I just want to just quickly acknowledge and send prayers to everyone that's been affected by the wildfires in California devastating situation. And regardless if we have a physical presence, if any of us have a physical presence there or not, we can all do something to support the individuals that have been impacted. But quickly, kind of back to Fiserv. Fiserv is a Fortune 100 global financial technology and payments firm. We are behind the scenes more often than not. More often than not, people confuse us with the drug company, but that's not us. We are 40,000 associates strong, and we are situated across the globe. The businesses that I primarily support or the businesses that I support are primarily situated in the us. However, approximately 20% of the employee base, so have a growing presence in Latin America. The reason that I bring that up is when we think about engagement, it's both local and universal. So when we think about the strategy, it extends beyond our most immediate team, and the opportunity is there to engage broad and consistently in a manner that moves the business forward.
(11:25):
I think we can all agree that the level of engagement in an organization has a direct impact on productivity. I, for one, believe that the higher the discretionary effort, the higher the productivity. And while it may not necessarily be a direct one-to-one correlation, I think it's reasonable to conclude that when people find meaning and purpose in what they're doing, they're naturally going to want to do a great job to help bring that purpose to life. And guess who benefits from that? The company. Another thing that strikes me about engagement is the opportunities are endless. They can occur at each and every point of interaction between associates, between leaders, between leaders and associates, regardless of the mix, right? Engagement is something that ultimately costs us nothing to do, but the benefits are tremendous. My goal for driving engagement, it always involves understanding the team members, motivators, their derailers, their deal breakers, as well as their aspirations in a way that I can then leverage that insight to help drive them towards or affirm their alignment with our company goals. When I think about engagement, I think about it in two contexts. One, you've got the social where it involves that physical interaction being part of a group, being part of a team, kind of back to Maslow's hierarchy. We all have a need for relationships, but in this instance, within the corporate context where social is super important, achieving emotional engagement, that's where we want to be. That's the answer, and it's a heavier lift, but trust me, I for one feel the juices worth the squeeze.
John Duisberg (13:52):
Tell me more about that, Jerrold. So when you say emotional engagement, tell me more what that means.
Jerrold Hill (13:57):
So it's a part of winning the hearts and minds, right? Getting people locked in, committed to an idea that gives them the sense of purpose and meaning that they can contribute to. And I'll speak to one quick example of how I've worked to promote that type of engagement within the context of my team. And I've done this for years, and it's just amazing to see how this process has evolved. But during the course of my team, we start the conversation with the simple question that I ask, and that question is, what's your color in response? Each person identifies their color the day, along with some perspective around workload, stress, obstacles, and even achievements. And this practice has been a huge benefit for my team because what we've been able to do with this information is drive collaboration, drive change, drive a shared expectation for one another in terms of how we're there to support one another, how we're there to assist one another.
(15:31):
And in the instance where a person may say, Hey, I'm red today and red, let's just put it out there. It's like for alarm, fire, everything stress is high, is burning down, the stress level is super high, but if a person's red because they're working on something super challenging or complex, others that may be yellow or even green toward the less stressful part of that continuum, they're then more inclined to pitch in and rally around that colleague that's read to provide them the support to help bring their temperature down. I kind of look at it hope, I'm not dating myself with this reference, but I kind of look at it like three Musketeers principle. Remember, they always used to say all for one and one for all. And I look at it that way because I truly believe that when we all help one another, everybody wins. And that to me is the spirit of engagement, and there's nothing more satisfying than being able to see that very qualitative kind of state of mind translate to actionable and measurable outcomes that positively impact the business.
John Duisberg (16:52):
Yeah, I love the story, the example of the simple check-in and doing that status check, and it goes into our next topic around leadership development. I think that there's probably some truth to the old saying that, Hey, perhaps people aren't leaving companies or leaving a manager. My thought was, Hey, how are we creating investing in managers, in leaders to make them a leader worth following, to make it so that they're then being proactive with their team? And I think just the simple act of the check-in and just asking, Hey, where are you at today? How are you doing? Right? That can mean a lot, but talk to us a little bit about what's your experience when it comes from an engagement perspective to leadership development. You've already shared one great example, but talk to us a little bit more. What have you seen around leadership development? What are you guys doing around leadership development? How does that impact engagement and then ultimately the business impact?
