Fran Caldwell, a Chief People Officer, plays a pivotal role in shaping company cultures and driving a people-centric vision. With a deep-rooted belief in the power of coaching, curiosity, creativity and inclusivity, she believes that every individual within the organization should be empowered to grow. Her leadership philosophy revolves around fostering growth, empowering employees, and creating a collaborative environment that amplifies innovation and engagement.
Her approach to people leadership is grounded in the belief that people are at the heart and start of every successful organization. By establishing a culture where employees feel valued, heard, and motivated, she creates a strategic framework that not only enhances productivity but also strengthens long-term business resilience. Fran has consistently championed a workplace culture that connects the business strategy with people and their aspirations to drive successful business and personal growth.
As a visionary, strategic and commercial leader, Fran recognizes that the future of work is dynamic and ever changing. She is committed to redefining traditional workplace norms, leveraging technology for better people leadership, and integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in a way that goes beyond corporate mandates. Through her leadership, she ensures that the companies she is part of remain forward-thinking and cultures are defined as playgrounds – where people thrive, grow, and flourish.
Core Values in People Leadership
In her people leadership roles, Fran views her duty as the amplifier of company culture, setting a clear vision and enabling the organization to follow that north star. She believes that people leadership should be rooted in growth, and develop curious minds by coaching, and enablement via a transformational people strategy. By fostering an environment where individuals feel empowered to explore their potential, she ensures that employees are not just contributors but active participants in the company’s success.
At the core of her leadership is the philosophy of asking questions and listening to understand – not listen to respond, . She emphasizes the importance of truly engaging with employees, asking the right questions, pausing and reflecting and then using insights to drive impactful people strategies. Recognizing that employees are the heart and start of every business, and therefore the people strategy must be the key connector between the people and the business strategy. Fran ensures that every strategy is designed to people power to deliver business success. She advocates for creating a workplace that offers guidance, strategic connections, and skill-building opportunities, allowing individuals to navigate their connected commercial career journey with clarity and purpose.
The Future of Workplace Dynamics in a Hybrid World
Fran believes that discussions around remote, in-office, or hybrid work need to evolve beyond labels. Instead, workplace dynamics should be informed by the role and the nature of the work rather than rigid policies. She has implemented this approach in multiple organizations, ensuring that employees and organisations operate in a high trust environment, and partner to have the flexibility to work in a way that optimizes both productivity, growth and well-being.
For instance, a tech scrum team working on a new product may benefit from in-office collaboration during crucial phases, while independent testing or deep-thinking work can be effectively managed remotely. As companies become more global and time zones blur the concept of a “standard working day,” forcing location-based mandates can often be counterproductive and always detrimental to engagement.
Fran highlights the importance of balancing business needs with employee preferences. She acknowledges that while remote work offers financial and personal benefits to employees, there is also so much benefit with in-office collaboration for better engagement. The key is to shift the focus to role-based decision-making rather than positioning remote versus office work as an employee-versus-employer debate. This pragmatic approach ensures higher engagement and productivity while reducing workplace friction.
Attracting and Retaining Top Talent
Fran emphasizes that the secret to attracting and retaining top talent lies in creating an engaging and stimulating work environment. She likens it to building the right “playground” where employees feel challenged, motivated, and valued. The key to sustainable talent management, in her view, is to focus on engagement rather than just attraction or retention.
A strong feedback loop is essential to this process. Fran ensures that employees feel heard and that their feedback is applied in a transparent and actionable manner. By consistently communicating the company’s vision and progress, she fosters a sense of shared accountability. This creates a culture where employees naturally become ambassadors for the organization, attracting like-minded talent and strengthening retention.
Leadership Development and Employee Engagement
Leadership development is a cornerstone of Fran’s People strategy. She firmly believes that leaders should not merely teach or instruct but should coach and empower others. To achieve this, she has introduced coaching-based leadership programs that span over a longer period, such as 12-month qualification-led courses, rather than one-off leadership workshops.
These programs focus on instilling coaching skills in leaders, enabling them to nurture and develop their teams effectively. Fran aligns her leadership philosophy with the Lao Tzu principle of “teaching people to fish”—fostering long-term, self-sustaining leadership rather than short-term fixes. By investing in coaching-based leadership, this ensures employees experience a ripple effect of positive engagement and growth throughout the organization.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Moving Beyond Targets
For Fran, DEI is not about setting rigid diversity quotas but about fostering genuine allyship. She challenges the traditional approach of defining diversity through numerical targets, arguing that such goals can sometimes create unintended limitations – why should one size fit all? Instead, she focuses on empowering diverse teams and cultivating an inclusive culture through education, training, and open discussions.
Promoting an allyship approach, Fran and her team set a strategy that ensures that employees understand, celebrate, and enable diversity in all its forms. By emphasizing cultural intelligence and encouraging inclusive behaviours, she creates an environment where every team member feels valued and supported and importantly able to contribute.
HR Strategy for Business Resilience
Fran takes a proactive approach to HR strategy for business resilience, ensuring that workforce planning is deeply integrated with business needs. She advocates for a commercially balanced and flexible framework that prevents the “boom and bust” cycle of over-hiring followed by frequent layoffs.
By closely monitoring market trends, financial performance, and employee lifecycle data, she ensures that companies remain agile in adapting to economic shifts. Her approach focuses on long-term resilience rather than reactive decision-making, thereby protecting both the business and employee well-being.
Technology’s Role in People Management
Fran is always focused on creating a product led, systems connected tech roadmap to help enable and transform not only the people function but the business as a whole. She believes that not only the future of HR, but the ongoing strategic success lies in integrating various platforms for action orientated insights—such as linking development planning, 360-degree feedback, and skills-based succession planning—to create a seamless, data-driven talent strategy.
She sees AI as a game-changer that moves HR from standalone tools to a fully integrated strategic function. By leveraging technology for predictive insights, she ensures that people management is more informed, efficient, and impactful and more commercially viable as a result.
Employee Well-Being and Mental Health
Fran has pioneered mental health initiatives as a people leader across a variety of companies that focus on proactive well-being rather than reactive crisis management. These unique and bespoke initiatives educated employees on the science of well-being and the factors influencing mental health to enable these proactive and impactful approach.
Rather than waiting until employee’s struggle, Fran believes in equipping them with the knowledge and tools to maintain their well-being proactively. Her leadership in this area reflects her broader philosophy of fostering self-sufficiency, empowerment and long-term growth in individuals.
Creating a Multigenerational Workforce
Recognizing the importance of generational diversity, Fran has introduced programs like “Know Your Gen,” which celebrates the strengths that different generations bring to the workplace. She believes that generational diversity should be viewed as a strategic advantage rather than a challenge.
Through initiatives that promote storytelling and intergenerational learning, she fosters an environment where employees from different age groups collaborate effectively and thrive alongside one another – and as a collective team. This approach enhances team dynamics, encourages knowledge sharing, and maximizes productivity.
Leadership Philosophy and Advice for Aspiring HR Leaders
Fran describes her leadership style as situational—applying high EQ with IQ to balance visionary thinking, coaching, and strategic thought. She stresses the importance of self-awareness, adaptability, and aligning personal values with leadership decisions.
Her advice to aspiring HR leaders is simple yet profound:
- Stay connected with your community.
- Remain curious and open to learning.
- Align with your guiding values.
- Embrace the journey and enjoy the ride.
At the core of her leadership philosophy is the belief that HR and people leadership is about amplification—of individuals, business growth, and workplace culture. By creating the right environment for people to thrive, or the best playground to play in, Fran ensures that both the people and organizations they work in always achieve their best.
