Elevating the Role of CHROs: Insights from Calvin Hilton | CHRO Mastermind

CHROPartners

Elevating the Role of CHROs: Insights from Calvin Hilton | CHRO Mastermind

24:57

 

Cindy Lu, Founder of CHRO Mastermind Groups, sits down with Calvin Hilton, a seasoned CHRO, former Chief Diversity Officer, and current board member, to talk about the pivotal role of CHROs in today’s organizations. They explore how CHROs can move from being order-takers to strategic partners, the importance of having a strong presence in boardrooms, and how to build trust and create thriving environments where employees can succeed.

Key Topics:

• The importance of CHROs being both players and coaches in their organizations.
• How board members can support CHROs in managing talent risks.
• The significance of building trust and allies to gain a seat at the strategic table.
• Developing strong teams to focus on strategy rather than being bogged down by daily operations.
• How empathy and listening play crucial roles in leadership and talent management.
• Calvin’s experience in guiding organizations to maximize their human capital.

Key Takeaways:

• Learn how CHROs can secure a place in strategic conversations by building trust and alliances.
• Discover ways CHROs can lead their teams more effectively to stay focused on the big picture.
• Gain insight into how board members can better support CHROs in driving talent and organizational success.
• Understand the crucial role human capital plays in achieving top-line growth and how boards can maximize this resource.

👉 If you are a CHRO or board member interested in learning how to better align talent strategy with business objectives, this is a must-watch! 

Attention CHROs of Companies with 500+ Employees!

If you're looking to connect, grow, and gain insights from a network of HR leaders, our CHRO Mastermind group is designed for you. Book an introductory call to learn more about how our group can support your leadership journey and help you drive business success.

Schedule your call here (limit 1 per person):
https://calendly.com/cindylu/30

Transcript generated with the help of AI.

Cindy Lu: I'm here with Calvin Hilton, who is a longtime friend, board member, prior CHRO, prior chief diversity officer, and I'm going to ask Calvin to tell you a little bit more about himself, but today we're going to talk about a couple of the things that we feel like board members can be helpful on when it comes to the whole talent risk equation and how board members can be allies to the CHRO.

Calvin Hilton: Alright, Calvin and turn over to you. Tell us a little bit about your amazing history and background.

Calvin Hilton: Okay, thanks. Hey, thanks for the invitation. Thanks for allowing me to be here for and spend a little time with you today. Again, Calvin open. I've been around for a long time. I've known Cindy for, I don't know, since she started her business here in Texas here probably 10 years ago, or at least years ago. I've been a CHRO, I've been working in finance and accounting, done a lot, lots of things over time, but over the last over the last 10, 12 years, you know, I've been a CHRO, but I'm a CHRO came up through a finance organization. So I worked at a couple of very large airlines and worked up, did a lot of financial accounting jobs there. Director of financial accounting, done a lot of accounting things. And one day I saw the light here, you know, some 20 years ago, and I went into this thing called human resources. And I never went back. I went over into, to do a run benefit and pension plans at the airline. And they said, this is a guy who knows a little bit about some of these things because he has a finance background and they wanted a finance guy running some big old human resources project. So I got to do that. And I guess the rest they say is history. And then over the last 20 years, and I won't spend a lot of time on that, but I spent a lot of time working at a company called Bread Financial. If some of you guys might know about that formerly Alliance Data, and worked as a CHRO and chief diversity officer. I spent a little bit of time on some boards and I work, I'm on the board right now for the North Texas Food Bank, which is one of the largest food banks in the country. And I've been doing other, some other work on some, you know, some smaller boards here, and I'm in the process of maybe doing some work for a private board or private or public company. So anyway, that's a little bit about me, some of the things that I'm doing and I'm looking forward to having this conversation with Cindy today.

Cindy Lu: Yeah. Yeah. Welcome Calvin. Calvin's been such an amazing advisor to me. He was in our mastermind group for years. But when he retired from Bread Financial, I was kind of like, you can't go. I still need to talk to you. So he's been an amazing advisor to me for our mastermind groups. But one of the things that we talk a lot about with CHROs is some of the qualities and characteristics that make CHROs not only effective but happy CHROs. And I think a happy CHRO means a happy organization. And we think that there's a kind of a big divide between what boards may understand about how they can help the organization when it comes to talent and talent risk. It's a big deal these days. So Calvin, there were three things that I had discussed in one of my previous LinkedIn lives. And these were things that really make happy, healthy, thriving CHROs, but creating environments where employees can thrive. And so if you believe if you're on and you believe that employees deserve to thrive, type the word thrive into the chat, and I'll be the person to do that. Okay, there you go. And in any case, one of the things is really having the CHRO be not just the player-player, meaning they're just doing the work, but also being a coach, right? Having an opportunity to elevate and actually not just do the work, but work on the business and work with their teams to be coached to their teams and elevate. Because otherwise, what happens, Calvin, if they're constantly a player-coach and...

