Digital leadership that really ‘packs a Punch’

[00:00:02.410] – Christy Punch
So I will admit I was super surprised and very flattered that I was asked to come back for a second year. You know very well the passion I have in this space, and I love being a judge with these awards because I get to see behind the curtain and see all of the really cool things that different companies are doing in the digital employee experience space. So for me, selfishly, I’m getting to learn and see some of the innovation that’s happening at these different companies. And the reason I say I was surprised I was asked back because I think I had in my judging comments, like pages and pages of notes that I feel so bad that your group had to probably filter through. But because I was just so impressed with the entries and seeing what everyone was doing, I think I used exclamation points a lot and really just enjoyed that experience of being a judge. So I’m just thrilled that I was asked to come back a second year. Can’t wait to see what the entries are this year because so much happens in a year. The world changes, what companies are focused on changes.

[00:01:19.660] – Christy Punch
And so every year is really different because of all of the external factors that are influencing these companies. And so I’m really looking forward to see what entries come in and what these folks are doing.

[00:01:32.220] – Nancy Goebel
Christy Punch is a longtime friend, mentee and DWG member. The reasons for bringing her into the Digital Workplace Impact podcast studio today are many. She’s reprising her role as a judge for DWG’s Digital Workplace of the Year awards. She is a unique voice on social and the speaker circuit for the digital workplace industry. She’s someone who leads large-scale, complex digital transformation efforts. She’s done so at both Liberty Mutual and Wells Fargo and SCANA before that. She most recently has been recognized as a top 100 leader, transforming employee and customer experience in 2023. I think you’ll quickly come to see Christy’s passion lies at the intersection of innovation and the employee experience. She is someone who connects people process and technology to solve business problems in both impactful and creative ways. This is your host, Nancy Goebel, and Digital Workplace Impact is brought to you by Digital Workplace Group. Join me now in conversation with Christy. Happy listening. So, Christy, I have to say it is such a pleasure to have you back in the podcast studio for what I’m sure will be another exciting conversation. Welcome, welcome.

[00:03:06.810] – Christy Punch
Thank you. I’m so excited to get to catch up with you and talk again.

[00:03:12.030] – Nancy Goebel
Same here. It’s always such a pleasure. It’s hard to believe that we’ve known each other for what I’m going to say is close to 15 years.

[00:03:21.410] – Christy Punch
Prince. Wow. It has been a long time, right?

[00:03:26.290] – Nancy Goebel
We met at a conference long time ago, much earlier in both of our careers. And my goodness, how much has happened not only in the world, but our respective orbits. And I thought it would just be really interesting to dip into your world in a different way as part of this conversation, partly because you’ve had some industry recognition, partly because you are coming into your second year as part of the panel of judges for the Digital Workplace of the Year awards. And often when I look at digital workplace practitioners, the career paths are quite unusual, including my own. And so I think it’s always really interesting to dip into history a little bit, to see how things have come together, sometimes through a little bit of serendipity, sometimes with just leaning into the yes as different opportunities have come up. And I think yours is an interesting story on lots of levels. And so a good place to start would be to say when you were growing up, did you have a vision for what you wanted to pursue as a career?

[00:04:50.670] – Christy Punch
It’s interesting. I was at a conference a few weeks ago, and one of the presenters had a slide, kind of an introductory slide for him and his role. And he had this meme on the slide that said, when I grow up, I’m going to manage intranets. And then it says, no one ever. Right? So I think nobody really grows up saying, I’m going to work in digital employee experience. Many of us, it really wasn’t even a thing back then. I knew that I always wanted to pursue a career that involved technology. I was really very lucky and blessed to have a dad who was very involved in the latest and greatest tech. So when dial-up internet first came out, we had it when I was four years old, actually. My dad had bought us an Apple II computer, those big behemoth things. And I think I may have learned to use the computer before I even knew fully how to read or write, which is really interesting. So I think being kind of that first generation of what they call digital natives, which are generations that grow up with technology or having access to kind of the new technology.

