How HR Leaders Can Prepare Workers for Economic Uncertainty
BY Gail Gonzales July 26, 2023The recession that corporate America has been anticipating for months never quite seems to arrive–and the forecasts are mixed. Indeed, “it can be difficult to tell in real time whether the economy is smoothly decelerating or whether it is creeping toward the edge of a cliff,” noted the New York Times this week.The situation has created a period of prolonged uncertainty–not the favored climate for a workforce. So how can HR leaders prepare their team members to be ready for a change in the weather when it comes? While it may seem logical to some leaders to prepare for an economic slowdown by implementing hiring and salary freezes and scaling back initiatives to improve retention, a better plan would be to focus on using available tools to drive productivity and resilience, according to two leaders from Achievers, an employee recognition and engagement platform, who led a From Day One webinar. Achievers aims to accelerate workplace engagement and performance by giving employees a voice through pulse surveys, frequent check-ins, and networks that allow them to learn, grow, and contribute to their communities. Achievers Workforce Institute (AWI), the company’s research arm, is rooted in rigorous workforce science, including a survey of more than 5,000 employees and HR leaders across the globe.The Impact of Belonging: HR’s North Star Achievers' research found that helping employees remain resilient and productive were key factors for success and that they were twice as likely to feel this way when they had a strong sense of belonging. “Productivity can be difficult to measure, so if you can improve things like engagement, job commitment, and enthusiasm, you’re almost certainly going to increase productivity,” said Natalie Baumgartner, chief workforce scientist for Achievers. Where productivity is the “downstream measuring stick,” Hannah Yardley, chief people and culture officer for Achievers, said that focusing on small, measurable ways to increase productivity can have an outsized impact, and focusing on belonging is the perfect path.The five pillars of belonging are about making employees feel:1.) Welcomed: Introduced to, and incorporated within, the organizational culture and community2.) Known: Understood, motivated, and celebrated as an individual3.) Included: Valued and accepted without reservation4.) Supported: Consistently and meaningfully nurtured and developed5.) Connected: Developing and maintaining relationships across a diverse populationBaumgartner noted that “if this pandemic has taught us anything about the human experience, it’s that we do not thrive in isolation. We must have the opportunity to regularly develop and maintain relationships across a diverse community to feel a true sense of belonging.”The Roadmap to Create BelongingHow do we get there? AWI’s research found five action areas that had the most impact on resilience and productivity: recognition, feedback, connection, manager empowerment, and culture alignment. The Achievers speakers focused on three of these elements:Boosting Recognition: The data is compelling. Weekly employee recognition doubled individual resilience, and 42% of these employees reported they believed their organization was prepared for–and could manage–unexpected changes. Productivity jumped significantly as well. Yet one of Achievers’ earlier reports showed that only 14% of employees receive any kind of training on recognition. Yardley stressed that a culture of recognition needs to become ingrained by making it part of the onboarding process, reminding employees about it, tracking how often managers recognize their team members, and optimizing your organization’s recognition program.Among the tips the speakers shared: Focus on quality and quantity by recognizing positive behavior in real-time. “Social recognition” is the way to say thank-you that doesn’t have any monetary cost, from a thumbs-up in a chat, a callout in the weekly staff meeting, a “great job” in the hallway, or actually singing a worker’s praises on a social site like Linkedin or your company Facebook page.Managers should ensure recognition occurs within the work flow. For workers on computers all day, consider Teams, Outlook, Slack, or Zoom. For offline workers, it means having a consumer-grade mobile app.Employers should fuel recognition programs with a proactive, ongoing communication strategy. Encourage recognition with training, reminders, special campaigns, and technology resources for managers.Companies need to measure success with metrics that matter to the business. Compare recognition frequency to survey results about engagement and productivity.Creating Connection: “What you're looking at here is the correlation between employees who say their organization supports them and making friends at work compared to productivity, individual resilience, and organizational resilience,” said Baumgartner. Employees who felt supported in this way reported being nearly three times more productive. Affinity groups or Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) like a women’s network, an LGBTQ group, or a military-veterans group stood out to Yardley, who said, “we feel so convinced that these are the right things to do that we actually fund these groups. We help them set budgets for both the group members and for the company as a whole.” Connection tools can also support belonging for a distributed workforce, helping put names and faces together and encouraging a sense of connection.Building Manager Effectiveness and Empowerment:“We’ve been tracking manager effectiveness in our research for over two years now and it’s consistently one of the strongest predictors of productivity and retention,” noted Baumgartner. Four factors are critical:1.) Contact: AWI suggests regular and frequent one-on-one meetings as well as ad hoc check-ins, starting with positive feedback, asking where employees may need help, and defining next steps.2.) Recognition: It bears repeating. Showing appreciation in meaningful ways is easy and tripled managers’ scores.3.) Development: Managers who help employees navigate clear career paths create loyalty. Companies need to empower managers to offer intermediate development steps, including stretch assignments and upskilling.4.) Coaching: Rather than a manager identifying problems and telling employees what to do, a coaching approach reverses this process. “The employee is empowered to identify both the problem and the solution with the manager really taking on more of a consultative role,” said Baumgartner.All told, employers should focus on where they can truly make change and break their action plans into small steps and measurable results. Implementing employee surveys, planning with attention and intention, remaining flexible, and humbly pivoting after negative feedback is solid advice. We encourage all of you to read the HR Preparedness Report and understand the pillars of belonging so you can work to increase belonging throughout your organization.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Achievers, for sponsoring this webinar. Gail Gonzales is a writer, brand strategist and designer based in Austin. Her boutique agency, Evolve Your Brand, helps business owners who care about the positive evolution of people or the planet amplify their message.
