Leaders Unscripted

Conversations with leaders about the challenges they’ve faced and what they’ve learned.

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22: Being the First People Leader at the Company with Softdocs’ VP of Employee Success, Christie Williams

Episode cover image

Being the first people leader in a business is a uniquely privileged position, brimming with untapped potential.

That’s why Christie Williams has seized those opportunities, culminating in her current role as Softdocs’ VP of Employee Success.

With such an intriguing job title, it’s hard not to see how Christie’s multidisciplinary experience feeds into her insightful approach to people leadership - an approach that we learn more about in episode 22 of Leaders Unscripted.

This Episode Covers:

  • Why Christie likes being the first people leader in a business
  • Preferring gradual shifts over complete overhauls
  • Holistic approaches to a company’s tech stack
  • The importance of leadership buy-in for people leaders

Episode Highlights:

“I do like being the first people leader in a company that has been doing their best to do right by people even before I start. I like entering where it's not just the wild, wild west, but also putting my touch on processes and building things out.” - 9:55 - Christie Williams
“The biggest challenge I've had really in all of my career is just making sure we're very intentional about bringing people together and giving people opportunities to connect.” - 16:35 - Christie Williams
“No one wants to be in the middle of it, but when most people get to the other side of either being laid off or let go or just completely fired, I think people can generally look back on it and be like, ‘Okay, that was just part of the story. Now I'm on to the next chapter’.” - 23:10 - Christie Williams
“Finding ways that we can really encourage our folks with institutional knowledge to stay and see through the change, that's probably been one of the harder parts of my role.” - 34:30 - Christie Williams
“As a people leader, nothing you ever do will take off if you don’t have leadership buy-in. You need your allies pushing the decisions and products you’re implementing.” - 36:00 - Christie Williams

Links & References:

Constellary: https://www.constellaryhq.com/

Suzan Bond: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanbond/

Christie Williams: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiecwilliams/

Softdocs: https://www.softdocs.com/