[00:06:12.710] – Christy Punch
My generation, I think, was really kind of the first early generation that had computers at a very young age and access to internet as we were growing up. And so I think that really just helped me develop a love for technology. And so I went to college for computer engineering and soon learned that while I love technology, I did not love sitting behind a computer and programming all day. I wanted to work with people and be a little bit more towards the business side. So I ended up pursuing my MBA with the e-commerce focus. And that helped me really kind of get that blend of both kind of the technology aspect of things and then being able to connect the dots with how does technology drive and impact the business. And I think, as I said, nobody pursues a career in digital employee experience, or intranets, if you will. And so, for me, with my first role out of grad school, I was an e-marketing strategist, I think was my first title. And my role was really looking at both internal and external websites and looking at how to improve the user experience. And in terms of how I got more focused on the internal and more of the intranet side of the house was really like what you mentioned earlier, leaning into an opportunity.

[00:07:47.430] – Christy Punch
So somewhat kind of fell into my lap. And so the company at the time had a really one homegrown, pretty awful intranet. I don’t think it even really worked or operated helped employees at all. So there was this chance to kind of raise my hand and take on leading this redesign for this intranet. And that really, I think, was kind of the tipping point, or the moment when my passion for employee experience and how to bring technology into that, I think that’s when that all began. So, literally, kind of just a moment in time fell in my lap and really just set me on my way. And I’ve been kind of really focused on my career in digital employee experience ever since, which is really kind of crazy to think about because it’s been a long time.

[00:08:42.870] – Nancy Goebel
And as long as I’ve known you, you’ve talked about the fact that your passion lies at the intersection of innovation and the employee experience. Can you tell us why you think that is and how you’ve harnessed this passion for an impactful career?

[00:09:02.990] – Christy Punch
Yeah, so for me, when I think about innovation, it’s more than just the latest technology or the newest technology. For me, innovation is really about creative problem solving. So when I think of innovation, I look at companies like Uber and how they took a problem statement with, say, taxis or getting rides and really reimagined how that would be done in leveraging technology as a way to solve something differently. Same thing when you think about Dyson and how they’ve really kind of rethought something not as exciting and interesting as vacuum cleaners. And so, for me, when I think about innovation and employee experience, it’s really about looking at how do we solve the problems around employee experience and employees needing to have the tools and the technology to do their jobs, but how do we do that in a creative way? How do we solve those problems differently? And so it’s not just again, it’s not about, oh, generative AI is the trendy thing right now. Let’s just start pumping out solutions and putting a bunch of things out there. It’s really about looking at that end-to-end experience and thinking about what are the problems we’re trying to solve and how can we solve them in a creative way?

[00:10:37.050] – Nancy Goebel
And can you think of I’ll call it a wow moment where those two things, innovation and the employee experience, came together in your career so far that you can share with us?

[00:10:51.940] – Christy Punch
Thinking back, there’s probably several different ‘Aha’ moments for me, but I think maybe one of the more pivotal ones was when I worked for Wells Fargo and we were on the path of a portal redesign and we needed to really rethink how we approached our portal. So prior to taking on that redesign, we were more so looking at it kind of like a one size fits all, really not looking beyond the technology that was already in place at the company. And so when we decided, hey, we need to do something different, we’re starting to see these problem statements surface for us that we need to solve for our employees. We really took a moment to take a moment, but it was really like almost a full year to take a step back and say, you know what, let’s really dig into this and let’s really understand what these problem statements are and what our employee needs are. And then let’s start with a blank slate and work hand in hand with our technology teams and really identify how can we approach this in a different way? And so that really gave us the freedom and the flexibility to think differently or, again, creative problem solve.

[00:12:24.500] – Christy Punch
And we ended up identifying this kind of new emerging technology around microservices. And many vendors were just starting to get into microservices to really integrate with different tools. And so we started to dig into that and think, okay, how can this help us connect our employees experiences across all of these digital tools? How can we make things more seamless and reduce some of the complexity that our employees are having to manage through in their digital experience? And that really set us on a path to build something that ended up winning awards and was something that really kind of helped us deliver something for our employees that brought all of these various tools together, but also did it in a way that we had never really approached that problem in the past. So that for me, was kind of a pivotal moment that sometimes you have to slow down to move faster. So we needed to take that step back and start with that clean slate. And yes, it took us maybe longer than most people would maybe want it to take, but it was really worth it in the end because the end product was something that was going to be sustainable and something we could build upon and evolve.

[00:13:49.460] – Christy Punch
I think it was really important that we took that approach.

