SSON's New Global Head of Community: "Nobody’s Getting Shot – No One’s Getting Dead"

Meet Rochelle Hood – SSON's new Global Head of Communities and Process SSON met Rochelle four years ago when she was a shared services project manager at Harris Corp. We took note of the people queuing up to meet her after her workshops and presentations and when she left Harris last year we grabbed the opportunity to ask her to come and run SSON’s Global practitioner community. In anticipation of the launch of the community later this year we’d like to introduce you to the shark-loving, shared services expert, widely feared by lobsters on the sea floor off the Florida coast… SSON: Rochelle tell us where you grew up. RH: I grew up in a small town in Nebraska (I still remember when our town got its first traffic light). My professional life has been richly influenced by my early career at IBM. "Big Blue" was one of the highest sought after employers in North America and I was so incredibly proud to wear my IBM stripes. IBM was an icon for innovation and provided me with my first introduction to the quality methods of Dr. Edward Deming. I was hooked and became fascinated with the pursuit of process excellence and continuous improvement. SSON: What’s your biggest headline learning over the last 15 years? RH: The ability to adapt quickly. I learned this early in my career, when I witnessed and directly experienced IBM as a world power, a product, thought and market leader that seemed almost untouchable. In what felt like the blink of an eye, so much changed and IBM was challenged with redefining itself to survive. A change management strategy and an organization culture that can adjust and flex with the changes is today more important than ever. As a Lean facilitator and someone who loves building quality and customer focus into services, I get very excited about sharing tools and teaching teams how to examine processes for change. One of my leadership learnings has been that some organizations simply don’t have the appetite for change and some executive leaders are committed to improvement by voice only, not dollars or business objectives. I learned you can’t "train" quality and continuous improvement into departments or a business group; it must first be part of their organizational culture before you can count on long-term success. SSON: Tell us about the Hoods at home (sounds positively mafia-esque) RH: I am "Jan Brady" – the middle sibling of 3 girls (SSON: OK, I was wrong). My chap keeps me grounded and balanced. His measure of "nobody's getting shot, no one’s getting dead" is great for maintaining perspective of what’s really important in the bigger picture. It may help to note that he is retired from military Special Forces. SSON: What does a normal week look like for you (an endless nosy fascination for us sitting here in London)? RH: People, process and giving back. Investing in relationship-building is a priority for me, as a means for knowledge exchange. I serve as the COO for a 400+ member professional association chapter as Project Manager. This role provides me with an opportunity to give back to the profession while expanding people connections and learnings. Work includes a focus on process – organizing work, solving for root cause, and striving to become the Queen of GO ("gaps" and "opportunities"). Great process truly comes to life when it’s targeted at enhancing customer experience. I pride myself at being the voice of the delegate, the student, or the end customer of processes I manage or lead. SSON: And what about the weekend? RH: On the water! Whether I’m scuba diving, hunting for lobster or spearing hogfish – or out for a day sail on our catamaran – it’s all about the ocean and marine life. Before joining the SSON team, I also enjoyed the beauty of a giant in the sea…sharks. I feel fortunate to have personally encountered, in the wild – not a cage – lots of species…bull, sand, tiger, nurse, reef, hammerhead and whale sharks. The Great Barrier Reef is high on my "life list" to see even more species (hint…Australia Shared Services & Outsourcing Week is in June). After joining the SSON team, and invoking a risk management and business continuity plan, I’m officially on shark hiatus..ish. SSON: If you had to spend $1million on property, where would it be? RH: I’d buy a private island, either in the Caribbean or Costa Rica. I love the sounds of the rainforest and the diversity of flora and fauna. However, you can’t beat the peace, tranquillity and laid back life of the Caribbean with water so clear you can see for miles. SSON: What have you observed as the biggest barriers to success on the shared services side? RH: One of the barriers I continue to see for Shared Services is lack of genuine support and commitment to the SSO model from Executive Leadership. Shared Services are often implemented as a cost reduction strategy, however when politics come into play some leaders need to demonstrate real courage and commitment to enable the SSCs to pull services in from business segments and operations leaders. Not doing so impedes full economies of scale and standardization capabilities. The result: SSCs struggle to gain full end-to-end process ownership, expansion in scope of services, and significant investment in enabling technologies without the full support, on paper, in practice, and through business objectives, of the C-level leaders. SSON: What do you most value in a colleague? RH: Integrity. I appreciate a colleague who is true to his/her values, shares feedback openly and respectfully, and stands behind his/her decisions. Integrity builds trust, an essential foundation for all relationships. SSON: what are the headline benefits you’d like the global SSON community launching in early summer to bring members? RH: A true measure of success for the community will be when practitioners view the community as a must-have tool and an extension of their investment in live events. Community members will utilize the platform to collaborate with Shared Services professionals to solve problems, share ideas, exchange tools and leverage the skills and resources of the community as a whole. The community will enable members to efficiently identify and connect with industry professionals in a facilitated forum to share information, increase organizational agility and continually innovate. [inlinead]

SSON's New Global Head of Community: "Nobody’s Getting Shot – No One’s Getting Dead"

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