MarketingRecon

Marketing Recon partners with executive teams to create stronger strategic linkages
between a company, its clients, and partners – laying the groundwork for new market growth
and designing custom programs to support the growth initiatives.

A Window Into the New Generation of Women in Tech

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There’s nothing like jumping into the middle of a college campus and getting a read on what’s top of mind for young women carving out their careers.  I popped into the Women in Technology conference at Tufts over the weekend and did just that.   Here’s what I found.

Attendees| Technology savvy and much more

Sitting down to lunch with a group of students, I found a diverse group from many surrounding schools – Brandeis, Smith, BU, and more.  They were gracious in welcoming me and curious to find out why I was there.  Full disclosure, I was there to learn about them as I am involved in talent marketing and employer branding – so I wanted to see who all these companies will find!

I was impressed.  They were all committed to go beyond the classroom and several were in the midst of a special MIT extra-curricular program that focused on machine learning, robotics, and more.  Each had a unique focus on how they would apply their computer science background from Computational Linguistics to Product Management to consulting and had dug deep into all their options.   But what was more interesting is when I asked them about what they did outside of school – their interests and avocations.  Three were also musicians – the clarinet and guitar.  Two were fluent in at least one second language and all were well traveled.  We talked about art, museums, cooking, and family.   I was so pleased to see they were not at home watching video games, but truly turning into well-rounded global citizens.

Panel Discussions| Product Management, Open-Source Impact, Cybersecurity and beyond

The orientation of each panel was primarily to guide the attendees on how to successfully kick start their careers in software and related fields.  I was touched by the panelists’ honest and thoughtful advice as well as their commitment to being part of this event on their personal time – a precious Boston September Sunday.  

Based on statistics provided by the Open-Source session leader, Paula Paul, women in tech have had a huge resurgence in the workplace since being squeezed out during the height of Silicon Valley explosion in the 90’s. 

As Open Source revolves around so much collaboration and volunteer community work, the speaker encouraged the audience to find a way to contribute actively one of the many projects available for input across Open-Source communities.

 Cybersecurity presents many opportunities for tech careers whether it’s part of a company in nearly any “vertical” market or it’s a Cybersecurity entity itself.   The panelists represented the full range including a quasi-government entity, an industry non-profit, and an advertising platform.  The panel was vibrant and presented many examples of ways to “attack” this field and not be intimidated by not knowing everything as the field is constantly changing as new threats emerge.  It’s critical to be flexible and understand the risk tolerance of the organizations with which you are involved.  Being a problem solver and knowing how to assess a situation is as important at the technical skills.

It’s not about just getting the job, it’s about leadership

Despite the stronger presence of Women in Technology, the real message was to move women up the technology chain to occupy more leadership roles.  Each session offered different buckets of advice to this end.  Here’s a sampling of what I heard:

  • As young women, be sure to have your voices and opinions heard in the workplace as you will likely still be outnumbered. When you speak up, you may be seen as “aggressive” but don’t let that get in the way of your progress. 
  • Technology is omni-present and impacts every aspect of our lives, therefore, technology has to take into consideration a very wide and diverse set of users. Therefore, it’s up to each and every one of the creators of this technology to consider the diverse audiences they serve.  Try to stay away from assumptions and truly do your research.
  • Learning your tech stuff is just a ticket to get started. To advance, one needs to hyper-focus on the “soft skills” such as strong communications, problem solving, writing, etc.   These will be the keys to success.
  • Building a robust set of relationships (a/k/a – network) is a critical success factor, often overlooked and not easy to achieve. It requires getting out of your comfort zone and often outside of your company.  The time to start is now (or if you already started, that’s even better!).  Be creative about how you approach people and consider both the give and the get.  The women on the panel, the speakers, and the volunteers were all doing just that – and they should be congratulated.

Who’s Hiring?

The career fair was packed with curious students and energetic recruiters.  I spotted these companies in the mix: Cognex, Intersystems, UKG, Athena Health, Mathworks, Mitre, and Zagaran.

Among the panelists I met and heard, many thanks to:

 

 

 

 

Revisiting a Fundamental New Market Development Building Block| Looking Back to Move Forward

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Twenty plus years ago I left a robust corporate career behind and launched a consulting practice.  Certainly, when I left the telecommunications industry and corporate environment, I felt I had achieved a great ROI on the first 17 years of my career.  However, as a professional in the marketing world, I did feel something was missing.  In fact, it was the direct connection to the MARKET and the customers.  I could see that slipping away then and today, with so much marketing technology in place – it’s further away than ever.

Moving up often means getting too far away | FTF Time Wins

As a marketing leader in a large company, my duties were focused on motivating and leading my team, setting goals and objectives, and reporting into the top of the company with results from various programs.  I had to fight for fact-to-face time with the sales team, field managers, and customers.   My favorite programs always included actual customers and/or partners namely – Customer Advisory Boards, programs in the field in competitive markets, and identifying and qualifying partners when that opportunity presented itself.  I often felt bogged down with administrative duties that didn’t leave me time to do the outreach with the field.  Yet I felt, marketing needed to be balanced with both traditional quantitative and select qualitative research to be effective.

The best opportunity for me to have direct customer interaction came when I was sent to Asia to build our markets there.   We virtually had no product, brand, or customer track record in this part of the world.  It was a clean late – a tabula rasa!  Every outreach to a potential customer large, state-run telecommunications enterprises required a consultative sell.  It was also a very raw type of market research using a lot of creativity and grit to identify challenges and potential solutions in this wide open “market.”    Here I learned out to “test” a value proposition real time.  I also learned that in many cases, the best way to enter a market is through forming partnerships.  Long before today’s formal partner programs, partnering was a matter of identifying key complementary roles that each could play and sharing a vision for a market – a simple, but critical principle.  It was equally important to engage with partners to understand their needs and priorities in order to set the right expectations.

It’s Powerful to Listen to the Market | Observing Forward

Fast forward to my years as a consultant, I have many examples of the impact of value proposition testing – an opportunity to work with a third party to ask the right strategic questions and engage the client in a conversation that demonstrates you are listening and willing to pivot if needed.   This is very high-level market research and a type that should be done by someone with a wide range of experiences upon which to draw.  The conversation is mostly held with a top tier decision maker and the person initiating the conversation should be their peer in terms of years and/or experience.

One cannot argue that digitation and now generative AI have made customer targeting and filling the sales pipeline more efficient.   At the same time, however, it also takes the face-to-face strategic conversations with customers and partners more inaccessible.   Such conversations assure that both the timing and efficacy of a product or new market entry makes sense.  Based on my experience and consulting engagements – I believe this part of the short-term market research process is more important than ever.   I would advocate strongly to invest in this marketing step in collaboration with the sales and partner team but engage an outsider to actually do the work.  You may be surprised at what you hear and in the long run, it will pay to take a step back to move much further forward in launching new markets and products.

