Michelle Parczuk
Chief People Officer
Avon
I have the privilege of leading People & Culture for Avon, which is truly a purpose-led organisation putting female economic empowerment at the heart of our business model. I love leading a global team of talented HR leaders with the diversity that comes with that and partnering with our CEO to build the capabilities and culture needed for Avon's growth. However, my real job is being a mum to 3 teenage daughters, and to de-stress, I love to run and drink red wine (not at the same time).
Learn more about the UK & Ireland CHRO community here.
Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
I studied microbiology, but quickly discovered I preferred people to bugs and started my career as a graduate recruit with Ford working at the Dagenham car plant, which certainly gave me resilience! I then moved to Pharma and had an amazing opportunity to work in San Francisco before returning to the UK to spend 10 years of my career with PepsiCo, giving me the career experiences needed to prepare me as a CPO, covering Business Partnering, Talent and Reward.
Following a brief dabble with private equity, which truly accelerated my commercial acumen and further tested resilience, I joined Avon as the HR lead for the UK business. Over 10 years later and through multiple career experiences, transformations and new ownership, I am still here leading the Global People function across 35 markets to deliver an exciting change agenda with talent, culture and capability at the heart of Avon's strategy.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
Earning trust and being true to your own moral and ethical compass is at the heart of purposeful and inspiring leadership.
What is the greatest challenge CHROs face today, and how are you addressing it?
The greatest challenge is ensuring our leaders can lead our teams through the pace and level of change that's needed for business success in a way that enables people to be energised and high performing, rather than causing workload overload and burnout issues. We need this balance to be right so that we can attract and retain the very best talent.
We are intentionally focusing on psychological safety and measuring ourselves on creating an inclusive culture to ensure that whilst business demands are super intense, the environment is flexible and supportive to enable people to challenge the status quo and demonstrate the new thinking needed for growth.
What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CHRO?
Control your inner critic and the need to be perfect. There is such a rich network of resources and people who can help your learning – have the humility to use them.
How do you measure success as a leader?
Ultimately, through business outcomes of course, but the 'how' and felt-experience of the team and their engagement and retention is critical, and there needs to be consequences to this. If we don't address leaders who do it the wrong way, we are damaging trust and the credibility of the top team.
What is the value of being a member of the Evanta community?
It’s a great opportunity for peer networking to explore common challenges. The community provides much needed oxygen away from the internal hamster wheel!
Evanta Governing Body members share their insights and leadership perspectives to shape the agendas and topics that address the top priorities impacting business leaders today.
by CHROs, for CHROs
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