Transforming Your Business Through High Performance Culture and Diversity

NARRATOR: A high-performing company isn’t JUST about business. It’s about the people behind it. Anticipating the needs of your employees can make or break customer outcomes. That’s what we’re talking about today with Marlon Sullivan, the EVP and CHRO of Johnson Controls International.

Marlon Sullivan: The beauty of what I would call the employee experience is creating the environment that allows them to flourish in the purpose of why they’re there. It’s helping to drive that engagement, that excitement, that level of collaboration and innovation that otherwise wouldn’t be there. 

NARRATOR: Johnson Controls is a world leader in smart buildings. They create safe, healthy and sustainable spaces. Marlon Sullivan’s focus at Johnson Controls is to create a high-performance culture. Today, he’ll share how to foster a feeling of collective purpose, pride, and responsibility among your employees.

On Cruising Altitude, we talk about employee experience lessons from leaders at companies with over 30k employees. A lot like reaching Cruising Altitude at 30k 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 Marlon Sullivan. But first, let’s hear a word from our sponsor.

Marlon Sullivan: So in the role that I’m currently in today, we’re in the middle of a transformation. And so it’s allowing me and the members of my team to touch almost every aspect of, of human resources. So, you know, my scope and responsibility includes all elements of the employee experience. It includes talent acquisition, obviously a focus on retention, leadership development. And what is critically important for how we define a high performance culture is leveraging that of diversity, equity, and inclusion. That includes all of those elements, uh, with a focus on three core components, talent, people, and culture.

NARRATOR: Marlon loves HR. But when he started his career, he didn’t have human resources in mind. 

Marlon Sullivan: So for the large majority of my time with the firm, I, I spent a lot of time more focused on business challenges, so helping clients work through strategy and, and operational elements of their go to market, some of the financial analysis and in some cases even IT. But it really wasn’t until the latter years with with the firm that I had an opportunity to get more involved from a human capital perspective. 

NARRATOR: Over time, Marlon’s role shifted from business strategy to people strategy.

Marlon Sullivan: Now, as you might imagine, when we spoke about capital, at least, earlier in my career, we, we spent a lot of time talking about working capital, about debt and equity, but ended up doing some research that was focused on the war for talent. And in that analysis it was not only looking at the scarcity of talent, but also how a subset of leaders could have a disproportionate impact on the outcomes, be it financial outcomes, productivity outcomes of a company. And so that meant spending some time peeling back the onion to understand, you know, what is the art of the human potential and how do you leverage that to drive business outcomes? And so a part of that was focused on the iq, obviously the intellectual capability of others. Some were focused on the, what I call the emotional quotient, which many would call eq. But there’s another, what I’d call EQ that I think today plays a big, big role, which is that of engagement. And so the research was really trying to understand how do you align all three to drive those outcomes. And as I started to, to provide research and, and partner with others in the firm to talk more about it, it became very, very interesting for many of our customers and one of whom ultimately extended me an opportunity to join them, and I joined them in an HR capacity. That was literally the start of my, of my HR career. And, and keep in mind, having not formally been in human resources before, it was exciting, um, a little bit challenging in the beginning, right? Because I was bringing more of a business perspective. But what I also found is that was part of what helped to differentiate the offering. That one, I could bring in the role that I was playing, but also how HR could play a differentiated role. Just like finance or it, or digital or other elements of any, uh, organization can as well.

NARRATOR: Let’s hear more about how HR, human capital, and digital transformation ties into Marlon’s strategy in The Flight Plan.

Marlon Sullivan: We’re in the middle of a transformation. For almost 140 years, we’ve been more of what I’d call a mechanical, installed and service business focused on making buildings better. But as a part of the transformation, we are literally changing the way that we operate and the way that we service our customers using a digitally enabled technology that allows us to now create smarter, healthier, and more sustainable buildings. That transformation is not only a change in culture, but requires also a change in the skill sets, the competencies, and the pace of business that’s, that’s needed. And as we continue to drive this differentiated offering in the marketplace, it’s allowing us to be a, a leader in the industry, and hopefully not only transform ourselves, but also transform the industry itself.

NARRATOR: We’re in an age of transformation. So let’s get specific. How is Johnson Controls shifting?

