Tiffany Francis-Hurd

I think that, naturally, I'm just a diplomatic person, and so it makes a lot of the human and relationship side of this particular field of work easier for me. That diplomatic nature has really helped me excel in this field. I believe my ability to navigate relationships and connect with people on a human level has been fundamental to my success in HR. It allows me to handle the complex interpersonal dynamics that come with managing different personalities and backgrounds in an organization, and it makes the work feel more natural and intuitive to me.

The best career advice I've ever received is to always do your best, and I know it sounds cliche, but I think it's incredibly important. Sometimes when we're in organizations, it's easy to get frustrated with a process or even with people, but I've learned to always operate in the way that I know is the right way. I feel like that approach has always brought me really far, even if I'm in an organization where maybe people aren't as productive as they can be or as forward-thinking as they could be. Just always doing your best, regardless of what the situations around you are, I think has really helped me in my career. It's about maintaining your own standards and integrity no matter what's happening around you.

The advice I would give is never stop learning and never stop being curious. I feel like having the personal motivation for continuous learning has really helped me, because you're definitely going to find yourself in situations where you don't have the answers. I think wanting to learn, wanting to know more, and being resourceful - I would say being resourceful more than anything else - is going to help you go far in this industry. You need to have that drive to seek out information and solutions on your own. The field of HR is constantly evolving, and your curiosity and resourcefulness will be your greatest assets when you encounter challenges you haven't faced before.

The biggest challenges I would say are just the ever-changing landscape, whether it's legal changes or being able to manage the different personalities that you encounter when you're in an organization. But those challenges also present opportunities to sharpen your skills and find more better ways to improve processes and get motivate talent. There's always an opportunity to understand how people work, what motivates them, and to deal with the differences and different scenarios that come up every day in this field. I will say it's not a boring field, for sure. There's always something that comes up that you're like, oh, I've never dealt with that scenario before. So that's been exciting in and of itself, challenging at times, but definitely exciting because it definitely helps me build on my people and organizational development skills.

Accountability. I would say accountability across the board. That value guides everything I do, both in my professional work and in my personal life. It's about taking ownership and being responsible for my actions and decisions, and I believe it's fundamental to building trust and maintaining integrity in all aspects of life.