Stephanie Walsh, Front and Center

by Larissa Pienkowski

Stephanie Walsh, BRMP, Senior Director, and BRM Council Chair, is nothing if not a leader. Every time I have a conversation with her, I’m struck by how genuine, passionate, and committed she is—not only to the field of BRM or her career, but to the people she works with every single day. Aside from her numerous achievements and career milestones (the list could probably go on forever, but she’s too modest to tell you that, so I will), Stephanie is a true testament to the fact that a leader is only a leader insofar as there are people willing to trust them to be one.

Read my interview with her to learn more about how she knew she was meant to be a BRM, what keeps her going every day, and how she finds joy and fulfillment both in the workplace and outside of it.

 

How did you begin your BRM journey? What are some milestones that come to mind? Do you consider any piece of your BRM journey to be unique in any way?

I think my BRM journey started very early in my career when I was a customer service agent in a financial company. There, I learned skills that I have leveraged through my career—I learned basic concepts about understanding and managing customer expectations, and I learned that taking the time to explain things to people generally enabled them to accept change or move through a process. I then moved into IT in a business analyst role, and eventually managed a small team supporting the organization’s ERP.

No matter the role, I was destined to be on the front lines, though, so to speak. This occurred to me when a promotion opportunity was put out there and there were several of us who were capable of performing well in that role. I didn’t apply for it because both roles sat, in my mind, further back in the IT organization. The CIO pulled me aside one day and asked me why I hadn’t applied, especially because it was one of those promotions opportunities that didn’t come along very often. I explained to him that I needed to be customer-facing and that I would wait for that opportunity to arise.  I think that conversation went a long way in solidifying what I was truly skilled at, both with him and myself. A senior BRM role opened within six months and I was selected to fill it.

I think for most of us that have been filling this role for more than five years, we sort of fell into the role. There was no BRM Institute when I started out. Therefore, if I compared stories with others, I think we would have somewhat similar tales, in that we knew we wanted to be with customers, working on things that would promote their business strategies and find ways to create win/wins with IT and those that consume their solutions.

What is your favorite aspect of business relationship management?

There is nothing better than being the person that helped influence a desired outcome. That can happen in so many ways—through a conversation in the hallway, detailed business cases, or proper value harvesting. I think it’s easy to overlook the small things done on a daily basis that really change the directional course of a person’s opinion, a business strategy, or a delivered solution. When I step back and look at my body of work, it’s less about the solutions delivered, but the trust built with individuals across the organizations. It’s about the relationships!

Where do you draw your professional inspiration from?

My personal and professional inspiration is the same. I try to approach every interaction through a servant leader’s eye. I value relationships and knowledge equally, and I work hard to fortify both. My team has provided me with inspiration daily, and I take a lot of pride in seeing them grow and meet their goals.

Which personal traits of yours benefit you the most in your career?

Common sense and being trustworthy were the first things that came to mind. I think applying common sense to situations that could become over-complex is important. Sometimes in the corporate world, people like to say a lot of words, and boiling that back to the core with some common sense has proven to be a skill well-received.

Secondly, trustworthiness can open doors for you that being smart or knowledgeable just won’t. You’re invited to have the seat at the table because you are a trustworthy individual who meets deadlines, holds multiple confidences, and are trusted to support the strategies aligned by the organization. This has always enabled strong relationships within the business organization and within IT.

As the Chair of the BRM Council, what are your goals for the Council in 2016? Where do you see it going?

The goals of the council this year are many. We are working hard to support the overall goals of the BRM Institute—to establish a global conference presence, to promote the CBRM, to continue to add to overall membership value, and of course, to expand our global presence into regions not yet explored.

I’m excited to say that the Council will have a strong presence at the Charlotte event, and we are looking to showcase the work we have been doing across the council in sub-teams. Each sub-team took one of the top three to four issues facing practicing BRMs across the globe and are now working to create supporting tools, articles, and assessments to help BRMs move gracefully through these challenges. Additionally, many Council Lead Team members have been active in the content selection process for each conference event. It was felt that active BRMs should have a voice in the content that is being presented, and the Council has been that voice for the larger community of BRMs.

Although not all BRM Institute members are Council members, we are actively aligning our membership process with the overall membership process. As the BRM Institute continues to grow and expand, so will the opportunities within the Council. We realize that as global involvement grows, we will need to have representation on the Council Lead team, as well as general Council members to help us stay up-to-date on similar and different challenges that are faced around the globe. So as BRM Institute continues to grow, we are looking at ways to adapt the Council to meet the growing size and demand.

Do you have any words of advice for anyone hoping to follow in your footsteps, both as a BRM and a leader? Any lessons learned over time?

Words of advice, hmmm…there are many. I think the most important thing to know about sitting in a BRM seat is that it’s a journey, a marathon. To continue the sports analogy, you have more than one at bat and you don’t have to hit a grand slam each time you step up to the plate. Consistency is key to earn you that seat at the table, or that one-on-one conversation that you want to have with a specific leader. Listen, assemble the puzzle pieces, and use those nuggets to build your strategy—not just your business strategy, but your people strategy too!

Servant leadership has served me well. I have been blessed to have been able to lead a team of individuals who wanted to learn and come to work each day better than they were before.  As a leader, there is nothing better than seeing them experience success.

Also, another lesson I have learned about this role is that it is a stressful one, especially through major change. Make sure to concentrate on your health and well-being. Find ways to manage all the problems and issues that come your way. Although you may hear about all of them, find ways to prioritize the ones that you can actually help resolve, and find ways to shed the load of the others.

What are some things you do outside of work that bring you joy and fulfillment? 

My family and friends bring me joy and fulfillment. I also try to stay active through different types of activities, and lately I have become fond of hot yoga. Also, my 15-year-old and 11-year-old keep my husband and I busy, through all of their sporting events and marching band/drum line activities. We also have two fur babies that were rescues, an Australian Kelpie mix named Angel and a puppy mill mommy rescue Yorkie named Abby.

Lastly, I’m always learning, so there is usually a book in progress. Sometimes those books are professional books, and sometimes it’s a suggested reading by my 11-year-old.  🙂