By Kris Dunn
The podcast currently has 4 episodes available.
Welcome to Best Boss Ever, the podcast dedicated to helping you develop managers who build great teams. In this episode, Kris Dunn talks about the issues with Managing Compensation Strategy in a Pandemic World with Ann Bares, his favorite industry compensation expert at Altura Consulting Group and writer at Compensation Force.
Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. Rate and Review if you like what you hear!
On to the show (email subscribers, click here if you don't see the podcast player)...
Show Highlights:
2:00 - Ann talks about her transition from an undergraduate in social work to the world of compensation, where she found an affinity for quantitative methods.
5:30 - Ann and KD discuss what the transition looks like for companies on compensation strategy as we move from a 10-year expansion to the recession we’re already in.
8:00 - Ann talks about unevenness of the pandemic flavor of the recession - some companies are struggling, but some are expanding and thriving.
12:00 - Ann and KD discuss the most likely changes to cut for companies who are in pain from a compensation perspective - think prioritized skill set investments for reinvention, etc. Ann and KD also talk about how adjustments are being made to common components like annual increases, etc.
16:00 - Ann and KD talk about when across the board salary cuts might be reinstated in the marketplace.
17:41 - Ann and KD discuss how WFH changes the landscape of competing for talent from a compensation perspective - what's your pay market when a large % of your workforce is remote? Fluidity is a new reality. Kris also focuses on the fact that flexibility for personal wants and needs related to WFH preferences creates a new standard for HR pros.
24:10 Ann talks about whether companies become less aggressive in benchmarking compensation vs the market in recessions.
27:00 - Kris and Ann talk about whether there Is a brand of company out there that thinks of recessions as a great opportunity to pick up talent. How does their strategy differ from a defensive position on comp?
34:00 - Ann and KD talk about the federal unemployment benefit as part of the stimulus plan, and whether it discourages some people from returning to work. The conversation goes beyond that surface-level topic, as Ann and Kris discuss the 2nd and 3rd order consequences/impact of any comp program. KD notes that any difficulty finding needed labor may encourage companies slow to invest in area like automation to go "all in" at this point.
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Ann Bares on LinkedIn
Compensation Force
Altura Consulting Group
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Boss Leadership Training Series
Kinetix
The HR Capitalist
Fistful of Talent
Kris Dunn on LinkedIn
KD's Book - The 9 Faces of HR
Welcome to Best Boss Ever, the podcast dedicated to helping you develop managers who build great teams. In this episode, Kris Dunn talks with one of the most authentic leaders he has ever encountered - Lisa Higgins from APQC.
Truth-teller and Force of Nature. Add Empathy and Listening and you've got today's authentic leader, which Lisa 100% is!
Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. Rate and Review if you like what you hear!
On to the show (email subscribers, click here if you don't see the podcast player)...
Show Highlights:
5:15 - Kris gets right into it to help listeners understand more about APQC, because in a lot of ways Lisa started there and never left. Why was she locked into one company in this way?
7:20 - KD and Lisa talk about their definition of Authentic Leadership. #trust
10:00 - Kris talks about being locked into a conference room with Lisa and her team for full days at a time, and gives Lisa some adjectives and phrases that come to mind and she reacts to them, talking about whether she grew into these traits or if they’ve always been a part of who she is:
Truth-Teller
Coming in Hot/Force of Nature
Listener
Authentic/Believable
Getting Out of the Way for Direct Reports
23:00 - Lisa adds empathy to the list for discussion as mandatory for the authentic leader.
23:55 - Lisa and Kris discuss the biggest reason managers of people don’t gel with their teams. What’s the best way to overcome/prevent these stumbling blocks with new managers of people? What’s are the keys to develop high levels of trust with direct reports?
29:00 - Lisa talks about how she stays current and relevant in your industry and beyond. What tells her to Zig at the right time?
30:05 - Kris asks Lisa for a KSA that she picked up during her time at APQC that’s had the most value for her as a leader?
31:10 - And now for the close – Lisa describes her best boss ever. It's Jack Grayson, founder of APQC. Among countless positive attributes - many of which Lisa describes, it's notable that he was comfortable hiring someone who was very much different than him - and provided room and support for Lisa to grow. He ended up with a great employee and a future leader of his organization. So cool and so true.
Welcome to Best Boss Ever, the podcast dedicated to helping you develop managers who build great teams. In this episode Kris Dunn talks with Patrick Lynch, President of CMP’s Southeast Region, to talk about the current state of outplacement during COVID-19.
1:15: KD intros with the topic of Outplacement and introduces guest, Patrick Lynch (Who insists we call him Pat) who will be our tour guide related to what’s going on in the world of Outplacement.
3:05: Pat tells us about what he does and what CMP does. CMP helps companies and individuals with outplacement and career transitions. They also do about executive search needs, assessments for selection, hire and development as well as executive coaching.
4:34: KD asks Pat: What’s changed in Outplacement in the last few months with COVID? Pat says pre-COVID, outplacement levels were down overall, but despite a skyrocket in unemployment, they haven’t seen the same uptick in outplacement. There are a few reasons for this, being on furlough is a big one and they delve into the details.