Marlon Sullivan: It’s a digitally enabled transformation, and that’s in part due to the platform  Open Blue. Uh, the long and short of it is, is, is Open blue is, it’s an industry leading suite of digital solutions that connect all of the equipment and systems that we have in a building. So for example, we do installation of HVAC, controls, fire, security, and being able to have that digital platform that helps us connect those elements really allows us to. Not only diagnostics and helpful information to our customer, but also do things like preventative maintenance, but also help us think differently about how we can provide what I mentioned earlier, which was these digitally enabled solutions to the customer. Let’s say for, uh, example, in advanced digital tools like edge computing or cloud connectivity and AI. And by doing so, we create operational synergies that save more energy and emissions than possible with some of what we’d call today, the isolated systems that exist today. We monitor, we manage and protect the number of connected devices as well as set, measure and report on sustainability targets, which is how we’re able to deliver that smart, healthy, and, and sustainable building.

NARRATOR: Tech has changed the game at Johnson Controls. Where does human capital come into all of this?

Marlon Sullivan: One of the, I’ll call them challenges that we’ve had as we, you know, ensure that this transition goes as smoothly as possible. Talent acquisition. As you might imagine, you know, 140 years of proven dedicated service means we have a lot of very successful tradesmen and women who are technicians and mechanics. But with the advent of the digital technology platform, we’ve now had to bridge, if you will, and add additional core competencies and skill sets that historically we have not had as much of a need. So whether it’s hiring coders or software engineers or hardware engineers, as an example, we’ve hired nearly 1000 people in tech related roles, and that’s been done over the last year alone with half of those roles being created as a result of the strong demand for our innovative digital product, which is in part enabled by Open Blue. Now clearly we’re not big tech, but you know, we’ve been through a big technology transformation and that will continue and it’s allowing us to welcome a different type of talent and team to the organization. And in particular, it allows us to, to make a difference. A part of what we talk about in terms of our employee value proposition is that of purpose. And so to be able to join a company where you can make a difference, not only for customers, but also for our communities, for the climate, for the planet. And it inspires a lot of folks, and it’s in part of why I am here at Johnson Controls.

NARRATOR: For Marlon, purpose is one of the most important things Johnson Controls offers its employees.

Marlon Sullivan: A part of it starts with the purpose, what I’d call the, the meaningful work tuhat we empower our employees to do. And I often call it noble work because it literally, we are changing the face of, of the earth, and also helping in some cases to preserve lives through our fire suppression product. You know, here at Johnson Controls, it’s not an exaggeration to say that, that we’re saving the planet. And when you consider that 40% of the world’s emissions come from buildings, then obviously smart building technologies are a differentiator. And it’s been a big win for us because job seekers want to work for a company that provides, you know, meaningful work beyond just traditional competitive compensation and benefits. So when we talk about the power of purpose here at Johnson Controls it, it means a lot. And we go out of our way to make sure that we’re able to measure it. So,but as an example, we’re among the earliest industrial companies to report emissions and to pledge emission reductions, reducing carbon emissions intensity by more than 70% since 2002. And I’m gonna pause there because many folks say 2002. Yes. So for, for more than 20 years, that was a commitment that was made. And we’ve also pledged to achieve a net zero carbon emissions before 2040 and announce sign space targets for, for 2030. As we begin to invest more than 75% of, of new product research and development, which is in our climate related innovation, we have no doubt we’ll continue to develop sustainable products and services that will, you know, last for, for generations to come. When you have employees, whether they be new employees, meaning just joining us in the last year or two years, or whether you have 15, 20, or 30 year veterans, there is a sense of pride and excitement about the work that we do. There is a meaningful sense of purpose. And, you know, you can rest your head at night knowing that you’re making a difference significantly broader than the job description to which you applied. Broader than the goals you have for, you know, that fiscal year, you’re, you’re making a huge impact. And that goes a long way for us, and it’s part of what we talk about when we talk about the power of purpose.

NARRATOR: Marlon wants to serve employees in the best way possible. And that means having a holistic understanding of the business.