 

Emory women demonstrate shared values on their path to leadership| Insights from Boston TrailblazHer panel

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Leading Ladies| Left to right – Jacqueline Ganim-DeFalco, Elizabeth Halkos, Nabiha Saklayen, Sophia Hall, Jodi Rosenbaum

Emory’s mission “to create, preserve, teach, and apply knowledge in the service of humanity” was on full display in the lives and professional accomplishments of panelists of the TrailblazHER event on the eve of the Presidential debate.  Even the venue, More than Words, is an entity born out of alumna Jodi Rosenbaum’s passion to change the system she observed over twenty years ago while she worked at the Atlanta area courts reviewing cases.  “I spent more time in the courts than in the classroom and even had a key to the courthouse,” said Jodi, whose organization empowers at risk youth through entrepreneurship and leadership.

The Journey and the aha moment!

More Than Words Bookstore

The evening began with each panelist sharing their journey and reflecting on when they realized they were in a leadership position.   The panelists included Elizabeth Halkos 01MBA, Sophia Hall 09C, Jodi Rosenbaum 97C, and Nabiha Saklayen 12C and were led by moderator, Jacqueline Ganim-DeFalco 81C.    Jacqueline kicked off the evening by setting the tone for leadership in the broadest sense.  At various points in our lives, we are called upon to lead professionally, in our community, in our family – but once a leader, always a leader in some capacity.

Nabiha, a Ph.D. in physics, admits that she didn’t set out to be a CEO, but nearly everyone around her, all leaders in their field, believed in her and she simply stepped up to the challenge, jumping into many roles as the CEO of a biotech startup, Cellino.  Her diverse background growing up all over the world and speaking multiple languages gave her a unique perspective that only she could bring to her role.  Sophia heard “no” too many times and just pushed through various roles until she found a firm that said YES to her ideas and passion.   Jodi was motivated by anger about the way things were done and was driven to make an impact.  Elizabeth was given a series of roles she thought were better suited to other experts, but quickly realized, she was the leader they needed in her organization, and she would learn what she needed to fill in the gaps. 

Challenges, Derailment, & Resilience

Michele Davis opening the evening

The simple answer to this is “yes,” we have all had them.  All panelists agreed that the main point is to constantly remind each other that we will all have bumps and bruises along the way, and you just have to know this is often the most memorable part of the journey.  For Nabiha, fundraising to the tune of $120M has been her most recent challenge which began in 2017 – facing head on the fact that only 2% of women-owned companies receive venture money.   Elizabeth remembers many closed doors when presenting the concept and raising money for an all-female venture fund.  “No,” was often based simply on gender (you don’t look like us) – a reflection of the tech industry as a whole.   She added somewhat humorously that one of her memorable experiences is being “deposed” for 9 hours when she was 8 months pregnant – a degree of discomfort unique to our gender.    Sophia emphasized that “success usually happens after going through the stuff that really hurts,” and vulnerability helps build the character we need as leaders.  Jacqueline reflected on her experience being asked to open up the Asia-Pacific markets for her employer NYNEX in the late 80’s.   “At the age of 26, I became a ‘Managing Director’ representing a major corporation overseas. Knowing the markets, building credibility quickly, and avoiding any social faux pas was essential to my success and the company’s reputation.  My reputation and the company’s were one in the same being halfway around the world.”

Leadership essentials – Innovation, Vision, and Relationships

Jodi reflected on how important it’s been for her to hire people “smarter that she is” in various parts of the More than Words team.   Innovation is part of their everyday mantra – and essential to growth of the individuals and the business.   Innovation in a different form allowed Nabiha to launch her cell tissue business which focuses on cells that are specific to ethnic groups – something truly new in the bio-tech world.  Elizabeth is breaking barriers in the Health Tech records management space – a thorn in the side of medical administrators.  Sophia reflected on one of her most interesting cases during the “me too” movement – exploring and representing issues unique to the Latino restaurant workers.  

The panel collectively agreed that relationship building, particularly outside your organization is a call to action for everyone in the room throughout their career and in their communities.   Jacqueline had the privilege of a co-consulting relationship with James Masciarelli, noted author of PowersSkills – a formula for building and leveraging top tier relationships for success.  Elizabeth shared a story about graduating from Emory’s Goizueta MBA program in ‘01, being ready to move to NYC to take on a new consulting role exactly 23 years ago when 9-11 changed the NYC hiring landscape.  Having found herself jobless, her strategic networking yielded an entirely new position in a different city.  Nabiha unlike many scientists, makes every effort to find new connections every day.   She focuses in on the “conversation” and works hard to get to know potential investors and partners and emphasizes the importance of the human connection.  No doubt, she has earned her 9000 following on LinkedIn!  

As each has advanced in their careers, the panel emphasized that “advocacy” becomes another dimension of their leadership.   For Sophia, it’s look at the systemic changed needed in her work for Civil Rights.   For Jodi, it’s becoming a lobbyist to advocate for a better eco-system for at risk youth.

Advice to a younger self

Nabiha reflected on the fact that she rarely slept during college and her lack of personal care could have had severe long-term consequences.  She advocates for better self-care and “health above everything,” “we don’t get to choose how our bodies respond to stress.”   Elizabeth and Sophia focused on risk-taking and keeping an open mind to paths you may not even consider.   Elizabeth recommends trusting our gut – remembering a time when she simply felt like the environment she was in was to big for her to make a difference.  Sophia reminds us that “we are presented with many molds, but it’s important to embrace your authenticity.”  Furthermore, take risks BEFORE you have children as that truly changes the landscape.  Jodi summed up the question and the session by her revelation that she wishes she paid less attention to what others thought.  In other words, set your own standards, get clear on your values and stick to them.  On that note, truly each of these panelists embraced a higher set of values very much in the spirit that Emory has built its culture.  It was remarkable to see that given the diverse range of backgrounds, experiences, and graduation timeframes that the group was united in their commitment to do good in their work and community. 

Summation:

As per the moderator, “when I began my career, I was grateful to the women that came before me to pave the way for a more balanced set of opportunities and career choices, but that was just the beginning.  Now, more than ever, we need to support each other and celebrate our collective success by paying it forward.”  Leadership comes in many forms.   It can happen in your family, community, profession, and the workplace.  Sometimes it evolves over time as you gradually build credibility and others start to look up to you for your expertise– other times it happens quickly.  Regardless, it’s important to understand your responsibilities once you are in a leadership position.  Help those around you become their best selves, listen and observe before making changes, reward your peers and team for their leadership, build healthy long-term relationships, inspire people through your actions, and be self-aware – taking time to learn, grow, and attend to your mental and physical health.