The Culture of H-E-B: Why Employees (and Customers) Are So Devoted
BY Gail Gonzales July 19, 2023Texans don’t say, “We’re going grocery shopping,” they say, “We’re going to H-E-B.”Mayerland Harris, group VP of talent at H-E-B, said the reason for that is all about the company’s values. “Doing what’s right simply because it’s the right thing to do, not for the accolades and not for profit, but to help our community” is a value that underscores every decision at H-E-B, which employs about 154,000 employees in more than 430 stores in Texas and Mexico. Doing what’s right plays out in how the company treats its employees, referred to as “Partners,” as well as their suppliers, and their customers. Harris was interviewed by Dan Goodgame, editor in chief at Texas Monthly, in a fireside chat at From Day One’s Austin conference.H-E-B is always looking for ways to integrate innovative technologies throughout its business but, as a people company, prioritizing the relationship with the customer comes first. That means giving customers options, like offering curbside, home delivery, and self-checkout while making sure H-E-B partners provide excellent customer service.Doing Right By EmployeesH-E-B is renowned for its ability to retain employees for long careers. According to Comparably.com, “H-E-B is in the top 10% of similar sized companies in its ability to retain quality employees. Fifty percent of employees would not leave H-E-B if they were offered a job for more money, while 75% are excited to go to work each day.” Harris, a 32-year H-E-B veteran, said she’s remained with the company for so long because “I get to bring my authentic self to work every single day.” Many of Harris’s coworkers have been by her side for over 25 years. “Caring about your employees, giving them respect and ownership in something bigger than just a job is the secret to creating a feeling that can’t be replicated,” said Harris. Dan Goodgame of Texas Monthly, left, and Mayerland Harris of H-E-B kicked off the From Day One Austin conference with a fireside chat (Photos by Cassandra Sajna for From Day One)At H-E-B, employees have the opportunity to work in many different departments, so they can learn, grow, and pursue a career path of their choosing. Those opportunities are inclusive. “We employ everyone, from all kinds of backgrounds. H-E-B is here to serve all Texans.” Harris said. H-E-B has also earned a reputation for its commitment to employee well-being. Taking Care of the CommunityH-E-B is at the forefront of emergency preparedness and disaster relief, sending convoys including Disaster Response Units, with a pharmacy and business-services center, where locals can fill prescriptions, cash checks, pay bills, and access an ATM. While many of their relief efforts are unadvertised, this role has earned the company significant amounts of goodwill.In 2021, when the “Snowmageddon” struck Texas, Goodgame recalled that an H-E-B store manager let customers take their groceries free of charge when the store power suddenly went out and check stands were down. Other stores handed out bouquets of fresh flowers to customers as they waited in line to shop. These decisions of goodwill were not in any training classes. Our store managers made the choice and we celebrate them because “we empower people to do what’s right," said Harris.Leading a Quest for Quality and InnovationH-E-B keeps in mind why we visit their stores: local flavor, fresh food, and new ideas. The company features the Texas Department of Agriculture’s GO TEXAN mark on more than 3,700 products. The H-E-B Quest for Texas Best contest allows locally owned food-and-beverage suppliers as well as non-food suppliers a chance to break into the highly competitive grocery market by placing their items on H-E-B shelves and a chance at winning up to $25,000 in prize money. “We source as much as we can locally in our communities and across Texas,” Harris said. “And we’re proud to say that we support so many small business owners, small farmers, and small producers. If you can produce things here, think how much fresher that product is than something that you procure elsewhere.” Gail Gonzales is a writer, brand strategist, and designer based in Austin. Her boutique agency, Evolve Your Brand, helps business owners who care about the positive evolution of people or the planet amplify their message.
