HR Innovation at Diageo

Narrator: The energy and attitude of work is set by the leaders. Whether employees are in-person or remote, they look to their managers or people leaders to show them the way. But what happens when leaders aren’t adequately supported? That’s one thing we talked about with Brittany Polanco.

Brittany: Leaders who haven’t been shown or given that empowerment creates a cycle, you know, of them not having that space to take ownership, to really drive results, to lead. Um, you know, and I think that ends up coming down to the team below them or the colleagues around them. So, uh, I really think that there’s so much importance on the folks that you bring into your team and particularly the leaders that you bring in, um, to be able to, it has to, like, to start this behavior. It has to start somewhere. 

Narrator: Brittany is Director of HR Innovation at Diageo, known for brands like Guinness, Johnnie Walker, and Tangueray. She joined Diageo in November 2021 as Human Resources Director and brings with her over 10 years of human resources experience, having served in HR roles at companies like Hilton Worldwide and PepsiCo. Today, Brittany and our host, Nicole Alvino, talk about empowering leaders, co-creating the employee experience, and creating the scaffolding for a phenomenal employee experience.

On Cruising Altitude, we talk about employee experience lessons from leaders at companies with over 30, 000 employees. A lot like reaching cruising altitude at 30, 000 feet, things look a little different when you’re managing 30, 000 people. On this podcast, we bring you insights from the leaders who inhabit that rarefied air. Today’s episode features an interview with Brittany Polanco, but first let’s hear a word from our sponsor. 

Narrator: And now your host, Nicole Alvino, CEO and co-founder of Firstup.

Nicole Alvino: Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining us on Cruising Altitude. I’m Nicole Alvino, founder and CEO of Firstup. Super passionate about ensuring that every worker feels connected and engaged with their employer. Firstup is a SaaS platform used by 40 of the Fortune 100 to provide an exceptional employee experience for every employee. When we do this, we retain and grow our people and increase efficiency and adoption of organizational initiatives, all part of driving a high performance culture. So our mission today is to help you learn about how we can retain top talent, improve organizational culture, and drive your business outcomes. And I’m so excited to be joined today by Brittany Polanco. Welcome Brittany.

Brittany Polanco: Hey, Nicole, great to be here. How are you?

Nicole Alvino: Doing well. Thanks. So before I have you introduce your role, I always like to ask our guests for three fun facts. It’s the way that we introduce new employees to Firstup. And so I will ask you your three fun facts.

Brittany Polanco: Yeah, I love that. So the first fun fact is probably that, Outside of my day to day work, I’m actually a certified coach. and just in the past six months, I’ve also done my certification for 200 hour yoga teacher training. so trying to keep my skills sharp in other areas that contribute back to what I do day to day. The second, which shocks a lot of people, is that I did not get on an airplane until I was 20 years old. Since then I’ve been traveling a ton and it’s one of my favorite things to do. But, yeah, it was totally new to me. I remember being so scared even though I was an adult at that point. And the third, I mean, in the topic of employee experience, so I am a neurodiverse leader. It’s something that has played a big role in my career. I think it’s been a tremendous strength for me and it also, I think, broadens my perspective when I think about the employee experience. and just as we as a society get more and more in tune with all the different facets of what that can mean, and how we can support employees best, is definitely a passion point of mine.

Nicole Alvino: I love that. I’m a fellow yogi and traveler and of course believe in all different types of diversity. So that is great to hear. so I would love for you to share with everybody the scope of your current role at Diageo.

Brittany Polanco: Yeah, my role is newly created. we stood up a function we’re currently calling HR Innovation last year. so at the beginning of 2023, I’m currently director on the team and essentially we have about five people on the team today. Its scope is global and we’re figuring out what that means. So we have innovation in a traditional sense within our marketing teams, for our brands, within our technology teams, and even within HR technology. we’ve had that as an existing capability, but we’re zooming out more of, you know, what is organizational innovation? it’s a new field, I think, just across the industry. So really testing and learning to fine tune, how do we build that as a capability for Diageo, and how do we make sure we can add value in the same way our other innovation teams do.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, I love that. I mean, if companies aren’t innovating, they’re definitely getting less left behind. So I love that the broadened scope. That’s great. For those people who don’t know about Diageo, will you just give a quick overview and then talk about the different types of employee personas that you’re thinking about in your role?

Brittany Polanco: Yeah. So Diageo is in the beverage alcohol industry. you might not know the corporation, but you certainly know our brand. So from Guinness, the beer, right? It’s hundreds of years old, as well as most of our portfolios. Spirit. So brands like Tanqueray and Don Julio and Bullitt and Johnnie Walker. So we are one of the largest spirits companies in the world. and we have employees spread out globally, a little over 30, 000. and as we think about our employee personas, I think honestly, it’s been a bit of a journey for Diageo because something you probably don’t know, given that our brands are so mature and longstanding is that the corporation was actually just formed about a little over 25 years ago. And so during that time, we’ve grown tremendously. We’ve acquired a ton of brands. We’ve grown brands internally. And I think that what we’re going through right now and a big task of our team is to find out. What does persona mean to us? you know, it’s been a really exciting part of my current job is to think through that. I think we have it in terms of, you know, your traditional profiles, whether it’s functional or generational or, you know, from a tech perspective, but we’re finding that those are being really challenged right now. as we think about just the, the sheer pace and complexity of the world we’re operating in.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, definitely. And when you think about unique challenges, you mentioned some of them, whether it’s generational, functional, probably people who are going into an office every day and people who are working your manufacturing plants. What do you think are additional unique challenges that face as Diageo?

Brittany Polanco: I’ll say maybe, from the lens of the HR innovation team, because that has been one of the most interesting learnings for me, coming from a background. I actually spent time in marketing in the business doing product innovation. I’ve worked, at a, uh, food tech company doing product innovation. And what I’ve found is. there’s no frame of reference for what innovation in HR is. I think that we’ve always been a player, on the team as it comes to the different types of innovation in the business, but it is quite unique for us to be taking that accountability to deliver on the innovation. And so, you know, in terms of challenge, it’s really defining not just what does that mean as a function, but I think kind of challenging some of those traditional terms, like you mentioned persona, right? Things like agile, you really have to kind of flip those on their head when you think more broadly in terms of like, what is innovation to culture? You know, more of like systems thinking, but it’s at a very human level. So I’d say that has been a bigger task maybe than we even, thought coming into this.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, design thinking, systems thinking, and bringing the human element into it is definitely, very, very interesting. As you’re thinking about HR innovation, how much of the thinking through the employee experience and what that means, does your team own and are you expected to,innovate on?

Brittany Polanco: honestly, I think that at this point, employee experience is just a must do for everyone at the company. I think that it’s, It’s clear how competitive it is, and what standards we need to have as an employer to attract and develop and retain the best talent. And so we’ve certainly been integrating that kind of across the board at our company, what is the level of ownership that we can take? but also challenging the status quo to continue to change. But I’d say from an HR innovation perspective, it is a big area to understand. And I’d, I’d compare it to, in most of your Marketing teams, you’ll have an innovation team, and you’ll also have, an insights team. And we’re kind of playing both of those roles right now, and that’s where you would get a lot of your rich information in terms of, you know, you may have quantitative data from your systems or surveys that you’ve had, qualitative data from focus groups and things like that, but It’s our job to think about what’s the most effective way to distill that. And I think that being able to train others in HR, again, this is not a normal way of working for our function, to appreciate, you know, the value of actionable insights, and how they can assist in moving forward in an iterative process when you think about innovating, getting from where we are today to where we want to be. I just think that that is so grounded in empathy. It’s so grounded in listening to your employees. And I’d say just, you know, it is a capability to be able to synthesize kind of what you’re hearing from an experience standpoint, into, you know, action and impact at the end of the day.

Nicole Alvino: Brittany, I loved what you said about the importance of insights and bringing that into your team. It’s exactly what I’m sure you learned from being on the marketing side. And what we’re seeing is really bringing principles of consumer marketing and learnings from the consumer experience to the employee experience, because we have to continue to iterate, take what we’re getting, whether it is surveys, whether it is listening groups, and also how people are engaging with communications that we give them, learning and training and different types of, behaviors that, that we can, continue to build. Sometimes we think about it, a universal employee profile to really start to understand who our people are and really get to know them and then be able to deliver them and guide them on this exceptional journey where they feel supported and proud. And also they’re helping to achieve, use the word impact, which I love, impact for the business as well as their professional development.

Brittany Polanco: Exactly. I love that. And I think, honestly, what you’re doing there is so critical, you know, in, bringing technology into that to ease, you know, some of the difficulty in just teasing out that information and aggregating, is a tremendous task in and of itself.

Nicole Alvino: And Diageo, how do you all think about the employee experience, analog, digital, how personalization works? a big question. I’m just really curious.