Special thanks to all the Emory family working hard behind the scenes to support Emory’s many initiatives – especially the Women of Emory Impact Circle.  A special shout out to Nicole Holubar and Michele Davis for having the vision to make this come to life.

Favorite Leadership Books, Tools, Workshops

Board Development: For non profit and private co boards

Event: Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Company events

Books – Daring Greatly by Brenee Brown, Good to Great – Jim Collins and zero to one – Peter Thiel.

Teamwork: The  Music Paradigm and  Meyers-Briggs (MBTI)

Leadership: Strengthsfinder from Gallup and PowerSkills   VIP Relationship Management

General Learning/Inspiration: HBS/WSA Dynamic Women in Business Annual Conference at Harvard Business School annually in February.

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Culture Defines Talent| A perspective on Employee Engagement from a divisional HR team

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Employee Engagement Expert Series:

The following blog was the result of an interview with two HR professionals in the financial services technology space.   Together they drive a divisional global HR function that includes Employee Engagement.  They use annual employee feedback mechanisms combined with their unique backgrounds to evolve HR practices in this unique global and highly diverse environment.  

A comprehensive HR approach

The director describes his role in this way, “I am responsible for leading people-related strategy and execution across multiple enterprise software businesses to solve complex organizational challenges.   I truly enjoy leveraging all of my experiences to help organizations to create and fulfill their business and people related strategies.  Doing this well, generally, drives employee engagement and creates a high-performance culture.”   He works together with a colleague whose background includes social work prior to human resources.   Together they cover a lot of territory – helping leaders with reorganizations, compensation, talent reviews, promotions, merit programs, and everything related to employee performance.

Spotlight on Employee Engagement

In this organization, the Employee Engagement function is fully integrated with other key human resource functions that support it. The main goal is to improve employee communications and career growth opportunities for the talent pool.

But it’s not a siloed function, it’s also a backdrop to Talent Acquisition, Leadership Development, Coaching, and Sponsorship across a global firm of over 20,000 employees.  It’s a hub and spoke environment with business units across four distinct vertical markets and has experienced growth through acquisition.  In the spokes, there are HR people that have local market expertise.  All eventually report to the CHRO in a matrixed environment with the corporate HR team focusing on companywide needs such as Employee Relations. 

In terms of a strategic approach, the first priority is the development of front-line managers.  It’s often said that people leave managers, not companies so this a top priority that is addressed early – in fact, with onboarding.   The key element is the 1:1 between the team and the manager – generally, the key person driving the employee experience.  However, in this organization, this is emphasized as a shared responsibility.   Both manager and team members have to bring their authentic selves to the table, earn their respect, and own their path at the company.  It’s critical that the manager embrace the culture and bring the team along with them. Focusing on career development and growth is a high priority to keeping people engaged.

Essential EE Tools

In this environment, Employee Engagement is a backdrop to everything but becomes more relevant in a cyclical way.  Annually, beginning in the fall, the organization runs a survey.  Each year the baseline and changes are reviewed to see how to move the needle on key dimensions.  It’s a robust third-party tool with predetermined benchmarking questions as well as open-ended for comments.   It focuses on helping the organization assess its top strengths, opportunities for improvement, and guidelines for priorities for the following year.  It goes out to 20K employees with participation varying by business units and is the key insight into the voice of the employee.   Given the diversity of the company and its global nature, the questions have to be generic, but themes are derived by business unit and can get quite granular.

Beside the survey, there are other tools that focus on employee retention, attrition, and internal mobility. These examine how many employees take on new opportunities internally each year and the primary reason for an employee to seek opportunity elsewhere – furthering the understanding of what keeps the employees engaged.  

Top priorities for Employees:

Here the top of the list from employees is communication and transparency.  In parallel, people want to know their job is connected to the greater universe and they are making an impact.  Employees want to feel connected to their work and the company’s overall mission. They value recognition and appreciate it for their own work, as well as having the ability to recognize their fellow employees.  Interestingly, this is now a very strong theme across many organizations regardless of industry or size.

The organization addresses these priorities both company-wide and by department.  One opportunity is via quarterly town halls.   There are also a series of smaller gatherings with senior leadership – with an “ask me anything” session.   Leadership is there to listen.  Many come to learn something new and sometimes we get good recommendations on ways to be more innovative.  The topic of innovation is taken seriously in this tech environment with additional specific sessions over a two-day period to bring tech folks together to put forth their best ideas and tech solutions.  These are run as a contest with awards and recognition.

It’s important to note that the employee recognition programs are run on a quarterly basis. Anyone can nominate an individual or team based on demonstrating alignment with company values. The reward can be monetary award or “in kind.”

Navigating a global footprint and acquisitions

This organization has faced many unique challenges as it has grown organically and via acquisition and enjoys a diverse global footprint.  This requires additional emphasis on bringing people together effectively re-energizing the team in face-to-face gatherings and upping the game on internal communications.   Town Halls, newsletters; and purposeful recognition of special occasions such as work anniversaries and other milestones go a long way to building bridges.

In terms of growing via acquisition, the goal is to harmonize all aspects of employee life and break down barriers.  It starts with the essentials such as benefits and remuneration.  It also means familiarizing everyone with the technology and systems, like Workday or Salesfoce.com.   At the same time, while blending is important, it’s also important to honor each acquired company’s specialization.  A large benefit is company-wide access to the use of LinkedIn Learning for personal and professional growth.

Considering an HR/EE Career

Culture Defines Talent

Advice from this team. Remain open, be curious, be an active learner, seek mentors in the areas that you see yourself being most attracted to, and bring your authentic self to all situations.  Each person has unique talent and perspectives.  As one gains experience by doing, listening, learning, they can then start to see patterns and make practical and useful recommendations.  All of this helps build skills and credibility, which your “customers”, internal or external, will value. 

 

Gallagher releases Worforce Trends Report Highlights

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This past Tuesday, Gallagher hosted a first-class event at their new offices on Devonshire to reveal the highlights of its Workforce Trends Report emanating from the Annual Benefits Strategy & Benchmarking Survey.   I was delighted to be able to attend.  Certainly, they are demonstrating a commitment to their own employee base by moving into such a welcoming space – one that would win over anyone that was hesitant to come back to a formal office.  Beside the impressive venue, the trends are revealing with HEALTH AND WELL-BEING STRATEGY showing up as number one in workforce strategy priorities for employees.  Number three closely related – “increase access to and improve the culture around mental health programs.”   Most of the benefits align with the challenges facing individuals and families in their daily life.  Weight loss, financial coaching, lifestyle spending accounts, support for reproductive care – among others that reflect societal trends.   No doubt the deep data behind these highlights are a must for HR executives.  I enjoyed the vibrant and intelligent discussion with the Gallagher team and thank them for their generous hospitality!









