HRchat Podcast
Listen to the HRchat Podcast by HR Gazette to get insights and tips from HR leaders, influencers and tech experts. Topics covered include HR Tech, HR, AI, Leadership, Talent, Recruitment, Employee Engagement, Recognition, Wellness, DEI, and Company Culture.
Hosted by Bill Banham, Bob Goodwin, Pauline James, and other HR enthusiasts, the HRchat show publishes interviews with influencers, leaders, analysts, and those in the HR trenches 2-4 times each week.
The show is approaching 1000 episodes and past guests are from organizations including ADP, SAP, Ceridian, IBM, UPS, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Simon Sinek Inc, NASA, Gartner, SHRM, Government of Canada, Hacking HR, McLean & Company, UPS, Microsoft, Shopify, DisruptHR, McKinsey and Co, Virgin Pulse, Salesforce, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Coca-Cola Beverages Company.
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Podcast Music Credit"Funky One"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
HRchat Podcast
Inclusive Leadership at Scale with Sue Quackenbush, Dynatrace
What does it take to create a unified culture when your team spans 50 countries and includes thousands of employees? Sue Quackenbush, Chief People Officer at Dynatrace, reveals the secret sauce behind their "real vibes, real people" approach that keeps their global workforce connected.
With 33% of Dynatrace's 4,000+ employees working fully remotely and the rest following a hybrid model, Sue explains how they've turned geographical dispersion into a strength. Their innovative Remote Connect Club creates virtual communities for those without nearby offices, while employee resource groups foster belonging regardless of location. Sue's passion for "making a difference" drives her people-first approach that balances flexibility with connection.
The conversation dives into talent attraction and development strategies that have proven successful in the competitive tech sector. When Sue joined Dynatrace nearly three years ago, she discovered they were "consistently inconsistent" in leadership approaches – prompting her to create the comprehensive "Dynatrace Elements of Leadership" framework that now guides development at all levels. She shares why continuous growth opportunities create both stability and innovation, benefiting both employees and the organization.
Perhaps most fascinating is Sue's perspective on balancing data-driven HR with human connection. "Data is critically important and I would say that it is as important as the humanistic elements," she explains, offering insights into how modern people leaders must leverage analytics while preserving the relationships that ultimately drive engagement. As AI reshapes workplace tools and practices, Sue considers both the exciting possibilities and important guardrails needed to maintain what makes work meaningful.
Whether you're navigating hybrid work challenges, building leadership pipelines, or seeking ways to create belonging across borders, this conversation offers practical wisdom from one of tech's most thoughtful people leaders.
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Speaker 2:Welcome to another episode of the HR Chat Show. Hello listeners, this is your host today, bill Bannum, and joining me on the show for the very first time is the amazing Sue Quackenbush, chief People Officer over at Dynatrace. Sue shapes the Dynatrace culture by establishing a unified one company mindset and providing a consistent employee experience across their diverse team of over 4,000 Dynatracers. Hey, sue, welcome to the show today. How are you doing?
Speaker 3:I'm doing great. Thanks, Bill, to have me.
Speaker 2:And, before we go any further, a ginormous shout out to our mutual friend, Jeff Wald, who did this introduction and brought us here today. Hey, Jeff, we love you. Let's catch up soon. Sue, beyond my very brief introduction just a moment ago, why don't you take a minute or two and tell us a bit more about yourself, your role and what gets you up in the morning?
Speaker 3:Okay, great, so about myself. Okay, great, so about myself. I've been in the HR space for probably the past 25 plus years, and the last 13 years as chief people officer at several different companies. Now at Dynatrace, what gets me up in the morning is really the ability to make a difference. Right, make a difference not only across all of the Dynatracers, but just across all our candidates and anyone who can come across my path.
Speaker 4:Thanks for listening to this episode of the HR Chat Podcast. If you enjoy the audio content we produce, you'll love our articles on the HR Gazette. Learn more at hrgazettecom. And now back to the show.
Speaker 2:Okay, thank you very much, Love it. For those folks who haven't heard of Dynatrace, can you just take a minute and tell them a bit about the company?
Speaker 3:Sure Dynatrace. Can you just take a minute and tell them a bit about the company? Sure Dynatrace is a software company and we are an AI-powered platform that helps organizations analyze, automate and innovate faster. We really help customers to drive their businesses forward by providing those insights into their business.