Marlon Sullivan: As an HR executive, it is my expectation of myself and my team that we are first business leaders. In fact, I, I tell my team often we’re business leaders who happen to sit in HR. And the why, the, the reason why I say that is in part because in order to be a highly effective HR leader that helps to really leverage human capital to drive outcomes, you have to understand the business, right? You have to understand the mission, the strategy, the operating model, the go to market channels, the, the value proposition. But you also have to understand the market within which we’re competing. So that’s, you know, all of our competitors, the macroeconomics. And some may say, well, Marlon, why is all of that necessary? There are individuals who study industrial relations because they want to specialize in HR. Why do you need to know the business? And it’s in part because it’s hard to anticipate the human capital needs if you don’t understand the drivers for how you operate today, and be able to connect the dots to serve, in my case, customers, which are our employees.Obviously it’s our people leaders, it’s our executives, but being able to serve them in a way that allows us, us HR to be on that leading edge. And that’s where the, the power of being able to, to enable the team to be more effective, whether that’s from a talent strategy, whether it’s being confidant to certain leaders, whether it’s being the change agent, you need to be to evolve the culture or whether it’s being a coach. A coach for your team, a coach for leaders, a coach, or, or maybe even a mentor. But, uh, but being an effective HR leader, first of all, starts with being an effective business leader and then being able to translate those business realities into channels for leveraging human capital. And I often talk about those channels in terms of understanding the talent you need to grow the business. Understanding what about how you operate attracts and retain your people? 

NARRATOR: Marlon says that retaining good people leads to a high performance culture. And it’s important to reinforce that culture by empowering leaders to make sure the company feels valuable, strong and successful.

Marlon Sullivan: We first started with the employee value proposition because I think to create an experience for someone, it’s important to be clear about what experience you want to create. And I think sometimes It’s easy to jump into digital. And sort of say, Hey, look, I’ll just, you know, let’s put this website up and this, have our employees go there. Okay, ta-da. It’s a digital experience and, and it is, but is it a good one? And so we stepped back and, and basically said, what are the three, four, or five things that matter to our employees? And it wasn’t, you know, myself or the HR team with business leaders sitting in a room sort of pontificating. It was, we went out and spoke to our employees and got their feedback. What matters to you? And we ended up with, with five in total. So one, not surprisingly, was all about purpose, that that sense of purpose. The other was about career, right? I want career path. I want to be able to see mobility for myself and ultimately for their families. A big one was trust, right? I want to be able to trust everyone. Trust my manager. Trust the values of the company, trust executives. Another was environment. You know, I want an environment that’s fun, that’s, that’s, uh, engaging that allows me to, to, to really be my full self at work. And the other was wellbeing. So that, obviously, is around health and wellbeing. And so we’ve thought about all five as we think about how do we create the meaningful, and what I’m gonna call an unparalleled, employee experience, knowing when to pull which of those five levers. And where to pull them. So part of it was not just getting the feedback but being able to better calibrate, you know, for which countries do some of these have more meaningful impact, are as more highly valued. And so we started with a, a couple of things. Number one was in the element of environment. Sometimes people think, well, it’s about doing things differently physically in the office and in some of our locations. There is some work that’s being done on revamping our layout. And the goal there is to drive more of a collaborative, I’ll call it village. Like more communal right? Engagement that drives stronger collaboration. But we also believe that there’s a virtual environment, and that’s where we launched, uh, a website which we call HR Atlas, and it’s called Atlas because literally you can figure out whatever you need to do. Anything people related by going to this one site. And it will help to guide you through all of the elements. We spend a lot of time focusing on, number one, just obviously ease of, of navigation and usability. We spend a lot of time thinking about what level of functionality should, should be provided. It is mobile enabled, so you know, individuals are able to use their mobile device to, to get access as in multiple languages. There’s very, uh, limited challenges that way. We launched a virtual enable chat. We also allow for, uh, the submission and tracking of online requests. So we created this omnichannel experience that allows our employees to reach out and touch whoever they need to touch. Sometimes it’s our shared service center, in a way that’s easy for them, best for them, and exciting for them are more meaningful for them. Uh, and we’ve learned a lot in the process. We’ve got a lot of great feedback on the launch of it. And in particular, people love chat. It has been universal. Uh, we’ve seen the percent of folks who are reaching out via chat significantly increase, shortly after the launch. And it’s allowed for us to then shift and think differently about how in the shared service center, or even as HR leaders, how we engage and better support our employees real time. So as you might imagine, we’re measuring things like the time for resolution. We’ve seen that be reduced significantly as well as overall employee satisfaction. You know, I’d say those are elements of, of what we’re doing. Uh, all of that’s from an environment perspective. From a health and wellbeing perspective. We’ve also modified our, uh, wellbeing offerings, and that obviously varies a little bit by country, but I’ll use the US as an example where we brought in the portfolio of wellbeing and leveraged technology similar to HR Atlas to provide more meaningful, insightful information as our employees are making their annual benefit selection. And then we spend some time around career pathing and being more intentional about the frequency within which managers gather together to talk about the potential of our employees. Talking about the overall performance. And the talk about the career pathing and mobility, and some of that has also been technology enabled as well. So those three of the five around career, environment, and uh, wellbeing are where we’ve had our focus.