[00:13:53.170] – Nancy Goebel
I remember this point in time very vividly for two reasons, although you’ve shared a few more that I would have pinpointed as well. But I remember the day that you stood up at one of the DWG member meetings to share the proof of concept with us. So we got to see that’s, right, this implementation of microservices very much in its infancy, and that was a moment of courage, right, to stand up and share something that was past the thinking stages but not quite fully baked. And then we came back the following year and gave you and your colleagues a spotlight moment in a research report that we did around innovation in the digital workplace. And part of why this story was so interesting was that this was an example of harnessing the collective thought process of employees, not just the immediate team, and leveraging hackathon to help stand up some of the capabilities within the microservices. And so this idea of tapping the collective brain trust in a way that could be a repeatable process was quite powerful because ultimately, when you think about digital workplaces as a whole, the organization can develop so much from the center.

[00:15:23.910] – Nancy Goebel
And the idea of citizen development is critically important to the future of digital workplaces around the globe. In order to be able to actually get all of the capabilities that are needed in place, it’s really a portfolio strategy of leveraging different enterprise services as well as the things that can be developed in the trenches, so to speak.

[00:15:53.510] – Christy Punch
Yeah, it’s interesting. And what’s really kind of like a Kismet moment, I guess. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but I actually was at a DWG member meeting. I think we had just launched this new portal experience, and I bumped into one of the members from Liberty Mutual, and they were sharing at that time. I think they had just won the DWG Digital Workplace Award that year for their microservices solution, for their portal experience. And so we ended up connecting with Liberty Mutual and found out that we had both kind of started the journey with microservices around the same time. And we joked like, gosh, if we had just known we could have worked through DWG and worked more closely together, maybe we would have had a much more accelerated path. But I remember at the time just being fascinated with Liberty Mutual because they had taken a similar approach that we had at Wells Fargo at the time, but really took it to that next level. And so for me, that instilled in my mind that Liberty Mutual, this is a cool place. They are really taking innovation to the next level.

[00:17:14.880] – Christy Punch
And then I think it’s funny because here I am working for Liberty Mutual a handful of years later, and a big part of the reason why I wanted to work here is because of that moment in time and that experience through DWG and seeing, wow, they’re doing what we’re doing, but even better.

[00:17:35.270] – Nancy Goebel
Well, it’s interesting how coming together with your peers can just set off new ambitions, insights into the work that you’re doing. And just to bridge that thought and your mention of the DWG Digital Workplace of the Year awards, I mentioned at the opening that you’re part of the judging panel for your second consecutive year. And so we have to pull on that string a little bit more and share with us why do the awards in the first place from a judging standpoint and why come back a second year?

[00:18:13.980] – Christy Punch
So I will admit I was super surprised and very flattered that I was asked to come back for a second year. You know very well the passion I have in this space and I love being a judge with these awards because I get to see behind the curtain and see all of the really cool things that different companies are doing in the digital employee experience space. And so for me, selfishly, I’m getting to learn and see some of the innovation that’s happening at these different companies. And the reason I say I was surprised I was asked back because I think I had in my judging comments like pages and pages of notes that I feel so bad that your group had to probably filter through. But because I was just so impressed with the entries and seeing what everyone was doing, I think I used exclamation points a lot and really just enjoyed that experience of being a judge. So I’m just thrilled that I was asked to come back a second year. I didn’t even have to think about it. I was like, of course I’m going to do it again. This is awesome.

[00:19:26.820] – Christy Punch
I can’t wait to see what the entries are this year because so much happens in a year, the world changes, what companies are focused on changes. And so every year, I think is probably my second year. So I can’t say this for sure, but I imagine that every year is really different because of all of the external factors that are influencing these companies. And so I’m really looking forward to see what entries come in and what these folks are doing, as am I.

[00:19:55.460] – Nancy Goebel
It’s one of those things we saw lots of different changes as a direct result of the pandemic and now we can say we’re in a new normal. So what will that bring for this year’s entries? We’ll have to wait and go through those entries together going into next month. So I think it’ll be an exciting time. But what I’m taking away from what you’ve said is that it’s kind of a unique given to get all at the same time because you’re sharing your knowledge and insights as part of the judging process. But in return you’re getting this vantage view of innovative practices and ways that people are solving strategic challenges and tactical all at the same time in sharing their story through the entry process.