Meaningful Work Drives Culture and Engagement| Employee Engagement Expert Series: Amy Parker, Acquia

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A Conversation with Amy Parker, Vice President of Global Talent Development and Employee Engagement at Acquia

The road to Employee Engagement is not a straight path – especially for a leading-edge technology company that has a following akin to that of a famous rock band. For Amy Parker, that means her work is never done. She has continuously evaluated and innovated around the changes in the workforce and work environment during her 10 years at Acquia.

Amy Parker leads Acquia’s Global Talent Development and Employee Engagement strategy. She joined the Acquia team in 2014 as the Director of Acquia University, a technical talent incubator program for Acquia and the Drupal community and went on to build Acquia’s first global Learning and Development function. The global team now offers programs that span the entire employee life cycle – from new hires, early-in-career employees, management/leadership development, all the way through collaborating with senior leaders on customized employee learning and engagement programs.

Jacqueline: Amy, you’ve had a robust career in the Learning & Development field and other key areas of Talent, and recently added the responsibilities of Employee Engagement to your portfolio. Reflecting on your experience in the broader Talent field, what has changed the most?

Amy: When I look back at one of the first “virtual” leadership programs I ran for EMC with a team in Bangalore, the changes are immense. The technology of the time (2000-2001) was limited.  We used synchronous satellite video supplemented by email. There wasn’t a way to engage in meaningful

New Tech Tools

conversations since the technology was new and the connection wasn’t very strong. To share content, we designed courseware using PowerPoint and Macromedia Flash, and then sent along a voice recording. Fast forward, I can now create all my eLearning materials in Articulate Rise, upload them to our Learning Management System, and publish them to the entire company in a little less than a few hours. Using Slack, Zoom, and other online collaboration tools, I can deliver fully interactive courseware for new hire onboarding, leadership development and connect people across the globe who otherwise would not come into contact with each other.

Jacqueline: What about other non-technical training? How has technology impacted that aspect of your work?

Amy: The need for leadership, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills is stronger than ever. Many traditional courses were full-day, in-person workshops. With the pandemic and people working remotely, not only does the technology need to change, but we also can’t expect people to sit through five-hour classes in a virtual environment. There are too many distractions, and people don’t want to be lectured to.  They want short-form, just-in-time learning opportunities. We’ve devised many new ways to create microlearning pre-work, leaving the in-session time for group discussion and small group exercises using breakout rooms.

Leadership Matters

When I started at Acquia in 2014, and our workforce was much smaller, we had a mentoring program. I was able to match mentors and mentees to each other based on needs, strengths, etc. because I personally knew the people who would work well together. As we grew to the current size of +1,100 global employees, this process became unmanageable. Using the latest technology offered by Trova.io and Slack, we created a peer-to-peer learning program that enables people to match themselves on any topic, for any duration at any time. Through Trova, we also created a Customer Experience Job Shadow Program that connects people to shadow calls and meetings with customers, which helps our team develop deeper insight into the products they are building and supporting.  I am always looking at new technology to help enhance the employee experience. With AI becoming more and more acceptable, I am excited to be able to accelerate the pace of learning AND provide more personalized learning journeys.

Jacqueline:  What were the operating principles that guided you in building the Employee Engagement function?

Amy: We’ve always been an organization with a strong culture which makes it critically important that we put the employee at the center of every decision we make. What I saw was an opportunity to capitalize on Employee Engagement through learning. In the traditional model, companies would train people and then go away and hope it would all sink in. But today’s tools give us the opportunity to create continuous learning environments. The DiSC Workstyle Preference framework, for example, has been at the core of our learning programs.  The focus on discovering work style preferences for yourself and your team has given us a platform for stronger communication and EQ across the spectrum. I’ve facilitated over 700 DISC assessments and workshops with our teams, and I’m convinced that it’s a key factor in our ability to maintain high levels of collaboration and build trust, which in turn contributes to a positive work environment.

Jacqueline:   Acquia is known for its strong culture and has grown considerably since its early Drupal days.   How has the leadership kept the people side – especially employee engagement and learning – at the top of the priority list through the various phases of growth?

Amy: Open-source technology has profoundly helped shape our culture by fostering collaboration, transparency, and innovation. Embracing open-source encourages a culture of inclusivity, where employees feel empowered to contribute ideas and solutions regardless of their hierarchical position. This culture of sharing cultivates trust among team members and promotes continuous learning and improvement. We’ve continued to rank high on Best Places to Work in the US, EMEA, and India, and recently ranked 6th in the nation on Built-In for the 2024 awards!

Jacqueline:  Keeping this super-charged work force energized is quite the challenge and opportunity.  What other programs, tools, and priorities have come to the forefront in recent years to help you meet your objectives?

Amy:  Like many companies we embrace a remote-first culture, allowing more flexibility in how and where we work.  Professional development opportunities not only stimulate growth but also instill a sense of value and investment in employees’ career paths. Our peer-to-peer recognition programs democratize the way everyone can be recognized and recognize others, and we have a very robust collection of special interest Slack channels, paired with Trova help people bring their whole selves to work and ‘find their people’

Jacqueline:  Amy, you’ve been at Acquia nearly ten years.  Can you share what has inspired you to stay.

Innovation & Collaboration

Amy: This one’s easy.  The people.  I get to work with some of the most creative, collaborative innovative and kind people.  We also have a really great technology portfolio that helps make the dreamers and doers make the impossible happen. 

Jacqueline:  Are there any other programs that you believe have worked well to further boost Acquia’s success at Employee Engagement and fulfilment?

Amy:  Finding ways to make your culture evolve and change with time is really important. We really lean into our employees to help us crowdsource changes to our core programs.  Our DEI Statement and the definitions of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion were crafted by a group of Acquians who are passionate about linking our culture to what DEI means to us.  We also really try to get everybody involved in an Aquians Teaching Aquians program. There’s nothing better than to be recognized as a subject matter expert, be able to teach other people, knowing that in turn, someone will lend a hand when you need it.  I’m really proud of the programs that we’ve built.

Jacqueline:  Given all you have observed during your time in talent, and specifically Employee Engagement, what is your advice to people entering this field today?

