We had the good fortune of connecting with Karen Weeks and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Karen, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
Not to quote the “Friends” theme, but I try to think about how long have I been feeling this way (a week, month or even a year!). And then I take time to think about why.

There have been times when I have been frustrated in my career, and I go on some interviews and I realize I don’t actually want to leave, I just either need to better communicate what I need, realize that nowhere is perfect and things will continue to evolve, or adjust my expectations of the situation. And I might have been walking into a similar situation because I wasn’t addressing the why behind the issue.

Other times, as I reflect on how long I have been thinking I should give up on something, I realize it has been nagging at me for awhile and the only way to change is to make a change. We all have our bad days or weeks, so you want to make sure it’s not a reactionary response in a given moment. But I also tell people, nothing is permanent. So even if you do decide to give up on something, you most likely can go back, or pick it back up again.

For example, in your business, maybe it’s more about pressing pause, or lessening the amount of something you are doing, versus giving up completely. Can you keep going, but just at a different pace or with a different approach? I think most things are not as binary as keep going or give up, but you can only figure that out once you recognize the the level of the frustration and what is driving it. Otherwise nothing will actually change on the other side.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I started out in theatre. I was a professional stage manager and then worked in Hollywood for a couple of years. As much as I loved the work, the life style just wasn’t for me once I had to make a living doing it. But I was completely lost. My whole world was in the arts. So after talking to a lot of people, I made the switch into HR. 20+ years later, I have never looked back. I realized what I loved about my jobs in theatre was creating a shared experience for everyone and helping actors get their next jobs. HR seemed to embody that. I even started my side company because I wanted to be able to help MORE people in their careers and creating great cultures.

Throughout my career, I explored different industries, size and stage of companies, and found myself at home in growing tech companies, specifically B2B companies in the marketing space. I loved the idea of connecting businesses with their “audience” and helping an early stage company find their identity, create their culture and then grow it as the business grew. I’m a builder!

I navigated my own career between generalist and specialist roles, working my way up to VP of HR Operations (where all the shred services functions reported to me) which was one of my favorite roles. And it led me to be ready to be the first HR leader at another company. I truly believe HR is there for both the business and the people. Neither can exist without the other. We need to have transparent conversations with our teams about what is possible (and what isn’t) and push our leaders to be open to thinking differently at times. And I think as an internal coach I can help do that.

I hope people see me as approachable, action oriented, and there to help, no matter your role. But also someone who will be objective, honest and share feedback when needed. Someone who will look at a leader and share my thoughts, but not pull the HR red card unless it’s really needed. Someone who will encourage you to take a risk on yourself, but someone who will also let you know if it’s not working. A true partner.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is hard because we have only been in Charlotte for two years and have not explored the city enough at all. I would definitely say you should walk the greenways, they are beautiful and a great way to get outside, especially in the fall. I love going to Truist field and seeing the minor league baseball team play. I’m a big sports fan so being at such an intimate stadium is so much fun. Speaking of sports, our new women’s soccer team just started and there is a lot of energy around their arrival. I love Basil Thai in Uptown, Brakeman’s coffee in Matthews and Le Peep in the Arboretum!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
When people say it takes a village it really does. It’s the support and encouragement from your team that lifts you up and motivates you to keep going. It’s the love of your friends and family who believe in you even when you don’t. It’s the partnership at home that lets you literally carve out the time to do all the things that allow us to be successful.

Specifically, the Yodle team was instrumental to my career development. From my HR peers (who I still keep in touch with almost 10 years later) to the leaders across the organization who demonstrated humility, compassion and agility as we evolved as a company to the amazing CS team who didn’t see me as the HR person but their peer (and who I have since followed several times over to other companies).

As I built my own side business, Lauren Widrick and the early members of the squad, showed me it was possible to take a random freelance project and turn it into a company with revenue and so much possibility for the future. They helped me recognize boundaries and set up scaling processes in order to continue in my internal HR career and start building this passion I had discovered.

Website: https://shineatwork.net

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shine_at_work/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-d-weeks-sphr-ms-5965775/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC640S1XJWcb2Ynu9Xk0GcHQ

Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/6yQeBAHd6ujwQYGlPWQCUl

Image Credits
Revolution Studios

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