Sheila Bouman, Chief People and Performance Officer HR executives share their experience in human resources

Citation

Bouman, S. (2013), "Sheila Bouman, Chief People and Performance Officer HR executives share their experience in human resources", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 12 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2013.37212baa.006

Sheila Bouman, Chief People and Performance Officer HR executives share their experience in human resources

Article Type: Practitioner profile From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 12, Issue 2

Sheila BoumanBased at PEER 1 Hosting

Sheila Bouman is the Chief People and Performance Officer for PEER 1 Hosting, however, she does not come from a typical HR background. When she joined PEER 1 Hosting it was not about building a HR team, it was about the leaders of the company creating an environment that encouraged its staff to thrive. She has always focused on organization development, business strategy and people.

Bouman’s curiosity, forward thinking and unconventional tactics have led PEER 1 Hosting to win “Great Place to Work” awards, as well as become a premier Internet company to work with and for. She strongly believes that there is potential in everyone and that discovering that potential is all about finding the right approach for the right person.

Bringing a different perspective to HR

Having started her career as a high school teacher, Bouman talks about her passion for helping others:

I have always been really curious about what makes people great, what needs to be removed or provided so that people can unleash their talent […] I see the goodness and the talent in just about everybody and that makes me really excited to try and figure out how to either awaken or unleash it.

She went on to be an organization development consultant and co-founded Navigo, where her team helped leaders plan and implement complex changes. Bouman describes Navigo’s talented consultants as:

[…] experts in strategic planning, leadership development, change management, facilitation, coaching and communications.

Creating the most human experience

After 15 years as an organization development consultant, Bouman joined rapidly growing company PEER 1 Hosting in December 2011 to help create the “most human experience” on the web. PEER 1 Hosting is a Vancouver-based company that has grown into one of the world’s top five hosting companies.

Bouman explains:

PEER 1 has a vision to be the most human company on the web, a place where its customers would want to work. Although we’re in the technology sector, it’s about being an amazing place to work, but also an amazing place to be affiliated with, whether you are a customer or a staff member.

She joined the PEER 1 Hosting team with the aim of creating an exceptional leadership team and culture so that the company could become wildly successful in the future. She believes that every interaction matters – a human authentic experience is important, whether you are a vendor, customer or partner.

Knowledge sharing and development

PEER 1 Hosting now entitles all employees to $3,500 annually for education. Alongside this, staff share knowledge with others through lunch and learns, with topics ranging from social media to protecting your data online at home and work.

To learn more about the different aspects of the business as a whole, employees can do an exchange with team members in other offices to experience a different work environment and city. A formal mentorship program is in place for leaders, designed to develop the soft side of leadership. Mentors are matched based on each director’s personal development plans and executives who may have faced the same challenges in their own careers. Bouman is looking at how this can be cascaded throughout the entire organization. Leaders meet quarterly to practice having high impact conversations that will strengthen team and individual performance and engagement.

Keeping people at the heart of the organization

Bouman says:

From a company culture perspective we always focus on people; we see our people as whole people who are equal and valuable contributors to success. Our focus is on who a person truly is and not only what they do. Our people have it in their DNA to enable the success of colleagues, customers and communities. The company strives to protect and support this by empowering staff to do whatever they think is right for people.

PEER 1 Hosting has grown rapidly in staff and revenue, swiftly becoming one of the world’s leading web hosting providers. One of the challenges with any company is that the people are focused on the work and are very task orientated. Bouman talks about her aims in the company, saying that people need to think about how their work sits in relation to the team, department and company. Her goal is to help the staff think and work more strategically.

PEER 1 Hosting’s bright future

Bouman’s new age thinking towards training, developing and hiring team members within the company is unique and inspiring. She sees a bright future for PEER 1 Hosting, and believes that people are going to want to work at the company as its people are seen as individuals. Bouman is confident that people will begin asking for opportunities to join the company.

Bouman lives by the promise that PEER 1 Hosting is trying to make a difference in the lives of its customers and in the world of the internet:

We say it all the time, it’s not about being the biggest, it’s about being the best.

About the author

Sheila Bouman is the Chief People and Performance Officer for PEER 1 Hosting, one of the world’s leading web hosting providers. She started her career working with talent as a high school teacher and then built an organizational development company that links the contribution of people to business strategy. Sheila Bouman can be contacted at: sbouman@peer1.com