Do Your Workers Feel a Sense of Belonging and Recognition?
BY Cynthia Barnes May 07, 2024Employees thrive and remain in organizations where they feel included and valued. Creating a comfortable space where everyone feels that they are heard and seen is crucial to recruitment and retention. During a panel discussion at From Day One’s conference in Salt Lake City, four experts offered tips and tricks on helping employees feel that they have a part in the conversation.For Emma E. Houston, chief diversity officer at the University of Utah, it starts with ‘hello.’ “One of the things that I make a habit of doing is saying, ‘Good morning, good afternoon, good evening.’ Because what is important is for individuals to be seen. So when you’re thinking about how you help people feel included, acknowledge their presence. Simply acknowledge their presence, and then the conversation can start from there. Just greeting someone on a regular basis, making that pause and making that acknowledgement that ‘I see you’ is one of the very first steps in creating a space of inclusivity,” Houston told session moderator Robert Gehrke, government and politics reporter at the Salt Lake Tribune.Matt Frisbie, chief marketing officer at AXOMO builds rapport in the workplace with stories, sweets (he prefers Snickers) and swag, which is appropriate since Namify manufactures branded gear. “The shortest distance between two people is a story,” said Frisbie. “We all have a story, we all have experiences that we can share. Ask open-ended questions and invite that [sharing], and try to get to their story.”Every Thursday at two o’clock, they walk the whole manufacturing facility with a box of snacks, says Frisbie. There’s everything, chips, Snickers, and healthy snacks, too. “But the point is actually to just walk in and smile, and say hello.”Weslie Porter, the director of culture and engagement for the state of Utah’s Department of Government Operations, shared a unique example of how different groups can have different needs, and they need to feel comfortable expressing those needs. He began by surveying attendees, asking who was right-handed [most of the audience], and who left [a few], and named scissors as one tool that is commonly engineered for right-handed people.“I have a left-handed friend,” he shared. They have to be very deliberate and strategic on where they sit when they go out to eat, he says. What’s interesting about this, as right-handed people, sometimes we think that things are just the norm. And so when we think about how we make people feel included, and feel welcome, we take a minute, and we realize that sometimes the norm comes from the majority.“And so the first step, specifically leadership, and even HR, when we're developing our job description, interview questions, whatever that might be, is to stop and realize, what about my experience is transferring into everything I do? And how do I get the different perspectives?” said Porter.The panelists discussed the topic "Do Your Workers Feel a Sense of Belonging and Recognition?" in Salt Lake CityWhat we can do is realize those perspectives will allow us to make better decisions. And more importantly, “it’ll allow our people to feel like they’re heard, they’re included, and recognized.” When they’re recognized, that’s when magic can happen, he says.Whitney Harper, the senior VP of people at Extra Space Storage, agrees. “I love the analogy of the left-handed versus right-handed. It’s imperative to “[create] those opportunities to listen to those perspectives, and to be open to that” she said.She adds that inclusive language is essential to creating an inviting and inclusive community in the workplace. Leaders need to ensure that “language is accessible to individuals to make sure that when we talk about DEI, we talk about inclusiveness, that we’re not using language that all of a sudden feels jargony.”Houston explained how the University of Utah has sought to achieve that goal, bringing stakeholders together to define what DEI meant for the school to create a consistent language. “We had 75 individuals in the room, creating the definitions of what we believe equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging access would mean at the University of Utah. So now we’re all holding ourselves accountable for what those consistent definitions are, and what the language is, and how we attach those to our values.”Porter has experienced how the language in job descriptions can impact diversity in the applicant pool. “When writing job descriptions, we have a tendency to use words that can mean different things that are bigger than they need to be.” Simplicity is key, he says. When the language is accessible and understood by all, there will be more applicants.He also touted Governor Cox’s initiative towards skill-based hiring, and his own experience being onboarded and welcomed as a completely remote employee. “We focus on the onboarding piece. Some of the data suggests that if you have that good onboarding experience, at the beginning, your attrition rate is going to go low, and [employees] are going to stay there longer for retention. So we really focus on that. In particular, those first couple of weeks are absolutely crucial to make sure that they feel that they can belong, and they can thrive. And we’re seeing some dividends getting paid.”Cynthia Barnes has written about everything from art to zebras from more than 30 countries. She currently calls Denver home.
