Kase's Brenda Knepper Details Importance of Making Path Easier for Future Female Leaders: Women in Supply Chain Forum™ Award

Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Women in Supply Chain Forum™ Award
Brenda Knepper, VP, Human Resources, Kase (a WSI company)
Category: Workforce Innovator

Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Hello, my name is Marina Mayer, Editor-in-Chief of Food Logistics and Supply and Demand Chain Executive, and I'm here with Brenda Knepper, Vice President of Human Resources for KASE, a WSI company.

Brenda is a recipient of this year's Women in Supply Chain Forum Award in the Workforce Innovative category. Brenda, thank you so much for joining me today.

Your role as Vice President of Human Resources is to lead the charge and the goal to be the employer of choice. What does this mean? Kind of walk us through what you've accomplished to make this vision a reality.

Brenda Knepper: To me, being an employer of choice means that people want to work here, not because we pay competitively, but because they believe in the company.

They trust their leaders, they see opportunities for growth, and they feel like the work that they do matters. So, I think, to me, you can have really great benefits, you can have good policies.

But if employees don't have a good experience with their leader, or they don't see a future for themselves in the organization, you're not going to be an employee of choice. So, when I look back at what we've accomplished as an organization, a lot of it has actually been around strengthening our leaders.

And making HR a much more data-driven function. Yes, we've invested in systems and recognition programs like AwardCo, but most importantly, we've really worked to clarify what we expect from leaders and how they communicate with their teams. How they conduct one-on-one meetings, and really, overall, how they develop their people.

We've also worked to make employee feedback more actionable. So, instead of conducting an engagement survey, or a net promoter score survey, and just putting the results on a shelf, or leaving them in a notebook, we really expect our leaders to sit down with their teams.

And take some time to understand what that feedback is telling all of us and then develop action plans together.

We have also evolved how we use HR data and technology. So, today, we're currently building the infrastructure to give leaders better information about their people, and allow automation to take past administrative burden away from our leaders and HR. That will allow us to focus more on data that drives metrics, like retention, engagement, workforce trends that are really what's driving our business results.

But I feel like the accomplishment that I'm most proud of is the cultural shift that we've experienced over the past few years. I think HR, for us, we've moved from primarily being transactional to being a strategic business partner. We've had a vision for several years to build an organization that had space for an HR business partner position, and I am super proud that we currently have two people in these positions. These are the people that are best apt to have the conversations with our leaders about organizational capability, leadership, talent, workforce planning, and performance. So just having that supportive partner is really helping our business, get to that next level.

So, overall, to me, being an employer of choice is something that you have to earn every day. I think our job is to create the environment where great people can come in to contribute, and grow, and ultimately choose to stay.

Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Shortly after you joined the leadership team in 2019, you worked to improve the employee retention process, which gives an employee who is being terminated an avenue to contest the turnover. Explain this process and why this is so important to all of the things you literally just talked about with regards to culture.

Knepper: Given our industry, something that I recognized early in my leadership role was we needed to be much more intentional about how we handled employee turnover. So, also even shifting our key performance indicator from the word turnover to employee retention can definitely give it more of a positive spin, right? Because let's look at our goal to retain instead of concentrating on what was lost. For our retention review process, when someone's being terminated, particularly for performance or conduct.

I think that there can be a significant power imbalance, right? The employee may feel like the decision has already been made, and that they don't have a voice.

We've created a process that gives the employee an avenue to have that decision reviewed by an objective party. It creates an opportunity for the employee to share information that may not have already been considered for someone outside of the immediate situation to look at the situation more objectively and given the circumstances.

I do want to be clear that this process isn't designed to simply overturn terminations. That's not the point, that's not what we want to do to our leadership. Instead, the point is about, being fair, offering consistency, and also accountability. I think it creates calibration, also, just to ensure that we're treating our employees similar, despite which location they show up to every day, despite which leaders that they report into. So, to me, if we're going to make a decision that affects someone's life, we need to be able to explain why we made that decision and demonstrate that we have followed our processes consistently.

If employees believe that decisions are fair, and that they have a voice, we feel like this builds trust. And trust, to me, is one of the foundations of retention.

Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive: So you're also currently leading the implementation of an HR data warehouse, which you kind of touched on a little bit earlier. Why is something like this so important for companies like WSI KASE?

Knepper: This is probably one of the areas I'm most excited about because I think it represents where HR has to go. So, historically, HR data can live in a lot of different places. It can be hard to get out of those systems just because of complexity of systems, differing systems, maybe a lack of a data expert, and overall privacies and sensitivity to the data that exists within HR, right?

Our goal of the HR Data Warehouse is to bring HR information together so we can look at our workforce more holistically, and more importantly, connect people data to business outcomes. So, instead of simply telling a leader, your retention is 70%, we want to be able to help answer why. Is it concentrated in a particular location? Is it a particular role? Is it a particular leader? Is it new employees? Is it tied to overtime, tenure, compensation, engagement, last time that person took a developmental training? So the data changes the conversation, right? It allows HR to move from reporting what happened to really helping the business understand why it happened and what we should do about it.

In a supply chain environment, I feel like people are the driving force of our ability to execute for our customers. If we have the wrong workforce talent in the wrong place or if we're losing experienced employees faster, then we can replace them. That ultimately impacts our customers and our operations.

I want our leaders to be able to make workforce decisions with the same level of data and discipline that they also use to make operational and financial decisions.

Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Please share a difficult supply chain disruption you managed, and how you turned that challenge into an opportunity.

