Ep. 65: Culture in a multilingual company

Marcela Pizzi | Head of People & Communications, Atlas Renewable Energy

People will give their best efforts when they work in a company where they feel valued, recognized, and seen. That’s the perspective of Marcela Pizzi, of Atlas Renewable Energy as shared on this episode of Raising the Bar on Leadership. With over 15 years’ experience leading global companies, Marcela has some clear advice about engaging employees in a way that truly matters—and gets results. 

She shares first-hand experience about working across different cultures and languages, and how to navigate that territory in a way that builds relationships and strong communication. Raising the Bar on Leadership host Aaron Levy and Marcela even discuss some engagement attempts that flopped (and how lessons were learned for the future.) This authentic discussion is sure to be a value to anyone in people leadership that want to deliver what employees want specific engagement tactics that make companies desirable and competitive places to work. 

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Answered on this Episode

• How can a company effectively serve a workforce that speaks different languages and represent different cultures? 

• How can people leaders practically invest in their employees?

• What can companies do when their engagement efforts miss the mark?
  

Advice from Marcela

Cultural Sensitivity and Inclusion

Maintaining a people-first culture across different countries and cultures involves understanding local customs, languages, and needs. Corporate communications and programs must be inclusive and relevant to all employees to ensure a truly global and cohesive company culture.

Flexible and Meaningful Benefits

Offering benefits that cater to the diverse needs of employees shows genuine interest in their well-being. Instead of rigid benefits like gym memberships, providing flexible options such as a sports benefit allows employees to choose activities that best suit their lifestyles and preferences.

Listening and Adapting

Consistently listening to employees and being willing to adapt policies and programs based on their feedback is vital. This approach ensures that initiatives are effective and truly meet the needs of the workforce, fostering a more engaged and motivated team.

Connect with Marcela: LinkedIn

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Find This Conversation

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Full Transcript

[00:00:00] Aaron: Today we have a special guest who's a real powerhouse in the people and organizational development space. With over 15 years of experience leading multinational companies, Marcela Pizzi brings a wealth of knowledge and strategies to the table. In this conversation, we talk about what it really means to put people first and how you do that across different cultures, different genders, different needs of an organization and its people.

It is a wonderful reminder of the importance of listening and asking questions, and taking that extra thoughtful, conscious step with your policies, programs, and the way you lead your people. It's an awesome discussion. I hope you enjoy and take a listen. 

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[00:00:00] Aaron: Marcela, it's a blast to have you on. I'm super excited to have this conversation, hear your perspective.

Our last conversation was just so rich and you have such a clear, thoughtful perspective on the people function in an organization. Excited to talk to you about that and excited to have you on. 

[00:00:56] Marcela: Thank you, Aaron. It's really nice to be talking to you again. 

[00:00:59] Aaron: Last time we talked to you, we're very clear on the role of the people function not the HR function in a business. And can you explain more about what you mean by the difference between having a people function in your business, a people department versus a HR department?

[00:01:13] Marcela: Absolutely. I think it. It's something that has been happening in a natural organic way in the organization. I would say here at Atlas Renewable Energy, we have been very lucky in our history and our journey here in Atlas of having the possibility of creating. The space for people to thrive.

So, with that in mind when I first joined the company it was very interesting because we were putting everything in place, everything that a human resources department should have, but always with in the back of our heads and with our vision that we wanted this to become a company that will be global.

Positively, not only in the environment for everything that we are doing, but also in the people that will be joining the company. I had the fortune of being with the company ever since it first began from day one. So, I have been very lucky to being able to shape a little bit the [00:02:00] vision of people and the vision of what you would know as human resources.

And I'm giving you this introduction because when you are faced with the possibility of putting everything in place from scratch, then it's Absolutely a blessing that you can get to translate the vision of what you want to be or what you want to become as a company and as a human resources department.

And now one of the first conversations that we were having when creating Atlas with the whole leadership team and with the CEO and with everybody that was at the company at that point where we were only 20 people was how do we want to do this? We are a group of people. We, Here at Atlas, people are people, not resources.

That is why it's called people. It's really obvious, but I think that translates into so many of the different things that we have been doing from this function to the company, like putting people first and truly walking the talk on everything that we do from our compensation of benefits, from our costs or for the way that we interact with each other.

 What do we prioritize in [00:03:00] the company? It's very aligned, on how we call ourselves on what we do and what we implement as global challenges and programs for everybody else.

