This summary outlines key discussions from the “Harmonious Workplaces – Ep 71: Special Guest Jenni Pozar” podcast, drawing on both the provided show notes and transcript. The episode features hosts Rich Cruz and Ben Kleinman in conversation with special guest Jenni Pozar, focusing on managing expectations and leveraging rumors in the workplace.
Introduction to Jenni Pozar
The episode begins by welcoming Jenni Pozar. Jenni shares her unique professional journey, beginning with a background in journalism from the University of Oregon, where she initially aspired to be a film critic. After struggling to find work as a writer, she moved into office management and eventually stumbled into Human Resources (HR).
Her first HR role was with a small consulting firm that needed an HR department built “soup to nuts,” providing her with tremendous training ground. This experience made her realize she enjoyed the business aspects of HR, particularly its communication element, which resonated with her journalism background. She pursued an MBA at the University of Michigan and later joined Cisco in the Bay Area, participating in their HR leadership rotational program. Unexpectedly, she was placed in a compensation role, a field she initially found intimidating due to its analytical nature. However, she “got the bug” for it, discovering her aptitude for math and analytics, and never rotated out of compensation at Cisco.
Jenni then followed her boss to Dell in Austin, where she continued to work in compensation and total rewards for 20 years, also gaining experience in generalist HR roles and remote work for Silicon Valley companies. Most recently, she led the entire HR function in the financial services industry for Amherst, a company involved in banking and real estate. She is currently engaged in her own consulting work.
A recurring theme in Jenni’s career is job crafting, which she describes as a motivational factor that allowed her to shape her roles and learn on the job. She emphasizes the importance of paying it forward by developing those beneath her, having been fortunate to have mentors herself. She highlights the rarity of strong communication skills in compensation roles, which are often “highly analytical” and “heads down”. Her ability to communicate numbers and “tell stories” has been her “ace in the hole,” distinguishing her from others in the field.
HR as a Change Agent and Managing Expectations
Jenni strongly believes that HR’s primary function is to be a change agent. She refers to Dave Ulrich’s concept that “change agent is everything” and stresses the importance of teaching people to be change champions. A crucial component of effective change management, she notes, is managing expectations. Jenni has always been a proponent of “full transparency,” recognizing that change initiatives often fail because people feel unprepared or uninformed.
She realized that messaging about change was more effective and “stuck better” when it did not originate solely from HR. While executive sponsors and peer buy-in are vital, Jenni discovered another powerful channel for information dissemination.
Leveraging Rumors for Organizational Change
Jenni’s insight into leveraging rumors for good stemmed from her experience at Dell. While working on significant initiatives like job architecture and compensation structure changes—which involve sensitive issues like titles and money—she shared extensive details with her junior staff and interns. She noticed these younger employees, being less constrained by corporate secrecy, would discuss the projects with their friends in other departments (e.g., finance and marketing). These “water cooler conversations,” effectively rumors, brought back valuable questions and feedback that HR might not have otherwise received.
Jenni quickly understood that hearing “true rumors earlier” was beneficial, helping to gather feedback and initiate a feedback loop that proved invaluable. While there were downsides, such as people “freaking out,” she found it “always better” to receive this feedback months before a major announcement rather than on the day of a big rollout. This aligns with the principle of managing expectations.
However, Jenni cautions that this tactic is highly dependent on the corporate culture. It worked well at Dell, which had a “very transparent and open” culture, but has been less successful in more “political” or rigid environments where leaders might feel their power is infringed upon if employees below them are informed before they are.
How to Start and Spread “Good” Rumors
Jenni has refined her approach over time, becoming more strategic about “who to pick and where (globally) to start rumors”. This is a “delicate dance” that requires continuous relearning in each new company.
Picking “Rumor Spreaders” (Rumor Agents)
Jenni emphasizes that being a good rumor starter is more personality-driven than function-driven. She looks for individuals who are:
- Curious and factual, not “overly dramatic”.
- Good listeners.
- Willing to bring back feedback.
She intentionally tells these individuals, whom Ben Kleinman later playfully dubs “Rumor Agents,” to “go spread this rumor” and encourages them to tell their friends and the world, then report back what they hear. This approach helps build HR’s credibility, especially when HR might not be seen as trusted. Jenni strategically picks people from across the hierarchy, globally, and from different functions. She particularly favors people from finance or IT as they often talk to a wide range of individuals across the company. IT people, in particular, tend to appreciate organization, making them natural champions for initiatives like job architecture.
The Process and Challenges
The idea of a “good” rumor, according to Jenni, is that it “has to feel natural” and the messaging isn’t fixed. This differentiates it from “gossip”. Rumors can even be useful for negative news, allowing people to “hear it / feel it / sit with it before a big announcement,” thus giving them a chance to process it. Rumors can start even before all the final details are known.
For this tactic to work, Jenni stresses the importance of being honest and real with people. It’s a highly intentional process, not something to “wing it” with. People often hear what they want to hear, and the “telephone game” can quickly corrupt the message.
Course Correction and Feedback Loop
To prevent messages from being totally corrupted, Jenni relies on picking people who will provide a feedback loop. These individuals come back to her and report what they heard, allowing her to “course correct & adjust messaging based on feedback”. This process relies on developed relationships and trust within the company. When someone voluntarily brings back feedback, Jenni calls it “culture surveys in real life”.
Jenni acknowledges that this “next level HR” tactic is risky and “can backfire”. She has learned from failures, noting that it’s common to choose the “wrong choice” of rumor spreader at times, but these instances provide valuable learning about individuals. It requires a certain level of courage and “guts”. Ultimately, this approach not only helps manage change but also garners trust with people, leading them to approach HR with other issues.
In conclusion, Jenni Pozar’s insights reveal that strategic and intentional use of “good” rumors, facilitated by trusted “Rumor Agents” and a robust feedback loop, can be a powerful tool for HR to manage expectations, drive organizational change, and build trust within a company.
Connect with Jenni Pozar:
You can connect with Jenni Pozar on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenni-pozar63596359/.
Check out Harmonious Workplaces Resources:
For more insights and resources from Harmonious Workplaces, visit: https://harmoniousworkplaces.com/resources/
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