A lawyer by training and trade, Suzy Alford has worked hand in hand with HR as an employment lawyer. Less than five months ago, she joined ECI Group as Chief Administrative Officer, a newly created role where she is responsible for the company’s HR, risk management and legal functions.
Alford spent the past 12 years with a technology and data company, so she’s not only new to ECI Group, but she’s also new to the multifamily industry. However, she’s not at all intimidated by the steep learning curve she has embarked on. If anything, she’s excited to take on a new challenge. Given her extensive experience, she believes she can offer a fresh perspective, and share new ideas and best practices with her new team.
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Throughout her career in legal and HR, she often witnessed how miscommunication caused the vast majority of problems in the workplace. To build a solid, healthy culture, Alford believes that those in leadership positions need to have those critical conversations, to listen to employees’ feedback and empower them to ask questions.
In this episode of Mission Success: Women in Multifamily with Multi-Housing News Senior Editor Laura Calugar, Alford talks about the main features of a healthy work culture, and how to translate culture into actions. Here’s what else they touched on:
- How she’s settled into her new role and what it entails exactly (0:48)
- How her background as a lawyer contributes to shaping a positive work culture (3:39)
- What a healthy work culture includes (5:48)
- Translating culture into actions (8:35)
- What multifamily employees want from their employer (10:48)
- How to make good employees stay (13:13)
- Why feedback from employees is essential (15:35)
- Addressing change fatigue (17:04)
- Reducing bias in the workplace (19:22)
- Diversity, equity and inclusion (20:56)
- Risk management at ECI Group (23:04)
- Alford’s long-term plans at ECI Group (24:00)
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