Innovative Ways to Build Skills in a Hybrid Workplace
BY Earl Hopkins February 02, 2023Mary Vinette, the global head of learning and development at Technicolor Creative Studios, has witnessed a transformation in online learning over the last three years. With the rise of remote workspaces, the need for effective e-learning has grown paramount. Online educators have become digital strategists, while dull lesson plans, hour-long training modules, and outdated instructional videos no longer have a place in today’s corporate space. “E-learning was like the future and people were like, ‘Ew, I don’t want to look at a cheesy video,’ and that was it. Also, technology wasn’t really helpful in doing virtual sessions. Well, the pandemic came along and boom, it’s over. Things changed,” Vinette said in a From Day One webinar titled, “Innovative Ways to Build Skills in a Hybrid Workplace.” While advancements in technology have led to progressive steps, Vinette said the power is in the development of condensed but engaging instruction and the creation of learning work cultures. “I saw the future of the workplace as being very different with technology,” Vinette said. “It forced us to do virtual training, and then shorten the time and then we all became the young kids who were getting their learning (from) YouTube in bites.” Among the best e-learning methods is “drip feed,” Vinette told moderator Lydia Dishman, a senior editor at Fast Company. Highlights from their conversation: Establish E-Learning Flow Before conjuring new ways to increase skill building in a hybrid work environment, Vinette said it’s important to establish how the meetings and training sessions will proceed. While the conversation may seem remedial to some, she said it’s an essential part in a sustianble e-learning environment. “I think there’s a lot of people in the workplace who are like, ‘Come on, really? We’re talking about how to have a meeting?’ And it’s like, ‘Yes. Because people don’t like the meetings.’ There’s that.” The ‘Drip Feed’ Method As an educator–and occasional home gardener–Vinette has adopted the “drip feed” method, a learning process that uses a series of short informational videos or clips to administer information. The source of her freshly grown butternut squash was YouTube. Instead of reading books on home gardening, Vinette–like millions of other knowledge-seekers–watched how-to videos to get a grasp of an unfamiliar concept, and she’s employed the same strategy at the core of virtual training sessions. “E-learning has gotten a lot better,” Vinette said. “I think a lot of creators have really upped their game, and it’s quick, straight to the point and engaging.” Focusing on skill-building in a digital world: Mary Vinette of Technicolor, top, and moderator Lydia Dishman of Fast Company (Image by From Day One) Cross-Generational Differences Dishman said there are signs of a cross-generational shift among online learners. In her experience, workers with more tenure and experience shy away from online learning far more than younger professionals. “The people who are most resistant to learning are those that have strong technical skills and feel they’ve reached a level of expertise that they don’t need to learn anything anymore,” Dishman said. “Like, ‘Just go away and let me do my job.’ And I mean I’m a Gen-Xer and proud of it, but I know that a lot of my peers feel like, ‘Well, OK, what are you going to teach me? I’ve been working for 30 years.’ So, I do think there’s a generational thing at play as well.” Creating a Learning Culture To bolster e-learning attendance and engagement, Vinette said it starts with creating a safer space for workers to seek educational resources. “If you want to have a learning culture, and you want to find all these innovative ways to learn, you’ve got to have safe spaces,” she said. “We got to be intentional, and I think we have to be rigorous about the process of how we do it. Instead of mandated training sessions fit for company motives, Vinette said workers should also have the liberty to seek their educational resources on their own time. “If people become better humans, they’re going to be better employees. And they’re going to be happier and they’ll perform better,” she said. “We’re rehumanizing the workplace because employees are demanding it.” The Importance of Courage and Curiosity Finding an instructional flow is only one-half of virtual skill building. After establishing a learning culture, Vinette said the second is having curious students that are eager to learn and strengthen their abilities. “Exercise your curiosity,” Vinette said. “Most people when I say, ‘Are you a curious person? They say, ‘Oh, of course, I’m a curious person and I love knowledge and all this stuff.’ But humans are hard-wired for certainty. They want to get it right and they want to know.” Along with curiosity, Vinette said courage is a major factor in virtual skill building. “It takes courage to say, ‘I don’t know,’ or to say, ‘I’m scared,’ or anything else that’s true about yourself,” she said. “That takes courage. And I think these things are values for the new workplace that we can all strive for, and the training can support that and build it.” Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner who sponsored this webinar, the coaching platform BetterUp. Earl Hopkins is a culture reporter for the Austin American-Statesman. He’s also a freelance music writer whose words can be found in Complex, MTV News, GRAMMY.com, Stereogum, UPROXX and other publications.