The Evolution of Employee Recognition and Rewards: Trends and Best Practices
BY Gail Gonzales July 07, 2023In 1907, the Ford Motor Company had a 700% attrition rate on its assembly line. Henry Ford decided to reward people who stayed for one, two, and five years, creating the first employee recognition format. Over 120 years later, this is what most companies are still doing today. Longevity isn’t an accurate or productive measurement of true employee engagement. In fact, “94% of organizations have employee recognition and rewards programs, yet only one-third of those are effective,” according to Merrily McGugan the vice president of brand and communications at WorkTango.What does it mean to have an effective rewards and recognition program? We all work harder when we know we’re appreciated, morale is also better and people tend to stay longer. “Companies that excel at employee recognition are 12x more likely to generate strong business results than their peers who are not doing it,” said McGugan during her thought leadership spotlight session at From Day One’s Austin conference in June. What are some best practices companies can easily implement? McGugan offers these seven ideas.Create a Culture of Recognition–Not a Single EventHave you ever worked tirelessly for years just to receive a plaque and a round of applause? It can feel like way too little too late. People don’t work in years, it’s more like sprints based on project completion. Creating a culture of recognition means publicly appreciating work well done as it’s happening. “Always on recognition” as McGugan calls it rewards employees for amplifying company values and behaviors and emphasizes peer-to-peer recognition.Decouple Recognition and RewardsWhile recognition and rewards are more powerful together, in today’s hybrid and remote work world people need connection. Recognition can also mean allowing people to share a few fun moments, do some icebreakers, and check in to address any challenges.Enable Recognition Into the Flow of WorkRecognizing someone via company wide email can feel outdated. Using Teams, Zoom, Slack, or any tool you use daily that integrates right into the systems employees are already using is much more effective, interactive, and valuable. Everyone can see it, comment, high-five and celebrate that person motivating others to do their best work in hopes they’ll be the next one cheered on.Give Real Rewards on The Employees' TimelineA points-based system with a platform where employees can pick out what they really want can be incredibly rewarding. An online catalog offers lots of choices on demand. McGugan shared how one employee renovated their bathroom with redeemed points while another saved up points to go visit their brother. When employees earn points for meeting tough deadlines, completing training, peer recognition, and more, it’s not just motivating. The productivity also helps support the organization financially. “It's really difficult to keep track of all the different years of service programs, ad hoc rewards, perks, and gift cards. Consolidating an annual budget into a slew of points, bringing all the programs together, and divvying them up among employees once a quarter has saved companies 20 to 30% on their rewards budget,” said McGugan.Active Leadership and ParticipationRecognition and rewards programs are meant for building culture, engaging folks, and building connections between the whole organization. If your executives don't participate, your program won’t succeed. What gets recognized gets repeated. When executives recognize an employee who's gone above and beyond, other employees will follow in their footsteps. Conversely, “When managers were not engaged in the platform, and they didn't log in and give recognitions, 91% of their direct reports were inactive or very rarely active. The managers set the tone.”Publicize and Amplify RecognitionsFor employees in warehouses or manufacturing plants who aren't working from desks or conventional office spaces, you can install screens with employee recognition to publicize their contributions. Executives, managers, and peers can also give praise and appreciation to their teams for work well done and spur more positivity.Create a Holistic Rewards StrategyA holistic rewards strategy means that recognition is given for exemplifying values, key behaviors, and reaching milestones. It also means that rewards are meaningful, offer choice, and are on-demand. And that incentives are provided for key areas the business wants to work on like improving customer service ratings or reducing sick days. “One of our customers got 70% of employees in the first couple of days, and ultimately 99% of employees to complete very long trainings in two weeks,” by offering points as an incentive, said McGugan.Remember that recognition creates connection and it’s mostly about being seen, heard, and appreciated. While letting employees choose their own gifts may seem impersonal, earning points to pick out what they really want is not only motivational, it may make a tough work week a whole lot better.Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, WorkTango, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Gail Gonzales is a writer, brand strategist, and designer based in Austin, Texas. Her boutique agency, Evolve Your Brand, helps business owners who care about the positive evolution of people or the planet amplify their message.