NARRATOR: It’s important to provide structured support for employees. But Marlon thinks that employees should have a say in their support, too.

Marlon Sullivan: So we have just recently launched a survey, which we call your voice. And it’s call your voice for obvious reasons. It is the voice of our employee. And we are doing it quarterly. Now, the balance here is, you know, when you’re gonna go out every quarter to ask questions has to be a fairly quick survey, but it needs to be meaningful. And so we’ve done just that. So we have, it’s roughly 15 max, 20 questions depending on which uh, cycle we’re using for, for that particular quarter. We’ve just completed our most recent one with greater than 75% participation. So we get real time feedback on elements of obviously wellbeing. We talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion. We get feedback around the environment. So it’s allowing us to very intentionally align the survey questions to the elements of our employee experience. And with some of that feedback, there are areas where we know that we’re doing really well, we celebrate those and we continue to push and think how do we continue to drive and innovate elements of it. And there’s other areas where folks have given us feedback and say, Hey, this was interesting, but there’s some room for improvement or here’s what’s not working right. And so that knowledge has been tremendous in helping us continue to drive the impact and the value to our employees.

NARRATOR: With the help of all this feedback, HR can create a well-rounded employee experience.

Marlon Sullivan: A lot of times within the HR community we talk about the importance of an employee experience. And we think about it in the context of the journey of the employee, which is fair. And it’s the same way that we think about it. But sometimes I think we forget about the importance of the first impression. And I know many of us has heard, have heard the adage, first impressions are lasting. That’s true for new hires as well. And so for me, what was an exceptional experience was an exceptional onboarding experience where the day before actually started, my computer was shipped to me. I was able to log in. I was able to get online and, and be able to do some of my onboarding in advance. I was able to speak to my manager, get goals, share some ideas and thoughts long before I ever started the process. First, virtually before I got my computer, I was able to just use my home computer, obviously with restricted access, but once I got my computer, it was a seamless transition into helping me understand the company, the products, the services, the offering. And for me it was really, really impactful. Not just because I was getting up the learning curve and engaging with obviously my manager at the time, but what it also did for me is it created this excitement, this buzz, this passion, right? And it, it charged me into like wanting to do more. And, uh, when you’re able to do that in a cohort as well, I think it adds a special appreciation and value just because you now have, which, what will be long-lasting friends who are with you throughout your journey. Uh, whether it be the digital journey or obviously the in-person engagement journey. 

NARRATOR: A good employee experience makes for a stronger company. Marlon says that experience should include purpose, goals, and celebrating success. So let’s get into how Johnson Controls serves up a First Class experience.