[00:20:47.870] – Christy Punch
I couldn’t have said it better.

[00:20:51.650] – Nancy Goebel
And so there are awards of all different kinds and recognition of all different kinds within our industry. Just to flip this a little bit, I know that you’ve been celebrated for your professional accomplishments in a number of ways over the years. Most recently, you were named a Top 100 Leader, transforming employee experience. And that was recognition from Constellation Research. Let’s talk a little bit about that. How did that come about and what did it mean for you?

[00:21:29.420] – Christy Punch
Yeah, thank you. It was really a surprise and a shock, to be honest with you. I wasn’t even aware that I was in the running for that award. And so when they reached out to Liberty Mutual to let them know that I had been selected, it came to me through our PR group, and I was completely caught off guard. So it was a huge honor. And it really came at such a great time, too, because as somebody starting a somewhat new, different type of role in a new company, really getting out of my comfort zone, I was really struggling with this normal impostor syndrome that one gets and really starting to think, am I really cut out for this? Do I know what I’m doing? And so when this award came through, it was like, that nice validation for me that, hey, yeah, I think I got this. I think that if this group has identified me to be on this notable list with all of these other really impressive people that were also honored, then I might not be so bad, might not be in such bad shape. But yeah, it was such a great honor.

[00:22:48.640] – Christy Punch
And that group has some notable people that I have been following kind of from the outside with my career that are thought leaders in the employee experience space. So that kind of added to the weight of the honors. To see some of those names as some of their top principal researchers, it was really nice to get. And like I said, the timing could have not been more perfect for me. And it really just helped me recognize that my passion is in this space and that I want to continue to do big things and I want to continue to have purposeful work in this field and really move the needle for the businesses that I work for. And right now, that’s Liberty Mutual. So I’m working on it. I’m working on it.

[00:23:42.950] – Nancy Goebel
Well, it’s one of those things when I look at your career, because as I said earlier, we’ve known each other for quite some time now, there are a few things. One is you’ve got a unique way of operating as a digital-first practitioner. You are someone who is a continuous learner and takes in whether it’s the learnings from the awards or any number of streams of insights that are coming your way and apply them. And then you’re very generous in sharing what you learn and what you know and what you’re thinking about. And those are three ingredients that I think help contribute to your notable accomplishment this year, not to mention others that have come before that. So let’s dive into each of these three areas a little bit further. So you’re one of the few people that I’m around who, like me, has been remote first or digital-first through much of our careers. And yes, we’ve had period of time where lots of people did that for a short stint and are back in the office, in some cases in whole or in part. But you’ve actually built a career around being able to navigate new organizations, changing roles, new industries, change in focus from a distance, and that’s not always easy to accomplish.

[00:25:23.290] – Nancy Goebel
And why do you think you’ve been able to do that so successfully?

[00:25:28.410] – Christy Punch
Yeah, I think that for me, it’s kind of been two things. So, one, in terms of my ability to show that I can be a high performer and be successful in my role regardless of where I’m working or how I’m working. And if there’s a need to be in person with my colleagues, I’ll travel. I’ll do what’s needed. I call it presence with a purpose, right. When people come together in a purposeful way in an office or another location, I think that’s definitely an important part of working remote. But I also think the second part of the reason I’ve been successful is I’ve had people supporting me and advocating for me to have the ability to work remotely. So I’ve been fortunate to have leaders throughout my career who were open to the idea of me working in different locations than where most of the team may be located or work, not necessarily having to report into an office location. And Nancy, you also played a big part of this when I was applying for the job with Wells Fargo Gosh nine years ago, and you were one of the advocates that reached out to the hiring manager.

[00:26:56.880] – Christy Punch
And really? Advocated for them to experiment and take a chance and hire somebody that would be fully remote and working three and a half hours away from the closest office. And lucky for me, that manager took that chance with me, and that enabled me to continue to develop my career there in a remote role. And then same here with Liberty Mutual. My manager here also kind of took the chance of, hey, she’s way down south, we’re all up in New England. But she understands the value of having a diverse team and not allowing opportunities to be tied to locations. So I feel very fortunate that, yes, I can prove and have proved that I can be very successful working remotely. But also, I could not have done that if I had not been given the opportunities or the chances and the trust from these different leaders and advocates like you, Nancy, to help me along that journey.

