Jaclyn Buckingham

I think that it all comes down to relationships. I've particularly always been an advocate for and a mentor to other women in the space, because there's been women that have made space for me throughout my career. I'm somebody that's extremely disciplined and regimented. I don't take no for an answer, and I have really grown up with my sleeves rolled up and willing to do the hard things that other people aren't always willing to do. My first job out of college, I worked at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, so I was out there with my college degree, walking cars, picking customers up, working 80-hour weeks outside in negative 22 degree weather at the Denver airport. I learned a ton there about leadership and teamwork and work ethic, and I've carried that with me ever since. I'm just somebody that is never going to say that's not my job. I'm always going to step in where needed and work for the collective of the group, because I think that it all comes back around at some point or another. I think that just building relationships, building trust with others, making space for them to rise, and then ultimately, just doing the hard work without making excuses.

You can't always be liked, and it's better to be right. I think a lot of, especially women, early in their career, get distracted by trying to gain approval of others and trying to fit into a box of what people expect them to be, and that is a losing game, because there's really no box that we are going to be accepted in by 100% of people. If you speak up, then you're too assertive. If you don't speak up, then you're not competent, and so you have to center yourself on your own values and decide where you stand on how you show up as a woman in the workplace. I think that's incredibly hard for young professionals to separate perceptions and approval and validation from what they truly believe is their leadership principles, and instead act in alignment with those. I've gone through a whole journey through that of my own, having recovered from imposter phenomena and feeling like I'm not good enough, like I don't belong in the room, to becoming acquainted with my own worth and value and acting each day from a place that's grounded in what I believe, what my principles are, and how I like to show up as a leader. So, divorcing yourself from other people's approval and instead anchoring the way that you act with others in the workplace to something deeper.

For women entering into the world of HR consulting, I would say to come in with a learner's mindset and a sense of curiosity, whether you are coming in from a different industry entirely or you've done consulting for the last 20 years. Because the game is changing, and things like AI are transforming the industry. There's trends with how HRIS systems are approaching the market that are shifting. So it's really just being able to pivot on your heels and adapt to rapid changes in the marketplace, and you can't do that if you're not keeping an open mind, staying curious, and being dedicated to learning the craft.

In our field, I think we're navigating a changing landscape when it comes to our disciplines of HR, payroll, consulting, and we also have a talent acquisition arm. The job market is incredibly challenging right now, and so clients are not necessarily hurting for candidates, and so we're having to pivot our strategy to lean more into my side of the business, which is managed services. We're having to position our services in a way that shows clients why they need to allocate budget to the HR side of the house, when there's been a shift in the amount of resources that are being poured into HR. When benefits are being walked back for employees and total rewards packages are being shrunk because companies are hurting. So, having to provide a stronger value proposition for what we do and adjust to the shifting cultural expectations of the workplace has been a challenge, I think, for us. We just continue to lean into the ways that we are helping companies save a tremendous amount of money by identifying compliance risks, helping them identify places where they're overpaying other vendors, where process inefficiencies are costing them money, and helping them optimize their technologies. So, we're having to pivot and change our strategy and adapt.

Authenticity is number one for me. I say what needs to be said, even when it's uncomfortable, and that's not always welcome in every corporate culture, but I think it's so important. I think being clear is kind, as Brene Brown would say, so I always tell my team we talk to people, not about people, and so if there's something that needs to be addressed, we don't walk by a problem, we have the difficult conversation with the people that can make an impact on it. Because if you build a culture outside of that, then things continue to fester and create bigger and bigger problems. I'd say listening strategy is another, so that comes from the value of empathy and understanding. I always make a practice out of holding feedback round tables, being intentional about gathering feedback in my one-on-ones, and just trying to shadow the people that are doing the actual work, collecting client feedback, like the Net Promoter Survey I mentioned, because if you're not listening and actually gathering data on a scheduled cadence for what you're doing, then you don't actually know if it's making the impacts that you want. Outside of that, I'd have to say courage, which kind of goes along with the authenticity value, but the courage to take risks, the courage to try something new, the courage to fail. That's the reason that I started New Mom School - I saw a need in the community and I decided to do something about it, and even though we ended up closing, we helped 250 women. There were people that came up to me that said, your program saved my life. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the women that helped me navigate my depression. I think so many people are afraid to try things, afraid to go out and start something, and they're afraid because what if it fails? And to me, the failure is besides the point. It's what happens in between the starting and the failing or the succeeding that really matters.