Brittany Polanco: I think that where we’re at today, You can’t separate them. I think that you also are in a space where it’s really typical to put people into boxes. I think there’s just like, people are really embracing all different parts of themselves. And so, you know, , that also adds complexity of like, well, what does that mean for our traditional journeys? You know, the employee life cycle. We have these differences in terms of, you know, hybrid working or, the pace that new roles are created or folks are able to do more job crafting and bouncing across different functions. Like I have, I really think that the way we’re thinking about how does that all fit together is that we’re doing it with our employees, and that’s how today we’re validating that. And so, you know, I think it comes from having hypotheses, and that’s where, you know, you take that learning, And for me at Diageo, when I’ve noticed, that’s really important. I spent a lot of time at PepsiCo, right? Tremendously large company. I’ve been at a startup where they’re, you know, just building one product and putting that to market. Diageo is kind of at the middle. and. I do think one of the biggest things we’ve been able to unearth is, you really have to appreciate where you are to get to where you want to go. And so when you’re crafting that journey, it needs to be grounded in reality. And there’s a saying I learned, I love, I was a psychology undergrad. I’ve done a lot of post grad work, in positive psychology. There’s a saying of like, N does not equal me. So the sample that you’re studying is not me, and you know, it’s a direct call for empathy, but I do think, as we’ve looked at that and as we’ve explored, the most successful we have been at crafting that journey and continuing to adapt that journey in a more agile way is that we involve the folks who are impacted, and that is a culture shift as well. You know, I think we’re being pushed. It’s great in terms of visibility and transparency, but when they really understand where you’re trying to go and the value that brings, and they’re really able to contribute what their experience is today and what’s getting in the way, I think it’s been incredible just in terms of the trust we’ve been able to build with employees. You know, we are taking smaller projects and testing with those. but I think one of those moments where you really feel proud that you’re able to bring that voice front and center, and not leaning as much on kind of your traditional frameworks of the past of how HR, journeys should be or everything needs to be tech focused or, but rather like meet people where they are and, inspire and encourage them. Like let’s build together.

Nicole Alvino: I love that. we use the phrase, meet them where they are too, as far as giving people exactly what they need. And I love the notion of co creation. I think that’s increasingly important, especially for newer entrants. I can’t tell you how many times certain C level executives will say, well, I want this, I want this, I want this, and I have to say, well, it’s really not about you. it’s about what everyone else needs, what all of your, people really need. So I love that you’re embracing that. And I think that that is really the crux to making something have longevity and really, really stick. And make people feel that it’s not only authentic and also has lasting power. So that’s great. You’ve had some interesting experiences yourself. What are some of the tenants of the best employee experience that you’ve had that you’re bringing to the work you’re doing now?

Brittany Polanco: You know, it’s funny as you were saying that, just an analogy came to mind that I was taught earlier in my career, of, you know, it’s a balance of being at the balcony and in the dance. In HR, we balance those. And leaders balance those as well. And so, I do feel like because I’ve seen it, I feel like I have that, high level view from my HR training, you know, and then I have that on the ground view from my time in marketing. And so when I think about employee experience, I really do think in a very systematic way. And I do believe strongly that to get things done in a world where, like, you want people to have autonomy and you want people to be empowered and inspired and get purpose from their work, those are things, you know, I personally have really appreciated in terms of my experience in the past. It’s also a call to courage, to your leaders and to those who are kind of spearheading this work, because I think that what I’ve had in those instances is a really clear vision, you know, of what we want to accomplish or where we want to go and a push to really like, derive what value that will bring. And then there’s a lot of, space for me to step up and to collaborate across my amazing cross functional partners to create something. And again, I think more and more we’re faced with these type of projects or initiatives that we have to work through. But I do think that that piece of like being able to set where you want to go and really have the story behind that,I think that, one, people believing in me to be able to do that has meant a lot, but two, kind of the skills I’ve gained along the way contribute as well. So it’s ironic, right? It’s like, it’s not that people were telling me to do things certain ways or, you know, really tightly managing, but it’s giving what I like to call, um, you’ll see it more in like organizational psychology, scaffolding, you know, just enough to where I can get to the level of support I need, but still, you know, create something amazing and have the space of, if something goes wrong, if something’s unexpected, I know my team has my back because we’re going about it the right way. So I do think in a world of, what does great look like an employee experience, there is so much nuance. But I do believe that the more that you can, you know, allow each individual to bring their strengths and their creativity, and the more you make a structure where you appreciate and pull in the strengths and skills of those and other functions and other teams, that’s what I’ve really appreciated. Cause it’s, not only like a self efficacy boost for the employee, but I think it creates a connection amongst colleagues and a pride, of, we’re doing this for a higher purpose. We’re doing this to serve, you know, our colleagues or if it’s something external, our consumers. So yeah, I think there, there’s a lot of just like tapping into the emotion and being able to tell those stories has been just a really, really powerful, skill that I’ve observed and seen modeled and now feel that I can leverage on teams that I work on.

