Leveling Up

Developing a Culture of Feedback with Kristen Dean-Hayward
Many companies are now recognizing that the future of return to work and the culture of organizations are changing in light of the pandemic. Superhuman, a company focused on creating an optimized and tailored email experience, has approached the return to work and inner office culture differently since the pandemic.
Kristen Dean-Hayward, head of people at Superhuman, shares why her experience as an assistant store manager at Home Depot during college opened her eyes to a field where the intersection of business strategy and people's strategy came together. After using the Superhumans service as a customer, Kristen transitioned to actually landing an opportunity with the company itself.
In this episode, Kristen discusses the importance of examining the entire lifecycle of the employee experience, omni-directional feedback, and creating safe spaces. Non-traditional modes of working are becoming commonplace, and Kristen explains why focusing on team-building activities that are flexible help increase employee retention and satisfaction. You'll hear Kristen share why she prefers to use the word virtual over remote - why virtual focuses on a connection between coworkers while remote working implies more isolated working conditions.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Kristen shares why Superhuman is a company dedicated to a fast email and team experience, and how she got into HR after her first experience at Home Depot
- Avoiding a one size fits all approach - why Superhuman recognizes there’s not cookie-cutter approach to work
- The future of directional feedback and the ability to expand talent development in a large organization
- Challenges to creating safe spaces and feedback amongst employees
- How to provide useful feedback effectively and thoughtfully
- Kristen shares how she is approaching succession planning and thinking about developing employees for the future
Links:
For more links, visit getmarlow.com/podcast