[00:03:10] Aaron: So, it's great that you say it sounds nice, right? Like a people first culture, focusing on people and doing the right things by the people. But when you grow from 20 to. 400, and you go from, a small team to now a global team in many offices with different workers and different types of employees.

How do you maintain that? How do you keep that people first culture as the organization grows and scales? 

[00:03:36] Marcela: It's hard. And I don't know if I have an answer for that, but I think by one of the most important thing is one getting to know the people that you're working with, understanding their needs.

Being very transparent and clear on what your goal and your focus in on why you are doing things the way that you are doing, why is it that you put in place different programs [00:04:00] or sharing your vision, I would say that. And then, of course, you should translate that into really specifics, which is a mess.

Because yes, you can have the theory always right and perfect. But then, as you said, we operate in different countries. First of all, we have the language barrier. So, sometimes when You think you are saying things in a really cool and appropriate way. It translates into a completely different thing.

So, yes, people start feeling not seeing then they start feeling okay. So, you actually don't care as much as me, because if you would, then you would try to learn my language. You will try to get into my culture, understand a little bit about me. So, there's a lot of. Different aspects that you should take into consideration when actually trying to implement the things that you are doing, but for that, it's very important to really.

Understand your people understand what is it that they want, that they care about? What are you doing right? What you should be changing and improving. And I think that's also has been one of the main things that, I [00:05:00] think has kept us going. We are very close in, we have a very horizontal culture because we discuss a lot about things that's happening, what's going on.

So, for example, when we first start talking about diversity—I also maybe should share with you that it's interesting that I was the 1st employee of this new face of Atlas. We come from another company. There was another situation. And when Atlas 1st began existing in 2017. There wasn't a CFO, there wasn't a general counsel, and the first person that they hired was human resources.

And it was interesting because then I asked my CEO why, and then he said because people is the most important part of our company. And so, I have always had that in the back of my head. And that's the, also the vision that I have translated to my team. So, we have a very horizontal culture because we are always near people trying to understand what is happening, what is going on, because it's people that make our company.

What it is and in this horizontal company again, it's very [00:06:00] important. to be really close to people. And it's weird because sometimes they say, I don't know if it's because you're a psychologist because I don't come from the human resources or the engineering world. It comes from the, I don't know I'm a therapist from my, it's my background, my professional studies background.

I don't know if it's because you're a psychologist or a therapist, I don't know, but I don't know why I'm telling human resources what I'm telling because At the end of the day, this is human resources and it's, but, and I say, you know what, I really need for you to tell me what is happening, what is going on, how you're feeling the company, and then also being very humble when you don't understand things.

For keeping it real, you need to really show who you are again, like I was saying languages, for example. I have been trying to learn Portuguese. I it's really hard. We speak Spanish, English and Portuguese, in our company. It's really hard. But if I really want to try to understand what is people feeling, doing, saying, laughing about, I really need to try to get into their culture and try to understand where they come from.

So, that has also translated [00:07:00] into us taking really like corporate decisions. So, all the communications are done in three different languages, even though English is our official language, if there's a communication, we put everything into the three languages. If we do an all hands or a town hall or something like that, you have translators.

So, you can hear it in your original language. So, that also helps. What is the message that we are sending besides the content that we all want for everybody to have is the message that we care about you and we understand that you have specific needs and that you need to understand things from first hand in your native tongue.

If not, what's the point? It's not, I don't want to translate the message. I want for you to understand what I'm trying to say. Those kinds of things, which are maybe small things, but at the end of the day, it puts you in perspective of trying to make it and keeping this real. If you really want to make this about people, I can't have corporate programs.

I can't have like global corporate benefits for everybody. If at the end of the day, you're not going to use it. So, I have a lot of [00:08:00] examples. I know that maybe you have another question, but the last example that I'm going to mention is for 

[00:08:04] Aaron: keep going. Keep going. 

[00:08:06] Marcela: It's for example, when, like I mentioned I had the fortune of being in Atlas from day one.

So, that meant that I had, for example, to put in place all the compensation and benefits. It's platform program and offering for everybody and the leadership team and me and the people that were at that point in the company, we took two decisions that was, that I think were very important and shaping everything from that day on.