[00:28:04.340] – Nancy Goebel
Well, I certainly appreciate the name check there, but it’s clear that you’ve figured out how to build trust and relationships at a distance and are someone who shares your passion and demonstrates value and impact. And those are things that allow you not only to get the foot in the door to start, but then to have sustainability around that working pattern. And so I think it’s a worthy pause and part of why I wanted to have this conversation. The other two themes we talked a little bit about were this idea that you’re a continuous learner. You’re always asking why, you’re always investigating new practices. What are some of your go to resources day-to-day?

[00:28:53.870] – Christy Punch
Yeah, so I have to say DWG, of course. I’ve been involved with DWG since, I think, gosh, since the dawn of DWG, when it was known as the Internet, the benchmarking forum. Right. But for me, social media has really been a catalyst in my career for helping connect me to a lot of thought leaders and subject matter experts in this space. And so back gosh, when I first really started to dive into intranets, when that opportunity fell in my lap, in my first job, I think Twitter was just emerging at the time. And so I remember going on Twitter and starting to connect with, finding and connecting with other people in the intranet space. And a lot of those people are now similar to me, are kind of thought leaders in the digital employee experience space. And a lot of us have stayed connected for so long over the years. And so I think learning from each other and paying it forward by sharing what we’re learning has been a huge piece of that and helping us kind of set the stage, if you will, to position us as thought leaders in this space.

[00:30:17.850] – Nancy Goebel
And you’re definitely among the people that I see working out loud. And the social media side of it is one aspect as a way of connecting into all of these thought leaders and SMEs as you’ve described. But I have to say, I won’t quite call you a unicorn, but I will say that when I look at women in particular, in it, you are unusual in that you do share quite a lot about what it is that you’re thinking about or feeling or doing professionally through social media channels. And I think it’s important to understand why you do what you do and even share some advice or kind of a challenge to others to do the same. And the reason I say that is sometimes when we go through trying to vet leaders as part of the Digital Workplace of the Year Awards, it’s striking, striking how much more prominent the male voice is in social media than the female voice in our industry.

[00:31:25.910] – Christy Punch
Right, yeah. I think for me, it’s partly because, as I mentioned prior, having that early access to social media when it was just kind of emerging and becoming a thing and there really weren’t any rules at the time. And it became such a channel that did connect me to people all over the world who were doing in the same field as me and doing the same things. And so as being very eager and curious and wanting to learn from other experts in this space. I think that for me, it became in order to build these connections with others around in this field, I needed to also be out there sharing and asking questions and challenging the status quo and maybe being a little provocative in some of the things that I might post to surface those conversations with people in this space. And so I think it just organically happened that way for me. I also think it’s really important for women to be their authentic self at work and even outside of work. And so I’ve been really purposeful the last several years in not being so caught up in what other people think about me, trying to quell the impostor syndrome voices and trying to put on a certain facade or front of who I need to be and really just embracing who I am and being authentic.

[00:33:10.740] – Christy Punch
And I think that that probably comes across in what I’m sharing and my interactions with people. And I think that being authentic and just being super passionate about this space is really why you probably see me out there sharing a lot, and you probably see me popping up in your feed more so than maybe others. So, yeah, I think that that’s just really my passion and the desire to learn and being authentic while I do it.

[00:33:44.230] – Nancy Goebel
And I’m sure there’s a level of paying it forward too, because I know over the years you’ve had some pretty extraordinary mentors who’ve been part of your personal board or professional board and have helped open up opportunities or give you support through certain business challenges and what have you. And I think there’s a level of wisdom, if you’re fortunate, that comes through when you hit that stride that then becomes a call to action for you as an individual to be able to start to branch out from working out loud to then being a source of expertise and insight and sharing with others and elevating the conversation that much further.

[00:34:29.770] – Christy Punch
Yeah, absolutely. I think that I’m in a unique position to continue to pay it forward. So much of my career is a benefit of learning from others. It’s important for me to kind of share out what I’ve taken in because it definitely helped me. And so anything I can do to help others think differently in this space and challenge their own kind of status quo at their companies, that gives me purpose and makes me feel good too.