Amy:   For someone staring out today, I’d have two thoughts.  First, being able to make data driven decisions by leveraging people analytics is crucial. By leaning into data-driven insights, we can optimize talent management strategies, enhance employee experiences, mitigate risks, and align our Talent initiatives with overarching company goals

Second, I’d say: Don’t be afraid to break the mold.  With the pace and change of the world today, we have to constantly innovate and find new ways to drive engagement. Be bold and consider building something that will be unique to your culture. Be empathetic and open to what you see and hear.

 

Creating Moments that Matter| Employee Engagement Expert – Lisa Penn

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Employee Engagement Expert Series:   This is the first in a series of interview with highly experienced and respected leaders in the field.

Lisa Cummings Penn, recently retired from the Estée Lauder Companies.   She most recently led the efforts of Employee Engagement inside a critical part of the company.  Lisa’s experience and perspective is invaluable to fellow professionals seeking to understand tried and true best practices in this ever-changing field.

When one thinks of Estée Lauder, what comes to mind?  Make-up, skin care, consumer goods, and retail.  But Lisa Cummings Penn actually worked in the IT department of Lauder – an impressive group of 1000 technology professionals.  Her role focused on Employee Engagement which uniquely happened completely inside the IT department.  Her insights reflect 24 years of experience in this important and growing field.  

Jacqueline:   Lisa, please share your work experience and education prior to Estée Lauder and your roles within the company that led to your role in Employee Engagement.

Lisa:  My formal education was in business and creative writing.   After college, I worked in retail and was in the Management Training Program at the Gap.  At the time, formal training and development was in its early years and most companies did not yet have training departments. So people were just doing training ad hoc to their employees. When I was hired at Clinique, a Brand owned by Estée Lauder in 2000, it was the first time I was exposed to a true Education department within a company. It was there that I worked as a Director of Education, developing sales, service and event curriculum for over 20,000 Clinique Consultants worldwide.

A few years later I went over to our Global Retail Channel where I led the Education team for the 500 brick and mortar stores owned by Estée Lauder, e.g., Origins, MAC, Jo Malone, Aveda, etc. This education was focused on store operations, as in making sure the stores were following policy and procedure which enabled them to focus on driving sales and customer service

From there, I was asked to join the IT department as a Business Relationship Manager, or BRM. In this role, I acted as a connector between IT and the Brands, understanding their business needs, and ensuring that IT solutions were aligned with the Brand’s strategic goals and objectives.   

One of our projects started out developing a learning platform for a single brand. With a global brand you have thousands of employees you need to educate. This quickly spread into multiple brands being interested in the platform, which ultimately led to a large-scale project to roll out to multiple brands, eventually building a learning platform for thousands of people across multiple brands worldwide. 

After working as a BRM for 10 years, an official role was created inside of IT in Employee Engagement.  Our CIO really believed in EE and we were the only business unit in the company to have our own Employee Engagement team.  

Jacqueline: Reflecting on your experience in Employee Engagement and looking out at the greater field of HR, what is the biggest change you’ve seen?  

Lisa: As I alluded to earlier, in 2000, there were not a lot of companies who had Education departments.   And when training was being done, it was usually an additional responsibility for someone in another department, like Marketing. Someone who wasn’t skilled in content development or facilitation.

 The world has changed so much so you have to constantly be reevaluating what’s happening and how it’s affecting your employees. We really should be referring to this role as Employee Fulfillment.   Many different things are important to employees than 24 years ago.  DE & I, for example has become a main focal point – far more than ever before. 

Finally, the demographic of an employee has shifted and with that, behavior.  We work differently today. 20+ years ago, no one would ever think about taking out a phone in a meeting (Or a Blackberry as the case might have been!)  But now we understand how different demographics work and influence and we have to take that into account. Technology in general has changed the way we operate.

Jacqueline:  What is the Mission of the Employee Engagement organization

Lisa:  The Mission should be to create moments that matter throughout the employee journey. It’s about creating employee fulfillment, not just employee satisfaction.  And that journey actually begins before an employee even starts working; it starts during recruitment to onboarding and continues all the way through their departure.  On the back end, when an employee moves on internally or externally, we need to learn from their feedback and use that feedback to improve.

Jacqueline:   Do you recall an example at Estée Lauder of how you used the feedback you received from a departing employee?

Lisa:  Yes, actually.   For our Summer University Internship program, we brought in a group of interns, rising seniors, to which we included them in our onboarding program for other full time new hires just starting with the company. At the end of the internship program, many interns are offered full time employment after graduation. And when they begin, they go through the full Onboarding program. One of the interns who was hired and then left a year later shared feedback of frustration of having to repeat some of the same material in the Onboarding Program that she had gone through before. It felt repetitive and after interning for a Summer she already knew some of which was being reshared. 

This was great feedback for us because it helped us look at the program with a different set of eyes and make updates to the way in which we onboarded new hires who had interned with us, removing the redundancy. 

Jacqueline:  Let’s turn to the world of Employee Engagement – what areas did this encompass in your role at Estée Lauder

Lisa: Employee Engagement at ELC IT was focused on four strategic pillars: 

  1. Talent recruitment – Attracting and converting top talent to support the vision of being an IT Employer of Choice. Think internship programs, recruiting
  2. Education – Creating a L&D roadmap to support the upskilling and career growth of our people. For example, education through curated learning paths, robust Oboarding programs, etc.
  3. Culture – Creating a deep sense of community, purpose and belonging. IT Day of Service, Tech Day of Pink to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness, and employee recognition.
  4. Connecting – Connecting employee contribution and business outcomes to create a sense of purpose – help employees connect to the strategy and see how their work is impacting the business and contributing to the success of the organization.

Jacqueline:   Do you have a perspective on how your role differed as compared to your peers in other companies?

Lisa:  The fact that I operated inside of IT was totally unique. Most companies have one Employee Engagement department that works across the enterprise. And those roles are focused mainly on employee culture. 

Jacqueline:  Can you call out some Cultural Touchstones that were well-received?

Lisa:   The ones that really stand out were the IT Day of Service, The Tech Day of Pink -for breast cancer research, and the Hackathon.    These events really bring people together while doing good for others.

Jacqueline:   Did the emphasis on each of these areas change over the last five or so years and if so, how did you spend/divide your time?

Lisa:  Certain programs were predictable at different times of the year.  For example, as soon as the Summer Interns walked out the door in August, we were already accepting applications for the next year’s program.    In the bigger picture, we had placed significant focus on the IT Learning programs which took considerable time and effort to get up and running.  The Pandemic also forced us to re-prioritize and figure out how to accomplish our goals remotely.  Generally speaking, we had to stay nimble and be able to change with the environment while keeping our goals in mind.

Jacqueline: What where some of your favorite tools to accomplish your objectives?

Lisa: What we are always striving for is fulfilment and some of that takes place informally – the “water cooler moments.”   Any time you can talk to people becomes important.  Sometimes it can be in surveys, but survey fatigue does set in.  Our special events, as mentioned earlier really fill an important role in creating these moments.   We also had great success doing speed networking, coffee chats, and “ask me anything” sessions with senior leaders and small groups vs. large town halls. Large town hall meetings were also successful, but the smaller formats allowed for more personalized interactions and being able to dig a bit deeper below the surface.

Jacqueline: What were your operating principles in approaching your role?

Lisa:  It was evident to me that one size does not fit all.  You have to meet people where they are.  People learn differently. People experience things differently.  So, you have to have multiple approaches to make an impact on large groups of people. For example, when cascading new information to teams, some people will read a newsletter – others will join a town hall. Some want small format team meetings. So you need an multi-faceted approach to meet people where they are. This became even more evident during Covid when we were working remotely for two years and all of a sudden completely missed out on those in person moments where we used to check in with one another.   You’ll never be able to make everyone happy all of the time, but you can do your best to bring people along on the journey by meeting them where they are.

Jacqueline: In terms of feedback, how did you get it and what learning really stands out?

Lisa:   There are so many messages being thrown at people, it’s critical to help people relate the messaging that applies to the work they are doing.  To better understand the big picture, we would meet weekly as leadership team from across the department to talk about anything – supply chain issues for example, and how to use our own resources to get things done.   We’d find out how people from other groups are feeling and what they are hearing and get feedback from HR’s regular conversations with the business units.   Not all leaders cascade the message the same way, so we used this time to try to align our messaging so that the teams could hear more consistently from us.  What worked best was continuous check throughout the employee life cycle to be able to manage things as they came up.

Jacqueline: What is your advice to people entering this field today?

Lisa:  Be curious.  Learn, ask questions, meet people where they’re at, and open your eyes to the way people show up and evolve on the journey. Your goal is to be with people along the journey. So first and foremost, understand the journey, what it means for you and for them.  In the end, it’s about creating moments that matter.  In terms of skillsets – communication, relationship building and cultivating relationships for the long term. The way you speak to people and engage with them is so critical.   In this role, you have to create and become the safe space.

 

Jacqueline: What is your advice to people entering this field today?

Lisa:  Be curious.  Learn, ask questions, meet people where they’re at, and open your eyes to the way people show up and evolve on the journey. Your goal is to be with people along the journey. So first and foremost, understand the journey, what it means for you and for them.  In the end, it’s about creating moments that matter.  In terms of skillsets – communication, relationship building and cultivating relationships for the long term. The way you speak to people and engage with them is so critical.   In this role, you have to create and become the safe space.

Harvard Tech Conference| Snapshot & Observations

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In this blog, I’ve tried to capture some of my notes and observations to share with anyone that wasn’t able to attend the @HBS #TechClub Annual Tech conference or the individual sessions.   It’s also an attempt to share some of this fabulous content with a wider audience, acknowledge the organizers, and THANK the speakers for sharing their time and expertise.   The full article is posted below.

The State of AI | Generating Value, Impact, and an evolving Playbook

Knowledge if truly power whether it’s you and I being better informed or AI getting smarter as we feed it better and better data.  In fact, I felt so much better about how we can embrace this new era after the incredibly informative presentations. 

For most mortals, AI is an intimidating concept, so for those of us who are privileged to be exposed to some of its potential impact, its incumbent upon us to help share the learning and if in a position to do so, help “shape” the future. Share on X

The opening keynote at the HBS Tech Conference, Rodney Zemmel of McKinsey, explained the transformation from Analytical to Generative AI and shared research on what was really making an impact or contributing to value creation.   Speed and cost – attributable to both hardware and software advances are at the heart of AI being applied across many dimensions of business.   AI has changed so much that we even learned that the old word doesn’t fit it anymore and that Generative AI is a “retronym” to characterize where we are today.

As the chart clearly shows, Customer Engagement, Creative Content, Coding, and “Concision” (Concise + Precision) are among the most prolific applications.  Companies surveyed in the analysis are trying to achieve 20% cost savings and 30% revenue goals. But on an informal level, when he met with a few hundred executive teams to see how they are REALLY using AI day-to-day, there’s more experimentation with personal uses such as travel planning, birthday, and retirement poems.  Nonetheless, fascinating research is taking place for interactions between patients and doctors – where a patient could clearly differentiate the chat bot from the doctor, but still preferred the chat bot for its breadth of knowledge and empathy.  This certainly caused a ripple in the audience!

Much of the next phase will require retooling of the business.  He covers much of the research in his book, Rewired.  But some of my key takeaways were:

  • Leveraging the combined data sources – public and proprietary is where the true power of AI takes place – to create more credible expertise

There are three groups of adopters – Taker, Maker, and Shaper. Most companies are still “taking” but true competitive advantage will come in shaping the future.   Making can be expensive as it always is to be the early leader.

  • The playbook has some clear guidelines that will make or break success. These include starting at the top and working all the way through the organization for commitment, having clear financial targets, the appropriate and engaged talent pool, an agile (or equivalent) operating model, not to over “technologize” the implementation – focus on the key areas that need it; and data humility (good, trustworthy, ethical data).

Key Players in AI Infrastructure| Spotlight on NVIDIA – Beyond Games

NVIDIA SVP of Enterprise Business, Shanker Trivedi used his time in the spotlight to enhance our understanding of the NVDIA story.   Described as an accelerate company platform – NVDIA is a full stack offering of hardware and software that makes developers more efficient.  Developers are the main focus and “go to market” is accomplished through a vast network of partners.

Although its roots were in gaming, gaming gave the company the tools and understanding needed to go deep into other verticals – emphasizing that “acceleration is domain-specific.”  NVDIA uses its unique combination of tools to attack killer workloads.   In terms of AI, it can be thought of as an operating system for AI.   The ensuing panel of Ampere, Memryx, and Interl emphasized that GenAI requires a robust AI infrastructure and one of the great outcomes of this computing environment is the time to market (e.g. ChatGBT was just 14 months out of the lab) and the ability to simulate. Simulating can provide significant savings and efficiencies down the line – especially in areas like manufacturing or plant design.

