The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Awards were announced March 28, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person May 10.
Next is Julie Anna Barker, chief human resources officer at ManTech, and finalist in the Public & Private Company Chief Human Resources Officer category. Here, she shares key achievements, focus areas going forward, career advice and more.
What key achievements did you have in 2023?
Together with the entire Human Capital team, we stood up our first-ever human capital analytics function. It’s not always intuitive to measure and even predict the effectiveness of people strategies, but data speaks volumes and helps quantify what may have previously felt intangible. Enabling data to validate human capital strategies has been a game changer ⏤ both for the company and our HR organization as trusted advisors.
What are your primary focus areas going forward, and why are those so important to the mission?
Our primary focus remains people-centric. Our unwavering commitment to maintain a culture of inclusion and belonging, innovation and continuous learning is the reason we continue to see more people make ManTech their employer of choice.
As we increase hiring efficiency and outputs through continuous process improvement to include automation and tailored recruiting strategies across our diversified portfolios, we drive business growth. And for our employees, that not only means more opportunity but more investment in skills development such as our new leadership curriculum to ensure best-in-class management and delivery to our clients and make ManTech the Best Place to Work for our nearly 10,000 employees
What is your best career advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?
For those who seek to be a CHRO, I would recommend that you work hard to build your business acumen and partner closely with all parts of the business consistently throughout all levels of your career, asking questions to understand and build that knowledge. While it’s great to have a seat at the executive leadership table, it’s what you contribute once you’re in that seat that matters ⏤ a full business mindset and perspective. So lean in differently and build the knowledge of the business outside of HR. That will increase your professional value and set you apart as you move toward becoming a CHRO one day.
Fun Fact: What is something about you that most people do not know about?
I am a mother of teenage twins who are both competitive gymnasts and have been in the sport for nearly 12 years. Gymnastics is a physically and mentally challenging sport. I’ve learned a lot about recognizing that the smallest amount of incremental progress, while easy to overlook, is still progress. One tenth of a point can be the difference between a gold and silver medal, so it’s the small things that can make a big difference.
I remind myself when things feel big that even the smallest steps can make the difference, and those small steps can result in big change.