Speaker 2:Okay, I think you've done that before. Very well done, okay. So here's a question for you how do you attract great talents, top talents, in a pretty competitive technology sector? What are your tips there?
Speaker 3:So it's multifaceted right. Number one we have a really strong employer brand that really speaks to the type of culture, the type of experience for all of our Dynatracers. So we do a lot of external events where we bring great talent into the organization to see what Dynatrace is all about. We have a very strong referral program so we get great talent through other Dynatracers. So we're always out in the market and, you know, it's that combination of showcasing the experience that someone can have in the market and it's that combination of showcasing the experience that someone can have in the organization. We also have created very specific employee value propositions for our sales professionals, for our tech professionals, and these are guiding resources that help us explain and articulate what someone can expect when they come to Dynatrace.
Speaker 2:So, ahead of this call today, I was doing my homework and on your LinkedIn profile, on the company LinkedIn profile, it seems like you've got employees all around the world. Are they all office-based? Do you guys have a hybrid model? Are you pro-remote employees? What's your take on that?
Speaker 3:So we have a hybrid model. We've had it in place now for a while and we will continue to support that hybrid model. We have about 22 operated facilities across the globe, as well as other facilities that we lease, but we basically have Dynatraces in over 50 countries, so we have distributed teams. We do have in our operated facilities populations that come into the offices. We have a hybrid model with Anchor Days, and so we really support flexibility but support Dynatracers all over the globe.
Speaker 5:The Exploring Workplace Mental Health Show considers issues relating to capacity building. Tune in as Dr Bill delves into the why, what and how of fostering a mentally healthy work environment. Each episode provides employers and decision makers with actionable insights and strategies to create a supportive culture that empowers employees. Subscribe to the podcast now to access the latest episodes now to access the latest episodes.
Speaker 2:Okay, so primarily a hybrid model. Do you have a proportion of employees that are entirely remote as well?
Speaker 3:We do. About 33% of our employee base are fully remote, and how we stay connected with everyone is we do have a remote connect club that hosts a number of events across the year to really create that community for individuals that are not in an office or located near one of our offices.
Speaker 2:You must have a crystal ball under your desk, because that's where I was going with those leading questions is around that you know. How do you, how do you ensure, with new hires, for example, that they feel part of the company culture if they are entirely remote or only coming to the office sometimes? It sounds like you're going the extra mile by ensuring that there are in-person opportunities as well for your employees. Do you think that's absolutely key, that there are some opportunities that employers can get together and they? They can I don't know um learn from each other's vibes, so to speak? Or or can someone still buy into the company culture and contribute to that culture if they never do any of that stuff and they're always entirely remote?
Speaker 3:um, the answer is yes, you can. And it's funny you use the word vibe, so our employer brand is real vibes, real people, and that really resonates and encapsulates the feeling when you meet another Dynatracer. And to your point, we have opportunities where we can bring teams together and meet in person, using our offices for collaboration. So we do support that. But to your point about someone who's remote and never gets to go into an office or meet someone physical, there's the opportunity through our remote connect club. We have many different communities that we champion. We have employee resource groups, so individuals can still feel the Dynatrace culture and experience it through their daily interactions, be it virtual, experience it through their daily interactions, be it virtual, and so we definitely are always monitoring. How do we ensure the experience resonates for in-office, hybrid and fully remote dynatracers?
Speaker 2:Wonderful. Thank you very much. Obviously, a large proportion of our listeners are HR leaders and people leaders. For those sorts of professionals professionals like yourself is it actually quite important that you're in the office sometimes having those conversations with the C-level, as well as with live managers and other employees, as opposed to other employees it sounds like at Dynatrace, where they can afford to be fully remote.
Speaker 3:So, look, an experience is always important, be it virtual or in person, and I am actually a full-time remote individual so I travel a lot. So, yes, I do have that in person. From an executive team perspective, our CEOs sponsors and supports the executive team getting together on a regular basis. But I would have to say each experience, virtual or non-virtual, they're all very important, and how one prepares for them and how one approaches them, you know, may be different, but the the ability to connect with an individual, regardless of where you're connecting or how you're connecting, should be something that is done strategically.