Panels: Health Tech and Bio Tech

 

Life Sciences and Health AI| Really Good Stuff

The Health and Bio tech panel was wonderfully diverse offering perspectives from the startups, investors, and the support team – in this case a Law Firm.  All the companies had an element of AI in their offerings – AI for dentistry – Videahealth; AI for immunotherapy Noetik, AI for health using biosensors (NIX), and AI for home health care – Vaxess.  Among the key topics of discussion were the types of expertise needed in the growing AI field.  The obvious skill set is data science, but in addition to the technical areas – it’s equally important to “be a dreamer” and be able to ask the right questions.  Just having the data truly isn’t enough.  Knowing how to query the data is critical. In the case of Noetik, data is gathered from tumors to infer properties.   The tasks that are being undertaken by AI, in this case, are far too difficult for humans.  That is where the AI is adding the most value.

In the case of Videahealth, the applications help the dentist and patient decide what will happen if you don’t do something (e.g.fill the cavity, add the crown, etc.).  The cumulative data helps predict future results.   Ideally, the combination of the large data sets and the individual’s history will create the best decision-making data set.  In other words, taking personalized database, but use in a longitudinal fashion.

Investment strategy was another track of the discussion.  Meredith went down the venture path citing that as a direct-to-consumer, it made the most sense.  She also rode the wave of sports tech.  Now that some of that wave has diminished, she is looking more to high-net-worth individuals with ties to her customer base – e.g. sports teams like the Celtics, Texas Rangers, etc.   Those with a personal passion for understanding health through “sweat” are her best advocates.   Florian was cautious on the VC investment direction IF one believes that VC’s can provide all the value added (beyond the actual dollars) that one assumes they will. 

The final discussion focused on distribution and adoption.   The point was made that one of the key values of AI is the ability to simulate before committing to full coding of a product.   This is key for cost savings and also for understanding end user impact.  In the case of therapeutics and all the required documentation to conduct a trial, AI could accelerate clinical trials.   In the big picture, this helps ease the tension between technology push and market pull.

Climate Tech and Tough Tech Panel:

Tackling the Big Issues| A long term view

The Climate and Tough Tech panel was eye opening.  The focus of this area will have a direct impact on the planet and the challenges are unique in each part of the sector.   The “tough” problems in this sector are depletion of natural resources and finding more economical ways to deliver energy in a climate friendly manner.  Following a step-by-step path, Electric Hydrogen’s head of Corporate Development, Supratim Das explained how they were the first company to bring down the megawatt costs – one of the barriers to hydrogen as an energy source.  Even so, the profitability would not be possible without tax credits.

Melissa Fensterstock, from Material Impact shared their big picture thinking around what will drive the next revolution in human and planetary issues – Space Tech, Food Tech, and Water were among the innovative areas being explored. Anything driven by Material Science were among their focal points as investors.  They focus on solving problems but many of the solutions in climate tech, for example face scaling challenges.   They also require many outside influencers – government and broader support to be successful in many cases.

Each investor was asked to comment on the tough tech spaces that need more attention.  Manufacturing technology, battery and solid state were among those that need innovation and investment.  For example, looking beyond oil and water emulsion in manufacturing. FedEx discussed robotics and the importance of robots needing a “sense of touch” for the next phase. To do so requires convergence of different technologies.   All in all, this group of investors and innovators are taking on some of the biggest challenges we face as human beings.

Wisdom for Women in Tech| Make your presence known

Speakers:

The Women in Tech panel was focused on the how to stay ahead of the career game.  The expert panel shared their insight on the importance of being active in learning, coaching, and thought leadership, and staying on top of trends.  Being an “information carnivore” came up as a recommendation! 

In terms of leadership, one line of advice revolved around the importance of sponsorship and a personal board of directors.  Another point of view was offered by Kathy Pham who said that all her roles were “made up” and effectively being a pioneer gave her opportunity.

Specific advice was offered by Shailaja about being heard and taking your seat at the table.  “Don’t cede it” once you get there.  If you are invited to a meeting, it’s because you have a valued opinion.  When things don’t go your way, handle rejection well.

And finally, the point was made to stay health and “take care of yourself” because you need your strength.

VC Panel:

Inside the VC World| Career Competencies

For the audience, this session was a very real breakdown of what it takes to pursue a career in venture capital.  It was a frank and very useful discussion.  The panel was diverse and the major takeaway was for anyone considering a career track in venture to carefully consider the investment theses and style of the fund – multi-stage, pre-revenue, etc. Each was very specific about the stage of companies, percentage of controlling interest, and sectors of investment.  A second major point was the type of experience valued in the funds.   Clearly, operating experience is at the very top of the list but not a deal-breaker if you are bringing other key areas of expertise to the table.   Analysis, strategy, professional development, product management, and having a broad and deep network are also key skills.

Rob Go from NEXTVIEW made the point that it is possible to build an entire career in venture by apprenticing with the more senior team members as a lot of the decisions are made by looking at patterns over time.    He made the point that VC is no longer the “craft” business it used to be and that it’s much more institutionalized and careers can be launched there successfully.  Rob also believes strongly in keeping the “idea

Fireside with Adam Selipsky, CEO, Amazon Web Services

Adam kicked off his fireside answering questions about organizational affinity – the traits that help align everyone in the company.   He shared many of the tenets shared at AWS that are known as their 16 Principles of leadership.  To that he added that they always take the long term view – making huge capital investments in the future – truly core to the foundation of Amazon.

On the topic of AI, he believes that we won’t have a good read for at least five years but at AWS they are taking a customer perspective.  What he sees as a priority is to stay in the forefront of innovation and to create industry frameworks on how to act as AI evolves.

As an HBS graduate, he was asked to articulate what he didn’t learn at HBS to which he responded, “managing people.”   He expanded on this by discussing his interactions with the team during the Pandemic when everyone faced uncertainty.  Openness and transparency were the core of his approach.  He felt that if he was honest about what was happening, people would come with him even if they disagreed.

At the end of the day, he was asked the inverse, what he LEARNED at HBS to which he responded – first the business “toolkit” but more importantly, the power of the Case Method.  He specifically discussed that the real world does not offer simple answers.  Most business challenges are based on open ended, ambiguous questions to which we will never really know the answer.  In fact, you will never know if you are right or wrong.  So, you have to understand what facts are important, make a decision, and be able to defend your decision.   This was powerful insight and a great takeaway from the conference. 

Putting People First Requires a Open and Intentional Culture

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The issues around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion continue to create new conversations.  Forward looking organizations know first and foremost that there is significant value in investing in this area.  However, when things get messy, they cannot ignore the challenges and must take some risks in order to get it right. There are no guarantees that it will work the first time, but being honest about the learning curve and acknowledging success and failure is part of creating an authentic environment.   These were among the many takeaways from this morning’s “People First” Roundtable hosted by Gallagher and Benson Search.  This was the first of the live roundtables hosted in the post-Pandemic climate and clearly there was an energy in the room demonstrating the need to communicate face-to-face – especially on such key issues.