Calvin Hilton: Yeah, player-coaches are always interesting. And I think we'd all end up having to do that. But being a coach, I think it's probably top of the list item, Cindy. And really being in the room to be a coach. And Cindy and I have talked about this on many occasions, you know, about the importance of being in the room. I think many of you have probably seen the show Hamilton. And they have this really big, big scene in there where they talk about, I want to be in the room. I want to be in the room. I'll be in the room. As a CHRO, you want to be in the room because that's where really things happen. But being in the room also means that you have to be an active participant in the room. It's not just being a coach, it's also being a player. So you have to be in the room, but you have to be invited into a room. But how do you get invited into a room? You only get invited into a room because somebody believes that you add some value to be there. And I call that the really first part of that is being a coach and being a coach to many people throughout the organization, being coached to key leaders, being a coach to a CEO who really believes that you bring value to the conversation. Because if you think about the things that happen in the boardroom, there's probably nothing that happens there that doesn't touch some part of the human capital structure, your talent structure, anything at all that happens there, whether it be sales, a decision around opening up a new organization, a new plant, shutting down a plant, any piece of that involves some component of the human capital component to it. And there's really kind of strategy around that. And as a CHRO, you certainly don't want to be just seen as tactical as what I consider to be an order taker. And I think if you take a look historically at the way things have worked as people who work on the human capital side, we've been looked at as very transactional. A decision has been made, you guys go off and do that. Well, what about being a part of the decision that was made to close a plant or open a plant or open up a new organization to be a part of that? That's the part where as CHROs, we really want to be involved in those type of conversations. And you need to be invited into the room.

Cindy Lu: So I only knew you for the part of your career where you were always in the room, right? And I know that you had, I don't know, you were sort of a C-suite whisperer. Like I came to your retirement party and I saw all the executives who were like their lives that you had impacted. But was there ever a time, Calvin, where you weren't in the room?

Calvin Hilton: Absolutely, Cindy. You know, it takes time. As you can see, I've got a little gray hair here and I've been around for a while. So I've had an opportunity to be on the outside looking in. And I think part of what you have to do is you have to openly show people that you bring value to the table. And here's how you bring value as you start to build trust throughout the organization, as you start to try to build allies. You know, I like to look at myself in my career as one where I really built allies throughout the organization. Now, whether that ally might be someone in finance or another part of the organization is really kind of building allies. How do you build allies? You build allies by building trust. And trust is one of those things that it's not a one-time deal. It's something that's built over time. As you start to build, you know, split throughout the organization, as you start to work the organization and start to have experiences. I mean, everyone in the organization has at some point had some interface with your human resources, your human capital piece, whether that might be, you know, an executive that had to be terminated or executive had to be hired. You start to build some of those relationships. And some of those can be good, bad, or what I call ugly. But you start to build trust and allies for all of your organization through those interactions. And it's the classic, you have an interaction with an executive or a friend, and they will tell someone else about, you know, I had this interaction with Calvin, and he really brought something unique to the table, something that maybe I didn't have an eye to, and they will start to tell other people. And that's really how you start to build those allies. And that's when this conversation has taken place, and they said, you know what, we need to at least invite Calvin over and have a perspective on that. You may or may not bring something to the table.

Cindy Lu: Yeah, I love that.

Calvin Hilton: So we try to get invitations for those.

Cindy Lu: So I hear this trust word a lot. Like every CHRO that I talk to who is in the room and is part of the strategic conversations. But it's like, how do you grab trust, right? Like it's such a hard thing to figure out. I know it doesn't happen overnight, but I'll tell you my observation and, and it's probably easier for me to speak to this than for you to speak about yourself. But I'll tell you the things that build trust start with listening. Like you're such a good listener, right? Like when we get our monthly calls and I get to talk to Calvin, I'm so excited. Cause I'm like, okay.

And because when there's advice before you listen, it feels like it's just about your agenda, right? But you're such a good listener.