And one of those decisions were first, we want to be this company that we need really need to, this to feel as one company. Despite all the countries that we operate in, we now operating in Chile, in Brazil, in Mexico, in Colombia, in Spain. And we also have an office in the U S but so we really need this to feel as one company because it's actually, it's Atlas at the end of the day, despite the country that you live in, there are no second-class citizens for us.

So, we didn't want people to feel that [00:09:00] because they were in Brazil, they wouldn't care of what was happening in Mexico or that they wouldn't care what would be happening in Colombia or anywhere else in the world. And that translated into really specific ways of approaching the function of people.

For example, putting in place benefits that would be the same for everybody in all the different countries, despite the country that people were operating in or working in. But not only that, it's not just having this corporate huge, fantastic benefits or anything like that. It's also how people use them or not, because we have different ways in our cultures and in our countries.

For example, the gym benefit. I'm not a very sporty person. I know I should be, but I'm not, honestly. I'm not. And I have always struggled when applying for a job and they say, oh, you have a really great gym benefit and you can go to all the gyms that you want. For free and the company will pay for that and say yes great, but I'm not interested in that So, what I'm saying keeping close to people is understanding what they want so that you can be effective in your [00:10:00] policies and in your programs So, thinking about that I said, okay how do you exercise because it's really important to have this balance into what your work and you should take care of your health Both physically and mentally.

So, how do you exercise? How do you get distracted from work at the end of the day? And some people went to the gym, of course, but some other people would like to dance. Other people like to, I don't know, ride a bike or things like that. So, we put in place a benefit that is you have on an annual amount of money.

that you use towards sports. So, you can use it the way you want. So, if you're traveling, because we also travel a lot, so if you're traveling and you are in Chile, for example, and you want to go skiing because it's really close to the capital of Chile, you can use your sports benefit to pay for the ski tickets or renting the skis.

things that you need because for us, it's how you use things because we get to, we really want to get to know you, get to know the person and put in place again [00:11:00] programs or benefits or anything that we do from the people function that is actually use and value to people in our company. 

[00:11:07] Aaron: Oh, I love that.

I am. Always frustrated when companies are just trying to win the benefits war. And so, they're just saying, Oh, this benefit and this benefit. They're not thinking, what do people actually use? What matters to my people? 

[00:11:19] Marcela: And not only that is that actually showing that you care again about them and that people are first because everybody will say, oh yeah, people are the most important thing on the most valuable asset of our company.

And at the end of the day, we know that in. Human resources. like cost, not necessarily an investment. And there's lot at stake there because it's the brand, it's the name, it's your reputation as a company. The same thing happened, for example, when we were thinking about health insurance. We're mostly operating in Latin America and in Latin countries.

And Health insurance is something very common. It's not as complex as it might be in the U. S. For example, because it's a lot of government health insurance and things like that. And [00:12:00] you make a mix of whatever so we're putting in place because everybody in all the different Atlas offices has the same benefits.

And we're putting in place a health insurance benefit. We were thinking, okay, so what do we want to achieve with this? It's just to have another really nice-looking benefit in paper, or we actually are going to provide health insurance for our people. And how are we going to do that? Because if everybody should have health insurance with the conditions that we offer to people, which is no deductibles and no copays in every country for all of our employees and their significant others.

How are we going to implement that? Because when you as a company, for example insurance, someone who is single, you pay two, if you insure on someone who is legally married or has a legal partner, then you pay three. But in most of the countries where we operate at that point in 2017, the legal union of people from same sex, for example, was not something legally recognized.

So, when we hire someone and we were [00:13:00] offering the health insurance for them and their partners or significant others, for us as a company, implied a higher cost because we would need to be paying two, and two, for the person and their partner, because legally, our countries did not the same sex marriage.

And why I'm telling you this, it's because if I would just put in my benefits, oh, I have health insurance for you and your partner, and then you join the company, and you realize, ah, sorry, I didn't tell you, you need to be legally married to the person in order for you To have that benefit, then I'm putting my company in the risk of this is not what you're selling.

If you're telling me that people are first and it's the most important, then it's not my problem. You're offering me something and I need to walk the talk of what I'm offering. So, there's a lot of thinking and small, you would say, details that at the end of the day, you need to take into account if you are actually going to sell.

Be people center.

