153 - Reverse integrating a 10k employee company into a startup: Holly May (Former Chief People Officer at Datavant)
Holly May, former Chief People Officer at Datavant, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about Datavant’s reverse integration: how they unified the two people teams, how they used real-life stories to illustrate their new values, and how they’ve made the company more agile. ---- This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here. ---- Read Holly's leadership lessons from her time at Datavant. ---- (1:00) Good news stories (6:18) Her journey to becoming Chief People Officer at Datavant (11:08) Going from being the CPO at a 100 person company to a 9,000 person company overnight (14:20) Her approach to job searching and the value of targeting companies for their culture and potential for growth. (17:08) The concept of 'done is better than perfect (19:52) Reflections on the challenges and opportunities of integrating and leading a significantly larger HR team post-merger. (22:00) The cultural integration and value alignment efforts post-merger (22:00) Holly expresses her initial reaction to being asked to lead a much larger people team post-merger and discusses the challenges of integrating different organizational cultures. (24:00) How Holly approached transforming the HR function to align with the new, larger organization's goals and culture. (26:00) The importance of building a strong team culture and ensuring the HR team's alignment with the company's strategic objectives. (35:30) Challenges and successes of implementing a new employee engagement and feedback system. ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get key learnings & career advice from Modern People Leaders💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn