Transforming Work with Sophie Wade

Gena Cox, Founder and CEO of Feels Human, is an industrial/organizational psychologist with expertise in measuring and supporting inclusive behaviors. She works with companies to build inclusive organizational cultures. Gena has deep understanding about human dynamics in the workplace and the critical role leaders play. This episode is how to create engaging and inclusive employee experiences which leaders are responsible for.   KEY TAKEAWAYS   [2:57] How Gena got into industrial/organizational psychology.   [04:25] The odd subordination of the human element in business to the operational system.   [5:45] Gena’s positive early experience working at a company with a very purpose-built culture.    [07:03] How assessment and evaluation systems are inequitably applied.   [07:44] Leadership became Gena’s focus, recognizing the impact individual managers have.    [09:06] How Gena used her expertise in measuring employee opinions and employee experience at IBM.   [10:57] Navigating the ethical challenges associated with using artificial intelligence.   [12:40] Have you ever done an online search for ‘thought leader’? What comes up?   [15:18] Evaluating organizational effectiveness—measuring and identifying what’s missing?   [16:02] To improve productivity, organizations need to accept the criticality of managers’ behaviors.   [17:30] The (discounted) importance of human experience in the creation of business value.   [19:20] What happens when employees aren’t included and asked for their inputs.   [21:30] Why haven’t soft skills been emphasized in the workplace?   [22:35] How leaders study leadership but are not trained how to lead.   [26:20] The importance of psychological safety in effective teamwork.   [27:10] Most managers don’t feel safe to ask for help, setting them up for failure.   [28:30] Gena describes her unexpected experiences arriving in US for the first time at 20 years old as a person of color.   [31:34] How Gena’s experiences influenced her work as an I/O psychologist advising leaders.   [32:30] The problems with finding distinctions and sifting data—especially when insights are held back as leaders do not want to hear them.   [34:08] Who leaders should ask for valuable advice from.   [35:55] George Floyd’s murder caused Gena to recognize that she had been being fake.   [36:40] How and why Gena is now combining her I/O expertise and personal and observed experiences to share understanding and insights about inclusion with leaders.   [38:09] Stories from Gena’s childhood growing up in Barbados and the United Kingdom growing up.   [40:58] How to create an environment where everyone can flourish.   [42:33] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Inclusion starts at the top, as a leader be convincing in articulating why it matters, establish expectations of behavior, and hold managers accountable.   [44:17] Does Gena feel discouraged?     RESOURCES   Gena Cox on LinkedIn  Gena Cox on Twitter Feelshuman.com Leadership Reckoning by Thomas Kolditz PhD, Libby Gill and Ryan Brown PhD Five Strategies to Infuse D&I into your organization by Gena Cox and David Lancefield   QUOTES   “Industrial organizational psychology has always been about that human element.”   “We found in our research pretty consistently that it's really the manager that is at the core of the employee experience.”   “I would outlaw the use of the word soft skills. What I take that to mean is that the human experience is lesser than all of these other experiences that go into the creation of ‘the thing.’”   “In the context of leadership, it always includes the human experience.”   “I’m trying to shed light on the leader's role and creating an environment in which all of us can flourish.”

Matthias Hollwich, Founder of HKWN Architecture, has long focused on designing buildings that foster human connection and generate positive emotions and memories. He describes his vision for the office of the future designed to create a more human experience, recognizing the cadence of workers’ emotions, tasks, and other needs during the course of their workdays. Matthias explains how these offices will lure people back and support positive and productive experiences and interactions.   KEY TAKEAWAYS   [2:55] Matthias did not originally anticipate being an architect.   [05:00] One of Matthias’ high school teachers unwittingly set him on the path to New York.   [8:00] Why Rem Koolhaas is such an inspirational architect for Matthias.   [10:48] Matthias wanted to understand how buildings made people feel.   [13:20] Taking part in a major competition Matthias’ team’s submission was a surprise last minute combination of ideas.   [15:02] How people connected emotionally with ‘Wendy’ their winning submission.   [16:03] Memories are generated by a combination of familiarity, emotions, and novelty.   [18:22] Architects were first to recognize that we need more than just cubicles and conference rooms at the office.   [20:07] How can we lure people back to the office? We don’t want to force them back.   [21:48] For Matthias, the future office environment “resorting” comes from three mega trends: hub and spoke, hoteling, and longevity.   [23:45] Matthias just won a competition to create the first ever “work resort’ in the world and explains the goal.   [26:22] Typical resorts create experiences. What would the work resort experience be like?   [29:38] How the economics can make creating a work resort effective and affordable.   [32:10] Matthias describes the buildings with personalities that visitors can interact with at the upcoming exhibition in Berlin.   [34:31] People have agency in shaping their living and working environments.   [36:35] Why did Matthias write a book about living smarter as we get older?   [37:55] Matthias recommends visiting an assisted living facility or a nursing home for a day.   [40:00] How do you design buildings with an older person in mind?   [42:15] At each age milestone, do a review of where and how you live and look ahead. How will your environment suit your needs in the future?   [47:45] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Walk around your local environment, single out a building and consider what you like about it and how you would change it. You are the user, you are in charge!   RESOURCES   Matthias Hollwich on LinkedIn  Matthias Hollwich on Twitter HKWN website HKWN on Instagram Shape Tomorrow Expo on Nov 19  New Aging: Live Smarter Now to Live Better Forever by Matthias Hollwich   QUOTES   “We did not create architecture, we created memories. And that was for me the big paradigm change.”   “If you can create something so emotional that people connect to, it's magic that we can give to people. Suddenly they don't respond to that object anymore, it has a personality.”   “When emotions are involved in your experience, it goes from short-term memory into the long-term memory.”   “Now we can actually design buildings that really make it attractive for people to come there and have an incredible experience, which is about the corporate culture, the community and the experiences.”   “Shape Tomorrow really is an invitation to interact with us as architects, so that people realize they have a lot of power in shaping their own environments.”   “You have to look through the lens of older people, to be able to design things [for them]. So you have to really put yourself into the shoes of an older person.”   “As the user, you're in charge, and you have the right to live in a city that serves you well.”

Lisa Morton, CEO of Roland Dransfield, founded her PR agency in Manchester, England, combining entrepreneurial spirit, Northern grit, purpose, and values to build her company and expand nationally and internationally. Lisa explains her intentional emphasis on purpose and living her values daily which has been core for attracting and retaining clients and employees, while guiding all their actions and decisions. She also shares what happens when values are not clearly defined and how they have benefitted from setting boundaries.     KEY TAKEAWAYS   [02:50] Who was Roland Dransfield and how was he relevant to Lisa’s business?   [03:46] Lisa’s father great saying about cars and baked beans!   [04:16] How Roland Dransfield started Lisa off as an entrepreneur.   [05:54] Circumstances were not easy when Lisa started her company.   [07:34] A dramatic incident impacted the purpose and role of Roland Dransfield early on.   [08:53] Manchester has changed significantly since Lisa first started her career.   [10:19] How purpose is manifested for employees coming to work at the agency.   [12:15] Lisa’s approach to mutually enriching development and progress.   [13:20] The celebration dinner for Roland Dransfield alumni.   [14:21] What happens when values do not have defining boundaries?   [15:54] Lisa set hard lines to achieve alignment and expected some people to resign.   [17:16] How they explored values—finding out which values resonated most.   [18:20] What they did once new values were agreed to integrate them effectively.   [18:49] Exploring Greater Manchunian values through their podcast “We Built This City”   [19:29] Values are lived actively—one is selected and reinforced every week.   [20:44] Lisa confirms potential new clients’ values before agreeing to work with them.   [21:33] How their value “Admit it, fix it, move on” helps them improve.    [22:08] How BrewDog admitted their mistakes and made amends and why other companies don’t.   [24:17] After finding disconnected values were really upsetting her team, Lisa resigned a client project.   [26:31] The positive outcomes after Lisa took this difficult step.   [28:08] How new recruits connect with the company values.   [29:40] Purpose helps retention and values provide protection.   [31:04] Why Lisa feels pro bono work is important.   [32:14] Are the agency’s values manifested differently in London and Los Angeles?   [35:26] How do boundaries make it easier when things are really tough?   [36:25] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP – Take time out to work on your values. Write them down, do some iterations and consider how to integrate them into your life.     RESOURCES   Lisa Morton on LinkedIn Roland Dransfield’s website Roland Dransfield on Twitter Roland Dransfield on Instagram Roland Dransfield on Facebook Legacy by James Kerr       QUOTES   “My dad always used to say, ‘if business is going well, have a great car and eat baked beans. And if business is going badly, have a great car and eat baked beans.”   “We will hope to make your lives better in terms of your personal professional development, and we want you to help us make our platform even richer.”   “You wouldn't come and join Roland Dransfield if purpose wasn't at your heart, or if you didn't feel you wanted to be part of a purpose driven organization.”   “I want to know—for a 21 year old who's coming into this business—what's important to you? What does work need to look like for you? What gets you out of bed in the morning?”   “What we don't want to be as individuals or an organization that just goes through life using all the resources around us. Our platform as people and as a business needs to use the platform to create more resources. So we go out having left more than we've taken out.”   “Having put that values piece in has helped me to create space for myself as a mom, as a business person, as a friend, and as a leader.”

Jeremy Fleming, the Founder and CEO of Stagekings, discusses how he evolved and grew the Australian event and theater staging business after a necessary radical pivot at the beginning of the pandemic. Re-applying everyone’s crafts’ skills to design, develop, sell, and distribute innovative desks, they engaged new customers online and used feedback to help expand the product range. Jeremy also shares how encouraging people to work across all areas of the business as well as diversifying revenue and vertically integrating is creating resiliency to ensure the company’s ongoing stability and success.   [02:57] How Jeremy started his career in bridge carpentry and scaffolding.   [04:11] Jeremy brought his event staging experience from Europe to launch Stagekings in 2015.   [05:52] Versatile use of their skills expanded services into building theater sets and whole theaters.   [06:52] Jeremy’s scaffolding and event experience and innovative approach enabled rapid assembly and dismantling.   [08:07] Friday March 13th 2020: Devastating news for Stagekings’ business.   [10:03] Friday March 20th: Jeremy’s difficult decision to let employees go after exhausting all options.   [11:58] How chatting with a former employee seeded the idea of creating desks for people working from home.   [12:22] Sunday March 22nd: Mick’s furniture-making hobby and skills are engaged to explore desk ideas.   [13:13] Unique desk designs: no-tool quick assembly/disassembly, one packs flat for easy storage.   [14:15] Monday March 23rd: The business now needs ecommerce to sell the new desk products online.   [15:18] How Jeremy’s frank letter shared on social channels to market their desks goes viral.   [16:11] Tuesday March 24th: StageKings’ former employees are called back to work!   [16:55] Stagekings hires more people as the demand for IsoKing desks grows.   [18:25] New desk designs and other products are added as the business expands rapidly.   [19:19] Customers enjoy receiving desks delivered by entertainment event roadies.   [20:07] The product line expands driven by ‘community-led innovation’ with surprising requests!   [23:01] Stagekings consolidates IsoKings’ products and operations after rapid first year growth.   [24:27] A new brand of at-home furniture is launched as well as IsoKing becoming its own brand.   [26:42] With continuing uncertainties, the focus becomes establishing more income streams.   [27:58] Vertical integration enables Stagekings to broaden their offering and customer base.   [30:55] Jeremy attributes their success to the team, their adaptability, and positive attitudes.   [34:02] How Stagekings gives back to the event industry, supporting unemployed event workers.   [34:59] Discussing the challenges for freelance workers during the pandemic.   [37:02] The optimism Jeremy has about 2022 for Stagekings across market segments.   [37:39] What flexible approaches to work and encouraging employees to move around business areas means for them and the company.   [39:21] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: If you have an idea, go for it. And it doesn’t have to be massive steps. Small, consistent steps will get you much further.       RESOURCES   Jeremy Fleming on LinkedIn  Stagekings.com.au Stagekings on YouTube Stagekings on Facebook Isoking.com.au IsoKing on Instragram Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink Supportact.org.au/get-help/crisis-relief-grants  Jeremy Fleming’s website     QUOTES   “There’s a time when the show must go on—and wherever we’re up to, that’s where it is when it happens!”   “We called it community-led innovation, where it was the community telling us what they wanted, and we’d design it.”   “Out of anything bad, something good will come, and you need to work on that. Don't focus on the bad, focus on the good that'll come from it.”   “It’s real event mentality—problems are going to come up, and you’re just going to deal with them, you’ve still got to get through it.”   “We lost all of our work, what can we do? What can we do? Yeah, there's something you can do.”    “I’ve really focused over the whole of the last 18 months on establishing more pillars of income.”   “I think that’s what people like about it here—it’s that nothing is every the same!”   “The big thing for me is if people have an idea, just really go for it.“  

Laurel Farrer, Founder and CEO of Distribute Consulting—a virtual organizational development consulting firm, is well aware of the rewards of transitioning long-term to remote working, and the risks, especially with hybrid models. As a 15-year seasoned remote worker, Laurel has identified the key factors that are critical for success and benchmarking goals for healthy virtual organizations. She shares her experiences, insights, and cautions as we all work through our inevitable, work-related transformations.   KEY TAKEAWAYS   [04:02] Laurel’s accidental exposure to remote working and her early experiences.   [07:43] The primary barrier to success was credibility.   [08:21] Determination to overcome the credibility gap fueled her company’s internal culture development. [08:46] How the success of their creative team was not dependent on the existence of a [physical] whiteboard.   [09:46] The benefits of facilitator in virtual discussions, especially for brainstorming including introverts and extroverts.   [10:53] How asynchronous communications and pre-work boosts collaboration and outcomes.   [12:29] Laurel works on benchmarking to develop goals for healthy virtual organizations.   [13:48] How to navigate the challenges as we explore new work arrangements.   [14:37] The importance of balance and transparent communication.   [15:29] Companies with economic challenges in offering work from home options benefit from explaining the situation to their employees.   [18:17] Company culture is impacting the management process because it takes time to develop a strong culture.   [21:03] Culture is one the six pillars of Laurel’s company’s methodology.    [21:21] Training is key for remote workers to be equipped as successful self-managers.   [22:11] Managers need training to be able to manage people they can’t see—replacing supervising with support and encouragement.   [23:14] The difference between deliverables and results and the importance of tracking both.   [25:15] How a knowledge management system unifies a team to streamline communication and collaboration.   [26:16] Virtual infrastructure encompasses documenting culture and workflows with virtual handbooks.   [27:01] Compliance is a major issue - we haven’t yet achieved operational models for location irrelevancy yet.   [28:16] Understanding what you are getting into is essential.   [29:05] When we were forced to work remotely, it was an emergency not a long-term plan—which are two very different things.   [30:52] Hybrid teams are complicated. The risks and rewards of hybrid work models.   [32:15] The ultimate goal is to be operating as location irrelevant as possible, but we have not broken our habits enough as organizations.   [34:09] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Communicate! Employers and employees need to be talking and listening to each other! Together you can work out how to unleash the power of remote work for your specific and unique organization and organizational culture.     [34:34] Remember, remote work is not a one-size fits all.    [35:23] Go at your own pace—if some people are stressed and resistant, slow it down.     RESOURCES   Laurel Farrer on LinkedIn  DistributeConsulting.com     QUOTES   “We also leveraged asynchronous communication. So everybody always felt safe in the systems.”   “What is the checklist of things that I have to do in order to be better? That doesn't exist for virtual organizational development. It doesn't exist necessarily for remote work at all.”    “We really need to figure out how to communicate as transparently as possible about why decisions are being made the way that they are.”   “You might have those cat posters on the wall that say you're humble and that you're innovative and that you're adaptable, but are you really?”   “We need to be able to create space to measure and track all types of outcomes, all types of diverse productivity as opposed to just deliverables.”   “We haven’t yet achieved operational models for location irrelevancy yet.”   “There are so many organizations that say, "No, it's not possible. Everyone come back to the office." And it is possible. You just need to know what to do.”   “We haven’t broken habits enough to have location irrelevant mindsets yet so naturally we are dividing people by location which is going to be problematic as we try to move forward as a unified team.”

Ramon Ray, founder of SmartHustle.com, has been involved in the small business sector for over twenty years as a serial entrepreneur, podcast host, author, and expert advocating for small business success. As a vocal participant and active contributor, he helps small businesses adapt to new marketplace dynamics—from developing meaningful client relationships to motivating and supporting employees. He shares five priorities to focus on and the strategic importance of empathy.      TAKEAWAYS   [02:27] How Ramon’s experience working at the UN was the embryonic beginning of his focus on entrepreneurship and small businesses.   [03:56] Technology advice and understanding have been core to Ramon’s support to small businesses growth which has evolved with platform, application, and digital media advances.   [05:41] Ramon bridges the chasm between small emerging businesses and large tech companies trying to reach them—their empathy factor and influencer.   [08:36] Five priorities for small businesses to focus on to transform for the new era of work.   [11:34] How empathy came to the forefront for Ramon in 2020 as many significant events occurred.   [13;16] What it means to wear someone else’s shoes—in life and when offering business advice.   [14:59] Empathy can mean recognizing but not agreeing with another person’s perspective.   [16:14] Ramon encouraged a client to empathize with him, facilitating an effective way to work together.   [17:46] Understanding and fulfilling your own needs as well as supporting others during tough times.   [19:51] The power of contentment to appreciate the positive aspects of your situation.   [22:35] How empathy is particularly important now to bridge differences, connect with more people, and mitigate our more insular situations due to COVID19 restrictions.   [24:02] Managing differently in small companies to adjust to a less predictable marketplace while staying profitable—being more transparent, flexible, and supportive with employees.   [26:57] The reciprocal benefits of empathy, trust, and communication especially in changing conditions.   [27:56] Ramon shares the challenges of his kids—navigating work as a recent graduate and coping with very restrictive situations overseas during the pandemic.   [30:02] Wondering about new labor market entrants learning new work conditions as the standard.   [31:13] Aligned intention, shared values, and empathetic understanding with customers promotes strong relationships.   [34:33] The benefit of clients recognizing you for who you are!   [36:06] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Encourage and care about people. Be empathetic. Build and focus on your personal brand. Don’t be afraid to amplify who are you—in an empathetic way!     RESOURCES   Ramon Ray on LinkedIn  Ramon Ray on Twitter  Ramon Ray on Facebook Ramon Ray on Instagram Ramon Ray’s video “I’ll Wear Your Shoes” Ramon Ray’s latest book “Celebrity CEO” Smarthustle.com RamonRay.com       QUOTES   “We cannot predict the future. Be comfortable with that.”   “It comes to the human dimensions, right? That make the biggest difference.”   “It’s not just shooting the target. 60% of it is mindset.”   “Somebody reading this may want to do it a different way. That’s okay.”   “We all need someone to reach out to us. It’s not a business thing. I go on WhatsApp once a week and send a message to 10-15 people and let them know I care.”   “I understand the broad strokes of your company [and your values], now unleash me and let me do what I do.”   “Don’t be afraid to amplify who you are.”

Sacha Connor—Founder and CEO of Virtual Work Insider—was a remote work pioneer for The Clorox Company. Sacha explains how she transitioned to working 3000 miles away from HQ for eight years and became the first fully remote member of the Leadership Team of a $1 billion division. Sacha shares how processes were reimagined, what issues arose, what solutions were developed, as well as surprising benefits gained along the way.     KEY TAKEAWAYS   [03:50] Sacha discusses her career in marketing.   [05:28] Why Sacha chose to go remote and move 3000 miles away from her company HQ.   [06:29] How Sacha planted seeds over time to get agreement to work remotely as an experiment.   [08:32] A trusted relationship laid the foundation for constructive conversations about how it could work.   [09:29] How Sacha was allowed to lead an innovation team remotely.   [10:43] The three major career limitations that were initially part of Sacha’s remote arrangement.   [11:26] How risk was assessed in allowing this remote experiment.   [12:15] Potential was initially linked to promotability which was tied to location.   [12:38] How acceptance was enabled by The Clorox Company’s existing performance management system which tracked her defined and detailed objectives and measured her success.   [13:55] Surveys allowed Sacha to monitor team sentiment and development of trusting relationships that were important for virtual collaboration.   [14:40] What were some of the challenges and benefits of remote working across time zones?    [15:50] How to work effectively with new team members.   [17:27] Sacha’s steep learning curve and technology challenges in 2010.   [20:19] Adapting workflow for a distributed innovation team.   [21:54] Sharing experiences, learnings, and resources improved effectiveness.   [22:24] How the Employee Resource Group for remote workers helped employees bridge gaps between office locations too.   [23:40] Sacha became an influential pioneer regarding Future of Work adaptations at a 100-year old organization.   [25:06] Definitions of workplace flexibility, hybrid models and working, and remote working.      [26:47] ‘Virtual’ used as a term to encompass work and relationships across locations.   [28:51] Myth #1: The ‘magic’ generated by chance office encounters does not happen in virtual environments.   [31:03] Intentionally establishing rituals to create the interactions that enable creativity, influence, problem-solving, and ideation for virtual and multi-office workers.   [32:58] The importance of stimulating intersections of people across divisions and networks.   [34:05] Myth #2: Brainstorming effectively is not possible in virtual environments.   [36:09] Unintended (beneficial) consequences of new processes for virtual brainstorming.   [38:35] Hybrid meetings: reducing the challenges and biases, and improving inclusiveness requires facilitation and conscious action.   [40:10] The impact of a ‘virtual-first’ work approach and being intentional about how work is done.   [44:05] Whatever workforce and workplace strategies companies are working on now are not the final answer—it takes a flexible and iterative approach.   [45:21] It takes an infinite mindset to tackle the Future of Work—with each organization iterating and adjusting as they go.    [47:15] Everyone needs to upskill for new work circumstances and learning virtual leadership skills, whatever role employees are in.   [48:30] More areas to emphasize to enhance virtual work—setting expectations clearly; building relationships; fostering a culture of trust and inclusion; having the right technology tools; and teaching how to use the tools.   [49:05] Empathy is key for understanding each other beyond the virtual curtains between people and other ‘soft’ skills which are critical.   [50:42] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Have empathy for yourself and others in order to be able to adjust and iterate and make this next transition. Everyone is at a different stage and comfort level about what’s next.   RESOURCES   Sacha Connor on LinkedIn   Sacha Connor on Twitter   Virtualworkinsider.com   Special resources available for podcast listeners ’10 Tips from 10 Years of Remote Work’ and ‘Hybrid Work Kickstarter Toolkit’   The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures by Frans Johansson   The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek     QUOTES   “Do we want to live near the careers that we love or near the people that we love?”   “They trusted me and trust is a huge component with remote work. They knew I was dedicated.”   “Innovation felt like one step removed from the risk (of being remote) because it was something that we were preparing for the future.”   “Potential was linked to promotability which was linked to location.”   “You think about measuring performance. You need to have that in place whether you’re located together or not.”   “The seemingly innocuous moments that happen on the way to the elevator, they’re actually moments of influence. They're moments of problem-solving, connection, and idea generation.”

This episode is about using sophisticated traditional marketing techniques to transform employees’ apathy and ambivalence into engagement and enable change initiatives to succeed. Neil Bedwell is a Founding Partner of LOCAL where he applies his extensive expertise in consumer marketing to internal corporate audiences to effect lasting change. The key is understanding how culture impacts new initiatives from ideation through development and execution. Neil explains what marketing techniques are core to LOCAL’s effective ‘Change Marketing™’.     KEY TAKEAWAYS   [02:49] How Neil fell into marketing.   [04:49] Realizing the effect of corporate culture on ideas as they are developed.   [7:10] In big organizations, it is a challenge not to weaken ideas as they become more complex, trying to solve additional asks.   [10:06] Neil shifts to marketing to employees, founding LOCAL with two partners.   [11:00] What is ‘marketing’ and what is ‘Change Marketing’™?   [12:08] Why knowledge about your employees is a central sources of competitive advantage.   [13:30] Understanding the dire effect of unengaged employees on your business.   [14:33] Insights—Why Neil believes listening to employees is the difference between success and failure.   [15:23] Narrative—Change is a journey with employees as the heroes of the story.   [16:40] Helping people understand every step of transformative change by taking them along the storytelling journey.   [17:26] Craft—creating the quality of messaging to the win attention of employees.   [19:29] The significance of employees’ participation in change initiatives.   [20:17] What stories can fill the void if companies don’t communicate to their employees.   [21:32] How culture allows new initiatives to survive or die.   [21:57] Culture is created by your people, not you as a leader.   [22:42] How to influence employees by listening and crafting an intentional story.   [23:40] How to craft a story that is going to resonate with each employee.   [25:52] The meaningful role of a company’s ‘Believers’.   [26:46] Who influences the ‘Swayables’ in the middle?   [27:21] How to shift the norms within a company.   [30:30] The level of empathy in your company’s culture has determined resilience to disruption.   [32:36] Talented people are moving to cultures that have natural empathy built in.   [33:33] What it takes to foster, strengthen, and maintain a culture.   [34:10] Being in one place together used to be a key part of cultural ‘glue’.   [35:25] How cultural ‘cyclones’ can be developed away from the corporate hub and help solve the problem of cultural dilution.   [37:54] The powerful ‘Infinity Loop’: two connected halves—the customer and employee experiences.   [39:49] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: The Assumption Problem – Marketers don’t assume anything. Start with employees’ apathy and ambivalence. You have to earn their caring and their belief.     RESOURCES   Neil Bedwell on LinkedIn   LOCAL on LinkedIn   Neil Bedwell on Twitter — @Neilbedwell   LOCAL on Twitter - @insidelocal   Localindustries.com             QUOTES   “I’m a big believer that people shouldn’t have one career, that you should have as many different careers as you can.”   “Culture is what allows things to survive or die.”   “It doesn’t matter how helpful your idea is, if you don’t actually think about how it travels through culture, you’re likely going to lose that battle.”   “Marketing is ‘the orientation of everything you do around your audience.’”   “Around 2/3 of adults in the US are disengaged at work. They are unhappy, miserable, with the thing they spend half their waking life doing.”   “If you're not listening to your employees and understanding how they think and feel, you are in danger of not understanding the impact of that disengagement.”   “Disengagement hampers innovation, productivity, efficiency, effectiveness, customer service, the quality of your products, etc. Anything that you attribute to growth can be linked back to employee engagement.”   “Two thirds of those [change] initiatives require significant employee behavior change in order to succeed.”   “Smart talented folks are voting with their feet…they are seeking out those culture that have natural empathy built in.”

Paul Reid is the CEO and Founder of Trickle and a serial entrepreneur. He shares how his early employment experiences taught him to build trust-based, thriving cultures at his first two start-ups. Now, these learnings have been encoded into the software that powers his latest venture, Trickle. Trust—which is key for employee engagement, effective communication, and collaboration—is generally earned, slowly. However, Paul explains how to generate trusting relationships more quickly through a purposeful combination of anonymity and action, supplemented by transparency.     KEY TAKEAWAYS   [04:00] Paul’s first work experience at a tech start-up and the work conditions for employees.   [06:05] How Paul tried to solve employees’ issues by sharing anonymous data.   [07:18] The surprising response he got from the company’s founders.   [08:34] The recurring process established to fix the problems and its impact on the culture.   [10:12] How important was the co-founders’ role in the process?   [11:15] Paul’s first venture—a tech start-up that focused on feedback and open discussion to create a high-performance culture.   [13:15] Recruiting software engineers and then setting them free to do the right thing.   [14:22] As a business scales up, how trust can be sustained.    [15:09] The ‘Broken Windows’ criminology study of derelict buildings and what it signals.   [17:00] The benefit of Trickle’s internal ‘broken window sessions’.   [18:25] How do you ‘trigger’ trust in a company, enabling it to build quickly?   [19:00] Psychological safety is a huge component of a highly-functioning team. How do you cultivate that? People feel they can speak up without fear of negative consequences.   [20:18] Why Trickle doesn’t record anything if someone wants to contribute anonymously.   [21:14] Action must follow quickly after listening to employees. If you survey employees, it is important to show them progress is being made based on their feedback.   [22:01] Trickle’s effectiveness is based on tying engagement to the actual issues.   [22:58] Why Trickle focuses on introducing three things: inclusivity, transparency, and agility.   [23:25] As trust builds within an organization, many employees start to feel comfortable enough to submit feedback without being anonymous.    [25:05] How champions spend five minutes a day to support habit-forming.   [27:19] Due to the pandemic, people were afraid to ask doctors how they were doing, so Trickle added a feature to check in with them and gathered insights to help improve their well-being.   [31:20] How Trickle helps nudge people to establish new habits—e.g. sending a fist-bump!   [32:35] Why the sign of a healthy organization is engagement with a rolling cadence responding to issues of interest to talk about.   [33:45] The three stages of check-ins to engage employees feedback on key issues.   [35:16] What will happen when people go back into the office and how can Trickle help?   [36:23] How transparency is always a key theme for Trickle.   [36:51] Why not to fear anonymity – it helps more people engage in and contribute on key issues.   [37:47] The hybrid model that Paul anticipates for Trickle going forward and why.   [38:58] What is Paul’s onboarding process like, especially sharing the company’s culture?   [41:52] How Paul helps employees speak up during uncertain times and Trickle shares targeted mental health advice responding to anonymous check-ins.   [43:51] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Don’t get hung up on how to respond to employee feedback. Gather the data so you can understand how people feel. Without that, you can't create the environments that people are going to thrive in.     RESOURCES   Paul Reid on LinkedIn   Paul Reid on Twitter — @TricklePaul   Trickle on Twitter - @TrickleWorks   Trickle.works   Smart and Gets Things Done by Avram Joel Spolsky     QUOTES   “You’re here because you’re very talented and you’ve got a desire to get things done and we’ve got a desire to be the best at what we do, and in order to do that, we are going to need to challenge each other.”   “The premise of Trickle is about helping people to speak up within an organization. So, we built it because we know that people don't often speak up about things that they care about.”   “When Google studied their highest-performing teams, what was the thing they had in common? Psychological safety. The ability to speak up without fear of negative consequences.”   “People don’t often see the value in speaking out, because they feel that things don’t change.”   “The idea is to tie the engagement and the action into one thread.”   “You’re trying to embed this openness.”   “When there's massive uncertainty, that’s when you want to be giving people a chance to speak up and get feedback.”   “If you don’t understand how people feel, you can’t create the environments that people are going to thrive in.”

Laetitia Vitaud is an author and authority on the Future of Work and brings a European perspective with her experience living, lecturing, consulting, and doing research in France, the UK, and Germany. She has long been concerned about the unbundling of jobs and the impact on employees, especially women. In this episode, Laetitia shares her views on new employment dynamics and emerging options that mean proactive attention and re-bundling can change future outcomes for workers.   KEY TAKEAWAYS   [03:51] Why did Laetitia have a mid-life crisis at 20 and what did she do about it?   [06:28] Laetitia initially focused on how individuals make professional transitions successfully.   [07:39] Evangelizing the idea of freelancing which was a novelty in France in 2016.   [08:10] Laetitia compares the difference between US healthcare vs. French healthcare.    [10:29] There was a rise in freelance job opportunities during the mid 2000s. Why is that?    [12:06] Consulting contracts for younger people are common in Europe because the full salary bundle has become a barrier to hiring someone as an employee.   [13:09] Rigid employee contracts for well-protected bundles led to outsourcing to service companies as well as freelancers.   [14:50] The evolution of the social contract with specialization, alienation, and subordination.   [16:23] The broad attractive work bundle offered by Ford and other auto manufacturers.   [18:01] Laetitia shares some key traits that have disappeared from the job bundle.   [18:56] Unalignment, exploitation, and inequalities are effects of the unbundling.   [19:45] Corporations’ attempts at realignment and filling in the gaps.   [20:34] Laetitia describes broad job dissatisfaction about trade-offs.   [22:18] What is a ‘good job’ now?   [23:33] Considering the concept of ‘good work’ which could mean bundling gigs.    [24:52] What questions should you be asking about your work?   [26:36] People aren’t calculating if their current bundle enough for the long-haul.   [27:32] The disparity in younger and older employees recognizing the reality of job bundles.   [29:08] How someone can become a craftsperson and remain relevant and valuable in the market.   [29:59] How employers can redefine contracts, employment arrangements, and open up work to be more flexible, attractive, and creative.   [31:09] How the pandemic has increased flexibility in work models to adapt to uncertainties.   [32:57] Managers are so reluctant to have a distributed workforce. Why?    [33:45] The return to the office is about order and rituals.   [37:07] ‘Hybrid work’ means many different things and must be applicable for everyone’s needs.   [39:28] Flexible working is a mindset first and not enforcing one model for everyone.   [40:28] How to create an inclusive workforce in a hybrid context.   [42:35] Increased options for creating new bundles—especially beneficial to counter ageism and discrimination against women.   [45:01] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Thinking about the impact of increased longevity, before you make any important decision, invite past and future selves to the table to confer with your current self. You should all have a say in discussing important issues before making your mind up!      RESOURCES   Laetitia Vitaud on LinkedIn    Laetitia Vitaud on Twitter — @Vitolae    Subscribe to Laetitia's Newsletter   Laetitiavitaud.com     QUOTES   “In France, whatever you do, you will have access to healthcare insurance and it would not cost you more [as a freelancer]. So, it’s easier to leave a salaried job and become self-employed even if you have a preexisting condition.”   “This quote what's good for GM is good for America and vice versa is actually a very profound thing because there's perfect alignment between what you do and the interest of the country, the nation, the planet, and that's that, that's also something that disappeared from the bundle.”   “What made the Fordist deal attractive was that in exchange of this alienation—division of labor and subordination—you had a very attractive bundle.”   “The more rigid the contract is, and the more companies want a flexible workforce and on demand work, the more hesitant they are to recruit people with that rigid contract.”   “The business of consulting is booming in those countries where the work contract is so rigid. You have so many consultants everywhere.”   “It’s not all bad for everybody. Some people have a satisfactory bundle, but by and large a lot more people are dissatisfied with the bundle that they have.”   “A lot of people are trapped in the vision of the old bundle and do not realize that without the job security [in this new bundle], they need to do some financial calculations that incorporate the risk of losing their jobs and transitioning to other jobs.”   “One way of inventing a new bundle by becoming a craftsman or craftswoman.”   “The question about what a good job is too narrow, because it's based on the assumption that basically there is a bundle behind a job.”