Embedding DEI in Grantmaking: From Vision to Action
BY Cynthia Barnes February 09, 2024Embracing our differences and lived experiences enhances innovation, creativity, decision-making, and better problem-solving. But it’s not always easy to turn aspirations into tangible actions. In a thought leadership spotlight session at From Day One’s Denver conference, Tanya Odom, director of equity and inclusion at the Walton Family Foundation, shared practical strategies and real-world examples of embedding DEI principles and practices into philanthropy, both internally and externally.Odom painted a vivid picture of the Walton Family Foundation’s legacy, tracing its roots to its founding by Sam Walton and Helen Walton in 1987. “We’ve been in the space of diversity, equity, and inclusion for over 25 years,” said Odom. In 2020, the foundation awarded $749.5 million in grants. “We actually fund in three very specific areas that are determined by the family, which are education, which has taken different pathways and ways of looking at it, but that’s been since the beginning. Another is the environment, more specifically oceans and sustainability. And the third is the home region, Bentonville, Arkansas, and Arkansas’ Mississippi Delta,” said Odom. “We infuse all of them with a sensibility about diversity, equity inclusion.” “Our framework centers around three key pillars: embed, align, and amplify,” said Odom. Through these pillars, the foundation aims not only to incorporate DEI principles into its own operations, but also to foster similar initiatives among its grantees and partners. This holistic approach reflects the foundation’s recognition of the interconnectedness of issues, and its commitment to driving systemic change. “It's not just about what we do internally,” she said. “It's about how we leverage our influence to effect change on a broader scale.”Navigating the Last Few YearsThe conversation turned towards the challenges faced during the pivotal summer of 2020, a period marked by widespread social unrest and calls for racial justice. Odom reflected on the intense global efforts during that time. “Many of us had never worked as hard as we did in the summer of 2020,” she said. “That summer and I would say the year after that. And I think there was a sense of people finally understanding what we did.”Tanya Odom of the Walton Family Foundation was interviewed by From Day One co-founder Steve Koepp during the thought leadership spotlightDespite the challenges, Odom recalled this period as a catalyst for change. “We’ve been saying this, this is not new. Odom mentions the curb-cut theory, an awareness that once you find a pathway to address some of these inequities, or structural issues, you usually find ways to address other issues. “So while the summer of 2020 was called a racial reckoning, in Europe, it was also often called a social reckoning. It just highlighted so many other things.”Leadership Buy-In and the Importance of CourageOdom underscored the importance of courage in leadership and the willingness to take bold action. This call for courageous leadership highlighted the need for organizations to confront difficult conversations and actively engage in the work of dismantling systemic barriers to equity.At the Foundation, Odom says, they held an interview with their board chair on the subject of diversity. “And that was very unusual. Our comms department actually got permission to have that go out onto social media. What was really important was that our board chair talked about how DEI connected to the thoughts and beliefs of Sam Walton. Sam Walton wasn't saying ‘diversity, equity and inclusion.’ But Sam Walton talked about access. So how do we connect it to the mission of the organization?”Philanthropy's Roadblocks and Future ChallengesDespite the foundation's commendable efforts, Odom acknowledged the roadblocks and challenges facing philanthropy in its quest for DEI integration. “Dr. King has a quote,” she said. “Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances, economic injustice, which makes philanthropy necessary.”Odom remained optimistic about the future, emphasizing the importance of collective action and ongoing dialogue. “While the road ahead may be challenging,” she said, “I firmly believe that by working together, we can overcome these obstacles and create a more inclusive and equitable future for all.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, the Walton Family Foundation, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Cynthia Barnes has written about everything from art to zebras from more than 30 countries. She currently calls Denver home.
