SHIRLEY BULLARD
Almost twenty years ago, we were blessed to talk Shirley Bullard into creating and developing the HR operation in our company. I don’t know many people who are as competent and caring as Shirley. This essay will show you the important servant leadership role that HR has in both good times and bad. Thanks, Shirley, for being the great servant leader you are. —KB
I FIND THAT I am still surprised at how long I have been working in the field of HR (human resources)—it’s been more than forty years. I got into HR completely by accident when someone told me they thought I would be good at it. Back then, I did not know much about the field except that HR professionals hire and fire people. If that had been the extent of the role, I would have been long gone by now—but it is so much more than that. Those who think HR is a place where situations are black or white, right or wrong, or “do this, don’t do that” typically do not last long. The first encounter with a hostile employee can leave even the best HR professional shaken and applying for any job just to escape another unpleasant confrontation. However, once I got my start, I never looked back.
Why have I stayed in HR? Because I truly enjoy working with and helping people. It is not the field or profession that is so unique—it is every individual and every encounter. I like understanding what makes people do the work they do. I enjoy the thrill of watching people develop and grow. I like making a connection with someone and figuring out how to make them the “star” in our encounter—how to put them first, meet them where they are, and help them move forward toward a positive way of thinking, acting, being, and believing. That is HR at its finest.
It is also one of the core elements of being a servant leader—putting other people’s needs ahead of your own. Without this mindset, your actions can be viewed as self-serving. Putting others first balances the acts of service and leadership. A serving mindset is part of the fiber of who you are. You want to serve and you do it instinctively, which is why you never tire of it.
When asked to share a story about servant leadership from an HR perspective, several came to mind. What makes these memories endearing to me is that other people involved have freely shared their perspective and their personal gratitude for my encounters with them. All involve putting the other person first while exercising leadership.
Oftentimes in HR there is no script for what you will encounter; there is no rule or policy that you can rely on; there is no clear-cut plan of what to do or not to do. But with a mindset of “I am here to serve,” you can get through even the most challenging event with grace. Notice I did not say “without angst, second guessing, or fear.” These are real emotions that exist for any leader who finds themselves encountering a situation that is unfamiliar territory.
This was the case for me in October 2007. The event: wildfires of epic proportions were racing through San Diego County. For nearly four days, a combination of extreme draught conditions, temperatures in the 90s, and rapidly shifting Santa Ana winds kept the fires moving, playing hopscotch across freeways, and rapidly consuming trees and homes in their paths. For those of us who were there to experience it, there seemed to be no end in sight. What direction will the winds blow next? Is a fire coming our way? How did they all start? What already had been destroyed? Like most citizens, I got my answers from the news.
What was being called a rural brush fire when I went to bed that Sunday evening became a deadly inferno in only a few hours. In many different communities, people’s lives were upended as they were awakened in the middle of the night to the smell of smoke and a reverse 911 call with a recorded voice telling them to evacuate their home and move to a safer location. For some people in those early hours, a safer location meant our offices at The Ken Blanchard Companies.
The first call I received was from my assistant, who had stayed up all night watching the deadly paths of the fires and was letting me know that a major freeway had been closed down. In fast succession, call number two came from our facilities manager, reporting that some of our people and their loved ones and pets had taken refuge in one of our buildings. I did not need to wait for a third call. I was up, dressed, and speeding to the office. The first person I met was our facilities manager, who had secured the campus and now wanted to know what to do about those who had taken shelter in our offices. I corrected him instantly—we needed to think about what to do for those people.
I knew I needed to go to be with them, because I had not experienced the trauma this group had been through that morning: being uprooted by the sound of law enforcement telling them to get out of their homes and get out now. As I remember, there were about fifteen people, including children with tears in their eyes. Some had brought along pets, who were panting and confused. I gave hugs to everyone I knew and got introduced to the others. My next task was to get them food and anything else they needed to be more comfortable. I asked for names so I could label the various items for when I returned. This also helped me learn the names of the folks I did not know.
Next was communication. I had to get word to all of our people in the local area that they were not to come to work today but were to focus on caring for their families and their safety. I needed to give them information about where the fires were in relation to our offices, to ask them to report in and let us know they were safe, and finally to reassure them that I would be back in touch with more updates. I had to do it in a way that would spur necessary action but not panic. I also had to communicate to a greater audience of our associates who were outside of San Diego about what was happening locally and how they could help. I had to do all of this over voicemail—the only mass communication tool available to me in those wee hours of the morning.
My continuing mission was to put others first—to let them know what we knew, to give them some sense of what to do next, and to give them hope. Luckily, most employees thought to check voicemail. In addition to my communication, Ken Blanchard—our company’s chief spiritual officer—left a voice message for everyone from Florida, where he and his wife, Margie, were at the time. He gave us all an update as to what was happening with his family, as some had been directly impacted by the fires.
Here’s a transcript of my first message from Monday, October 22:
Good morning everyone. This is Shirley with a global message to all of the employees of the Ken Blanchard Companies. This is of particular importance to those who work in Escondido. By now I’m sure you’ve all heard about the fires raging in the city and county. While our office will be open, I am asking all employees who work locally to please remain at home today—particularly those of you who are in areas that the fires are moving toward, those of you who have been evacuated, and those of you who have children in a school district that has closed. If you have the ability to work from home today, please do so. There will be an email out regarding emergency information. Also, you know that you can dial 211 to get updates in the county with regard to what is happening with fires around the area. I am asking all employees in the area to please check in with the front desk to let them know that you are okay and to let them know where you will be today in the event that we need to get in touch with you. I also am going to ask that you please check your voice-mail at the end of the day, and we will have instructions on what will be happening on Tuesday, October 23. As soon as we know the whereabouts of all employees, we will put out a message letting everyone outside of the area know what’s happening at the company. Please check your email later for a message, and also check voicemail later this evening for instructions for Tuesday.
Later that morning, I informed everyone that our offices were officially closed for business and that some of our people were using them as temporary housing. I was happy to report that we had heard from most of our local people and everyone was safe. And I asked for continuous prayers for everyone who had been affected by the fires.
For the next few days, sleep was not a high priority as I knew it was my responsibility to stay on top of what was happening and communicate both good news and bad news to our people. The bad news was that Ken and Margie Blanchard’s house had burned to the ground and was a total loss. To make things worse, because the San Diego airport had been closed due to the fires, they wouldn’t be able to get a flight home from Florida until later in the week. Fortunately, out of more than 160 local employees, only one other house was lost. That was a blessing, given the fact that more than fifteen hundred homes were lost in San Diego County as a result of four separate fires burning at the same time. The evacuation of more than five hundred thousand people was one of the largest in the history of our country. The city responded beautifully as people reached out to help one another, offering assistance of every kind.
Dealing with this kind of a crisis isn’t in anyone’s job description. But as the head of HR, I was the caretaker of the people in our organization during this tough time. I had to rely on my instinct and my desire to serve. There were many rewards, though. One thing I was encouraged and pleased about was our company spirit, which was stronger than ever during this time. I was also grateful for my colleagues who stood beside me as servant leaders, putting the needs of others first. While the amount of property lost was staggering, our employees and their families were safe.
Through this experience, I realized once again that being a servant leader is more about serving than leading. You need both to be effective—especially when there is no script.
Shirley Bullard is chief administrative officer for The Ken Blanchard Companies. She joined Blanchard as vice president of HR and chief personnel officer in February 1998. Shirley’s prior industry experience included ten years at the Poway Unified School District as director of personnel support services and more than fifteen years with the U.S. Navy as a civilian employee. She received her juris doctorate from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.