Jerrold Hill (17:56):
Sure, sure. So I'll start with this, right? And this is about a belief system, and I truly believe that leadership is a privilege and there's a duty to serve others. And so with that comes this sense of selflessness. And look, it's not always cupcakes and rainbows and sunshine, but I do believe that developing others and helping others grow as leaders is a fundamental obligation of leadership regardless of your title, your tenure, or your areas of expertise. And for that reason, I tend to approach leadership with a really simple kind of straightforward, obligatory response. And it's this, if we do not invest in developing our leaders today, rest assured somebody will tomorrow. But in terms of a real world example, I'm reminded of a time when I was guiding this newly formed team through a significant organizational change, which also included a change in their senior most leader.
(19:17):
As part of this kind of reclamation process, I took the team through a disc management exercise coupled with an escape room. Now, I don't know if you've done an escape room, but for me, this was one of the most fun and educational experiences that I've ever been a part of in the workforce. And let me go ahead and jump to the question that I'm sure is burning. We did not make it out of the room, but here's the thing. Our failure was really the fodder for the debrief, and I was able to leverage and relate the behaviors that the team demonstrated while in the room as to how sometimes they show up in the work environment
(20:09):
And working with a super competitive team that doesn't like to lose drawing. That correlation really hit home for 'em, and I get it right. The escape room didn't present the same type of risk or challenges that that team sees day to day, but what they were able to see in that contrast was the need for change and recognizing that need for change. This team stacked hands on new rules of engagement. It's the norms, it's the behaviors, it's the ways in which they would begin to interact to help minimize some of the challenges that cropped up during the escape room. From that, each leader then created a personal development plan that was focused on enhancing their own leadership sensibilities and capabilities, and then they committed to doing the same with the next level of leaders that reported up to 'em. Lastly, we then aligned around a communication cadence where we would openly discuss our progress as well as our barriers, and then we could course correct.
(21:27):
But ultimately, after having gone through that and revisited that escape room for several months in monitoring ongoing dynamics, we saw an improvement in how they as leaders were articulating expectations to their teams. They were role modeling the very behaviors that they reset and aligned around, and then ultimately, we saw an uplift in performance across the entire team. And then that cascading effect just really took hold. And I'll tell you, that was one of the most proud moments for me to be able to take something that was fun, very practical related to something that was very meaningful in terms of these individuals and where they were in their career. And we were able to make something kind of equated to making lemons out of lemonade, so to speak. But it was a great thing.
John Duisberg (22:33):
Yeah, no, I love this story. Jerrold, I want to bring Mark in on this conversation as well here. So Mark, I want to get your perspective because you've got managers, leaders that are spread out all over at each location, each bank, and you had shared earlier about how important the experience is with that customer, that member with that frontline associate. So how are you supporting those leaders at those individual banks and making sure that they're then supporting those frontline associates that are so critical for the customer experience?
Mark Hickman (23:13):
Yeah, this is one of the most important aspects of a company is really leadership. When you think about what leadership means and what that can do to improve your retention rates, what it means when you have fully engaged associates and leaders, you're able to get what I call discretionary effort from associates. And what I mean by that discretionary effort is when someone feels valued and appreciated, then they really go a little bit above and beyond what their job description says. And that's what we all strive to do, is to be able to have that true engagement to where people feel like they can give their all, be their true authentic self at work and just feel like they can accomplish anything that they want to. I think one of the really good things that FirstBank does is we have a management to leadership program.
(24:12):
So this is generally for emerging leaders or new enroll managers, and we sit down and spend about six months with them just to talk through what leadership means in regards to HR situations that may come up. How do you manage through difficult conversations? How do you make sure you're driving business results and keeping people engaged and satisfied on a day-to-day basis? And really, when I think through what FirstBank has done is one, I think being open, being open and communicating clearly what expectations are is critical. That's something that I think everyone has the opportunity to do better at. But I think we're on a journey to really where we're trying to focus on what that means and how do we make sure we are cascading messages from the top of the house all the way down to our front line. And one of the things that we've done really as we talk about engagement, and I know we will probably get into a little bit about surveys here in a little bit, but what we've done from a survey perspective, from a listening strategy, we've really asked people what do they want to get and what do they want to get out of their roles?