Nicole Alvino: Yes, so many important topics around connection and purpose and empowerment. I love that term, just thinking about scaffolding as well. Those are so many positive things. Where have you seen the most? Things go wrong in the employee experience or when leaders or companies just didn’t get it and weren’t able to provide, all of those things that ultimately deliver that connection and purpose.

Brittany Polanco: Yeah, I do think it, it trickles from the top. And I think that, you know, having folks in leadership roles that are able to model those characteristics and those skills, when you don’t have that is where I see most of the challenges. So more concrete examples of, you know, where a leader is much more concerned with their perspective of what’s happening within their team versus curious to learn what’s happening and really understand, you know, that current state. As well, if you think about, , leaders who haven’t been shown or given that empowerment creates a cycle, you know, of them not having that space to take ownership, to really drive results, to lead. you know, and I think that ends up coming down to the team below them or the colleagues around them. So, I really think that there’s so much importance on the folks that you bring into your team and particularly the leaders that you bring in,it has to, like, to start this behavior. It has to start somewhere. I feel really fortunate that I’ve had a lot of folks around me that have modeled that. And I think that, you know, at Diageo, we’re obviously thinking that way, because I think it’s incredible that we even have the team that I’m on. and you know, as we get out to the masses, as we start to influence change across the company, there’s going to be people who may not have seen that before. And so our job is really to create that psychological safety and to give that scaffolding and support, of, I’m sure they can feel what it’s like when you have that purpose or empowerment how we can support them and being able to create that environment for others.

Nicole Alvino: I love that. Culture, culture, culture and accountability leaders. So those are super important lessons. So you, you’re in a role that’s called HR innovation. How do you think about the future of HR and the opportunity?

Brittany Polanco: I think about it a lot, and you know what’s interesting is I think there has been no better time to be in HR than right now. I think that between the rise of technology and AI. But also just the stress, the constant change. People are struggling with the pieces of leadership and management that are human.and I think that that’s where we come in to be that subject matter expert and to really bring in competitive advantage from the lens of all those things are wonderful, but if you don’t equip people on how to drive those things through their teams, inspire their teams, You’re going to be hit in terms of productivity, creativity, engagement. and that’s where I think there’s a call for the HR function to really raise the bar on what that means to be, business partners, to be kind of at the tip of where we’re going strategically. for us to really stand up, and represent the of bringing that human element and strategically setting up our workforce to get the benefits of all that change and, you know, all of that technology that’s coming our way. but, you know, people say things of like, oh, you know, AI scares me and things like that, but I see it as an incredible. Opportunity for us to really unlock that. And again, get the most out of our people because at the end of the day, whether it’s technology or money or whatever resource we’re talking about, it’s your people who are interacting with that. So, I think it’s going to just continue to raise the bar of what HR can be, the strategic value that we can deliver. And I think it’s going to push us, into that seat more so as, being able to deliver that business impact, you know, and really, I think, rising to the level of what you’ve seen with the CFO, right. and your money resources, but I really think like people are at the center right now. And so I think it’s, it’s, it’s an opportunity for us all to step up and I think to upskill and to increase our knowledge, and then, you know, really drive the transformation and the change that’s needed to keep up with everything going on.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, no, that’s so true. I often will tell CEOs, you realize nothing happens at your company without your people and they need to feel inspired. You, you use that word and I love that word as well, because there’s one thing just to tell someone about their job and it’s a completely different thing to truly inspire them. And to your point, that’s when you get the best work, the most performance and the most engagement and those things together. Are going to be the companies that win in the future. there’s just no question there. you mentioned AI a couple of times, so I’m just curious your thoughts of it, how you’re using AI and Diageo and how you’re thinking about it as part of your innovation work.

Brittany Polanco: Yeah, I, you know, it’s funny. we have been getting a lot of questions on AI as expected, within the global HR innovation team. And I think, honestly, one of our first areas of focus is just demystifying what AI is. I think a lot of people don’t realize how much of AI and Gen AI is already very integrated into our day to day lives. Whether that be in your shopping habits or your music habits or things like that. But then really givinga peek into how it can be helpful, to make us more efficient. And again, from the lens of using the insights and allowing our people to operate at their best, you know, taking away barriers. and so I’d say we’ve been and are using AI in many different ways across the business. I think from an HR innovation perspective, we’re really trying to complement the work that’s been happening. you know, talent acquisition is a space where, you know, a lot of AI, has been leveraged. We’re working with our, Business technology teams of, hey, how can we feed the right data and insights and get our people involved in the roadmap for where we go with this? So, it all comes back to kind of this test and learn culture. And, you know, really helping people feel comfortable because It’s, you know, how do we use that to enable our people?