Tech-Driven, Human-Centered: Building the Future of Work
BY Gail Gonzales June 28, 2023While some employees fear layoffs due to AI, including HR professionals and recruiters, Jerry Aubin, the CEO of BountyJobs asserts that “leveraging technology is the best path to maximize the humanity of our organizations.” Humanity, connection, and empathy are not just what the incoming generation of workers want, it’s what they expect. Aubin led a thought leadership spotlight on the subject, titled, “Tech-Driven, Human-Centered: Building the Future of Work” during From Day One's Austin conference. While well-being and humanity were addressed during Covid, many companies resorted back to outdated norms resulting in a mass exodus of 50 million people from the workforce in 2022. A LinkedIn study revealed that 87% of Gen Z professionals are prepared to go elsewhere if another organization aligns with their values. A staggering 80% of employees are not fully engaged in their work and two-thirds are not feeling good about their well-being according to a recent Gallup poll. Aubin asks, “How can we possibly expect these people to bring their A-game to work?”What Does Humanity In the Workplace Look Like?Humanity isn’t built into a benefits package or stated in a company policy. Younger workers have cited open, transparent, ethical leadership as well as diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplaces in addition to empathy as top priorities. Managers need to know and genuinely care about what’s happening in employees' lives without being intrusive.Aubin said it’s also about “doing everything possible to help [employees] succeed not only in the office, but when they're outside of them.” Empathy also comes in the form of flexibility. Aubin shared the story of an employee who had skills that were impossible to replace. He also needed to care for an aging parent out of state. This employee had already been working in a full-time remote position for the last three years. Despite all the time and effort he put into identifying solutions to ensure the organization wouldn't be impacted, leadership refused to budge on the requirement to stay in Austin. As a result, he walked–and decades of critical knowledge walked out with him.Intentionally Blending Humanity and TechnologyTechnology simultaneously has the power to massively disrupt the way we do business, yet Aubin is sure that “these same tools are going to help us get to the core of what we need–and that is the human aspect of our most critical work.”Jeremy Aubin, the CEO of BountyJobs, led the thought leadership spotlight in Austin, Texas (photo by Cassandra Sajna for From Day One)Ethan Moloch, a professor at the Wharton School of Business, is promoting a helpful framework for using AI to accomplish some of the tedious work we don’t want to do anyway. “Several billion people just got free interns,” Aubin said. “The [technology] is smart...but at the same time, it must be trained. We have to figure out the best way to divide up the work between us and them.” Recent studies show that people achieved huge bumps in productivity by using AI tools while reporting significantly higher job satisfaction. Aubin decided to put one of these tools, ChatGPT, to the test after reading an article in HR Executive predicting that AI will make HR extinct. ChatGPT excels at language focused tasks just like the work that currently consumes the vast majority of time for knowledge workers like HR staff. Aubin began by asking the tool to compare a candidate's resume to a job description to see if they were a good fit. ChatGPT noted how the candidate had an extensive background including telemedicine even though it wasn't mentioned in the job description since telemedicine is a huge factor influencing health care right now. While the resume made no mention of the candidate’s willingness to travel, ChatGPT made the correct inference based on its understanding of the role that the candidate was a good fit for.In another experiment, Aubin posed as an agency recruiter. He gave the same resume and job description to the system, but instead asked it how to improve the resume for a more compelling match to the job description. Concrete specific suggestions came back that “even my 18-year-old would manage to follow. If I were working at an agency and saw results like this from a brand-new intern fresh off the streets with zero training, I would be absolutely thrilled.”Aubin is not advocating for AI tools to do all the work, rather, the tools can help us do our best work. Envision one of your internal recruiters. What will their day be like after they have trained an army of interns to handle some of the tasks that enable your organization to function? “My hope is that [the recruiter] will be able to focus her time on the part of her job that she actually loves–and that's being an ambassador for your company and creating and nurturing those relationships with candidates. No AI is ever going to replace the genuine human connections that make people feel seen, valued, and ultimately, in our interests, beg to be hired. How impactful might an outcome like that be for your organization?” asked Aubin. Ultimately, blending transformative technologies with the irreplaceable power of human connection is our best chance of providing the satisfaction and fulfillment employees not only demand but deserve.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, BountyJobs, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight.Gail Gonzales is a writer, brand strategist, and designer based in Austin, Texas. Her boutique agency, Evolve Your Brand, helps business owners who care about the positive evolution of people or the planet amplify their message.
