Navigating Growth and Development in the Financial Services Industry

Better People Podcast

In this episode, Debbie Kemp, Chief People Officer at Biz2Credit shares her experiences and challenges of transitioning from a large organization to a rapidly growing one. She provides insights on building a leadership team, fostering a culture of learning, and developing talent in a small but mighty company. The importance of mentorship and effective communication in employee engagement and growth is also discussed, along with the significance of understanding the business as an HR professional and driving revenue growth. Kemp emphasizes the need to meet the organization where they are and shares valuable insights on building a strong culture and leaving a lasting impact.

Debbie Kemp is the Chief People Officer at Biz2Credit, a leading player in small business financing technology, with extensive experience in leadership and human resources roles at organizations like BRANDED and MediaCom. Debbie has excelled in shaping corporate culture, optimizing talent acquisition, and fostering diversity and inclusion. She brings a wealth of expertise to her current role, where she focuses on streamlining business financing processes and enhancing productivity. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Better People Podcast:

• Debbie discusses her career journey from Goldman to different industries and her current role at Biz2Credit
• She discusses the cultural differences between a 50-person organization and a company with hundreds of employees
• Foster a culture of learning and mentorship to empower employees.
• Regular communication and engagement surveys keep employees involved and informed.
• Addressing digital transformation challenges while enhancing customer experience.
• Understanding the business and driving revenue growth through HR.
• Building a strong culture and investing in talent.

Resources:

• Biz2Credit
• MidAtlantic Employers’ Association (MEA)

Connect with Debbie Kemp:

• LinkedIn

Connect with our host, Holly DePalma

• LinkedIn

Quotables:

• 07:01 - “I really love meeting people, and so it's nice to be able to understand the organization and the leader, our founders, and what may work with them and what may not work with them. And so that is finding those profiles and making a few introductions to just get an idea fit.”
• 11:45 - “We want to make sure that they're getting developed. So we also have these micro-learning sessions. We're actually going out with a kind of training right now for our sales. Anyone who's stuck in a customer touching a customer. So a few different roles, and it's really focused on customer experience. So we're linking that with LinkedIn learning some microlearning, like through teams or WhatsApp. So they're little micro sessions. And then also some coaching sessions on calls.”
• 13:25 - “Often the discussion with particularly Gen Z and the millennials, is that they need to constantly be what's next? What's next? What's next? And that can be challenging for smaller organizations when there isn't always a clear “what's next”. So, having their input on how you get there to the what's next is a must be a really positive experience for people.”
• 21:35 - Holly: “This has been a particularly challenging couple of years for folks in the HR profession. And, most people sort of talk about all they've done that they didn't think they were ever going to have to do, including being a safety officer, etcetera. What are some of the things that you see that are most different or that you have experienced in the last few years?”
  Debbie: “I think one of the things that are different is just a lot more listening. So I'll just say I spend a lot more time actively listening, just being that ear.”
• 19:20 - “A large challenge outside of everything else that's going in the economy, is just communicating in a way that our employees feel a part of what we're doing. And not being spoken to, but actually understand where we are.”