Hybrid Environment| Shedding a new light on DEI

DEI issues also now have to take into account a hybrid work environment and “post Covid integration” where work and life are inseparable, particularly to the newest generations of workers.  This group has raised the bar for expectations around company culture.   Interestingly, the return to the office has brought forward issues that didn’t surface before.  The presenter, Ruby Hamacher, pointed out that there were always nuances in the work environment that caused a degree of bias.  By way of example, she points to an anecdotal observation from client survey that found that “primary caregivers feeling a lower sense of inclusion.”  The transition back to the office is an opportunity to re-up our listening and observation skills!   To have these courageous conversations, it’s important to create a safe space – keeping in mind these four pillars:  LISTEN AND STAY ENGAGED; RESPECT DISCOMFORT; VOICE YOUR TRUTH; and EXPECT AND ACCEPT NON-CLOSURE.

Analysis| The life-raft in unchartered waters

What really stood out in the presentation was the range of options for companies to improve their DEI performance.   A robust but flexible communications plan is an important first step.   But informally, being sure to respond in a timely manner to feedback and questions. 

Implementing changes that include training, inclusive benefits, and a review of language to ensure its inclusivity.  Crafting and sharing the employee brand or EVP – another important aspect of the plan.

A critical key to success, however, is to couple the overall strategy with the use statistics to get the conversation on the right track.  It’s not always comfortable, but HR teams have to transcend talk to get down to numbers.  In Ruby’s words, “Using data to make fair & equitable decisions and to address DEI concerns helps take the uncertainty out of HR Analysis” and reveals the truth about what’s really happening mitigating perceptions that arise from casual observations.  Gallagher invests heavily in these people analytics and provides support with strategies to define, measure and embed DEI into organizational culture utilizing an ISO-certified framework to quantify the qualitative.  Ruby Hamecher  is happy to discuss this one a 1:1 basis with interested parties.

Reaction from the Room| Shared learning is critical.

Current world affairs naturally brought up how employees and employers are dealing with the conflicts in the Middle East.  In some cases, the leaders of HR were getting push back that their organizations were not doing enough or clearly communicating their positions.   It’s not uncommon that the CPO is leading the charge on the conversation, but often the CEO is lagging behind on how to handle the issues.  Public and consistent communication and vision is key.  Where best practices don’t exist – and that’s quite common – one has to conduct “courageous dialogue” similar to what was experienced during the George Floyd inspired protests.  

Another concern was how DEI impacts employee advancement. One of the participants suggested that training of managers to manage a diverse team is one of the keys to making sure that they strike a balance on creating and executing promotional opportunities.  Another layer of complexity arises in at in global organizations where DEI takes on completely different parameters.  Local customs and culture play a huge role in how a company decides to hold this conversation.

The exchange was vibrant and the need to partner on addressing common challenges was echoed throughout the Q & A around a profound theme – THE WORLD IS CHANGING AND WE HAVE TO CONSTANTLY ADAPT.  This includes in the language we use, the gestures we make, the biases we bring to the table.  All is up for review.   The presentation provided a series of useful tools and methodology that are available to those registered for the event.  

Roundtables hosted in this intimate format are truly a gift to those that can take time to attend.   But given busy schedules, the goal here is to sum up some highlights and honor the team that made it happen.    Many thanks to Gallagher and Benson Search for their investment in this event.

 

Putting Authentic Sizzle into the Employee Brand

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People and Company Brand| The ultimate buyer-seller relationship

As an outside business and marketing advisor, I have the privilege of observing trends through hands on work in different industries and across disciplines.  Essentially, I am a marketer, but marketing in the very broad sense.  To keep it simple, whether it’s consumer or BTB oriented, it’s still about connecting buyers and sellers.

It’s the product or service that is always changing.   I’ve recently had the opportunity to experience the “people” as the product – finding new ways for a company to attract the type of person who would best fit their culture or employee brand.   My path to this assignment didn’t begin in marketing or people management, but in the art world!

The Art World| Storytelling at its finest (and most challenging)

During the Pandemic, here in my seaside community of Gloucester, MA., based on years of community volunteer work in the arts, a local cable station approached me to design and produce a TV program to highlight the artists in our community.  This was no small task as there are thousands of artists living and working on Cape Ann.  After coercing a close friend and fellow art lover to join me, we embarked on an adventure which became known as Cape Ann ARTWaves. 

The key to the project, however, was in the recruiting of the artists and in actually getting them to tell their stories.  If you have artists in your circle of friends, you will understand that this is not an easy feat for several reasons.   For one, they are not naturally salespeople and certainly not comfortable talking about themselves.   Additionally, it’s not easy to identify that one kernel that really speaks to what makes their work stand out among the crowd – essentially the artist “statement” or in business terms, the value proposition.  Sometimes, the process of getting to this was painful for both parties.

Mining for Gems| Hitting the Aha moment.

It’s the getting to the heart of the story that’s truly the key to a good interview.  From this process, the story crystallizes into snapshot of who the artist really is and what they are about.   It’s truly an aha moment and being ready to listen, receive, and capture these gems is the key to the discipline of this type of work.  The curatorial process and preparatory research were intense, but it paid off and today we are able to showcase 75 artist stories which are being moved to the archives of our local Museum.  Equally important are the highlights videos that capture the 1-2 minutes that captures the essence of the artists’ creative footprint.

My passion for this type of work and these rich conversations led me to integrate this into my consulting practice.  It’s always been there in some form.  For many years I have conducted interviews to test value propositions for companies seeking to open up new paths to growth and new markets.   But recently, I have melded this into the growing field of #TalentMarketing and #TalentAttraction.   Whether in video format (artist interviews) or written format in the #voiceoftheemployee,  the recent work for a client, the fundamental approach is the same. 

The foundation is content| Let’s go and get it

When applied to talent marketing, interviews also serve as an important part of the research to craft the employee brand and understanding the 1:1 relationship between the employees and the company values.   Interviews also provide significant content for many channels of recruiting – whether the employee tells the story, or the company shares it in a third-party manner.  Interviews can be sorted and repurposed for other programs revolving around current trends or common areas of interest.  If properly shared by the employee and colleagues, the end result is a sweet combination of talent attraction and employee engagement.  A little coaching and social media support can also sweeten the pot.

I am enthusiastic about building on this as part of my practice.  It speaks to me on many levels and allows me to integrate many years of global work experience, community involvement, and coaching into the conversations – raising the comfort level of the person being interviewed and creating a comfortable storytelling environment.   I welcome the opportunity to help build your talent marketing and employee engagement arsenal!  Please contact me to learn more!