Human Resources
Elizabeth Rice
President, Innovative Employee Solutions
By Mark Scott
Smart Business San Diego | March 2007
"Every single person here is important, and they have to know that they are viewed that way." -- Elizabeth Rice, President, Innovative Employee Solutions
Before company leaders can help employees succeed, Elizabeth Rice says they must first believe that they, themselves, can
succeed. Five years ago, when she was named president of Innovative Employee Solutions, Rice says she initially lacked that
confidence. But that doubt was erased when she realized that the patience and experience she had gained through her previous
20 years at the payroll and HR services provider put her in a strong position to lead the company, which posted 2005 revenue
of $72 million and averages nearly 15 percent annual growth. Smart Business spoke with Rice about using all your resources to
be a good leader.
Stay out of the way. I articulate the objectives that I have, and then I
assign the tasks and responsibilities to the appropriate manager or
person in the company. I really trust them to take an assignment
and run with it.
As a president, I don’t want to have to oversee every little detail.
I want to rely on my key staff to handle things so I can have more
time to look at the big picture.
I hear of people who are micromanagers or who have to oversee
everything. We try to reach consensus on things and assign the
right jobs to the right people.
Consensus isn’t really hard to come to. People may have other
opinions. They may not agree with something 100 percent, or they
might like to see it done a different way. But when we reach the
decision, we kind of agree that this is what we’ve agreed to.
The message we’re going to deliver is not going to stray from
that. If an individual does not agree with it 100 percent, they have
to be able to live with it.
Do a reality check. It’s important to strive to do better. But you have
to decide at what cost. When you’re setting goals and when you’re
trying to be successful in a company, reality has to be there on
many levels.
You want your employees to be able to succeed. You can’t be
overzealous. Use your patience. There’s a lot to growing a business, and there is a lot to developing a successful company. It takes
people working together.
It’s not hard to be patient, as long as you are making headway
and your people are growing and your company is growing and
your employees are confident and happy in their work.
Do the right thing. If you start a company or you’re running a company and you don’t believe that you can succeed and don’t believe
that you have the right people in your company to do the job, it’s
almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy. You’re doomed if you don’t
believe you can do it.
Do the right thing and approach things with honesty and integrity and [do] not try to ever fool anybody in the things that you’re
doing, whether it be a service that you deliver or a product that you
make, because it will always catch up with you. Having integrity
and being direct and honest, in any life, whether you’re the president, the CEO or anybody, that’s part of being successful, as well
as to be able to do those things and articulate clearly.
Let employees know you value them. Every single person here is
important, and they have to know that they are viewed that way.
I want people to know how what they do fits in to the big picture
and why it’s important. We really try to communicate that.
I want people to want to like to come to work, know what their
responsibilities are and do the job and do it to the best of their ability and then benefit from the results.
It’s wanting people to grow and get more opportunities.
Everyone has to understand that what they do impacts the next
person. I think that really helps build a good team relationship.
If you don’t understand why you’re doing something or why
somebody is asking you for something, you may not have the
desire. If you don’t understand it, what’s going to motivate you to
do a good job?
My expectation is that you’re going to get the job done. We’ll give
you the tools to do it. It’s important that you understand that and
that you make a difference in the company.
Let it go. It’s hard for leaders to admit that, ‘I’ve got to let it go, I
made a mistake, and it’s time to move on.’ Sometimes, there are
things that we’ve started or that I’ve initiated where I have to
learn it’s time to let go.
You feel like you’re supposed to have the answers and be
strong. You are trained that you are supposed to have it right and
you’re an example for others.
If it’s a performance issue, I always give myself and others a second chance. If it’s my failure, if I had a critical idea and it’s not
going as expected, I have to know when it’s time to let go.
I take responsibility for the mistake and move on. Little mistakes
happen. A system that we were having designed for us, there was
a lot of programming involved in it. It was just going on and on and
the money was piling up.
Even though that investment was made, because of that investment, you sometimes say, ‘OK, let’s just keep going.’ But you have
to know, ‘OK, I’m not going to do it anymore. I invested the money,
but we’re going to stop here and we’re going to try a different
avenue that is going to make it more successful.’
I know when to let go and move on and accept that it was a mistake.
Put your experience to use. I don’t think too many executives come
from the HR department. I was a vice president of human
resources. My background, education and experience have helped
me.
Those skills or those things that I knew or had to deal with in that
position have helped me very much in my present job. They’ve
helped me have a sense of empathy and just understanding of
human nature and trying to have a good balance of work life and
personal life for the employees.
It just has helped me build an environment where everyone is
important. It’s not a big hierarchy. It’s helped me understand and
work with people better.
HOW TO REACH: Innovative Employee Solutions, (858) 715-5100 or www.innovativeemployeesolutions.com