[00:13:57] Aaron: Yeah, I love that. It's not just the high-level thought, but [00:14:00] it's the details that matter. And you said something a few moments ago saying, it's a difference between an investment and a cost. And some of the things that you've shared in the examples are incredible and somebody else listening might be we don't have that kind of money or how do you justify that?

Spend as, maybe margins are down for a quarter or for a year or something like, so I guess, how do you balance that with the business needs? And how does that investment show up over the course of time? 

[00:14:26] Marcela: That's a great question, because I think one of the things that is harder in our area or function is actually to show the returns on all the investment that you're doing in people.

Because, yes, we're saying people is people's first, but we're not an NGO. We're a company and of course we have a business and we need to deliver. And when we're doing this, it's also first, it's not Oh, we are just saying this because we're really nice people. No. We really want to have a best-in-class company in all the different aspects that we may have.

One of them is of course, [00:15:00] our offerings in terms of compensation benefits. We want to have the best professional. We want to be sexy enough to have people coming to our company and say, I want to work there. Both from a business perspective, from an HR perspective, from a challenges and approach to new business and opportunities from a development opportunity from themselves here in the company from all the different angles. Of the challenges is actually putting that into practice. What happens with this? Why are you doing this? And for us, I would say that one of the main things, and that is something that we have been starting to measure, is the engagement of people. Because when people join a company, that they feel valued, recognized, seen it's a positive thing.

You will give your best. It's like when you're investing in a relationship at the end of the day. It's not because I'm such a great company. I will do the best for you. No, we're not an NGO, we're a company, but we want people to be working here and having a good time and developing themselves because if they do, we also grow as company and that's the [00:16:00] return that we're having.

Engage people, motivated, passionate about what they're doing. And at the end of the day, they start spreading also the voices like, oh yeah, Atlas is a great company to work for because I have this. And besides that. I can also, I don't know interact with other people in other countries, I can learn from other initiatives and perspectives and points of view.

So, it's a win for everybody 

[00:16:21] Aaron: It's funny, and amazing to hear the level of depth that you're thinking about this. And I love that it's, yeah, we're not a nonprofit, we're not an NGO. Like this is a business and this isn't about just making people feel good or feel taken care of—it’s helping people be at their best that the business can be at its best and that is a direct connection that, we sometimes miss as people leaders, we say, okay, it's either this or this, or why am I getting skimped up?

It's like actually our role. Is to grow people so we can grow the company. And how do we think about it that way? I'm curious what, something that you thought would work like process or a program or something that [00:17:00] you're like, oh, this is awesome. I'm super excited about it. And it just turned out to be a flop, an epic failure.

[00:17:05] Marcela: I don't know if I have a specific example of something that has gone completely wrong. Because we tend to test some things. And the other thing is that we have created a culture and an environment where actually people can say that if they don't like things or if the things are not, yeah, that's what I'm talking 

[00:17:22] Aaron: about.

Where is a test that didn't work? And what did you learn from it? 

[00:17:26] Marcela: I would say that. We have matured and evolved in some of the approaches that we have been having, for example, from the diversity point of view. So, at first, I would say that yes, March, for example, was a very important month because it's Women's International Day.

And then, of course, and everybody was saying that March 8th was a really great day or whatever. Yes, and we have always been saying that we are a company that cares about diversity and all of that. We started working with gender diversity. We don't [00:18:00] have quotas. We don't believe in quotas because that's not useful for anybody.

So, for example, we'll have a blind CV policy when hiring and recruiting people because it's not about gender, age or race. It's about the person and what they bring to the table. But anyway, what I'm saying is that we had all this diversity and interest in doing things the right way. So, March, it's this month where we need to commemorate Women's Day.

At first, we celebrated Women's Day, which is wrong because you commemorate because there's nothing to celebrate because a bunch of women died. We're trying to have better. labor conditions, working conditions. So, we celebrated them. We gave women the possibility of, we had the manicures in the office.

And it's that was like, why are we doing this? First, this is stereotypical, because first, not everybody likes a manicure, first. And also, men may like manicures, not necessarily women. What's wrong with us? [00:19:00] First celebrating, commemorating, why are we doing this? And then we realize, okay, so let's cut that out.

Let's start talking about this. What do you think women's Age of March means, or what are we doing in Atlas to improve women's rights, for example. And things like that. So, we ended up evolving in the way that we were approaching some of the initiatives. The same thing happens with June. What are we doing?