Strategies for Upholding and Rewriting Values in a Corporate Merger
BY Cynthia Barnes January 10, 2024Integrating two separate corporate cultures into one during a merger is essential for success–but what’s the best way to achieve that? In the opening fireside chat at From Day One conference in Denver, Denver Post reporter Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton sat down with Peter Leckemby, head of talent management at DISH Network, to discuss his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities that come with a merger.Leckemby was getting his degree in criminology when he started a job at The Home Depot “for college beer money.” His role led him into management, and he stayed with the company for 16 years. He quickly learned how much he enjoyed leadership development, went on to earn a coaching certification, and then joined DISH as a leadership development specialist.“It’s been an interesting year,” said Leckemby of 2023. “Back in February, we were, like a lot of big tech companies, a victim of a cyber attack. That started the year off in the spirit of adventure, which is one of our core values, but not the kind of adventure you want to be on. It was a challenge. We were reeling a little bit, and we had a lot of big goals to hit this year,” he said.Leckemby discussed some of their goals and reflected on their achievements for the year, including “providing coverage on our network to 70% of the population.” Then right on the heels of that in late summer, “we announced that we are merging with our sister company, EchoStar,” he said. They also launched Boost Infinite, their first postpaid network offering.Chairman and DISH co-founder Charlie Ergen spun off satellite operator EchoStar from DISH in 2008, but remained in charge of both companies. Then on December 7th, after this chat, the Federal Communications Commission approved the merger, reuniting Ergen’s telecom empire.Pete Leckemby, DISH Network's head of talent management was interviewed in the fireside chatEven with common ownership, the merger will prove a challenge. “We have similar cultures, but different values as they’re written out. The values at DISH began as “Pride, Adventure, and Winning,” said Leckemby. They went on to add “Curiosity” to the mix, and are working through that.“For us, it’s about going back to what the values are as they’re lived out, and what is important to our team members. I like to think that curiosity, pride, adventure, and winning will carry over, because we have that anchored to all of our talent management practices.” As they go through the merger, they’re making sure they do the right thing for team members, he says. The employees are top of mind and the focus of all the efforts in place.Building trust with team members during the upheaval caused by a merger can be an ongoing challenge. “We haven’t always done this right,” said Leckenby. But this year they launched a new listening strategy to get better. The first step is to listen to employees and understand what’s important to them. What are they stressed about? What are their anxieties? What are their pain points? Listen, and then be clear and transparent about the decisions, says Leckemby.“Our leadership team has done a really good job of being more transparent and having more upfront communications with all team meetings, announcements, and just being very upfront about ‘here's what we know, here’s what we don't know,’” he said.In spite of the challenges, Leckemby has found great opportunities in the changes presented by a corporate merger. “The merger has presented a tremendous learning opportunity, where you really find out how resilient your employees are. In recognizing that resilience and tenacity, there has been a lot of positivity in the workforce and excitement for the future. People are jumping in, they’re curious, they want to learn. So we’re seeing our values show up a lot throughout the process, and that will carry us into the future.”Cynthia Barnes has written about everything from art to zebras from more than 30 countries. She currently calls Denver home.
Inclusive Leadership Development for People Leaders at Your Organization
BY Cynthia Barnes June 29, 2023The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery triggered an enormous pledging of support in organizations across many industries to support their Black and other underrepresented groups and to build more inclusive companies. And it’s been more than lip service—American businesses are now spending more than eight billion dollars per year to combat unconscious bias and expand diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in their workplaces.The bad news, according to leadership consultancy ThinkHuman founder and CEO Meredith Haberfeld, is that many of these well-intentioned initiatives are not only ineffective, but can actually prove counterproductive.