Marlon Sullivan: I think with any company that is moving with a level of, I’ll call it intensity and the amount of change that we had. It, it is literally a, a mental shift, particularly for, you know, for leaders who have maybe been with the organization, you know, for 30 years, 20 years, 10 years. And quite frankly, that same challenge is true for some new hires who are coming in with a certain mentality based on their prior experience, and, you know, have a motor of operando you know, probably doesn’t work as well to be successful within our company. So a couple of things that we do. Number one, we talk about the burning platform. So we articulate, you know, why our operating model is critically important. We talk about how we’re able to differentiate ourselves. We talk about the impact that we will continue to have on the planet and our communities. And number one, for no other reason, at least people start to understand like, wow, this is bigger than me. It’s huge. I can have impact and we’re gonna make a difference. And that typically starts to open the mind. Versus saying, okay, we need you you know, act this way, not that way. And you’re like, what are you talking? Like what? So we start with the the burning platform. But second of all, then we have to be able to, I call it, Ladder It Up, right? Be able to articulate, okay, here’s the burning platform, here’s the vision for where we’re going. And so earlier I talked about being a digitally enabled solutions provider. That’s a fundamentally different way of operating the business. So we then get into, well, what’s your role? If you’re in a digital organization versus HR versus IT versus commercial versus our product innovation. Everyone plays a slightly different role, but the power is in every single element of the organization delivering exactly what’s being asked. And so we spend a lot of time talking about goals and and expectations, but also talking about what I’m gonna call the softer. So how do you develop a growth mindset? How do you help to drive more entrepreneurial engagement? Helping them think more intently about, you know, what does it mean to be a part of a startup? Being nimble in the way that you engage in. And how we think differently about even new product innovation. And so part of it is the burning platform. Part of it is laddering it up to help them understand their role and the impact. And the third piece of it is measuring the outcomes. Right. There’s nothing better than the taste of success. And being able to see that success and however it’s measured, whether it’s customer satisfaction or positive impact on the planet with CO2 carbon reduction, whether it’s financial metrics, operational metrics, or just thinking about the excitement of our people and the fact that they love to work here. I mean, all of that are successes and we go out of our way to celebrate that. But it, it takes a while. And, uh, you have to continue to re inforce the why are we here, the what are we doing? And, and how does it help you, meaning each employee win, but collectively, how does it help Johnson Control win?

NARRATOR: Marlon knows what success looks and feels like because he’s experienced the opposite before. When he encounters problems, he tries to figure out what needs to be fixed. Marlon shares wisdom he’s gained over time, in Turbulence.

Marlon Sullivan: This was years ago, but I was simply trying to create a requisition so that I could hire a person on my team. Very critical role at the time. And I get into the process and I get a, like a slew of, this is online, so I’m, I’m logging in. Obviously there was not single sign on at the time, so I had to go into a different site and put in my password and, and user information. I get into the site, then I get this laundry list of like an application. I’m like, wait, I’m sorry. I’m going to hire someone to recruit someone. Why? Why am I filling in an application? But it was everything from obviously your name, function that you represent. But then it starts to get into things that just were common knowledge. What is your cost center, your sub cost center? What is the cost center of the individual that you’ll be placing them into? And just, it made the experience not only daunting, but frustrating because what I ended up having to do is to make calls to finance, calls to it. I even have to talk to some folks in HR to say, you know, wait, how does this work for HR? And what’s our cost center? It just created a, an opportunity where at some point I was frustrated and I, I ended up calling the recruiter and just saying, look, I need your help here because this has taken me 45 minutes, and ideally this should take, I would imagine, five or 10. But it, it was only after going through that painful process that I was able to flag then to the, at the time, the head of talent acquisition and say, look, we’ve, we’ve gotta figure this out. You know, obviously my experience was not unique. I mean, you had a lot of leaders who would spend 25, 30 minutes just getting ready to get into the system to be able to open a requisition. And I mean, if you’re opening more than one, you’re really in trouble because, you know, it’s, it’s an all day event. So not only was it frustrating, but it was a bit disappointing. We’re, we’re in an environment where everything that we do outside of work is what I call consumer grade. So whether you’re using an Android or an iPhone, you don’t need a owner’s manual to figure out how to use it. Whether you’re on pick the side of your choice and you’re trying to order something overnight, from your company of choice. Again, you don’t need a, you just, you go in, you search for what you need, you click the button, it’s 1, 2, 3 clicks max, and you have everything you need. And within HR, we have to continue to provide a similar consumer great experience in leveraging digital technology to be able to do that in a very seamless way. Today when I think most individuals are creating a, a requisition, there’s still some data that we need. But now the, the ability to pre-populate that data so that a manager now can look at it, review it quickly, and be able to pull down a menu, pick the right value and move on uh, is what we have today. Uh, obviously I was talking about a different company then, but the fact that we’re able to have that level of support for our employees goes a long way.