Beyond Group Benefits: Supporting the Employee's Whole Self at Work
BY Gail Gonzales June 27, 2023Three weeks after Israel Gutierrez joined Axios in 2022 as vice president of talent acquisition, his brother passed away suddenly. Along with the emotional toll, the funeral costs were outrageous. Fortunately, Axios had implemented an Axios Family Fund in response to Covid, investing $100,000 for employees in need. As a new hire still navigating the workforce, Gutierrez was reluctant to apply. His boss said, “Just do it.” Finally, he applied for assistance and was awe-struck by the supportive company culture. “It was so inspiring,” he said. Axios made accessing funds easy, fast, and confidential with only three people in the loop, and ultimately, he was able to help his family.At the June From Day One Conference in Austin, a panel of professionals moderated by Austin Business Journal’s Sahar Chmais discussed how supporting the whole individual at work is about so much more than offering a generous benefits package. Panelists kicked off the session by sharing how they personally felt supported.Joanna Daly, the VP of total rewards at IBM shared that she values the way the company “holds each other accountable to take our time off, and respects that time off.”Carmen Whitney, the chief people officer at Yelp, had a tough year balancing showing up as a leader while navigating a divorce and moving to a new city. Yelp includes a benefit “where employees can meet one-on-one with licensed coaches and therapists which was game-changing for me,” said Whitney.Arthur Lane, head of marketing for Stork Club acknowledged that while having “direct lines of open communication from the lowest employee up to the CEO” and weekly meetings asking “what’s working, what’s not, and should we keep doing it?” might not work for larger companies, he finds it refreshing.Gutierrez of Axios highlighted the multitude of programming that acknowledges how they take risks, like retroactive sessions. “We don’t just talk about it, it's baked into our actions and processes, not just in performance reviews, which I find empowering,” he said.Addressing Individual Employee NeedsBenefits can no longer be one size fits all offerings. “You can't assume where people are coming from, or that they're going to experience the programs you're offering in the same way,” Daly said. “The first thing we consider is, is there enough choice in our benefit offerings? Does it have flexibility?” Looking at the data around benefits utilization and looking at vendor inquiries, like requests for more help with fertility or menopause, has provided valuable insight.IBM also listens to employee requests directly via their Slack channel, engages with employee resource groups, and hires vendors who are part of the communities they serve like LGBTQ+ groups. For example, “I may think I have a great mental health offering. But if there aren’t providers of color, and our employees of color want to see people who understand their experiences, then I don't actually have a great mental health offering,” Daly said.The leaders participated in the opening panel discussion during From Day One's Austin conference (photo by Cassandra Sajna)To address the needs of their mostly Gen Z workforce, Yelp offers a work-from-home stipend as well as travel benefits for reproductive health and gender-affirming care to help employees impacted by state regulations, says Whitney. She also emphasizes the importance of flexibility, especially in a post-Covid workplace. “Employees are thriving [because of their ability to work when and where is best for them.] When we had our offices open, on any given day, globally, we had less than 1% utilization of those offices,” said Whitney.Wellness programs are key according to Lane. He noted that “15-20% of workers were involuntarily separated from their company due to a direct correlation to the person not having good well-being, connectedness, or engagement with the employer.”To foster more connection among a highly distributed workforce, Axios created an education group centered on allyship for psychological safety as part of their DIA initiative. Allyship helps all employees from the top down to engage in difficult conversations without bias and improve relationships and processes.Layoffs, Digital Transformation, and AIAI is not an all-or-nothing proposition. Allowing space for honest conversations about digital transformation and layoffs and bringing context to the discussion is vital according to Joanna from IBM. You have to reframe the situation citing how we’re always finding innovative ways to make everything more efficient and easier.Managers and HR leaders can help assure employees that “automation will allow you to do something else that is more valuable to the organization and probably more fulfilling and interesting for you,” Daly said. Employers can energize staff by implementing clear policies and learning programs for internal mobility and creating a culture where that mobility is celebrated. For HR leaders, “the least risky hire you'll make is the hire that you already know about from within your own teams,” said Daly. Gutierrez reminded us of the–love it or hate it–Microsoft “clippy” and added, “In the last debrief between a recruiter and a hiring manager, it's two human beings who are going to talk about hiring another human being. There is no robot involved in that decision so that gives me hope for the safety of recruiters.”Let’s Talk Money–the Ultimate BenefitThe best benefits package in the world can’t replace being paid fairly, but how can workers approach this difficult conversation successfully? Daly of IBM said, “My advice is to learn, prepare, and rehearse with someone who's been a manager. Come in with a fact-based discussion based on your experience in the market, not an emotional one. Don't go in when you're feeling really upset about your pay.”Companies can help employees have this conversation through full transparency. That means sharing, “How do you do benchmarking? Which companies do you benchmark against? How do you develop the pay range? What does the pay range mean? How do managers actually make the pay decision with all this information? IBM has a full education module our employees can access to understand exactly how we do this.” Gutierrez agreed, adding that there are compensation transparency laws now so accurate company data exists and is easily accessible when you want to advocate for yourself.The Silver Lining of CovidWhile adapting to Covid took a toll on our well-being it also forced some hard conversations about the status quo of corporate life. Businesses can no longer expect to thrive without employees who are thriving. In this new paradigm, we’ve seen that organizations offering flexibility with higher empathy who translate that into programs, processes, and benefits have employees who are more productive, engaged, and committed to their work. It’s a true win-win.Gail Gonzales is a writer, brand strategist, and designer based in Austin, Texas. Her boutique agency, Evolve Your Brand, helps business owners who care about the positive evolution of people or the planet amplify their message.