“In a meta-analysis of more than 490 studies involving some 80,000 people, the psychologist Patrick Forscher, and his colleagues found that unconscious bias training did not change behavior,” said Haberfeld. “And other studies revealed that this type of training can even backfire.”So how can businesses build an effective and efficient program that truly improves diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB)? Haberfeld shared insights during a thought leadership spotlight titled, “Do More With Less: Inclusive Leadership Development Strategies for People Leaders at Your Organization” at From Day One’s June virtual conference.Pioneering Together“As a starting point, let's acknowledge that we are all pioneering together, and we have a long way to go,” said Haberfeld. “And there are deep systemic issues, and no one has this all figured out. We are hopefully recognizing, and using the privileges that we have, to move the system forward and to center the needs and the voices of the underrepresented and oppressed as we do so. But none of us have this figured out.”Haberfeld became fascinated by differences between organizations that have made measurable advances in inclusion and belonging—such as Salesforce, Southwest and REI—as opposed to others which were pouring efforts and financial resources into programs and training that were yielding little to no results. “We uncovered some interesting and ultimately actionable insights,” she said. “So not the whole puzzle, to be sure, but an important piece of the puzzle.Culture Is ContagiousMeredith Haberfeld, the CEO and founder of ThinkHuman, led the session (company photo)Leadership guru Peter Drucker famously said that culture eats strategy for breakfast, but Haberfeld takes that idea further. “Culture eats everything. We are always being shaped by the culture that we're in. And anything we want to get accomplished, the culture is defining what's going to happen. Human behavior isn't dictated by logic. As much as we'd like to believe otherwise, we are fundamentally social creatures, and we make social decisions. And as a result, we behave similar to those that we trust most.”As beliefs shape behaviors, humans (and their organizations) are shaped by the beliefs and behaviors of their peers and leaders. “[Some DEIB trainings] are like showing a group a piano and saying ‘here's the piano, here's an explanation of how the piano works,’ and then hoping that this group somehow understands and learns how to play,” said Haberfeld. “That is essentially what many of these efforts are, because these things have varying degrees of impact, but they don't change the day-to-day behavior, and invisible expectations. Something else does that.”Look for the Bright SpotsHaberfeld recounted the story of Jerry Sternin, a Save the Children director tasked with improving child nutrition in rural Vietnam. Sternin identified the mothers who, without additional resources, somehow managed to nourish their children. He then identified the actions that led to this outcome (offering food traditionally seen as unsuited for children) and amplified these “bright spots” to spread their knowledge. “Sternin focused on what he called the bright spots, in his case, the mothers, rather than these very important external factors, which in his case, were sanitation, poverty, and lack of education,” said Haberfeld. “We all have bright spots through every level of our organization. And the most obvious are our people leaders, because power dynamics, set social norms, and invisible expectations that are wired into us. What happens when those bright spots are focused on inclusivity and helping people thrive? You see a different kind of result.”To that end, Haberfeld advocates for creating clear and inclusive expectations for leadership, and focusing on longer-term efforts instead of one-off training or pop-up diversity events. “Ultimately, the real battle is less external and more internal,” she said. “Getting the influencers to enrich their minds and grow as human beings, and then support others to do the same. I invite you to take a moment right now to pause and reflect and consider just one action you can take to move forward on building an inclusive culture. And if this speaks to you, go make your version of this real in the world.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, ThinkHuman, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Cynthia Barnes has written about everything from art to zebras from more than 30 countries. She currently calls Denver home.
How Employee Coaching Boosts Inclusion and Impact
BY Cynthia Barnes May 01, 2023Employee coaching used to be reserved for top executives, but now many employers realize the vital role it serves on many levels within their organizations. As coaching becomes more democratic, how can it become part of a company's overall learning and development culture, how can it boost inclusion and impact, and how is it evolving?During a From Day One virtual conference, a panel of five experts on employee coaching spoke about how companies are evolving to bring more inclusion and diversity to their coaching and mentoring programs. The panel was moderated by Janelle Nanos, a business reporter from the Boston Globe.Most successful leaders have benefited from some form of coaching, and all of the panelists agreed that their careers have grown thanks to the influence of good coaches. “I established a relationship with my manager as a coach when I didn't get the promotion I wanted,” shared Eileen Cooke, vice president, enterprise learning, development & performance at CVS Health. “It wasn't a coaching relationship that was about feedback, like after something ‘what you could have done better?’ It was like pregame coaching, setting me up to go be successful, the day before or the hour before I was stepping into something. Like, here's the context, here's a scenario. It was really like having someone on the sidelines with me, and he set me up for what ultimately was success. I needed that coaching to get me there.”Head of People Experience at Seattle Children’s Hospital Keturah Hallmosley recalls a coach who helped her understand her goals and acted as a cheerleader. “I was really looking to grow and develop. One of the things Rita helped me understand was I am enough, and to have that confidence within myself to really work on specific leadership skills, and connect with my goals moving forward.”The sidelines metaphor is an effective lens through which to view the differences between coaching and mentoring. “I see mentoring as more role-specific, more long-term, something that sometimes can last all through your careers, whereas coaching is a lot more specific to [the time period], to address a performance challenge,” said Shashank Bhushan, chief talent development architect at BMC Software. “Coaching is more reflective in its nature. The purpose of the coach is to come in and help ask questions that elicit answers from the coachee. Whereas mentoring is more typically with a subject matter-expert, who would be more directive and would say, ‘I did this; it worked for me, and maybe this is something that you should try.’” That said, Bhushan believes that both are necessary. “My own experience has been that mentoring actually precedes coaching, because it prepares the person to learn from somebody else.”Tamar Elkeles was chief learning and talent officer at Qualcomm and now is a member of the board of directors at the edtech marketplace Open Sesame. “I think that mentoring is a bit more informal in organizations. Coaching is like an assigned person that's working with you on a specific task.”Regardless of the terminology, creating an inclusive workplace requires rethinking the old “top-down” techniques by which wisdom and instruction were dispensed from on high, and usually only to an organization’s top executives. Modern coaching aims to boost inclusion, especially in fostering career growth and providing a pathway to leadership for people who have traditionally been marginalized. For many leaders, this means abandoning one-on-one sessions in favor of bringing together groups of people who can learn from one another, regardless of organizational hierarchy.BMC Software introduced a program for middle managers with specific classroom sessions, each followed by group sessions (to share knowledge) and then individual coaching (to reinforce new learning). “This created a very different vibe altogether,” said Bhushan. “We brought it down several layers below in the organization and made it easily accessible to folks who can really make a difference to a lot more people's lives on a day-to-day basis.”Tom Bigda-Peyton, chief learning officer at Catholic Health Services, is also a fan of groups and “inverting the pyramid” so that employees at all levels can achieve excellence. He’s also adamant that organizational learning should be a two-way street. “In my healthcare organization, we do a lot of coaching on the technical side. But on the people side, we try very hard to get to the frontlines and work backwards rather than the management and work down.” The healthcare organization has developed an “appreciative coaching program,” in which managers first compliment what has gone well before giving their nurses one idea for improvement. “If you're going to democratize, you have to have group settings,” he continued. “Sometimes the terms ‘coaching’ and ‘mentoring’ can confuse the issue. To me, it's about giving and receiving feedback in a way that you don't get defensive, and the other person doesn't get defensive.”Hallmosley also believes two-way dialogue broadens inclusivity and benefits coaches. “What we're seeing right now is how important it is for leaders and individuals to understand that diverse perspectives and different ways of looking at things are essential in how we make decisions. And coaching, making it okay to learn and make mistakes and get feedback, helps us. I realized that there's not just one right way to solve a problem or one right way to approach things. That's something that coaches learn: that there are multiple perspectives and different ways to get to the end result.”Looking forward, each panelist sees the role of both internal and external coaches as likely to expand, as remote workers require that managers give (and receive) feedback from behind a screen instead of behind an office’s closed door. Another evolution is predicted to be an increase in opportunities for inclusion in a remote-first environment. After all, said Elkeles, “We all have the same size square in a Zoom.”Cynthia Barnes has written about everything from art to zebras from more than 30 countries. She currently calls Denver home.
