Ten minutes with our new CPCO

Recently promoted to Chief People and Culture Officer at We Are Unity, Reetta first joined the agency to launch our Culture and Performance services. Five years later, it’s thriving , we’re growing and she’s up for a new challenge. We sat down for a chat about the experiences that led her here, and how she finds purpose at work. 

Reetta Makinen, Chief People & Culture Officer

How long have you been at We Are Unity and why did you join?

I’ve been a part of We Are Unity for almost five years! I was initially attracted to the organisation because it was all about creating meaning and impact for our clients with the clients truly in the centre of the solutions - rather than the products & services the organisation offers like in most consulting companies. That focus on meaning and impact has stayed central to our work every day since. 

Five years in, what's your favourite thing about coming to work here?

Anything is possible. Whether it's about helping our clients or changing the way we work internally, we are always up for creating something new – and challenging the usual approaches to work.

What’s something you have achieved in your career that you're proud of?

I'm proud of my previous role at We Are Unity – I established and led our Culture and Performance business for over four years. It's rewarding to see others continuing the work and the offering thriving in the market.

What's your biggest challenge or hope for the next 12 months?

With our fast growth and the current talent market the biggest challenge is to build our We Are Unity Village with great employees, contractors, freelancers and partners who are passionate about what we are here to do and who also align with our brand ethos (being smart, curious, playful and commercial).

What advice would you offer to someone looking to establish a purpose-led performance culture in their business?

There are a few fundamentals I believe need to be in place to truly build a purpose-led performance culture.

Firstly, ensure you have a clearly defined purpose that people can connect to and genuinely believe in. To do this you need to engage your employees, get them to find personal investment and connection in the company purpose, and investing in strategies and tools that help them to live it in their day to day work.

You also need to align your performance culture to the organisation's purpose. This means ensuring the organisation's values, behaviours and actions marry up with what your purpose is about. A good starting point is to measure the current state of the culture and understand where potential conflicts or challenges exist and then address those processes, systems, policies or ways of working that don't align.

One of the proof points of a purpose-led performance culture is that the purpose truly guides the organisation's decision making. To make this happen, you can develop tools that leaders can use when they are considering the right decision to make in different situations. For example, a simple decision making framework can help your leaders make purpose-led decisions in their day to day work.

Can you share three things you feel people and culture leaders should be doing right now? 

Be strategic about workforce planning. With the current war for talent it's easy to get desperate and make short term decisions about recruitment, but we'll come out of this phase, and when we do leaders will want to make sure that the hires made during this time are people that can also be part of your future.

Secondly, understand how purpose-led the organisation is, and ensure that the work you do helps to live the purpose in day to day life.

And of course, aligning culture and ways of working with the future requirements of the organisation – ensuring the approach developed to do that is backed up by commercial data. 

Purpose and helping people and businesses find meaning sits at the very core of our work here. What are your personal values and purpose? 

My personal purpose is to enrich people's lives through helping them find their purpose, and my values are: honesty, connection, kindness.

The world has shifted dramatically over the last two years, and work life balance has become a focus for so many as we embark on a new normal. What does work-life balance mean to you, and how do you manage to find it?

I feel really lucky that I get to work very flexibly. I have a little baby and it's important to me that I get to spend time with her and not miss out on important moments and milestones in her development. Having a healthy work life balance for me comes from forward planning and being smart about my ways of working to maximise both quality of work and time with my daughter.

One more question before you go: what’s your guilty pleasure song? That song that gets you dancing around the kitchen at the end of a work day?

Uptown Funk - it gets me going on all levels!