(25:30):
And one of the things is really it was more interaction and hearing more from senior leaders. So what we've done as a result of some of our listening strategy is we've started to do quarterly CEO town halls, and the participation has been phenomenal much more than what we ever expected. So out of about 1500, we've had two town halls to date, we've had almost two thirds of the company that are able to join. And if you think about it, we have probably call it five to 600 people who are dealing with customers on a day-to-day basis, minute to minute interaction. So those people are really taking time and they want to hear from senior leaders, and that's been very positive for us to talk about what our vision is, what our expectations are, and then what does it mean and share how we're performing as a company through that particular quarter, just to really energize and really try to motivate all of our people and meet 'em where they're at. So I think developing leaders is truly important, and that's the key for us to be able to be successful. And for us, we've been around 118 and 19 years, and we want to be around another 120 years, and it's going to take leaders to be able to stay around and really service our communities.
John Duisberg (27:05):
Yeah, no, I love these examples. So going back, one thing you said is an emerging leader program. So this is the opportunity, I guess, to bring new folks who are joining the organization into, it sounds like around a six month development program. And so just how does that work? Is that something that's open to everyone? Is that where you're kind of identifying different leaders? I'm just curious a little more about the emergence.
Mark Hickman (27:32):
So we work with our leaders across the company, and there's a nomination process to where they really think through who has the potential and the capacity to be a leader. And what we want to do is try to get people on the front end and train 'em before they become managers. And we also know we want to make sure that that's what the actual associate wants, because a lot of times individual contributors provide a tremendous value. And sometimes where I think companies go wrong is you end up promoting your really great individual contributors when management is really not where their strong suit is at. So it's very important when you talk about having one-on-ones from a leadership perspective to get to understand exactly what someone wants out of their career and really thinking through how can you develop them the best.
John Duisberg (28:25):
Yeah, no, that's a great point. Taking the time to ask the question, what is driving them? What is motivating them? What is their goal from a career perspective? And then helping to come up with a plan to help them achieve that goal. And it's interesting, so you brought on the topic of listening, surveying, and so I wanted to lean into that a little bit more too. It sounds like from, so it sounds like you're doing engagement surveys today, doing engagement surveys.
John Duisberg (28:56):
I'd love to hear a little bit more about that. But some of the results was that just the desire to hear from leadership around expectations, around results around the current state of the business. And I think that is interesting because it goes back to some of the earlier comments, which is people want to know what the mission is, the purpose is where are we going, how are we doing? That then drives engagement. So talk to us a little bit about how do you guys do, what are you doing today when it comes to associate employee listening? How do you then activate on that, right? Because the worst thing we can do is to ask the question and then not respond, right? So we would love to hear also how are you going about activating on that feedback that you're getting?
Mark Hickman (29:45):
Yeah, John, I think that's a great point. I think you can thread the needle very, very thinly there. I think one of the things from a listening perspective in 2024 was the company's first year doing a company-wide engagement survey. So we had about 92% of our associates participated in the survey. So folks out there understand when you do surveys, you typically don't get 92%. And being that this was the first survey that the company had done from an enterprise wide perspective, we feel really good about that because we communicate it very well and survey is just the one part of it, right? John? I think exactly what you said is what do you do when you get the results? How do you activate on that and how do you make sure that you're meeting the goals for people? Through our survey, we had 92% participate, and we got a lot of feedback.
(30:46):
Good, bad, and ugly. Sometimes it's tough to hear some of that, of that feedback that really challenges you as a leadership team, but it's needed, right? As leaders, you have to be receptive to be able to listen without any emotions, right? Because we're all human beings in nature and no one likes to hear anything negative. But I think it's important to be able to not only hear it, but really take that feedback to heart and then make change through a survey, you won't be able to change everything. You'll get lots of different feedback items that people want to do, but on some of the items to where you do focus on, I think those are the ones that you really hone in on to say, what do you want to be as a company? Does all of your programming support who you say you are as a company?
(31:36):
So I always want to tie back the company's mission and kind of our culture and make sure that our programs are really identifying. So one of the things that we looked at and heard, I would say we have a very caring and family oriented culture here at FirstBank, but one of the things that didn't necessarily align from my perspective is we didn't have really a great leave program for parents when they had a child, whether that was through natural birth or through adoption. We didn't have a program to really support that. So people had babies, they had to either take PTO, and then others that qualify for short-term disability would have six weeks short-term disability that they could get. But through our survey, we really listened and heard, and one of the things that came out of it is that we implemented January 1st of this year, a parental leave program. So that was something that was received extremely well, and that was a direct correlation that came from the feedback we got on the survey. So really being able to listen to see what people want, see what it needs to make sure our programming matches up, what that looks like.