Today’s Racial Reckoning: a New Opportunity to Choose Hope Over Fear
BY Earl Hopkins November 12, 2022Many historians and educators recognize two of America’s most pivotal civil rights eras: the aftermath of the Civil War and the revolutionary uprising of civil rights advocacy in the 1960s. But right now, Peniel Joseph, a professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of the new book, The Third Reconstruction: America’s Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century, says we’re in the midst of another foundational moment that could define the fabric of the country. While progress towards racial equality has been made, fragments of the Jim Crow era that civil-rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X combatted still exist. “Austin was living in one of the most racially economically segregated cities in the United States. So yes, the age of segregation and Jim Crow ended in one perspective, but it also continued,” Joseph said. The author joined Evan Smith, CEO and co-founder of the Texas Tribune, at From Day One’s Austin conference to discuss the fight for equality in the 21st century, the strides the Black Lives Matter movement has made toward racial justice, and the damaging effects of the “lost cause” mythology about the Civil War. “Texas is one of the founding states of that ‘lost cause,’ and that’s basically this story that we tell ourselves about the Civil War and race and conflicts that turns white supremacists into heroes,” Joseph said. The effect is that it “really justifies moral violence and memorializes confederates who were betraying the union. And we make that story about honor, this story about heroism, this story about duty.” Much of the conversation that emerged in the fireside chat was drawn from Joseph’s book, which chronicles how America’s reconstruction eras drew battles between supporters of multiracial equality and advocates of white supremacy. The book highlights how Barack Obama’s presidency and the ending of Donald Trump’s presidential term in 2020 helped define a new reconstruction period, and one that bears the same injustices as past eras. “A lot of what we witnessed in 2020 goes back 150 years ago, an America created after the Civil War,” Joseph said. Joseph, left, was interviewed at the conference by Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith (Photo by Kaylan Clemons/From Day One) He asserts that the third reconstruction was sparked when Obama was elected President in 2008. While his presidency made Obama a “game-changing historical figure,” his political rise was built on a form of American exceptionalism that Trump’s presidency later debunked with the amplified voices of White supremacists and anti-Black groups. Joseph admires the legacy of Obama, but feels his presidency painted an image of a flawed America that’s made huge steps toward a utopia of equality, using his story of political rise as proof. But the progress Obama often alluded to was deceptive in scale. “I believe in American exceptionalism,” Joseph said. “The danger is that, as we’ve seen, when you think about voter suppression, or when you think about the recurrence of antisemitism in Austin–and nationally and globally–progress is not linear.” Throughout the discussion, Joseph explained how the stories Americans have been told by their parents and grandparents–whether true or not–have shaped their views and often blinded them to America’s true past and current state. “You can have a huge love of this country and also be critical of this country,” Joseph said. “There are narratives we tell ourselves about each other and the country we live in. A lot of what I do in the book looks at the way those narratives have been shaped since the Reconstruction era.” Joseph said movements like Black Lives Matter is a resurgence of the activism of the civil rights era. While the BLM movement’s efforts to establish new political policies have been met with resistance, it has made a notable political and social footprint and placed a spotlight on groups within the Black community that are often neglected. “Black Lives Matter is this 21st-century abolitionist movement,” he said. “I think what’s really neat about Black Lives Matter, and I chronicle it in the book, is the way so many Black women were the architects and co-architects of that movement and they made an argument that all Black lives should matter. They were interested in folks that were disabled, and queer, trans, poor and HIV positive–all these groups of people who even within the Black community are marginalized.” Wrapping up the conversation, Joseph suggested larger progress will be made when America starts looking at itself in the mirror, acknowledging the hideous scars of its past and treating its current wounds. “You can love a country and also critique it,” he said. “The fight is asymmetrical, but part of what I argue is that we tell ourselves a different story about America and American history. [Martin Luther King Jr.] called it a ‘bitter but beautiful struggle.’” Joseph predicted it will take a certain kind of idealism “to get out of this mess.” Instead of vilifying people on opposite ends, he said it’s important we take another approach to help unify the country. “I don’t think the way out is by demonizing people you disagree with, or by dehumanizing the people you disagree with and having talks of violence and civil war.” Earl Hopkins is a culture reporter for the Austin American-Statesman. He’s also a freelance music writer whose words can be found in Complex, MTV News, GRAMMY.com, Stereogum, UPROXX and other publications.
