Creating a Sense of Belonging: Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month with Sol Alberione

Better People Podcast

In this episode, Margaret Uhrich interviews Sol Alberione, the Chief People Officer at Giant Machines. Sol discusses the importance of a people-centered approach and the company's focus on creating digital solutions. She also shares insights on celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month at Giant Machines, emphasizing the need for a sense of belonging and mentorship. Sol further explains how embracing authenticity and being true to oneself led to personal and professional fulfillment in his career.

Sol Alberione, a seasoned HR professional, is a C-Suite executive with over 12 years of experience in Employee Relations, Talent Acquisition, Compliance, and Talent Development. Currently serving as the Chief People Officer at Giant Machines, she is a passionate advocate for fostering a culture of diversity, equity, and empathy in the workplace. Sol's career exemplifies her commitment to putting people first and driving the success of organizations through human capital strategies.

Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Better People Podcast:

• As a human capital strategist, Soll focuses on creating an environment where employees can succeed, feel seen, represented, and do their best work.
• The leadership team at Giant Machines fully supports the people-first approach, leading to high employee retention and recognition as the best place to work in New York City.
• The company values potential over formal qualifications when hiring and focuses on developing and mentoring employees to help them grow within the organization.
• Giant Machines emphasizes the importance of mentorship and provides coaching and support throughout an employee's entire journey within the company.
• The turning point in Sol's interview at Giant Machines where he decided to be authentic
• Overcoming hesitations and limitations to be true to himself
• How authenticity and confidence led to career success

Resources:

• Giant Machines
• MidAtlantic Employers’ Association (MEA)

Connect with Sol Alberione:

• LinkedIn

Connect with our host, Margaret Uhrich:

• LinkedIn

Quotables:

• 02:46 - “For me, the success of any company is the people and the humanity that the company brings. So in my role there is constant decision-making about what we can do to just really create an environment that people can succeed in, can do the best work, can feel that they're represented, they're seen, they belong and can do the best work. So a lot of the decisions happening behind the scenes on how we promote, how we hire, how we connect with our team internally and that connection translate to how they show up in the world.”
• 03:15 - “Being a strategist is always kind of questioning yourself, what can I do better? So from the moment that I talk to my managers and to the moment that I talk come with my CEO is like a how we use the people-centered approach that we have as a company to get, make sure that everyone has a path to succeed in Giant Machines. And also after Giant Machines we have a huge network of people who were part of Giant Machines, and we are still in contact with them. So we want to create like this school of Giant Machines that really open opportunities above and beyond our organization.”
• 05:00 - “All of those are people centered because I always tell them I love you when you're at work, but I love you when you're outside of work. I want you to feel that space, that level of separation that you can have both spaces for you to honor your life. It is important. I don't want to have the discrepancy on who you are outside and who you are when you come to work. And that creates a lot of the decisions on what are the opportunities for growth, the conversations for promotion in order to honor that perspective. Our team, without them we don't have anything. Our CEO is very, very good at the executive team about what can we do better for them in order to just have this humanity that show up to the world that is not just running a business.”
• 12:52 - “But for us, we are still having the soul that is creating that path and we're going out with our teams and we're eating the food and sharing the language and the music and the happiness and the loudness. I have tons of Latinos in Giant Machines and I love when I jump into a meeting and they're all speaking in Spanish and they're normalizing that within a work environment that sometimes you have to just be normative and continue to be like what is expected. Having the sense of safety that you can speak in Spanish without worrying how you're going to be perceived. Those to me are celebrations that even though it's not a party, it's a celebration of like, we appreciate who you are and what you bring and how you show up to work.”
• 21:35 - “So the idea that I can be working in an organization as a board member, but it's the organization that is growing in Argentina, growing in South America. I think I'm mixing the best of both worlds. I can get to speak Spanish sometimes, I feel closer to home. That is part of my roots that pull me there. But also doing what I love the most, which is being a people manager, working with people, supporting people, and making people feel fine and happy and whole when they come to work.”