Speaker 2:Great answer, and regular listeners of the show will know that I'm personally a huge proponent for giving people the right to work remotely all the time if they want to, or be hybrid, or go to the office if they want to, as long as they get the job done and they contribute to the company culture. My take is what does it matter anyway? Who cares about what I say? I'm just the interviewer. Let's continue through. You guys have an amazing podcast called real talks. Tell me about that. What inspired it? What themes do you guys explore?
Speaker 3:give us the lowdown so real talks is is a podcast series that I host, uh, at dynatrace, and the whole purpose of that is really to showcase dynatracers across the world. So, from an internal perspective, it's really, how do, how do we continue to bring that one company mindset, that one team showcase individuals from all different functions, from all different parts of the world and really the focus is on showcasing their career, showcasing them as leaders, them as mentors, champions of different causes. Individuals who maybe have been at Dynatrace left Dynatrace come back to Dynatrace, but it's really showcasing the breadth and depth of our employees. And you know, back to our last question about hybrid, you know, and experiences. At the end of the day, it's how do you build connection? Because connection builds sense of belonging. And so the Real Talks podcast are all of our other events that we host cultural breakfasts and things like that, virtual and in the offices. It's all about driving that connection and really bringing awareness to the fabric of the organization.
Speaker 6:Hi, this is Chris Buehrling, host of the People in Performance podcast. Each episode features conversations Bill Bannum and I have with leaders and consultants about ways they've inspired colleagues to thrive. Past and performance podcast guests are from such brands as nasa, ibm, rolls royce and mckinsey and co. You can find us on your podcast player of choice and it's fun too.
Speaker 2:Right doing the doing these podcasts. It's one of the favorite parts of my job. You get to build new relationships, you get to explore a bit about other people's takes and their experiences in a short space of time, but it's a nice way to then share that with the world. So personally, I think it's terribly fun, would you agree?
Speaker 3:I agree, I love it and I always learn something. It's just amazing to hear from an individual their journey, their story, their perspective on Dynatrace and through the voice of our employees, that's going to help either retain or attract other great talent. So it's just another way of really being able to say, hey, hear from someone who's doing this job or has had this experience and learn from them, but also get excited by their journey, because if they can have that journey, you can have that journey. And this is, you know, this is the organization that provides the opportunity or platform for that experience.
Speaker 2:So so far in this conversation, we have touched upon talent attraction a couple of times, but let's let's now talk about talent development, if that's okay. What's your approach to talent development at Dynatrace, especially in preparing future leaders for success in high growth, high tech environments?
Speaker 3:So, great question, love it.
Speaker 3:High-tech environments so great question, love it.
Speaker 3:Coming to Dynatrace almost three years ago, we really had to establish what good looks like from a leadership perspective and so that journey where we define the leadership expectations and really the behaviors that we want our leaders to show up with we've been on a path of really building that into different leadership programs so we advanced leadership to emerging leaders. We've created an entire curriculum of really we call it Dynatrace Elements of Leadership and it's really how to act and how to do things within Dynatrace. And the reason why we had to set it and build it is because when I came into the organization, we were consistently inconsistent. We didn't have that platform built and so creating the awareness and understanding and language around good leadership and really showing up through our behaviors and living our values all of that had to be refreshed and put in place and you know we are very strategic about reviewing our leaders, building leadership development plans, putting in feedback mechanisms, putting in mentoring program globally and to really help, guide and provide those resources for our leaders to continue to excel and grow.
Speaker 2:Okay, so, in addition to being fantastic at attracting new additions to the company with those cool vibes, as we discussed earlier on, can you kind of spell out for us the importance of retention, of retaining employees that you are developing into leadership roles? Why is that important? So, for example, it costs a lot to hire a new person. Right, and also the knowledge transfer I'm guessing that's a key piece as well. If you can retain your people, they know all about the company, they know all about the culture already why on earth wouldn't you do everything you can to develop them and keep them within the company? Is that fair to say?
