Where do HR leaders draw inspiration from? What are their worst nightmares? How did they stand the test of the changing times? In this segment, we will trace your journey to the top. This is your story - a story that is made of extraordinary accomplishments, methods that helped you overcome adversity, innovative programs that you led, and fundamental changes that you brought in. It's your chance to inspire the next generation of leaders.

Trinda Searle is Executive Vice President of People & Culture at 360insights. Trinda is passionate about helping people and understands that when people strategies are done right, it helps the business thrive. Recognized for an award-winning culture, globally, 360insights has been ranked a Best Workplace™ in Canada for the last 10 years, and a Best Workplace™ in the UK for 2022 in the first year they applied. Prior to joining 360insights, Trinda helped grow her previous company’s Canada-centric footprint, expanding to a worldwide employee base, while maintaining the company’s high value and profitability goals.

In an exclusive interview with HR.com, Trinda talks about her HR journey and shares valuable insights on various workplace issues, building the HR team of the future and much more.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q. What has your HR journey been like, and what influenced you the most to positively impact your career?

Trinda: I returned to school for HR in hopes of strengthening my ability to achieve a leadership role in my former Forestry career. Instead, I developed a passion for HR centric work, and 20+ years later here I am. Seeing the larger impact of my work on people keeps me accountable and my ability to positively influence business outcomes, through people development, excites me. Working for great leaders who set a strong example to follow and provided opportunities and exposure to “let me fly” has had a tremendous positive impact. To be honest though, it was not until I experienced toxic leadership earlier in my career, that I learned “what not to do.” Frankly, that experience may have had the most positive impact on my career. Sometimes it takes experiencing bad to truly appreciate and know what good looks like.  

 

Q: What were your challenges during the early days of your career compared to those of today?

Trinda: Shedding the need to be popular versus respected, and gaining some risk tolerance were challenges I faced earlier in my career. Today my challenge is to operate on the right parts of the business, striking the right balance between being informed, involved and supportive while letting my own team fly.

Q: What according to you is one of the most overlooked issues facing HR today?

Trinda: HR professionals have been challenged with topics outside of our expertise and stress-tested our resilience, pandemic response planning and increasing mental health support requirements to name a couple. Our natural instincts are to care for people and the inability to directly remedy all the challenges they face at work, despite our best efforts, is difficult and often an area for criticism. Just as we support and equip leadership, HR teams need similar support, training and check-ins for their own well-being.
   

Q: What can HR do about “Quiet Quitting?”

Trinda: Double down on communication, recognition and engagement activities, people who are connected, celebrated, and engaged are more productive and accountable. Train leadership and ensure they have time to lead, it's okay to be a player/coach but the proper order is coach, then player.

Q: Do you see any new job roles being created by the transformation?

Trinda: Yes, companies need to invest in people and their Employee Value Proposition. Cash compensation is not enough nor the sole winning strategy. New roles that support the development of individuals and inclusion such as learning and development teams, career coaching and DEIB specialists, I believe will continue to rise across the profession.

Q: With so many changes happening, how do you build the HR team of the future?

Trinda: Be close to the business including its financial forecast and North Star and build a team that can support those goals as if they needed to be achieved today. Playing catch up does not serve your people or the business well.  Also think bigger, look beyond the direct People Team on staff and build an ecosystem of People and Culture ambassadors through leadership, focus groups and employee-led affinity groups.  Allies are fundamental to the success of the core HR/People Team.

Q: What is your leadership mantra?

Trinda: To be transparent, humble, logical, and inspiring.
 
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