Knepper: One of the most significant disruptions I've experienced in my career was the COVID pandemic. What made it particularly challenging was that we were a supply chain company operating during a time when supply chains were absolutely essential, while at the same time trying to keep our employees safe and our operations running. Fom an HR standpoint, there was no playbook for it, right? We couldn't wake up that day and know, here's your answer key. We were dealing with consistently changing information, our employees were concerned, there were staffing challenges, there were requirements coming from the government and the CDC, there was a tremendous amount of uncertainty overall.

My role was really to help create stability in the middle of all of that uncertainty. We had to communicate consistently, make decisions quickly, support our leaders, and balance the needs of our employees with the needs of our customers and operations.

So, we created a response team, developed rubrics and frequently asked questions, and really heightened our communication with the organization at every level.

This time really forced us to become more agile. It accelerated our use of technology and virtual communication. It really changed how we thought about employee communication, flexibility, and leadership.

And it demonstrated how important strong leaders are when people are operating in an environment where there isn't a clear answer.

This really gave us an opportunity to change the relationship between HR and operations. So, we weren't sitting on the sidelines telling the business what it could or couldn't do. We were sitting at the table to help solve the problem. And that experience reinforced something that I still believe today, which is some of the greatest opportunities for organizational improvement come out of the most difficult circumstances.

You don't always get to choose the disruption, but you do get to choose what your organization becomes because of it.

Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive: What supply chain trend do you think will have the biggest impact over the next 5 years?

Knepper: It will be AI and automation. I do believe that this is going to fundamentally change our supply chain and workforce. Yes, we're going to see automation take over more repetitive work. AI is going to help us make faster and better decisions, and technology will give us visibility that we simply didn't have before. But that doesn't mean that our people become less important. I actually think it means the opposite.

At WSI KASE, we've been focusing a lot on ensuring that we have the right AI tools in place for our employees, and that they know how to use them. We'll need employees who can work alongside of technology, analyze information, solve problems, adapt quickly, and also lead through change. So, all of this, I feel, creates a tremendous opportunity for HR. The organizations, to me, that will win won't simply be the ones that buy the best technology. They'll be the ones that can successfully bring their people along with it. That means reskilling our employees, it means developing leaders, creating career paths, and helping people understand that technology isn't necessarily replacing them, it's just changing the work that they do.

I do think that the competitive advantage over the next 5 years will be the combination of technology and people. And the companies that figure out how to maximize both are going be the ones that pull ahead.

Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive: What can organizations do to attract, retain, and develop women in supply chain roles?

Knepper: When I was growing up, supply chain wasn't necessarily an industry that women immediately thought of when they were thinking about career opportunities.

I think of that for my own daughter, right? She isn't shouting from the rooftop, supply chain, supply chain, supply chain. I think we've made progress, but we still have work to do.

First, I think we have to intentionally recruit women into the industry. We need to introduce women to supply chain careers earlier and help them understand that it's not just about warehouses and trucks and logistics. It's about, technology, analytics, engineering, leadership, finance, human resources, right? Customer relationships, and so much more than that.

And secondly, once women are in the organization, we have to give them opportunities to grow. That means mentors, sponsors, leadership development, and giving them really meaningful assignments that gives them visibility.

And to me, as an organization, some organizations say, hey, I don't have the bandwidth to create all of those formal programs.

I think that you can do this informally, right? If you're a lean organization, it can happen organically by women or, men having a passion for this, and being able to bring along the right people for the journey. So, the goal is really creating an environment where talented people can succeed, no matter who they are.

And as women move into leadership positions, I do think that we have a responsibility to reach back and bring other women with us.

I think that's one of the most powerful things that we can do, is make the path a little easier for the women coming behind us.

Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive: If you could go back in time and talk to your younger self, what's the one thing you would say to her?

Knepper: I would say stop worrying so much about proving yourself.

I spent a lot of time thinking that I needed to have the answer, that I needed to be the smartest person in the room, I needed to work harder than everyone else, and overall, that I just needed to prove that I deserved to be there.

And sometimes, I got that impression through literal feedback that I received. And sometimes it was through my perception of feedback that wasn't even there. So, I've really learned that leadership isn't about having all of the answers.

And the answers that you do give aren't always as objective as right or wrong. It's about asking good questions, it's about surrounding yourself with smart people, it's about being willing to say, I don't know, but I'll figure it out.

I'd also tell her to make sure that she takes time to be authentically herself. Some of the opportunities that have changed my career were opportunities I wasn't completely ready for, or opportunities I was not expecting, or that were in line with my typical career path. You don't always have to feel ready before you say yes.

And sometimes you grow into the person you're meant to be. After taking a job that you weren't necessarily ready for.

And I'd say lastly, I would tell her to enjoy the journey a little more, because you can be ambitious and still appreciate where you are today, because when you're constantly focused on the next goal, you can miss how far you've already come.

Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive: If you could leave the audience with one piece of advice about being a woman in the supply chain, what would it be?

Knepper: Don't wait for permission to take your seat at the table.

Formally or informally, there may be times in your career when you're the only woman in the room, and there may be times when you don't feel like the most experienced person, or the most technical person, or the person who knows the most about supply chain.

I'd say go anyway. Your perspective has value, and don't make the mistake of thinking you have to become more like the people around you just to be successful.

Learn the business, know your numbers, be credible, work hard, but I'd say bring your own leadership style with you. And when you do get a seat at the table, don't just enjoy having it.

Look around and ask yourself, who else should be sitting here, and then work hard to create that opportunity.

Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive: To learn more about Brenda and our other Women in Supply Chain Forum award winners, CLICK HERE.

Register for this year's Women in Supply Chain Forum™ at http://www.womeninsupplychainforum.com.