Speaker 3:Well, it's fair to say. But also, as a company continues to grow, we want to ensure all of our Dynatracers are growing. Right, you don't want to have a large gap. You want to make sure that there's continuous growth and innovation and so being able to create an ecosystem where individuals can come in and thrive and grow. From a retention perspective, everything you said, right the cost, the disruption, the knowledge loss if someone leaves. But there's a stability platform here that's put in place too and there's. You know, when someone is growing and developing and they have that feeling of stability, you're going to get so much more engagement and, I would say, productivity from an individual, because they're switched on, they're focused, they're growing, and so you know, there's that retention aspect. But yet you want to make sure people are continuing to grow, because you don't want someone just to be retained and not grow, and you want to make sure there's alignment between where the company's going and how that individual continues to contribute to that growth.
Speaker 2:Sue. It's interesting as I reflect on the evolution of the conversations I've had on this podcast since back in gosh 2016,. That was before I went gray. Back in the old days, a lot of the conversations I had with the HR and people leaders were around around the culture, around mentoring, around coaching. Often these days I'm chatting with folks who perhaps got maybe got a data background, the finance background, and then moved, moved into CHRO type roles. How important is data today? What role does people analytics play in shaping your people and culture strategy? Is it the number one key element here or actually is there still an important place for those more humanistic elements?
Speaker 3:So data is critically important and I would say that it is as important as the humanistic elements. I mean you can't have just one. I mean the role from our as it is today and continues to evolve, is it? The scope is very wide, and so you know data allows you to unlock value, allows you to gain insights into your employee population, into trends of where things may be going and you may be able to make better. I believe, fundamentally, the data helps you make better decisions right.
Speaker 3:Database decisions augment everything else, and so you know data is also the key to ensuring that. You know, as we bring in more capabilities through AI-powered tools and approaches, you know how do we make sure we're grounded in solid information and information that's accurate and to really help us unlock that value. I mean, too often in a lot of organizations you're still trying it's almost the creation of data right. We have multiple systems. Sometimes they're disparate. Trying to pull sources together to really understand what's going on in your business is quite difficult and time consuming. So the more efficient and the more robust and accurate your data set is. It's just another key component to the tools you have to make better business decisions.
Speaker 2:And you guys are pretty big companies. I'm interested to get your take. Do you guys tend to go for pre-built tech stacks or do you prefer to have in-house technology for analyzing your people?
Speaker 3:From a people perspective, we actually are buying. We have different tech stacks that we bring into the organization From the people analytics. It's not proprietary we are a SaaS company and our products are built in-house. But from an HR perspective, we're actually in the midst of deploying a new HCM with all of the different modules and this is what we're bringing into the organization.
Speaker 2:Excellent, thank you. Two more questions for you before I let you go and get on with your day. Next one I like to mix things up sometimes. I'm going to do that right now, in 60 seconds or less, and it might touch upon some of the things you've mentioned so far. In 60 seconds or less. Sue, looking looking ahead, what emerging workplace trends are you most excited or maybe concerned about as a people leader in tech? Go?
Speaker 3:so most excited is the opportunity that ai brings to um, the, the function right, and how can we use it to truly advance some of the um, the would say, those areas that are holding us back or are too difficult to get. So I'm so excited about what AI can bring to the HR function and just from people, analytics and insights, the art of the possible is so exciting. I also am concerned about the humanistic side right, making sure that companies and CHROs approach, identifying the right principles around how to what is human, what is non-human, and you know, how do we deploy these new technologies in a way that really are balanced, without losing sight of the importance of relationships and connections and communication. And so how do we balance that and continue to drive that forward?
Speaker 2:excellent, which leads me into my final question, which is about relationships and connections. How can folks connect with you? Is that through linkedin? Do you want to show your email address? Are you super cool and all over t in places? And, of course, how can our listeners learn more about Dynatrace?
Speaker 3:So check out Dynatracecom. You can learn a ton about our offerings and the organization. For me personally, LinkedIn is a great way. I am not cool on TikTok so that's not the best way to reach me, but I would say LinkedIn is awesome. Or my Dynatrace email at SueQuackenbush at Dynatracecom.
Speaker 2:Perfect. Me too. I would be lost trying to use TikTok, but I love a bit of LinkedIn, Sue. That just leaves me to say for today Thank you very much for being my guest.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure.
Speaker 2:And listeners as always, until next time. Happy working much for having me.
Speaker 1:It was a pleasure and listeners as always. Until next time, happy working. Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show. If you enjoyed this episode, why not subscribe and listen to some of the hundreds of episodes published by HR Gazette and remember for what's new in the world of work? Subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit HRGazettecom.
