How I Virtually Built and Led a Successful Human Resources Team

I will never forget the moment when my virtual Human Resources career started.

I had moved from D.C to Seattle in 2014 for personal reasons and was in the final interview stages with several large organizations. When I left D.C., the hardest part of leaving was resigning from my position as Director of Human Resources at Dev Technology. It was, and is, an incredible organization with one of the best leadership teams I have ever been a part of coupled with extremely passionate and engaged team members. We were poised for growth and I was excited to be a partner for the challenges ahead but due to personal commitments, I was moving.

After several months in Seattle, I received an unexpected call from the founder and CEO at that time offering me a position to support the company virtually with a minimum of quarterly onsite visits. I had never entertained the thought of virtual HR since my passion is people and I prided myself on the trust and relationships I had worked hard at and built thus far in my career. Could I successfully continue to build these relationships remote? Could I build an effective HR team with engaging and impactful programs and initiatives as the company grew?

As I expressed earlier, I had deep respect for this organization and its people. I felt honored to be offered this opportunity and after several days of deeply thinking about this I decided to accept the offer and try this model. I knew that our leadership team would be honest and in constant communication on whether this approach was not only working but was thriving and contributing to a sought-after company culture – a priority at this organization.

I am pleased to share that I was able to both build an extraordinarily successful HR team capable of creating and rolling out impactful initiatives and engaging programs and continued to nurture this for 5 years. Some of the key factors were transparency and constant communication within our HR team and leaders, a high level of responsiveness, extreme accessibility, focus, curiosity, collaboration, and the desire to earn and maintain the trust of all. I have been conversing with my clients which consist of HR professionals and leaders at organizations and the virtual model that is occurring at many organizations because of our current world can be challenging. I would love to share some virtual HR best practices with all of you.

I have created programs in all areas of HR to include but not limited to:

• Company Culture and Employee Engagement

• Performance Management

• Recognition Programs

• Teambuilding

• Compensation and Benefits Management

• Leadership and Professional Development

• Conflict Resolution

• Strategic planning