A Human Perspective

This episode is a follow-up to an episode released a few weeks back called, 'Saying No at Work: Workload Edition'. In this previous episode, we discussed the common occurrence of being overloaded at work, and how to push back or find ways around it.

However, let's face it, saying “No” is easier said than done. In this episode, we dive into this a little further.

With more companies choosing remote working or at a minimum following a hybrid model than ever seen before, we are navigating uncharted waters en masse. Trying to understand what works and how to work in this new space, whilst considering the realities of juggling and prioritising personal lives and wellbeing.

One of the more tricky and also most important parts of working remotely effectively is the ability to build good relationships professionally and personally - both inside and outside of your team.

On this episode, Malvina EL-Sayegh and I discuss the concept of Sales Enablement, it's importance, and future. We also explore how enablement and onboarding crossover.

As well as having extensive experience in the Enablement space, Malvina also has her own podcast, #stayhuman, and is also co-host of The Sales Enablement Brew. Go have a listen! 

You are just about managing to spin all your plates and stay on top of your workload. Your manager loves the work you’ve been doing and asks if you can take on an additional project. They know you get things done and your results are always good, so it has to be you. But you know you’re just about coping. You know you shouldn’t take it on, you simply don’t have the bandwidth… but you don’t want to say no… or you feel you can’t?

I also recommend you listen to my podcast episode on Saying No to Meetings, it's a great starting point. 😊

We're seeing an increasing number of companies in the start-up / scale-up tech space making people redundant this year. LinkedIn is littered with posts of people announcing they have been made redundant. Even companies like Netflix, that had massive wins during the pandemic are letting people go. In this episode I touch on some reasons why this may be happening.... now.

Ask most females who they first admired and emulated when they were very young, too many will tell you Cinderella... and I’m one of them.

This expectation of women to have a feather-like personality is planted so deeply, most are unaware of it, but it’s there and it’s impacting the way women are perceived and navigate the workplace.

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I am conscious I am approaching this topic discussing traditional gender roles and relationships. This is not to negate the experiences of others but to kickstart an important conversation. I also don’t want to assume I know or understand what those who don’t fit these norms experience. Please forgive me for any ignorance I may display, and do let me know if I could have approached this in a better way. I’m always open to feedback and learning.

Last week I shared tips for candidates attending remote interviews. This week we wrap up with advice for hiring managers.

Though easier to schedule in, remote interviews can be so difficult because you lose so much context when not sitting in the same room. It’s harder to connect or build rapport and people are harder to read. Their background setting may disrupt and influence your thoughts about them, the camera angle of the call may be off-putting... you’re now judging so many new factors we simply didn’t need to consider before.

This is where having a clear and solid interview process comes in.

I’ve been actively recruiting again recently and noticed interviews are becoming easier to attend yet more difficult to navigate and judge. Not meeting face-to-face physically can mean you don’t get a good grasp of a person or company, and this can lead to mistakes being made on both sides, including a company hiring the wrong person due to not qualifying their skills correctly or communicating the responsibilities effectively or a candidate taking on a role, then joining and realising the culture is toxic or doesn’t align with their values. Sometimes the hiring manager is behaving too lackadaisical on the call, putting off the candidate... other times the candidate hasn’t paid attention to their surroundings and they’re not presenting themselves best on camera.

To help all involved, I’ve put together some tips to help both candidates and hiring managers better interview remotely.

This week, we kick off with advice for candidates.

It's been a while, but I'm back! 😊

I’ve been pondering this topic for some time. Starting and stopping and starting from scratch over and over again. You see, the topic of of accents and English speaking ability is onion-layered but I do feel this is a very important conversation to have. I've tried my best to hit the areas I feel are particularly important.

When you hear someone with an accent, what judgements do you make?