How to Respond When a Crisis Tests Your Values
BY Cynthia Barnes October 13, 2022Successful institutions create cultures that further their vision and reflect their values. How do these organizations maintain those values–and that culture–in a crisis? The pandemic created unprecedented challenges for one of the nation’s best children’s hospitals. In a fireside chat at From Day One’s conference in Denver this summer, Betsy Rodriguez, senior VP and chief human resources officer at Children’s Hospital Colorado sat down with me to discuss how the board and staff at her hospital kept their culture alive. Rodriguez started her career at the University of Missouri, where she completed a doctorate in psychology and developed an interest in HR. After 20 years at the University of Colorado, she returned to Columbia, where she was chief HR officer at the university. An interest in academic health care led her to Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, where she spent three years as VP of HR. “But Colorado was calling me. This is home. I had a wonderful, wonderful opportunity to take the position I have now, and it is the best job I’ve ever had. And they didn’t pay me to say that!” A Four-part Mission, a ‘Crazy’ Culture, and Core Values One hundred years old, Children’s comprises the flagship hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus (in partnership with the University of Colorado Health System), and a system of smaller hospitals as well as clinics across the state. “Our mission is really simple. It’s to improve the health of children. Can’t get more simple than that,” said Rodriguz. In addition to the first mission–patient care–Children’s focuses on education, research, and advocacy. “We’re really proud of the research that we do. We don’t just treat their diseases. We actually try to find cures for them. Advocacy means that we get involved in legislative issues that impact the health of children, either positively or negatively.” When CFO interviewing Rodriguez for her prospective role at Children’s described working there as “crazy,” Rodriguez thought, ‘That’s not for me.” But then her future colleague elaborated on what he meant by that: “We’ll do anything for a kid.” Anything, Rodriguez learned, could cover anything from paying for million-dollar doses of lifesaving medicine to helping parents cover housing and transportation. The hospital’s four core values (caring community, humble expertise, generous service and boundless creativity) might sound like the product of a C-suite marketing meeting. They aren’t. A group of employees gathered stories and distilled them. “These values did not come from the top and they weren’t pushed down. We live these every day.” Some of that boundless creativity is celebrated in rituals like the Halloween Flash Mob, in which a thousand or more costumed employees, including the CEO, dance in the hospital’s atrium to the delight of their pint-sized patients. “The music comes on. They line the kids up, maybe wheel out their bed. Whether they’re in a wheelchair, they may come out with mom and dad. And if they can’t come out of their room, we put it on the videos in the rooms. Things like that really cement our culture and bring us together.” The second part of the culture at Children’s is their safety program, called Target Zero. “That means that we want to harm no kids. And you’re probably thinking, ‘Well, duh,’ but the reality is health care is really dangerous. You have to have a team of people who are laser-focused on safety. And we have it pervasive throughout our entire community, to the point that we have empowered the lowest-level team member to speak up. So if that person thinks that something doesn’t feel right, they are empowered to ask a question and the entire group will stop and step back and respond to that question. And we celebrate that. We say thank you.” The Two Sides of the Two Pandemics Initially, the Covid-19 pandemic battered Children’s budget, while improving children’s health. Kids weren’t in school, weren’t playing together, weren’t being in accidents. “Respiratory [illness] season kind of didn’t even happen that year, it was just unbelievable. In our biggest hospital, usually 350 to 400 kids, we had less than 100 for a very sustained period of time. So what are we going to do? We made people decisions, not financial decisions. That’s the thing I'm the most proud of. And that's where I say ‘Here, it’s different.’ It really was different.” Led by the hospital’s “amazing, incredibly supportive board,” Children’s covered full pay for eight weeks for staffers who were idled during that period. “I remember the board chair saying, ‘You guys need to do whatever you have to do to take care of team members, we are not going to worry about the finances right now.’’ As the pandemic dragged on, the focus remained on protecting jobs. Some nurses painted walls and planted flowers on the ground, while some staff left, joining the Great Resignation. Executives took pay cuts, and benefits and paid leave were reduced. Then came another wave of the pandemic. Highly contagious variants sickened workers and threatened the compromised children who suddenly filled the now short-staffed hospital. “Nobody wanted to work in health care. It didn’t matter if you were a nurse, or in food service, or in finance. People were scared, and they didn't want to work in health care.” The hospital hired traveling nurses, but at much higher wages, to the detriment of the morale of the long-term staff. In the midst of the staffing crisis, Children’s was one of the first institutions to realize the crippling effects Covid-19 had on pediatric mental health. Leadership responded with boundless creativity, spending whatever was necessary (especially for recruitment) and increasing wellness resources. Weekly leadership calls helped to combat fear-mongering and rumors, as did total transparency on every decision possible. Slowly, the pandemic storm is receding, and Rodriguez has found a few silver linings, including extremely high safety numbers even while the hospital was understaffed and overwhelmed. “I’m a very optimistic person. You build the right culture, and then when you have a crisis, you can rely on that. We had shortages of leaders, too. But we had team members who just knew what to do, and they did the right thing. We have a huge issue around health disparities in our country, particularly for communities of color. And the pandemic brought light to that. I think it’s going to make a difference for the communities that we serve, and I'm happy about that.” And at Halloween, Rodriguez will dance. Cynthia Barnes has written about everything from art to zebras from more than 30 countries. She currently calls Denver home.