Calvin Hilton: Well, and that really is important. I mean, part of my background and part of what you have to do as a good listener is you have to have some sense of empathy, you know, and empathy is one of those things. I mean, it's very easy to just tell someone what to do and just be on. But when people feel like they've got a voice and they've been listened to, and that you really take a look and listen to all sides of an equation and you can empathize with their situation because some people, sometimes people get in situations that are really bad and they are really jammed. But when you can sit down and listen to them and have some empathy for their situation, not necessarily tell them exactly what to do or how to do it, but that you can at least understand their situation and then start to help them figure out how to get themselves out of that. That's how you start to build trust. Because part of that is also being a truth teller. If someone is really in a jam, to really be honest with them about that is really important. Here's my classic example, Cindy. If you go back doing COVID and we had a really tough environment and people had jobs that were moving all over the place, I had many people come in and say, Calvin, I've got another job someplace else. And I really, really think I need to do it. And I was CHRO and selfishly, the conversation would be, you know, we need you here for a lot of different things. But empathy says that you need to understand what that person's situation is and give them the best advice for them and their family. And I can tell you every person I talked to, the conversation was, you need to do what's best for you and your family. Because at the end of the day, we're going to do what's best for our organization. If that conversation ultimately means that Calvin is going to have to come in and have a conversation with you that says, what's best for our organization is that we need to separate you. That's what we're going to do. So the conversation was do what's best for you and your family. And I can, I've had many people come back to me and say, Calvin, I just needed to hear that to make an informed decision. And those are the type situations where you start to create empathy and you start to create trust.

Cindy Lu: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And those are tough.

Calvin Hilton: Yeah. Well, and I know I was going to have to fill that job.

Cindy Lu: That's right. That's right. Well, and continuing on this topic of coaching. So it really appears that you played the coach, right? A trusted advisor to many of the C-suite, not just the C-suite executives, but also for your team. So what allowed you to be able to play in that strategic zone is because you had strong teams that were supporting you, right? And so I see so many cases where the CHRO is having to do the work, like they're rolling up the sleeves. And I'm not saying it goes away completely, but it's tough. You're doing everything and trying to lead a team.

Calvin Hilton: Yeah, so you never get into a CHRO role or an executive role without having some level of expertise. You just have to have some level of expertise, and you have to have some competencies in some areas. But I think the best leaders create teams and create environments where you allow people to thrive. And that is really, you know, finding individuals who are confident to really come in and do those things to do. I created, and I was, you know, I was very blessed. I had some really, really good teams, but I had really good people. And I got out of the way and allowed them to learn and make mistakes. Now, my classic example is if you're not making decisions, if you're not making mistakes, you're probably not making any decisions. And people have to be in an environment where they are allowed to make some mistakes. Now, the reality is, if you make too many mistakes, one day somebody like me comes and tells you to go home. That's how that works in any organization. But people have to be in an environment where they can thrive and they can make mistakes. And they're not going to get caned. And, you know, and there may be some people on the call today who might not know what a canine is. You can probably go back and look out, look and find out what a canine is. But people have to be in an environment where they feel like if they make a mistake, they're not going to be caned every day because they have to be in an environment where they can make mistakes and people learn from those things. And you start to build trust there. You know, I had an environment and I had a team where I could send my team off to any meeting to represent me or our organization in our part of the organization, and they were entrusted to make decisions about whatever that matter was being held. I trusted them. They trusted me. I didn't have them. I didn't have to worry about second guessing their decisions because I knew at the end of the day, they were going to make decisions that were best for the organization and for our associates. And if you take a look at what we are called to do or for the things that we were, it was for our associates, for our shareholders. And that was it. And so, as long as we were making decisions around those, and they were going to be in their best interest, I didn't second guess though. And that's really how you end up designing and getting a really high performing team.

Cindy Lu: Right. That's amazing. I love that. It's hard to... how did you manage that up? Like, how did you communicate that that was how you're going to lead your function?

Calvin Hilton: It was real key. And a real key for me was if I had to go to meetings, whether it be with the CEO or CFO, whoever I took the subject matter experts, those people who led those competencies, I took those people to those meetings, and I'll allow them to really be the facilitators in those conversations. You know, I looked at my job largely as a drum major, you know. Drum majors lead the organization and they know what it sounds like. They know what it looks like. They know what it sounds like when it looks good. I couldn't play all the instruments, whether it be in comp or benefits or technology, those things. But I had some SMEs who really did know that stuff. As a drum major, it was my job to really kind of orchestrate all the components to it and bring those people to the table. So when I went into a meeting with senior leaders, I took those people who were SMEs and allowed them to shine in those conversations. And when questions came, you know, at a very high level, I could answer those things, but I honestly allowed those people to kind of thrive in those environments. So people started to get this, understand that it was not just a Calvin show. It's a Calvin team show. It was a, and that's how you do it. And that allowed them to grow. And it also allowed me to do some other things to really kind of work on some of the more strategic issues that the organization had to deal with. So that oftentimes when leaders called me, it wasn't so much about the technical components to it, because they knew Calvin didn't have all the technical expertise, but Calvin could at a very topical level, talk about whatever it was.