8:15: Pat says things are different from 2008/2009 because employee brand is so important. Companies are trying their hardest to avoid layoffs. KD comes in and they talk about the message of hope – are we springing back or entering a recession?
10:45: KD asks Pat about levels of Outplacement Packages. Pat says the programs are based on time periods, level of service and seniority, and helping those in outplacement with access to resources. He says CMP works with people until they’re re-employed.
17:30: Pat gives some career advice during outplacement: Don’t waste your time applying for everything. Instead, ask what are your highest levels of opportunity and focus on those. Pat continues to give tips on the most important steps to take when job hunting.
25:45: Pat and KD go into the details of how some companies are handling COVID outplacement, and how Airbnb’s leaders handled the outplacement with empathy and sincerity.
33:00: KD says, even if you can’t afford Outplacement, call Pat. Pat compares Bryd to Airbnb with their Glassdoor reviews, how you handle the outplacement will matter for your company’s recovery.
37:45: They close it out talking about what’s to come, and what resources are available for the future.
Resources:
Boss Leadership Training Series
Patrick Lynch on LinkedIn
CMP Website
Kinetix
The HR Capitalist
Fistful of Talent
Kris Dunn on LinkedIn
KD's Book - The 9 Faces of HR
Welcome to Best Boss Ever, the podcast dedicated to helping you develop managers who build great teams. In this episode Kris Dunn talks with colleague and friend Dawn Burke, facilitator for BOSS Leadership and senior consultant at Recruiting Toolbox, about managing people and the six types of manager brands.
Show Highlights
4:00: KD Brings in the topic, what is your manager brand? Dawn claims a lot of managers don’t know what their brand is, it even took her some time to figure out her brand.
6:22: A Manager’s brand is based on their behavioral DNA and how they were raised. Dawn says that’s a classic case of nature vs. nurture. Both play a part into a manager’s brand, and a lot of times we fall back on our nature but it’s important to focus on the qualities of leaders we admire and seek training and guidance to form a brand.
8:45: KD and Dawn run down the list of the 6 manager brands: The Doer & Individual Contributor, The Friend/Pushover, The Control Freak/Authoritarian, Trend Spotter/Reader of the Best Seller, Performance Based Driver, and The Career Agent.
11:09: “The Doer.” The first-time manager brand. Dawn talks about her personal retail experience with her first manager roles and the struggles first time manager. KD says: don’t change too much – it’s okay if this is your brand to an extent. Be a doer – but you need to grow your people, too. You can’t do it all yourself. Find training and learn to delegate and lead.
15:38: “The Friend/Pushover”. KD talks about how this brand showing up in a lot of former teammates that become managers. It’s also in folks who have high levels of empathy in their DNA. Dawn says you can make the best of the past team relationships by keeping the trust throughout your working relationship. She also asks “How much are you complaining about working together?” It might effect your credibility.
14:50: Dawn says “The Friend” also applies to managers who come in, and is a manager who tries to be friends, which isn’t inherently bad, but if you’re relying too much on the friendship, you’re heading in the wrong direction. KD says past friends especially have trouble as new managers if they are low on the assertive scale, Dawn says you can mitigate this with a 1:1 reset with those friends, acknowledging the new structure in the team and what it means. KD says you’ll have to be assertive to do that, which is why training from other managers is good to have!
21:22: “The Control Freak” introduction. KD talks about a recent WWII watch that was riddled with authoritative manager brands. Dawn says she’s seen this in new managers, too. When they become a manager they are thinking about their past managers and maybe more old school managers. She claims this brand doesn’t work anymore, even though it still exists in certain work places.
26:52: “The Trend Spotter” KD says reading and growing is good, but you can’t change up your brand every time you read a new book. Dawn says this has good intention but it’s gone off the rails. You can be a life long learner, that’s a sign of a good leader, but you take the best of what you’ve learned or read and build your own style/brand – you can’t copy and paste.
29:59: “The Performance Driver.” This brand is all about the performance, they aren’t hesitant to ask their team to reach those organizational goals. Dawn says every manager’s brand should include a little bit of the Performance Driver. KD says sometimes you can be a little detached with your humanity here – just driving for results is okay, but it’s not growing your employees and as a result, over time it can fall flat.
32:22: “The Career Agent” KD claims this is the fully-evolved manager. The Career Agent is approaching their team to get the results through the lens of the employee. It benefits the company and the employee. Overall, Dawn agrees this is the fully-evolved manager. KD says part of being a career agent is investing, developing, and helping people grow and approaching every conversation from the view of the employee – what’s in it for them?.
37:50: KD runs us down the six brands again and the team closes it out.
Resources:
Boss Leadership Training Series
Kinetix
The HR Capitalist
Fistful of Talent
Dawn Burk on LinkedIn
Recruiting Toolbox
Kris Dunn on LinkedIn
KD's Book - The 9 Faces of HR
The podcast currently has 4 episodes available.