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Lockheed Martin’s Patricia Lewis on Inspiring the Next Generation of STEM Professionals

Priyansha Mistry
Featured, Leadership, Strategy

"Taking the Right Lead"

For many years, Patricia Lewis, Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Lockheed Martin Corporation, has advocated increasing the number of talent initiatives for groups that are traditionally underrepresented in STEM – and has gotten results. In an interview with The HR Digest, Lewis describes how she uses Lockheed Martin’s Full Spectrum Leadership to deliver results and shape the future.

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Lockheed Martin Code Quest 2017 Denver

The HR Digest: When you arrived at Lockheed Martin in 2011, you implemented a number of strategic talent initiatives, including the Program Management Talent Initiative, STEM Scholarship Program, and Vocational and a number of Trade Programs. How do you measure the value these programs bring to the company?

Patricia Lewis: As we look to expand our talent pipeline to support business growth, these programs give employees the opportunity to grow and develop their careers. They also help us retain and attract top talent. We measure the impact of these programs by looking at the impact on retention. Additionally, we measure our ability to place talent from these programs into critical roles across the company.

The HR Digest: 'Full Spectrum Leadership' is the cornerstone of leadership at Lockheed Martin. Can you tell our readers more about this model?

Patricia Lewis: Full Spectrum Leadership is how we describe our expectations for successful leadership at Lockheed Martin. The basic premise is that we need multi-dimensional leaders, those who can achieve desired results while doing it in a way that positions the company for success.

We structure the model around five basic imperatives: Deliver Results; Shape the Future; Build Effective Relationships; and Model Personal Excellence, Integrity and Accountability. It's woven through all aspects of our leadership processes, from recruitment to learning and development, recognition and succession planning.

Patricia Lewis

The HR Digest: How do you communicate tough messages?

Patricia Lewis: Providing straightforward and transparent responses with the rationale for decisions is key to communicating tough messages. We have very smart people at our company and I provide as much information as possible so that our employees understand how decisions are made and utilize the information to help make decisions that are best for their personal and professional needs.

The HR Digest: How are you going to shake things up next?

Patricia Lewis: As our company continues to make investments in new technologies to support innovation, over the next 3-5 years, our workforce will see a major transformation that changes the way they do work. With the rapid evolution of digital technology, the future of work will be defined by the use of artificial intelligence, human-machine teaming, and automation. These changes will impact everyone regardless of where they work. This advancement is ongoing and cuts across many of our technical discipline areas, including Engineering, IT and Cyber, and Advanced Manufacturing. The evolution of the digital workplace means that we must prepare workers to understand the change and provide resources and innovative ways to learn so they can prepare themselves for jobs and technologies of the future.

The HR Digest: Who had the most significant influence on shaping you as a leader?

Patricia Lewis: Many people have been influential in shaping my career. When I graduated college, I stepped into my first experience as a first-line leader, which turned out to be the biggest influence on getting leadership experience early on in my career. This role gave me insight in understanding how a leader's actions have the ability to impact, motivate and engage their employees, which can then drive better results and improved productivity.

This article was published in the April 2019 issue of The HR Digest magazine.

Patricia L. Lewis | Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Lockheed Martin

Patricia L. Lewis is senior vice president of Human Resources for Lockheed Martin Corporation. Lewis is responsible for Lockheed Martin’s diverse workforce of 100,000 employees in over 50 countries around the world. She develops and implements the global human capital strategy, including benefits, compensation and performance management, talent acquisition, diversity and inclusion, labor relations, talent and organizational capability, and workforce solutions and intelligence. She also oversees the corporation’s Global Security organization.

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