John Duisberg (32:59):
Yeah, that's a great example. And I want to bring Jerrold back in on this conversation as well, and Jerrold would love to get your perspective. How have you approached gaining feedback, listening, and then activating with your teams? And I know you're around 600 people, but it's a much broader organization, so we'd love to get your perspective at that enterprise level as well.
Jerrold Hill (33:27):
Certainly, if I may, I'll start with the saying that my mentor often shares, and I think it's super important, and feedback is a gift. Its value is determined based on how that gift is utilized. In the same context, I consider employee feedback to be a gift mark. I'm right there with you, right? It's all about listening, taking it in and activating on it in a way that is meaningful, measurable, and sustainable. And to your point, not everything is subject to being resolved, right? There are going to be some things that we just won't be able to handle, but there's so many other things that we can't, right? And so it's a matter of prioritizing that.
(34:29):
So John, if I can dial back just a hair. Prior to coming back into the HR business partner space, I led the center of excellence at Fiserv for global talent acquisition, global mobility and payroll role. And each of those functions is very unique, very specialized and distinct in terms of how and where they interact with the employee lifecycle. But my goal was really about bringing this team together in a way to increase its connectedness as well as its acumen and the career mobility of our team members. In doing so, I was very diligent in not only using feedback from the current year survey to Mark's point, we engaged in listening sessions, feedback sessions, we created ideation teams that were tasked with being that voice of the organization so that we didn't have to wait for a survey to come out to tell us where we had an opportunity to perhaps pivot.
(36:05):
But taking this larger team, we broke it down smaller groups that were diverse from a functional standpoint, from a geographic standpoint, as well as experiential. And there were three objectives in mind in bringing these individuals together, building relationships across functional areas, getting to know one another. I think that's a theme that we've spoke to just previously. Amplifying learning through cross-functional micro projects, getting people involved in pieces of their work that maybe didn't necessarily have the opportunity that they thought, but in bringing these individuals together, sharing and teaching one another more about what they did, we were able to identify projects that the team could tackle and in a sense, move the needle for the organization. But the third thing, and I'd say this is equally important, it was all about developing actionable ideas that could improve the employee experience. And so how we went about organizing that effort wasn't a heavy lift for me, but might've been for some of them because leadership to me, it's level agnostic, but the opportunity to lead is there.
(38:00):
And so each month we would assign a different group the ownership of our agenda and the presentation for our all hands meetings. In those meetings, they were responsible soup to nuts, right? If they wanted to bring in a speaker from another part of the organization outside of hr, they could run with it, right? If they wanted to focus the conversation in more of a dialogue, an information exchange, they could run with it. Their ideas mattered, and their ideas were material as we were able to activate on them in a way that really helped shape how the group not only came together, but performed against our shared objectives as well as the individual goals and objectives that each person brought to the table. What I really appreciated about this whole exercise, as I look back on it, we created a safe space for ideation. While at the same time we were able to ignite this desire for learning, which enabled professional development, and ultimately it improved our engagement scores by 8% over the prior year. So there was something there to it. Again, it wasn't overly burdensome or challenging. It was a simple matter of listening to the feedback that our team had shared, prioritizing it, and activating it in a way that they also had ownership in the outcomes, right? And to me, super important, creating that ownership.
John Duisberg (40:01):
Thank you, mark and Jerrold, so much respect for you both as leaders, you're sharing your experiences and insights just to help our broader community. We're just super grateful for that. So thank you. And then obviously thank you for all of our audience for joining the Love Your People podcast series. Our goal is just to elevate the people-first, organizations that attract and retain the best people to have that business impact. As we wrap up today, remember this, the insights you've gained are only as valuable as the action you take leadership and culture transformation. Start with each of us. At ITA Group. We help people and brands thrive together because creating a workplace where people feel seen, valued and inspired is how we drive meaningful change. For more strategies, tools, and insights to help you lead with purpose and build people-first organizations, visit itta group.com/insights. Thank you for joining us, and until next time, keep leading with your heart and making a difference as a people-first leader. Worth following.
Narrator (41:21):
Thank you for listening.