The Company in the Community: You Get What You Put into It
BY Cynthia Barnes November 01, 2019Corporations don’t exist separate from the communities where they do business—and the value runs both ways. When business creates partnerships with non-profit organizations and government agencies, the combined leverage pays dividends in multiple ways, from the tangible (developing skilled labor) to the intangible (boosting employee morale). Yes, the return on investment (ROI) may be difficult to calculate. But building purposeful relationships in the community is essential at a time when customers and employees demand more from brands than just a product or a paycheck. “Believe it or not, [community involvement] might be the one thing we don't measure ROI on,” said Ellen Valde, managing partner of Workforce of the Future at PwC’s (Pricewaterhouse Coopers) Denver office. “It is the one thing that we don't know—what's our return on investment with this involvement? Because it's so important that the employees and the team members feel like they're giving, to feel like they have that purpose ... that's enough ROI for us as an organization.” Meaningful community involvement is an integral part of the employee experience. But how should a company decide where to put its efforts? Focusing on causes and organizations that align well with business goals is key, according to the speakers in a panel discussion From Day One’s conference in Denver, moderated by Tamara Chuang of the Colorado Sun. Shannon Armbrecht leads the people-development strategy team at Western Union, which has its world headquarters in Denver, where it has become increasingly active in the community, particularly in supporting education. But the 168-year-old company operates in more than 200 countries, with employees around the globe, so it focuses on communities globally as well. “What we do for a living is ‘move money for better.’ So we move money to help individuals and families and communities and education and NGOs.” With that in mind, Western Union has created its own foundation, WU Gives, to focus on causes important to its employees, who take an interest in the customers they serve. “With our employees, what we find is really important to them with moving money across the globe is supporting migrant workers, supporting refugee work and supporting education—specifically education for women, youth, and children,” she said. Helping companies identify value-aligned causes is mission-critical for nonprofits. Scott Dishong, CEO of Make-A-Wish Colorado, believes this strongly. “It's my job to make sure that we're a good partner to our corporate partners. And you, as business leaders and as company leaders, need to build that type of relationship where you can tell your nonprofits what's important to you. When I hear [Shannon] say you move money—we move people. We've got a kid, a refugee from Somalia, who was just diagnosed with cancer and he wants to go to Mecca to pray. So that's a perfect opportunity for Make-A-Wish and Western Union to come together. But it's on us as nonprofits to know what you’re looking for in a partnership so that we can bring those opportunities.” As managing director of the Colorado Workforce Development Council, Lee Wheeler-Berliner sees the community/corporate relationship through the lens of government involvement, which for a long time was government-initiated and driven. “We flip that script in the state of Colorado, to say that government is here to support you,” he said. “One of the primary vehicles we utilize to do that is a concept called sector partnerships, where industry is coming together. Business leaders are at the center table, setting the agenda. Then government can listen and talk about opportunities.” An example of this is Subaru’s partnership with the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus, a new technical high school in South Denver. There are a lot of Subarus on the road in Colorado, and servicing requires skilled technicians. The company donated two new vehicles to use for training—and now Toyota is planning donations, too, said Wheeler-Berliner. PwC, which directs much of its community involvement towards financial literacy, sees myriad returns on its investment. Teaching kids about bank accounts and even coding is a kind of “upskilling” that engages current employees while also nurturing a talent pipeline for the future. In a tight labor market, “it’s a war for talent out there,” says Valde. “So that's important.” Cynthia Barnes has written about everything from art to zebras from more than 30 countries. She currently calls Denver home
Lasting Secrets of Success, From the Guru of Great Companies