‘Get Your Managers to Be Your Partners’
BY Gail Gonzales February 26, 2023HR and organizational-development professionals may soon feel the sting of a tighter economy in 2023, combined with “the worst productivity ratings on record since 1947,” according to national economists. Only about 32% of employees are actively engaged with their work, according to a Gallup poll, with a particular decline among project managers. And what happens when management is lacking? Your teams spend “one-third of their time cleaning up managers’ messes,” said Jon Greenawalt, SVP of customer transformation at the performance-management platform 15Five, speaking at From Day One’s Austin conference. Yet there is hope. To turn things around you “have to get your managers to be your partners–make them an extension of your team. That’s a mindset we all need to develop going forward,” said Greenawalt. Why Middle Management Is So Important Greenawalt asserts that manager training, coaching, progressive HR technology, and people science will create the modern managers we need. “Managers are the linchpin” and “middle managers are often left to their own devices, yet they have the most influence and impact on employees,” he said. Middle managers can make the biggest difference in innovation, growth, and performance for organizations. In fact, 91% of quiet quitters say that they could be more motivated to work harder, he said. And they would work harder if they had better managers. What Do Workers Want? With a possible recession looming, Mary Daly, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve, said, “workers are going to stay put, ask for raises, and may go out of their way to let you know they’re satisfied.” They may only quit in their mind. Employees want to feel valued and respected, have meaningful work and know their ideas are heard. They need acknowledgment and rewards, especially when it comes to taking on extra work. Since the pandemic, employers must include flexibility, autonomy, and remote work into the benefits mix. Most of all, employees want “leaders and companies to actually care about them as a whole person. Forty percent want managers to have honest conversations about their work–and one in three say their manager can’t even lead a team,” according to Greenawalt. Workers also want to be intrinsically motivated by a shared purpose and mission. Everyone needs their “why.” “The sting of a rebuke lasts longer than the joy of praise,” said Greenawalt, citing management guru Adam Grant Who Is This Modern Manager? The best leaders are self-aware and self-reflective. Managers who don’t pretend or claim to have all the answers and are committed to their own growth earn the respect of their staff. They cultivate relationships and help people feel seen and supported. Finally, modern managers create a team mindset of high performance by aligning values with the strategic goals of the organization for a powerful shared context. Greenawalt went on to outline five key areas and tips for putting that mindset into action: 1.) Cultivate psychological safety. Start all your meetings with a check-in that has nothing to do with work. Connect as humans. Making sure people have clear roles as your business evolves is essential including defining expectations, objectives, and behaviors. “It’s like a job description on steroids,” he said. Fear-based management styles are no longer acceptable. 2.) Know and understand the strengths of your staff. Put people in positions on teams where they can shine and share what they’re best at. Blend people’s strengths and leverage them and be willing to listen and shift someone who feels they are not in the right role. Staff also “need to be free to have conversations with their leader about career growth, even if it means them leaving the company. People will leave anyways,” he said. Managers should be initiating career-growth conversations as well. 3.) Project positivity. We’re all sponges for people’s energy. Every manager should do whatever they have to do to come to work with their A game–meditate, workout–because good energy creates a ripple effect. Greenawalt added, “in addition to positive feedback, you’ve got to give constructive feedback and share it as an observation and not a judgment. Communicate: What did I see, hear, and notice?” If we approach an employee with anger, we immediately put them on the defensive. 4.) Create Intrinsic Motivation. “The sting of a rebuke lasts longer than the joy of praise,” said Greenawalt, quoting management guru Adam Grant. Pour on the praise to bring out the best in people. Make sure staff are doing work more often that truly energizes them. 5.) Challenge employees to have a growth mindset. Even those who seem very confident may never set a goal they think they can’t reach, but this is what creates true transformation. Just like climbing Kilimanjaro or running a marathon forces you to grow exponentially, managers need to be great at helping staff come up with goals they’re passionate about. At 15Five, Greenawalt has developed an experiential software training solution for managers incorporating all these ideas. “You can’t send people off and fire-hose them for three days and hope they’re going to come back and put that into practice–one-and-done is over,” Greenawalt said. Managers need more than coaching and theory. They need skill training and applied practice. The idea is to learn, practice, and apply over and over together in cohorts getting feedback and measurement. This new manager will offer your organization significant lift and productivity as well as happy employees. And happy employees mean a happy HR team. Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner 15Five for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Gail Gonzales is a writer, brand strategist and designer based in Austin. Her boutique agency, Evolve Your Brand, helps business owners who care about the positive evolution of people or the planet amplify their message.