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, it’s enhancement. It’s such an important point too. This is while Gen AI might be new, AI and machine learning, it’s been around for a long time and integrated into our lifestyle. Like you said, whether it’s shopping, whether it’s music suggestions, we’ve had it in our platform for many years just to help drive, learn from behavior patterns and help to deliver people what they need when they need it. It’s more of what happens next and how can we continue to enhance what our people can do, whether it’s their skills, their learning, their ideation. So I, I like you think that it’s, 100 percent going to change how we work, and just very completely in a positive way and just continue to be additive to what we’ve seen already. So good. So I’m going to start to wind us down as a psychology major, I’m going to love that your answer here. So, cruising altitude, it’s meant to be where we cruise at 30, 000 feet in an airplane. I interview people who lead HR or HR teams for companies of over 30, 000 people, because there’s just so much opportunity at that large scale. And so when I think about 30, 000 feet for me, I have a heightened sense of clarity and perspective. And so where is your place of extreme clarity or where do you really get that heightened perspective?

Brittany Polanco: So, you know, of course the psychology comes through, but my number one character strength is love of learning. I’m such a nerd. I very purposely take time, almost every single day, to read. and a lot of that is in books that are related to adjacent to, leadership, psychology, innovation, I find I get so much inspiration from branching out of what I see and hear every day at my job. But then in engaging with folks who also like to have that growth mindset. And so, you know, I may be having a completely unrelated conversation about a book and it starts sparking insights because when you put that into context with stories, you know, that you hear from people, and how they comment on them, it becomes really rich. And that to me is just like, that’s where, oh my gosh, the ideas start flowing and that’s where I feel like I can bring back that energy to my teams that I’m working alongside with. but yeah, it’s, you know, constantly that growth mindset of what can I learn. When I start opening up that curiosity, it oftentimes leads me down, you know, a new path or maybe just a provocation, for us to consider.

Nicole Alvino: I love it. So what is one book that all of our listeners need to read?

Brittany Polanco: Oh my gosh, so many. Let’s see. If we’re talking about large company, I actually think, so, I’m torn. the author, I would say, would have to be Brene Brown. I’ve learned a tremendous amount for her. There’s the most topical option, which is probably Dare to Lead. It’s a more business forward book. But I actually, might recommend that folks read The Gifts of Imperfection. I think that, you know, one thing that’s changed throughout my career, you know, I’ve been exposed to a lot of leadership teams, customers, agencies, There’s something beautiful when you give yourself permission to be human. And, you know, we show up every day in these jobs and with these people who we spend so much time with. And the more we can embrace our full selves the more that we can really connect at a human level, I think the better the work, the better the experience. So yeah, I’ll pick that one, The Gift of Imperfection.

Nicole Alvino: Okay, that’s a good one. I do not have that one that’s added to my list, so thank you. You’ve shared so much wisdom with us already. I always like to end with the ones. So one thing that you never do.

Brittany Polanco: So this is going to be related to my last answer. One thing I never do is go through my day without, like, truly stepping away from my work. You know, whether that is practicing yoga, whether it’s, having a fun conversation with a friend or walking my dog, you know, one of the things that, you know, I’ll give away from the book is that using productivity as a status symbol is something that really infiltrated our culture. And I think that, you know, I was really caught up in what my output was, my value. But truly, I am at my best, I am more productive, I’m more creative, I’m more energized, when I find more of that balance. So I stay very true to that.

Nicole Alvino: And then one thing you always do.

Brittany Polanco: Again, probably a little bit of a repeat, but I always look to learn. I feel like my mantra is like, always be learning. It has served me so well in my career, but also in life. I think that we all get into phases where we are stuck in judgment or assumptions, but I intentionally practice, you know, what can I learn from this? How do I use curiosity, lead with courage and curiosity? And so, yeah, that is something I always try to do, and has really, I think, made a lot of this work that I’ve been privileged to do so much more fun and so much more enriching.

Nicole Alvino: Definitely. Well, thank you so much for joining us. I learned a lot and I know everyone else did too. Where can our listeners find you and follow you?

Brittany Polanco: Yeah. You can find me on LinkedIn. I’m pretty active on there. I have a lot of folks reaching out, wanting to learn more about what HR innovation is, and how that’s going to play a role going forward. So, it’s always nice to hear from folks from different industries or where I haven’t crossed paths yet.

Nicole Alvino: Super. So connect with Brittany. You can connect with me on LinkedIn as well and tune in for our next episode of Cruising Altitude. Brittany, thank you so much again.

Brittany Polanco: Thank you, Nicole. It’s been great.