BY Cynthia Barnes October 29, 2019“You just get up and you start marching,” says author, teacher and consultant Jim Collins. “You always have a friend right when you wake up in the morning and there's this monster project that is going to take you years to do.” For Collins, his “monster project” has been research into long-term corporate success (and failure), research that has led to authoring and co-authoring six bestselling books, including Good to Great and Built To Last. Speaking at October’s From Day One conference in Denver, Collins shared his business insights and told the audience about his research over the past 30 years, his plans for his next project, and the spreadsheet organization he uses to get it all done. “The rule is very simple: I have to hit above 1,000 creative hours every 365-day cycle. That's how you get these big projects done. You just do that,” he said, echoing one of the enduring concepts he distilled in his research. There are other advantages that accrue from such sustained focus. “It gives you a chance to really go deep,” Collins told From Day One co-founder Steve Koepp during the one-on-one conversation. “I also find the insights deepen over time. If you stay in the work—stay deep in the actual work—then over time, you will have something that might be worthy to share.” What Collins has discovered in his research has proven worthy of teaching to corporations like Amazon, MBA students at Stanford, and cadets at West Point. In addition to compiling 6,000 years of combined corporate history, he’s also done immersive studies in health care, government and education. “I've been really lucky,” said Collins. “I think luck’s important in life. But what really is the most critical kind of luck is ‘who’ luck—people who touch your life.” It’s ultimately all about people. “Great vision without great people is irrelevant,” Collins insisted. “If you always start with the idea that you begin first and foremost, everything, with building around people and getting the right people for what you're trying to do in the kind of company are trying to build, then ‘who’ comes before ‘why.’ That makes a great life.” Another key to enduring success is understanding the concept of momentum, in which brilliant ideas and magic moments are less important than plain old persistence. In his new publication Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great, Collins uses the flywheel as a metaphor for the constant, incremental efforts that businesses—and people—must make to succeed. “If you really study how something great gets built, it never happens as sort of one idea or one breakthrough moment or one ‘Aha!’ or one technology or one instantaneous thing,” Collins said. “It's a cumulative effect over the course of 60 or 70 years. If you look at the way our companies got built at their best, it's like pushing a giant heavy flywheel. You start pushing in an intelligently consistent direction. At some point the flywheel’s got all this momentum behind it and you keep pushing.” Values like humility and service are hallmarks of great business executives, who Collins categorizes as “Level 5 leaders.” By way of illustration, he quoted a line from a long-ago meeting with one of the founders of Hewlett-Packard. “He had one of those wonderful sentences that will forever stick with me. Sometimes a mentor will give you a line you can flip through forever: ‘Never stifle a generous impulse.’ Isn’t that just a wonderful thing? Like [if] you're ever wondering ‘Should I tip more?’ Never stifle a generous impulse. It's just a great guiding thing.” A stint as Class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point taught Collins about creating a culture of service. He observed that the heavily challenged cadets seemed much happier than the MBA candidates he had taught at Stanford. “You learn something there that's instilled, which is success is communal,” he said. “The only way you get through this place is by taking care of each other. So if I struggle with a math test I'm going to get help from somebody who's good at that. And if I’m really good at something, I’ll help someone else. And you create a culture where the way we're going to do things is, we’re going to take care of each other.” Caring about each other is the first of three fundamental principles Collins closed with. “People are first. The people in your life, the people you work with, and doing meaningful work with people you love doing it with. No. 2 would be really to figure out your ‘hedgehog,’ what you’re passionate about, what you can be best about, and stick with it. And then the third is this fundamental dynamic of preserving your core, while always stimulating progress. I think that what one of the things that people struggle with is, they either give up their core and they water it down and then they don't stand for anything. Or they get so wedded to a particular version of the core and they don't change and they become irrelevant. The great genius at the end is to do both all the time.” The project Collins is now working on has fascinated him since early in his career, based on social scientist John W. Gardner’s 1964 book Self-Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society. "He believed that one of the greatest costs of society is a failure of individuals and institutions to self-renew." With his research on companies wrapping up, Collins "woke up in my late 50s and started a research project which is incredibly exciting and asks a very simple question: Why do some people self-renew better than others?" We look forward to his answers. Cynthia Barnes has written about everything from art to zebras from more than 30 countries. She currently calls Denver home