Rebalancing the Relationship Between Workers and Employers
BY Earl Hopkins November 10, 2022Alton Scott has jarring news for employers: they’re losing their grip. As the labor and talent shortage has widened since the start of the pandemic, there’s been a growing imbalance between the workforce and the companies that now direly need their services. “As we continue with this war for talent, I don’t know that we’re winning. And if we are, it’s not by much,” said Scott, a director and HR business partner at Sodexo, a food-service giant with more than 400,000 employees. “As employers, we got to make sure we’re offering the right pay, the right benefits, the right culture, the right engagement–and that we have diversity, inclusion and belonging.” Despite high-profile layoffs in the tech industry, most employers still have too many vacant roles and not enough candidates to fill them. It’s a reality that’s shifted the employer-to-worker dynamic, and Chinyere “ChiChi” Anyanwu, director of organizational development and culture at San Antonio-based CPS Energy, said it has helped amplify employees’ voices. “People have more choices, and I think they’re going to use that choice to work with their employers to say, ‘This is what I want. How are you going to make it happen?’” Scott and Anyanwu were among the speakers in a panel discussion on “Rebalancing the Relationship Between Workers and Employers,” part of From Day One’s Austin conference in October. The panel, moderated by Tom Miller, who anchors KXAN News Today, addressed a range of topics revolving around ways employers can offer more purpose-driven work experiences, foster a healthier work-life balance, and attract and retain talent. Among the highlights: Connecting With Employees Outside Their Roles As remote and hybrid work has matched workers’ longing for flexibility, Kim Colbeck, the VP of HR at Maximus, which provides health and human-services programs for governments, said it’s important for companies to offer the right incentives and a clear pathway for career advancement. “I don’t think employers will be in the driving seat in 2023,” Colbeck predicted. “We still have a labor shortage, and we don’t have the workers that we need with the skills that we need.” Colbeck said the more companies focus on the short and long-term aspirations of their employees, the greater chance the workers will dedicate themselves to the brand or business. “The more that companies connect with what’s really important to people, the more they’re going to want to stay there,” she said. “Employees want their company to care about the same things they do.” Embrace Their Motivations Too often companies rely on the extrinsic opportunities of a role. On a job application, in an interview or offer letter, employers flash what salary, health care options or vacation time a role offers instead of the intrinsic, or self-directed or rewarding, goals that could be achieved. “I think what people want is to understand why they get out of bed every morning and do the job, and they want more of that,” said Chad Lafferty, VP of global sales at Attuned, which helps employers understand what motivates their workers. “And they want their employers to hone more on that, and find ways to motivate them that aren’t those traditional carrot-and-stick ideals.” “I think what people want is to understand why they get out of bed every morning and do the job, and they want more of that,” said Chad Lafferty of Attuned, at center, flanked by Alton Scott of Sodexo, left, and Tran Andrada of HiBob, right Tran Andrada, a presales manager at HiBob, an HR information-system platform, said this evolution has come with the generational shift of job seekers. Rather than focusing squarely on financial compensation, she described a new legion of professionals that are drawn to roles that fuel their desire for personal development and growth. “What they want is to find meaningful work and to feel significant,” Andrada said. “That’s a big generational shift, so having the resources and the tools to support and track what their career aspirations are, those conversations have changed dramatically.” Remote Work Has Strengthened Relationships and Insights In her role at HiBob, Andrada said the switch to remote work has given her a better sense of the resources her employees need to thrive and, at times, a glimpse into their lifestyles. “We ended up creating better relationships because you got to see people’s pets, we got to see people’s children, we got to see some of the other things they’re engaged in that has become part of their daily life,” Andrada said. “So that gave me, as a leader, insights into the unique needs of each of our employees. I think that’s helped.” While remote work has certainly increased employees’ mobility, it has been a source of burnout for many in virtual workspaces. In her experience in technology work, Andrada said it’s common for high performers to work outside their office hours to respond to emails and phone calls. In those moments, she said, it’s the responsibility of leaders to encourage their employees step away from the tech that tethers them to their roles. “When you say out-of-office, that means out-of-office,” Andrada said. “Don’t respond, because once you respond, you’re opening up the door. And as a leader, you have to do that first. No means no.” Instead of placing the blame on the technology, Anyanwu said it’s the duty of the employer to designate work hours. “We have to stop blaming technology for everything,” she said. “It’s behavior. Technology is there to help our life. Just because we have it doesn’t mean we’re going to do anything, it’s what we do to it.” Turnover Is Two-Fold As time goes by in corporate life, it’s common for the names, faces, and roles of a company to change. But Lafferty said turnover is also an indicator of where a company is headed and what issues, whether structural or cultural, need to be addressed. Tom Miller of KXAN News moderated the session “A company has to ask itself, ‘Why are people leaving and where are they going and what are they doing?’ If they’re moving to another job or another position you could’ve provided for them, then you’ve missed an opportunity and thrown cash out the window,” Lafferty said. “You have to take a step back and ask if you’ve provided that person the right tools, the right training and found ways to motivate them. Otherwise, it’s a disconnect you have to deal with.” Not every relationship is worth salvaging. If an employee is leaving for money, both Scott and Lafferty agreed that counter-offers aren’t often the best option. For Anyanwu, turnover is a part of the flow of a company and should be embraced. “People are going to move. But as people move, others are going to come in,” she said. “You can’t hold on so tightly to what you know. The next best thing could be coming in. Prepare, so that it’s not costing you so much money each time you have to onboard somebody.” Earl Hopkins is a culture reporter for the Austin American-Statesman. He’s also a freelance music writer whose words can be found in Complex, MTV News, GRAMMY.com, Stereogum, UPROXX, and other publications.