Corina-Elena Breban is the Senior Director HR: EX, Leadership and Culture at Foot Locker EMEA in Amsterdam. She started her career in Psychology, before moving into the Human Resources function. Corina-Elena spent over ten years at adidas in the Netherlands, becoming Senior Human Resources Manager.

What strategies do you use for developing innovative, diverse teams?

As a leader, I am the one who lives for the future by making every moment count. My interest lies in seeing possibilities beyond what is already present and known, by using my intellect, intuition and ingenuity.

Driving a successful business starts with having the right team in place, and - because of my experience and background in organizational psychology - I go for using the following strategies:

• Hire for the mission.
  
  Many of you have probably seen the famous advertisement which, as the story goes, Ernest Shackleton ran in the newspaper to try to recruit men for his Endurance expedition: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.”
  
  This advertisement is one of the most famous in history.

• Promote and preserve psychological safety.
  
  Psychological safety at work doesn’t mean that everybody is nice to each other all the time. It means that people feel free to “brainstorm out loud”, voice half-finished thoughts, openly challenge the status quo, share feedback, and work through disagreements together — knowing that leaders value honesty, candor and truth-telling, and that team members will have one another’s backs.
  
  When psychological safety in the workplace is present, people feel comfortable bringing their full, authentic selves to work and are okay with “laying themselves on the line” in front of others. And organizations with psychologically safe work environments — where employees feel free to ask bold questions, share concerns, ask for help, and take calculated
  risks — are all the better for it.

• Create and celebrate diversity.
  
  Celebrating our differences, as well as our common interests, to understand others’ perspectives, to broaden our own helps unite and educate us, and to fully experience and educate ourselves.
  
  Four terrific ways to celebrate Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace are to:

1. Pay close attention to pay equity.
2. Cater strongly to employee advancement; become an ally.
3. Build a company culture event calendar.
4. Promote diversity education and resource groups to employees.

• Drive common goals and value teamwork.
  
  Teamwork is important, because it enables your team to share ideas and responsibilities, which helps reduce stress on everyone, allowing them to be meticulous and thorough when completing tasks.
  
  Effective teamwork comes in many shapes and sizes, and has a significant impact on the success of the organization.
  
  - Hold a brainstorming session.
  - Great teams trust each other.
  - Willingness to share expertise.
  - Complement one another.
  - Be open to suggestion.
  - Rise and fall together.

Do you feel, as a woman, that you have encountered additional barriers in your career development?

Yes, I have put my career on hold for a time being. This trade has been there when building a family, getting children, and preserving the time and energy to spend with the loved ones.

What advice would you give to other women aspiring to be where you are?

There are many ways to arrive in the same place and no journey is the same. What matters the most to me is being authentic - live every day as the best day ever and utilize your flow. Let go of all that does not serve you and be aware of the impact you create.

One thing I wished I would have known earlier in life is to lean on communities and networks.

Think back to the best manager you’ve ever worked for. What did you like about the person’s management style?

The best manager I’ve worked for had a coaching style: give the space people need, give them the bigger picture, help them to change perspectives, utilize differences, seek for a large spectrum of ideas and ways. Let them grow and go.

Are there any women that you would highlight as being your key role models?

Last weekend, I was visiting Teylers Museum. A museum which was founded in 1784 and is the first and the oldest museum in the Netherlands in Haarlem. While The Lorentz Formula offers a spectacular experience that can be experienced exclusively in the Lorentz Lab, I have noticed a group picture on the wall with all the scientists at that time. Marie Curie was sitting on a chair in the front row, nearby Lorentz and Einstein.

Marie Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Price and one of five people to ever win two Novel Prizes; her life story is unique. In many ways, Curie has been called “the first woman to…”. She was both the first female Physics doctoral student and the first female professor at the Sorbonne, the first female Nobel Laureate and, in 1995, the first woman whose grave was buried in the cemetery on account her own merits. Marie Curie broke through the male bastion of science, without compromising her own work. She is therefore a role model for many female researchers.

You don’t need to get famous, or win the first prize ever, just follow your passion and follow your flow.

What challenges do you see for women in senior HR roles?

Getting a seat at the table as CHRO, and elevating and bringing the People function into the boardroom. While there are many women working in the HR field, there seems to be more men at the top. Remember that people are the most critical part of any company; only by investing in people will the business succeed. 

What is your opinion on the idea of a four-day work week?

I have experienced a four-day work week, right after my maternity leave when I started working one day less to take care of my child. In that reality, nothing changed in my responsibilities or volume of work; I was supporting the same business from the HR standpoint. That was the time when I started thinking of the 80/20 rule: the Pareto principle.

Time management is the most common use for the Pareto principle. Many people tend to thinly spread out their time, instead of focusing on the most important tasks.

Likewise, there is the idea that people must work excessively long hours to produce good outcomes. This type of thinking can create an unequal work-life balance, resulting in burnout and overall decreased productivity.

With the Pareto principle, you can save time on work tasks and get more done in a shorter span of time. Think, output and impact. 

How is the growing focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) changing the function and how does it relate to your role?

ESG not only makes a business favorable to lenders, but it contributes to improving the overall financial performance of a business. Even small efforts toward sustainability - such as going paperless, recycling, or making energy-efficient upgrades - can improve a business' bottom line and ROI [return on investment].

From a People and culture point of view, the S component of ESG relates to corporate responsibilities in the form of the values and culture an organization wants to be identified with or have as hallmarks of their employer brand.

These include value manifestations such as Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEI&B), promoting volunteerism, and other ways of simply prioritizing doing good for society.

The G, or governance, part of the equation often connotes compliance considerations Other core elements of this ESG pillar include business ethics and accountabilities to all who have any relationship with that business.

And, although the data security and privacy topics get a disproportionate share of the attention within this pillar, there are signs that organizations are endeavoring to make ethical business practices just as tangible, to the point where businesses can lead with relevant examples.

What are the three main challenges that lie ahead for you as the Senior Director HR: EX, Leadership and Culture for 2023?

Digitalize EX, while preserving the workspace for our people to deliver team results, grow individually professionally and be part of the community.

Redefine our culture, which integrates and extends CX (customer experience) along with the future of work.

Lead with the future in mind for our People agenda.

Thank you to Corina-Elena for speaking to our HR recruitment team in the Netherlands, led by Katie Insley.

Views and opinions contained within our Executive Interviews are those of the interviewee and not views shared by EMEA Recruitment.