TOYOTA
ANNA BARRAZA
Organizational Development Consultant
by Laurie D. Willis
Anna Barraza considers the way she’s been able to grow in her career at Toyota Financial Services a blessing. And she wants to help others grow as well. By all accounts, that’s exactly what Barraza, an organizational development consultant, is doing.
“At Toyota, we ask team members to challenge what’s possible,” said Tatsumi Paredes, director of diversity and inclusion. “Anna does that by thinking of innovative ways to continue shaping the experience team members have every day.”
Paredes met Barraza five years ago when they worked together in Human Resources and said Barraza is always thinking of ways to make Toyota a great place to work – such as creating a newsletter titled GPS Spotlight.
“GPS is our team member development program and stands for Grow, Perform, and Succeed,” Paredes explained. “In the GPS Spotlight, Anna features team members of varying levels, company locations, years of service, etc., who share great career development tips, tools, and resources. By providing a channel for them to share their authentic stories and experiences, team members are able to pay things forward and share meaningful advice to over 3,000 colleagues across our company. Anna is absolutely an asset to Toyota.”
Barraza has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Arizona, and a master’s degree in human resources management from Ottawa University. She has worked for Toyota Financial Services since 2008 and said assisting others comes naturally.
“I’m passionate about helping others grow their careers and achieve professional/personal success,” Barraza said. “I’m in a position where I can create programs and resources to help team members achieve those goals, while helping the organization meet critical business objectives.”
As an organizational development consultant, part of Barraza’s challenge is ensuring people perform well at work. But for her, it’s much deeper than that because she realizes how vitally important it is for individuals to find purpose in what they do.
“We spend most of our waking hours at work, often more time than we spend with our own families,” Barraza said. “When we find fulfillment and purpose in our work, this manifests positively into other aspects of our lives. Because I’m motivated, challenged and feel accomplished at work, this makes me a better spouse, mother, friend, etc.
“In my current role, I have the opportunity to build programs to increase engagement through career development resources, mentoring, and developing managers to be stronger leaders,” she continued. “This is more than a ‘feel good’ strategy. By creating programs that increase employee engagement, this results in greater performance and helps Toyota to deliver stronger business results.”
Paredes said one reason Barraza is so successful at Toyota is her ability to connect well with coworkers.
“Anna’s strength is being open to feedback and input from others,” Paredes said. “By maximizing diversity of thought and experiences, she’s able to think about solutions that are impactful for a wide audience. She’s a leader with a vision. She’s able to help people see what the ideal future state could be like.”
With that vision, Barraza recently created a program called Driving Great Leaders, which will create a development culture at TFS where managers prioritize developing future leaders to be ready to take on tomorrow’s business challenges. This new program recognizes that competition for talent in the marketplace is fierce, and for Toyota to remain competitive, leaders must drive business results by attracting, developing, and retaining top talent.
“We want Toyota to be known as a place where team members can grow a rewarding career and work with amazing leaders,” said Barraza. “This will be our competitive advantage.”
Barraza said it’s important to listen to others and to be “flexible to next ideas,” which creates an inclusive work environment where diversity of thought is valued. Getting “buy-in” from employees regarding Toyota Financial Services’ vision doesn’t happen without effective management, she said.
“Employees want a manager who cares about them as a person,” Barraza said. “Once an employee knows that their manager cares about them, the manager will be in a better position to influence and share their vision. Communication is also key. Managers must know how to effectively communicate and tailor their coaching style to each employee and scenario. Ultimately, managers must help employees understand how their role contributes to the organizational strategy—a higher purpose to create greater engagement and stronger work performance.”
Perhaps Barraza got her caring nature and strong work ethic from her role models, which include coworkers, former supervisors, friends, and her mother.
“Each has unique traits that I hope to emulate in my life,” she said. “But all of my role models do share some similar traits – they’re all incredibly kind, hardworking, and intelligent, and they do good things for others.”
Barraza, who’s married and has a 2-year-old daughter, considers her current position at Toyota her dream job. She said she aspires to work for the company for a very long time. When she’s not hard at work, Barraza enjoys traveling, spending time with family and friends, and watching a certain basketball tournament once a year.
“I really love college basketball, especially March Madness,” she said. “I can sit and watch every single game of the tournament without getting bored.” Fortunately for Toyota Financial Services, Barraza also never tires of working hard to improve the company and its team members.
