Jessica Clair Didier

I attribute my success to the mentorship of leaders like Christopher Pangelia, Ian Daniel, and Esther Kirkendall, along with a strong foundation in employee and labor relations. My strong moral compass, work ethic, commitment to building effective structures and processes, and ability to partner strategically across different environments have helped me earn a seat at the right table while staying authentic.

The best career advice I received was from a line staff member when I was expressing that I couldn't move forward with a policy because not everyone was on board. He said, 'Listen, sometimes the train has to leave the station.' When the train leaves, whoever is on board is on board. Make sure you communicate, make sure you let them know the time the train is leaving, make sure you let them know where the train station is at, and then when it's time to leave the station, if there are people who were doubting or weren't on board, when they see the train going where it's supposed to be, they might have to run to catch up to the next stop or work double time. But don't ever let your train never leave the station. I take that with any policy, any procedure, any initiative I do. Yes, of course, I need executive approval, but sometimes we stall on doing something because everybody doesn't want it. That has been my greatest advice from a structure and operations perspective. But it definitely lands back to being your authentic self, because it's exhausting if you're pretending all the time. Continue being your authentic self, you could just only be you, and not be anything else.

I would tell her to be her authentic self. In HR, we may wear many hats. Many times, we are told we are too rigid, or too unapproachable, or maybe we're too nice, or too friendly. Understanding that all of those things are okay to be, because different circumstances and situations require us to pivot and require a shift. So, just remaining true to who you are, and not succumbing to what people want you to be would be my greatest advice. Oftentimes, my morals or my ethics may be questioned, because you have to balance the needs of the organization with one employee. But remaining true and authentic to yourself and what you bring to the organization has always gone really well for me. Despite the outcome, I could go to bed and sleep well at night, knowing that I did what I had to do, and I didn't compromise on my integrity. So authenticity all the way, I would say. Also, know your value and your worth, and don't let it be dependent on someone else placing it on you. There are naysayers, there's somebody who'll be like, oh, she can't do this, or she can't do that. And sometimes silencing those noises is very critical to you understanding who you are. Being confident in who we are, not allowing others to place value on you, but you knowing your true value of yourself.

I think the challenge is that not everyone has a great understanding of the impact of HR. We talk about having a seat at the table, but I take it as having the right seat at the right table. Just being able to navigate through that and work within organizations who have an appreciation for HR and understand the impact of HR has been a huge challenge and a huge barrier that we try to break down every day. We know the impact, we know what can be done, but oftentimes people just see it as administrative process - you sample a form, you deal with benefits, but it's so much more. A lot of people not having a full understanding of what HR can do and the impact is one of the challenges. My thing is, wherever I go, I want to be able to show the impact. I'm not the HR that comes in just following everything that everyone does, but I'm very confrontational in addressing issues, directly naming issues, because if we name it, we could fix it. Holistically, the barrier is people not understanding the impact of HR. So before I could get a policy implemented, before I could get a process approved, it's like pulling teeth to even get them to understand that this would work. It's just that mental barrier of what HR actually is. But I would say I've had success where I worked in organizations who may have had that mindset, but when I'm there, it's changed.

The values most important to me are authenticity, integrity, honesty, and compassion, along with maintaining a strong moral compass and work ethic. I also believe in the importance of structure and accountability, both in my professional life and in how I approach personal growth and relationships.