Cindy Lu: So that really helped me a lot. So I worry a lot about CHROs who are buried in the details every day. And granted, not all organizations are large enough for them not to be into the weeds, but how can the board, right? How can a board member, how can the board help the CEO recognize some of these signs where they're underutilizing a really strategic resource at their fingertip?

Calvin Hilton: You know, that's really difficult. But that's where as CHRO, you really have to help your CEOs really kind of understand really your role. And your role is really not to be technical, and your role is not to really be just an order taker. Now certainly if the transactions and things like that don't get done, you don't get allowed to go past go, but you really have to help them to understand that your job there is really to be able to be an active listener and an active participant in the conversation around the transaction, not necessarily the technical components to it.

Cindy Lu: Yeah, that is so critical. I know personally, I was that CEO at one point who didn't really get that. And I had to, I was fortunate to have some CHRs who were on our advisory board who helped school me, right, who helped me understand that the chaos that I was living in my company and the dread that I had for going into the office had everything to do with the fact that I wasn't paying attention to the people side of things.

Calvin Hilton: Yeah, it's really important.

Cindy Lu: Yeah. I think if you're a CEO and you know that feeling like you're like, I founded this company. How come I hate going in to work on Mondays?

Calvin Hilton: I don't, but part of that part of that ended up being a relationship. How do you kind of create the relationship and create the environment and the expectation?

Cindy Lu: Right. Yeah, you are there for that. Again, I go back to, you know, closing and closing a part of the organization, doing a layoff or some of those things. Look, if we can't do the technical components to it, we don't get to go past

go because that's what we're there for, but being able to add leadership to the conversation is really important and being invited to be able to do that.

Cindy Lu: Yeah. So I know we're a little over time. I have one last question for you, Calvin. I'm going to make you boast about yourself a little bit. Tell me, what kind of board seat or what kind of board would benefit the most from your advice and counsel?

Calvin Hilton: You know, Cindy, that's an interesting question. You know, a couple of months ago, I had a time, I had a chance to take a look and say, you know, what, what do I really want to do? And where do I really add value? I'm a relationship person and, you know, I understand those things, but I do understand the human capital components too and what talent brings that to. You know, I really try to help organizations really kind of maximize their human capital. Every organization has a huge amount of it, human capital. And so in this space, if I can help an organization to maximize their human capital, all of their human capital, I can, that is really important to me. But first companies have to really kind of recognize that it really is there and that it really drives a lot of the organizations. So organizations that really kind of understand the human side of their business, that's really where we're really like to be.

Cindy Lu: Or maybe even the ones that don't.

Calvin Hilton: Don't. That's a really good voice, isn't it?

Cindy Lu: Yeah, yeah.

Calvin Hilton: It's an anathema.

Cindy Lu: Right. I think your finance and accounting background combined with the human capital expertise is all great hard skills on paper. But Calvin, I think the thing about you is that, you know, a lot of boards use the word collegial. Right. I'm like, you just packed that box a hundred percent of the time. And, you know, I can just imagine boards like coming to you nonstop to be like, can we talk, can we talk, you know, and helping a board really come together. So I think the CEO, you know, who are smart would consider.

Calvin Hilton: You know, one of the things I find really interesting these days is that you don't, you don't see a lot of board prospect jobs that actually list what's human capital in terms of the requirement for that. So I think that's an opportunity that we have to really kind of change, to spin it a little bit because I think many of them think that, you know, we'll get somebody that, we'll get some people on here that really kind of understand comp. They really want the finance component of it, but they miss this piece of it.

Cindy Lu: Yeah, it's unbelievable. I think, you know, and I've told my personal story before, but that's a topic we can dig into later because honestly, the talent management human capital side, a lot that they can bring to the top line growth. We don't have time today to talk, dig into that. But driving top line growth is one of the top things that CEOs are concerned about this year, right? Like Gartner just had a report that came out, I think. It's the highest in 10 years that CEOs are really concerned about top line growth and really focused on top line growth. That's an area where we can absolutely help.

Calvin Hilton: Yep. You got to be in the room.

Cindy Lu: Got to be in the room. Got to be invited. Got to be invited. If you don't get invited, you got to figure out a way to sneak yourself into the room.

Calvin Hilton: That's right. Find an ally, right?

Cindy Lu: Find an ally. Ally. Don't underestimate the importance of an ally.

Cindy Lu: Alright. Well, listen, we're going to sign off now, but we're going to put Calvin's LinkedIn profile in the show notes. And, hey there, Eric. Nice to see you. Thanks for joining us. And please connect with Calvin, whether you're a board member, CEO, CHRO, who needs somebody to talk to. Anyways, he's amazing and has certainly been somebody who's helped me quite a bit.

Calvin Hilton: Always happy to help out, Cindy.

Cindy Lu: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Calvin Hilton: Bye.

Cindy Lu: Take care.