REVIEWS

about Conflict Management, HR, and Employee Engagement

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I’ve been a manager here for close to 20 years and I’ve had the opportunity to work with quite a few HR specialists. Karen is one of the good ones and I would say that she exceeded my expectations overall. I had the opportunity to work with Karen on a number of issues and a variety of HR responsibilities, and I found her to be experienced, knowledgeable, highly effective and efficient in addition to being a very nice friendly, approachable person that was willing to take on any issue and help in whatever way she could. She created an active presence in our team, and is enthusiastic in how she approaches her work. Her good attitude is infectious (in a good way) and inspiring.

I’d like to mention one of the most memorable issues I’ve worked with Karen. This was an employee conflict situation that developed in our teams just around the time she was transferring out to her next assignment. Regardless of her impending transition, she continued to support this situation with her conflict resolution skills. I truly felt that I was in the hands of a professional and I received excellent guidance. We had several management/HR meetings and I found Karen’s knowledge and input highly valuable and confidence building in addressing this employee to employee conflict. The results of those conversations and meetings with the employees has been highly successful and the employees are getting along and behaving like adults without conflict since we implemented the actions developed jointly.

-Engineering Manager

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Karen has been an excellent HRBP. I understand that she has many demands placed on her time, but she does an excellent job in ensuring time is spent with me on key issues. What I really appreciate about Karen is she takes time to listen, understand and then provides sound advice on how to proceed. She has also been instrumental in helping me address a specific employee concern, and in the process helped me draft a go-forward plan to prevent such issues in the future. She also takes the time to coach me on different situations and scenarios which is appreciated by me. Often, situations being faced by managers are unknown to them and having HR to coach and guide is a real benefit.

-Systems Manager

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Karen was very fair and professional throughout, and helped us listen to each other and achieve resolution of the issue. This was a very interesting process and reinforces in my mind how the company tries to achieve a high level of fairness with employees. It was also a very professional process. I am extremely proud that the company offers a path for honest dialogue when people disagree. Hopefully, this process helps to build stronger professional relationships and helps achieve the goal of working together across the company.

-Employee, after the conclusion of dispute resolution efforts

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Karen has taken the time to get to know our team, our work statement, our culture, and our work place behavior, and understands our needs. She has learned that she needs to be very direct and succinct with our teams. She teaches us what we need before we need to know it; she encourages us on our good behaviors and appropriately coaches us on our “gray” behaviors. Every time we have needed her she’s been there for us helping us handle difficult issues. She makes us a better Management team.

Karen has helped us understand and communicate some of the policy changes that we thought would be concerns for our employees. She has done a great job putting together presentations and has presented the material when requested.

I’ve worked with many HRBPs in my professional and management years. Karen, in my opinion ranks up with the very best HRBPs I’ve worked with in my career. I appreciate her knowledge, her work ethic, her character, and her professionalism. Karen is doing a great job for me and my team.

Karen does an outstanding job of staying neutral. Employees tend to think HR is really there to support management, but Karen really makes sure that she is the neutral party. She has helped coach/guide my managers as well as employees. We have had several instances this year where we had employee issues/concerns with their manager, and Karen did an outstanding job helping us through those issues. I can say without her assistance, I know we would not have had the positive outcomes we had. As far as HRBP support, Karen exceeded my expectations and I would rate her as one of the best I have had the opportunity to work with in my 14 years in management.

-Engineering Senior Manager

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Karen, I love your energy and sense of humor. I appreciate that you have always been so friendly and approachable. You have a wonderful passion for teaching, curriculum design, and looking at all aspects of a situation. You’re also a great negotiation partner. You are a team player who is positive and supportive, and creative and driven to doing the right thing for the employees. Thanks for your guidance and friendship.

-HR Team Member

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Karen develops open and honest relationships with her clients and with her peers. She is not afraid to test for clarity in situations where communication is breaking down or things are uncomfortable. In order for team members and clients to address difficult problems, we need individuals like Karen who are willing to ask questions about what is going on and to hold the mirror up for our partners. Only then can we work together to resolve our problems and move forward together to get the work done. I’ve observed a number of instances where Karen did this with our team interactions as well as with clients.

Karen is very client-focused and works to build strong relationships with her clients – both management and non-management. She sizes up what is needed by the client, what the strengths and weaknesses are, etc. She does an excellent job of transitioning clients to other HRBPs during reorganizations, and sharing the knowledge she’s gained about those client groups where it is needed. The ability to identify what is needed in a client group is key to creating satisfaction. She helped me considerably when she recently transitioned an engineering executive and his team to align with an incoming HRBP. She cared enough to take the time to sit with me and share what was needed prior to meeting with the executive prior to that first meeting with him. That enabled the new HRBP to more quickly adapt to what the executive needed as a client. I am also impressed with how she partners with the employees on teams she supports. One example is her extensive work with the Peer Councils and her efforts to bring the Career Advising Group in from LTD (Learning, Training and Development) to assist employees.

Karen led a number of projects for our team during the time I worked with her. In each case, she led very effectively and managed the project well. She was able to handle the tactical details and bring the team together to plan effectively. She managed the teams she led with a participative style – she made certain we all had input to what was going to occur and that we came to agreement around what we were going to do. She worked well to balance the projects she led with her day-to-day work. This is not easy in an environment where everyone is overloaded. She is comfortable leading teams.

-HR Leader

REVIEWS

about Project Management, Training, and Culture Building

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Karen's work on supporting the transition to ServiceNow was invaluable and I would consider our transition one that could serve as an example to other groups. This has been a long and tedious project to be on, and Karen did not tire and still provided the support needed to stand up this new system that will be used for many years. Karen demonstrated leadership by providing frequent updates to the team, asking for help when needed, and delegating tasks when needed. I've seen Karen be thoughtful about what decisions needed team input and when team input was not needed at a particular stage, which is really positive. She seeks to understand and additionally, her attention to detail really served the team well here. I can’t think of a better person with the skillset to have had on this project, thank you.

-HR Leader

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Karen: The Engineering Leadership Team would like to thank you for your dedication in developing and presenting a “World Class” Diversity event over a two-day period. The year-over-year increase in attendance and popularity exhibited by this event is a testament to the value of this type of program. Your passion and guidance in creating an environment where all of us can be successful is well recognized. Thank you for your leadership in creating a competitive advantage for the company.

-VP of Engineering

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Karen, I would like to recognize you for your leadership in the Management training project sponsored by HR. Your willingness to learn, listen and work on a standard process for management training for our clients was superb. Your demonstrated resilience and willingness to compromise resulted in an outcome that represents our whole team. The final product will significantly reduce rework and increase productivity. It will also drive consistency and standardization in how we serve our clients. Congratulations on a job well done!

-HR Executive

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Karen: We are delighted to recognize you for your leadership in accelerating the development of all our employees. Several months ago, our organization made the decision to invest in our employees’ development. That investment has paid-off because of your contributions. More significantly, because of the nature of your work we will continue to realize a return on investment. You have set a high standard for our newer HR professionals in terms of understanding their role, processes/tools, and the impact that each of them can have on the business.

-HR Vice President