NARRATOR: As Marlon thinks ahead to the future, he wants to incorporate new technologies. Not just for the sake of staying up to date, but to be as efficient as possible.

Marlon Sullivan: I think more and more HR leaders are gaining an appreciation for AI. And I know historically we’ve talked about AI and more in the sense of being able to look at data and analytics. Obviously with the advent of chat G P T, there’s a whole nother wave, right. Of discussions about what that could mean. The challenge that I faced when I did implement it, and it was not as successful as I would like, was trying to use AI to do predictive analytics. And it’s not that it’s not possible, it’s just that it was a bit premature. You know, what we learned in the process and, and our goal by the way, was to be able to say, based on the number of clicks and the number of people who are seeking, whether it’s creator requisition, or maybe trying to move a person from one location to another, or maybe trying to promote a person in our system. We were trying to better anticipate the type of needs based on the geography, based on the function that leader was in, and be able to provide that leader with more of what I’d call like a, a leading indicator so that if I came back, if, if Marlin over the last three months was opening a req a month. When I come back to the site, it would say, Marlon, are you interested in opening a requisition? Right. It would try to make my whole life a little bit easier, but we struggled with doing that. And this was about, uh, two years ago, uh with prior company, we struggled with doing it in part because we didn’t have enough data. It takes typically about two to three years, depending on the size of your employee population, obviously, to be able to do predictive analytics and for it to be statistically relevant so that you’re actually able to predict what those activities are. It just takes time. So, you know, we were bummed honestly because we were like, oh yeah, we’re gonna be able to do all these great things for our employees and we weren’t. You know, the good news is we hadn’t gone out in broadcast of it. We were gonna do it as more of a, an elegant surprise. It was a lesson learned. Now we were able to still use some data analytics and we were able to do what I call the early stages of predictive analytics, but not nearly where, uh, we’d want it to be. Now the benefit is, not all, but I’d say most Fortune 200, 300, 500 companies do have a system of record, which now allows you to be able to aggregate data in large scale and be able to perform the analytics, uh, and that’s part of what we’re able to do today.

NARRATOR: With the help of technology, fellow leaders, and employee feedback, Marlon is focused on creating the best employee experience possible. After all, that’s what keeps a company strong.

Marlon Sullivan: When we think about the employee experience, I think what matters the most to employees, and this is in my opinion, independent of the industry, is meaningful work. I think employees want to come in and know that I’m making a difference, that the work that I do matters, that I can see it in some tangible way and can get up every morning being proud of what they do. The, the beauty of what I would call the employee experience is twofold, number. It’s creating the environment that allows them to flourish in the purpose of why they’re there. It’s helping to drive that engagement, that excitement, that that level of collaboration and, and innovation that otherwise wouldn’t be there.The, the flip side of it is when you do have an amazing employee experience, whether it be digital or maybe sort of on your way to becoming digital. Creates a different type of a marketing, employment marketing, that quite frankly, you couldn’t pay people to go out and do. Because when an employee’s really enjoying the work that they do, guess what they do? They talk about it. They talk about how great the company is. They invite their friends and families and they provide referrals, and they’re among the top performers. So I wouldn’t recall, you know, the employee experience. Sometimes in HR, we think about it more from a platform perspective. But I’d like to think about it from a true employee impact perspective, and it first starts with defining what do you want that experience to be, and then obviously leveraging technology to drive those outcomes and ultimately drive performance of, of your people, performance of the company, and, and ideally impact for those that you serve.

NARRATOR: When HR focuses on the company experience, everybody wins. If employees feel purposeful and leaders strive for positive impact, the business can make the world better, one employee at a time. Thanks for listening to this episode of Cruising Altitude. This episode is brought to you by Firstup, the company that is redefining the digital employee experience to put people first and lift companies up by connecting every worker, everywhere with the information that helps them do their best work. Firstup has helped over 40% of the Fortune 100 companies like Amazon, AB InBev, Ford and Pfizer stay agile and keep transforming. Learn more at firstup.io