How HR Can Look Ahead During Uncertain Times
BY Gail Gonzales November 12, 2022HR has a huge role to play in the next few years “as important, if not more important, than salespeople right now,” according to Vijay Swaminathan, CEO and co-founder of Draup. The data collected at Draup, an AI-driven reskilling and talent-intelligence platform, reveals the difficult trends ahead in hiring and retention. “Meeting these challenges can give HR staff a voice in executive-level decisions if they can put data into action,” Swaminathan said in a presentation at From Day One’s Austin conference in October. Among the highlights: Understanding Frontline Workers Knowledge workers are always on the rise, but business and society learned the hard way during the pandemic how important our “frontline” workers are–the ones who make our food, deliver our packages, work in call centers, and others who cannot work from home. There is a lingering 16% to 17% shortage of frontline workers since the pandemic due to a displaced workforce. The challenge for HR staff is determining why they’re not coming back–is it Covid concerns, a desire for more autonomy, flexibility, or benefits–or is it due in part to the fact that we have not created new roles for frontline workers to return to? HR professionals must sort these issues out and address them. In the ’90s we assumed that automation would replace frontline workers, but that has happened more slowly than expected. The trucking industry is a great example, as it’s clear we haven’t come very far with self-driving vehicles. The dawning realization, Swaminathan said, is that AI is no longer “a race against machines, it’s a race with machines,” in which both the employee and the technology are essential for increasing efficiency and productivity incrementally. Meeting Worker Expectations Employee expectations, including the desire for more flexibility, have changed dramatically since the arrival Covid. As many companies work as globalized organizations, employees even where the cost of living may be lower are looking for more benefits, wellness considerations, and work-life balance. Making sure that employers are treating everyone equally regardless of their location, and finding ways to measure that, will be essential over the next few years. The desires for more work-life balance led to the explosive growth of freelancers: up by 17 million in the U.S., to an estimated 60 million. Swaminathan said that Draup “spoke to 15 companies recently and only two or three of them had an effective strategy for working with freelancers.” This strategy must include quick onboarding, taking deliverables in an integrated way, determining intellectual-property assignments, handling security aspects, and then offboarding. Juggling an array of workers–freelancers, fully remote, hybrid, and onsite staffers– also require HR leaders to reevaluate Covid policies to determine if they are hindering the hiring process or if they need to prioritize remote and contract workers. HR leaders need to make sure that good data is used to see what is “truly connecting well with employees and amplifying that,” Swaminathan said Embracing Augmented Reality The prospect of introducing the metaverse into HR is a thrilling opportunity and “the sooner we figure it out, the more career opportunities will be available to HR professionals.” Let’s say you have a recording of an entire transcript of an interview with a hiring prospect, and you want to share one small piece with your leaders. “You’ll have full control of listening and dropping it into your HR metaverse to get feedback quickly in a more collaborative way,” said Swaminathan. You can reduce bottlenecks in learning and development by enabling employees to skip past modules they already know. Instead of putting learners in front of videos, answering questions and clicking boxes, the metaverse is immersive and interactive the same way flight simulators are enabling leaders to see if employees are ready for the next level. HR leaders need to understand these technologies and present leaders with a plan for the rules and processes to ensure success. The metaverse presents a “double-edged sword” as well, according to Swaminathan as “there is a huge amount of data privacy, risk of mistrust and misuse, that need to be analyzed and documented.” Evolving Job Roles and Soft Skills As Steve Jobs demonstrated, Swaminathan said, “you may have all kinds of scientific and technical skills, but if you don’t have empathy, you can’t design a product.” The European Commission has done a superb job of documenting the soft skills that are important for different job families on a global basis. A large data-driven course teaching such skills will have an impact across many departments including finance, HR, and marketing. New roles are emerging requiring soft skills and discernment, including gig-work tracking analysts, AI-bias managers, and global cultural analysts to “work as one culture spread across multiple cultures,” Swaminathan said. HR professionals will be the ones to champion institutionalizing soft skills into the culture, determining effective processes and strategies for all types of workers, and making sure that good data is used to see what is “truly connecting well with employees and amplifying that.” Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Draup, who sponsored this thought leadership spotlight. Gail Gonzales is a writer, brand strategist and designer based in Austin, Texas. Her boutique agency, Evolve Your Brand, helps business owners who care about the positive evolution of people or the planet amplify their message.
