‘Culture should attract as much as it repels.’ How HR pro Jennifer Bingaman creates community at a healthcare startup

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Jennifer Bingaman approaches HR at Washington-based healthcare start-up MCG Health from a “humanistic perspective.” She has a counseling background, and when people interact with her, she aims to make sure “they feel seen and heard.” At MCG Health, Bingaman is trying to build a culture that allows colleagues to do meaningful work that also moves the business forward. “The goal is not to exhaust [employees]. The goal is to not squeeze them until they’re dry,” she said.

She’s most interested in using her role in HR leadership to advance social justice causes and support people in her workplace and in her community, and believes the last several years have shown the “impact of doing things for people for the sake of them being humans, not for the sake of them being just workers.”

Bingaman believes that if she trains her coworkers to make others feel seen and heard, “then my team becomes a force for good, my team becomes a force for justice in the organization,” and, ideally, more and more colleagues will want to replicate that philosophy.

What’s the best change you’ve made at a place you’ve worked?

Liberating people from policy. Very rarely does a policy actually solve a problem…People have to understand how their work matters and how they are responsible to each other. If that awareness is cultivated, your culture doesn’t need to hide behind policy; it becomes self-governing. I am passionate about building feedback cultures. This is what I try to bring and sustain in my teams and organizations.

How do you implement a HR philosophy that “liberates people from policy”?

I firmly believe that policies don’t change human behavior. People are going to behave how they’re going to behave. The things that change people’s behavior are the systems in which they exist. So, I could create a bunch of policies, but if I don’t have the culture to support the things I’m trying to get after, then there’s no point in having a policy. So, instead what I try to do is create cultural norms and expectations around how we engage with each other, so I don’t have to worry about having policies now. Of course, there are some that you have to have, like for compliance purposes…My whole thing is: How do I build boundaries that are big enough that people can operate inside of them and feel freedom, but they know what the edges look like, and those edges are clear to everybody? So, when someone is not supporting the culture, everybody around them says, “This is not okay.” And that’s how community happens inside of the organization, and people end up leaving because it should be a push and a pull. Culture should attract as much as it repels.

What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?

It’s administrative. Like any function, there are administrative aspects. Now, more than ever, HR is a strategic asset to an organization and can make or break a culture based on who leads it. If you like your job and your management is good, that’s a strong correlation with a talented HR team.

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

I take care of people. My background is in mental health and communication, so at my core, I am always trying to connect people to each other, to resources, to information—all in service to an enriched human experience. I think work can be transformative if we can all unite with each other to make it better and advocate for the future we want. As someone in a leadership position, I now have the privilege and the power to effect change inside of old or outdated systems—a big one is how and why we work. I get to make a difference in the world.

What trend in HR are you most optimistic about? Why?

I am grateful that I get to lead HR during a time when we can effect change and champion social justice. We are truly in positions now where we are encouraged to build systems that support humanity, in and out of work. It’s an honor to be here, during this time, leading in HR.

What trend in HR are you least optimistic about? Why?

I want us to give up on the idea that we will ever “return” to the office as we knew it; I am still seeing and hearing people cling to this idea. MCG Health has been strategic about our use of office space. We’ve taken the approach to create monthly weeks where people come for culture and collaboration—not necessarily productivity, although that is certainly a potential side effect. We fly new hires out quarterly and invite managers to come visit those new hires while we orient them to our culture. We also have an annual all-staff where people come to connect, have fun, and learn about the business, the strategy, and each other. If we’re asking employees to come together, then we need to make it meaningful and based on connection.

Tell us one new or old HR tech product or platform that’s made your life easier, and why.

Lattice. We continue to invest in Lattice and I love the resources they are building out for career pathing and compensation transparency and administration. I love the 1:1 and development templates. My team is super lean, so knowing we don’t have to develop all those resources and content has been a gift.—AD