[00:35:04.370] – Nancy Goebel
Christy we’re at a time where there’s a lot of change, and it seems to be coming at us faster and faster. And of course, you mentioned earlier things like artificial intelligence and ChatGPT disruptive forces that are in play as well in our chosen field. And so as we start to wrap up our time together, what sort of advice do you have to offer others? Either those who have an ambition like you. Did once upon a time, or those who may actually need a reboot because they came out of the pandemic with a bit of exhaustion and need to take a fresh look at things.

[00:35:46.670] – Christy Punch
Yeah. So I would say from a professional standpoint, in terms of at work, when you’re looking at all of these new technologies and seeing it everywhere and everybody’s talking about it, and your executives are calling and why don’t we have this generative AI stuff? When are we going to get it? I think it’s so important to make sure that you really focus on the problem statements for employees. And sometimes, as I mentioned earlier, you got to slow down to move faster, taking a step back and really evaluating what are the problems and then looking at what the right solutions are, so many people jump on the bandwagons of let’s implement this solution and then work backwards and tailor fit it to our problems. That’s not really a good recipe for success. I think experimentation, early experimentation, is important to learn, but that just becomes more information that informs how you go about defining the problem and then seeking the solution. And I think that that same methodology is important in terms of your personal career and the choices you make there as well. With me in this new role at Liberty Mutual in engineering experience, it wasn’t the original role that I had anticipated.

[00:37:16.010] – Christy Punch
I actually applied for an employee experience role. But lucky for me, I got a little bit of a nudge from my manager that this might be an interesting role, it’s a new role, and you should look at this engineering experience thing. And so I really kind of stepped out of my comfort zone in my box to really dive into kind of a subset of the larger employee experience space. And I’m really happy that I did that. I’m learning a ton, and it’s really put me in a position to kind of build my brand further and look at how I can become a thought leader in this kind of new emerging developer experience engineering experience space. And so I think, just as you might need to take a step back and evaluate what’s the problem? Statement and then find the solution that can be done in your career, take a step back and really identify what do you need to do? Where do you need to grow? And what are the right types of roles or what roles might you not be thinking of that you could try out, that you could go after that are really going to help you grow professionally and kind of help you define that career path that you may not have considered before.

[00:38:37.510] – Nancy Goebel
Well, you’ve certainly highlighted that you are the keeper of your career and that you’ve leveraged all of these different approaches to create a whole new set of opportunities throughout your time in the digital workplace industry. And I can tell you I’m coming away from this conversation feeling energized and inspired. And one of the ways I think this will come together as an output is continuing to explore conversations with the other top 100 leaders, as well as making sure that we continue to bring those meaningful stories inside of the DWG member circles, especially those early-stage experiments that you talked about. Because that’s where some of the most powerful learning has come. Based on our joint experiences.

[00:39:36.820] – Christy Punch
Absolutely.

[00:39:40.330] – Nancy Goebel
And then, I guess, just to tie things together for this conversation, is there anything you were hoping I would have asked you and didn’t?

[00:39:51.870] – Christy Punch
Yeah, I think, gosh, we’ve covered so many different aspects of kind of my career journey and where I’ve gone, and I think that for me, this next chapter in my career is really exciting. As I start to really learn about this developer experience, space, and how to make an impact at Liberty Mutual, but also start to build a network and find those voices in this arena. And it might be that DWG is a part of that and helps me with that, so we’ll have to see.

[00:40:33.370] – Nancy Goebel
All right, I’m taking this challenge back. Well, this has just been such a fantastic conversation. As I said earlier, you’re always so generous in your sharing, and this conversation is no exception to that. And I’m very much looking forward to the judging process kicking in for the awards program, so we’ll have an excuse to come together a bit more often over the summer. But for now, I think we probably have to hit the pause button, and it’s time for me to say thank you so much for coming into the studio for another terrific conversation Christy.

[00:41:13.150] – Christy Punch
Thank you. It was such a pleasure. Really appreciate it.

[00:41:17.050] – Nancy Goebel
Digital Workplace Impact is brought to you by the Digital Workplace Group. DWG is a strategic partner covering all aspects of the evolving digital workplace industry, not only through membership, but also benchmarking and boutique consulting services. For more information, visit digitalworkplacegroup.com.