Discovering the Essentials of an Inclusive Corporate Culture
BY Gail Gonzales November 07, 2022Describing cultural diversity and inclusion as “great hiring bait” might seem crass, but Paul Kim, head of global implementation for Expedia Group, cut to the chase with this refreshing conversation starter, asserting that you can’t “catch the big fish without taking care of business internally.” Creating a diverse leadership team is the first key to hiring and retaining great talent, he said. So then, what makes an inclusive culture and how do we define diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) when they often feel like corporate platitudes? Kathryn Lundstrom, sustainability editor at Adweek, posed this question to open a panel discussion on fostering a genuinely inclusive corporate culture, part of From Day One’s Austin conference. Definitions ranged from “making people feel they were chosen for that reason to build a stronger team,” as Elsa Zambrano, SVP of talent and culture at NXP Semiconductors pointed out, to “creating the psychological safety that allows people to be their truest self,” said Paul Agustin, director and solutions engineer at Betterworks, a management-software company. Steve Armbruster, a partner in McKinsey & Company, agreed that “if we actually create truly diverse and inclusive teams where people take care of each other through apprenticeship, through mental health support by watching out for burnout or stress, it’s the broadest possible definition” of inclusion and belonging. Armbruster is a firm believer that creativity and the practical exchange of culturally diverse ideas in an environment of safety and authenticity helps his firm’s clients and increases their bottom line. Defining company values is foundational, said Zambrano, who hosted hosted roundtable conversations on values across all her company’s departments globally and turned that into management training. Inclusivity can come in the form of fun as well. Honoring and celebrating all cultural holidays, encouraging self-expression, and making sure your events are at times when everyone across your company can join helps everyone feel valued. Betterworks even decided that if they were going to do something in one location, they would do it everywhere. At the same time, it’s important to understand that people from diverse cultures feel valued in different ways and that it’s too nuanced for a blanket approach. Conversations are required to appreciate the differences. “Equity is a little more complicated,” noted Kazique Prince, PhD, the global director of DEI and belonging at NI, formerly known as National Instruments Corp. Equity is making “sure that folks that have been historically excluded or marginalized are getting additional resources, in many ways making up for things in the past, but also making up for challenges that are still happening today.” Kathryn Lundstrom of Adweek, at podium, moderated the Austin conversation Prince asserted that taking an honest look at the historic corporate culture of your specific company or industry that may still be controlled by white men requires tough questions: “Are you pro-Black? Are you a feminist? Who are you as an organization? And are you willing to call those things out plainly? Are you willing to say you’re anti-racist? Those kinds of conversations are just as important as the programs, initiatives, and policies that you put in place.” If your company intends to make improvements, he advises bringing up this topic honestly in the hiring phase and letting candidates know it’s something you’re proactively seeking to change. Finding Diverse Talent While finding diverse talent can seem daunting, all the panelists agreed that data was essential to “opening the candidate aperture,” noted Expedia’s Kim. “Be agile and iterative about whom to pursue, and how to attract them in a way that’s actually compelling and grounded in meaning.” Systemic and unconscious bias creates a lot of missed opportunities to bring in diverse talent. The speakers praised bias training as one of the most eye-opening and beneficial experiences they’ve ever had–and that honesty about bias leads to transparency and better hiring practices. Issuing report cards for executives, using third-party vendors to interview employees, and publicizing and discussing findings openly in meetings were all ways these panelists encourage conversations so “everyone feels they’re in it. This is not just an HR thing,” said Zambrano. Navigating Communication Challenges and Conflicts Instead of looking for punitive ways to get people to change their behavior, trying to understand what led to the situation from both sides and what cultural dynamics may have influenced that situation leads to better solutions. A more-carrots-than-sticks approach seemed to be the overall consensus on this topic. Prince asked, “How can we all walk away with our dignity” while creating more respect among employees? Bias training was cited again as invaluable for mitigating potential conflicts by defining and modeling inclusive behavior. McKinsey’s Armbruster said that the likelihood of mismatched expectations is reduced when managers help people self-define their own path, purpose, and meaning. Changing Corporate Structure to Reward Diversity Zambrano circled back to values and how important it is to “put that flag in the ground,” declaring what the company stands for and publicizing it everywhere. Kim said that Expedia doesn’t incentivize leadership in DEI because it’s expected that goals will be met and managers are held accountable for delivering on them, but leaders offer public praise when those goals are met. Betterworks utilizes a bottom-up leadership style in DEI, Agustin said, and offers a stipend for DEI team members who reach their goals. The full panel: Steve Armbruster of McKinsey & Company, Paul Agustin of Betterworks, Lundstrom, Kim, Elsa Zambrano of NXP Semiconductors, and Kazique Prince of NI (Photo by From Day One) Looking at how data is collected, analyzed, and used for better decisions ensures changes over the long term. The data McKinsey & Company has collected clearly shows that there is genuine economic value in diverse workforces. “Young people desiring purpose, meaning, and the need for psychological safety are going to generate a disproportionate amount of profit and shareholder returns,” said Armbruster. “We need to make everyone understand how important this is. Business leaders must dispel the notion that DEI initiatives are something that can be done on the side or delegated as an HR function.” DEI is “one of those topics like sustainability that has to cut across every aspect of a company’s operations if it’s going to mean anything at all,” noted moderator Lundstrom. By incorporating these ideas into every action, DEI initiatives become a set of tools, vs. a set of rules, that can shift the health, morale, and prosperity of businesses into high gear. Gail Gonzales is a writer, brand strategist and designer based in Austin, Texas. Her boutique agency, Evolve Your Brand, helps business owners who care about the positive evolution of people or the planet amplify their message.