It's bring your partner to the office day or something like that. What is it that we are doing in Bright? We decided to educate, for example, first people, again, have been evolving. Not everybody knows what LBGTQI plus means. And so, what is that? And some people may be, I don't know about that.

I don't want to be part of it. And also, us as a company don't want to be imposing things because not everybody is the same. Not everybody. comes from the same background. So, let's educate. So, we have been involved in that. And now, for example, it's not necessarily about June. It's not about diversity in terms of sexual orientation. [00:20:00] 

It's about the diversity that everybody brings to the table. So, this year, for example, we are launching a campaign where we want to highlight how we are different in so many other aspects. that other than sexual orientation. Do you like coffee? Do you like tea? Are you an early bird? Are you a night owl?

Do you speak another language? I don't know. What's your favorite color? And things like that. So, yes, that diversity is much broader than that gender, race, or sexual orientation. So, yes, we have done things very bad, the good thing is that we are evolving and learning from our mistakes. 

[00:20:31] Aaron: I think what you share and thank you for sharing what didn't work because I think it helps people learn and see it.

It's also like you're doing so many wonderful things. Somebody could be listening. She doesn't do anything wrong or bad. And so, it's good to hear Oh, yeah, we all make mistakes. But it really resonates with what you shared earlier. And I think it's the ethos of this conversation so far is we need to learn about our people.

We need to learn about what matters to them. We need to listen to them. What you're saying is, hey, we did this. And we listened. And when it [00:21:00] wasn't a fit, we evolved, we changed, we grew, and we're continuing to listen. And I think that's such an important lesson for any people team, any human being, right?

Like we can't grow unless we listen and we can't learn unless we listen. Be humble 

[00:21:13] Marcela: about other person's experience as well. I'm not the owner of the truth. I don't have a recipe for things. I'm also learning in everything that I'm doing. Like I mentioned at some point that I don't come from a human resources background necessarily.

So, I'm learning on the job. But I also think I have a lot of responsibility, so I need to be very conscious about what I'm learning. 

[00:21:35] Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. And that's such a good, that's such a good alignment. It's, you listen, you learn. And then when you make choices, be conscious and pay attention to the impact that they have.

And this is—thank you. All I have is thank you so much. This is such a, such an insightful perspective because there's so many elements of running a people function and running a growing organization that are hard and it's easy to overlook the small things and it's easy to just, get tasks done.

Yeah. It's harder to stop and listen and say, [00:22:00] how did we do with that? Is that working? Is that not working? What do we need to do different next time? Or are we thinking about the impact of this policy? is it going to be implemented in the way that we want it to be? And those are like, it's the next level of questions, the next level of thoughtfulness that makes a big difference.

[00:22:17] Marcela: Absolutely. And at the end of the day, whatever you're spending your money in as. companies. It's effective. It creates an impact. It's not just because also it's a credibility from the, for the people department as well. It's Oh, here they come with this flowers and hearts and things like that.

No. We're doing things. That the company needs or that people need, not because we are saying so, but because we have done our studies, our research, we have tried, tested, there's a lot of another learning experience for us is that we have this view that we have to be one, one Atlas and one company.

So, everything is the same for all the different countries, but the flavor that you have in every country is also different. So, it's not just having this. Worldwide program with [00:23:00] work that nobody understands. It's also trying to implement it in a specific way for all the different countries. So, one of our learning also, or lessons learned as a department is tests.

that we do with some small groups. Is this going to work or not? A focus group on things. Is this going to work? If yes, then maybe try another region or try another function or let's start slowly. Because also, like I said, it's our credibility as a department. If people don't trust, Us and what we are doing, then we won't be effective.

They won't feel part of the company. They won't be engaged. They won't give their best and the company won't thrive from a business perspective as well. So, it's all related, but again, I think it's more of being humble about what you know, what you don't know, listening to people, learning from your mistakes and trying to do your best because it's also the place where I work.

So, of course I want this to be a really good place for people who are 

[00:23:56] Aaron: No, this is it's just such, it's the fundamentals, but it's [00:24:00] so powerful. And thank you for reminding us and me the importance of the fundamentals and just so grateful to have you on. Thank you for taking time out of your day.

Your busy day in Brazil where you have some offsite stuff going on. So, I appreciate making the time and thank you for being here. 

[00:24:14] Marcela: Thank you so much, Aaron, for everything. Was lovely talking to you. Hope to see you sometime again.