Lessons on Company Culture from a 120-Year-Old Organization with Kristin Chapman, Managing Director of People and Culture at AAA
Episode description
This episode features an interview with Kristin Chapman, Managing Director of People and Culture at AAA, the leader and advocate for safe mobility. Kristin brings to her role a background in cultural anthropology, which she is using to bring a unique perspective on how AAA has developed an internal brand as strong as its external legacy. On this episode, Kristin talks about developing new traditions, supporting employees through important transitions in their careers, and staying relevant over more than a century of business.
Quotes
*”Business partners are connectors, thought partners, advisors and solution finders. And really in today's world of an organization and the important role that employees play in the organization's success and the business' success, I think all HR folks should consider themselves business partners.”
*”To start traditions, you just have to try things out and see what sticks. And then you'll find that you iterate [and] people will gravitate to things that they like to do. People will start to ask about, ‘Oh, remember how fun that was? Let's do that again.’ And really, nothing has to be perfect the first time. Traditions and rituals, they really evolve over time. But even stories, stories that you have a part of the folklore of an organization, these are things that really connect people to the past and make them proud to be part of the future.”
*”When you can take those moments of time to reflect… and you give that moment of reflection and honor and recognition to someone's service, for example, that really has an important role to play in helping people feel proud, feel connected to the mission of AAA. And those moments of reflection play a very important role.”
*”Culture has to evolve. There are good elements of every culture and there are important elements of every culture. There's also elements that if you don't evolve them and they stay status quo, that they can actually be your downfall. And so an organization like AAA who is 120 years in the making obviously has so many good elements that have created that success. At the same time, you don't know that you need to change if your view is always standing inside your own building and looking out the window at others. And I think legacy organizations fall into that challenge.“
Time Stamps
*[7:20] The Flight Plan: Get to know AAA
*[10:04] First Class: Best EX practices at AAA
*[25:23] How to start your own traditions at your company
*[40:03] Turbulence: EX lessons learned
Links
Connect with Kristin on LinkedIn
Thanks to our friends
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