Closing the Gap

You know how to prioritize hiring, but do you know how to build a successful talent strategy?

How do we want to hire? Who do we want to hire? Who will work successfully? What areas of the organization need the most significant impact in order to grow the company?

This week's episode is part of a 12-month-long series, where Deborah Snow Walsh will be a repeat guest on the show. Have a question you want her to answer? Drop us a line at [email protected], and we'll be sure to answer it later. Who knows, your question may be the subject of a podcast.

If you're wondering how to impact the talent strategy at your organization positively, this is the episode for you.

1. What is a talent strategy (04:29)
2. How do you interview for people who have the same or similar level of bias or thinking and judgment about you?  (11:52)
3. How do you measure how quickly someone is moving up the proficiency ladder? (19:01)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-walsh-875b932/

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Debbie is a builder of organizations and a talent executive focused on DEI in thought and view. Those are her passions. She has a unique background in sales, having successfully started her career selling large benefits packages to the Fortune 200, working for AXA Equitable. She knew nothing about benefits or the Fortune 200. She was recruited to Lee Hecht Harrison, where she excelled in selling outplacement and coaching services to large, multi-national organizations. When she was recruited again into the search business, she was already focused on female and minority talent and decided to become an entrepreneur and open her own firm. Ultimately, her organization included ten professionals and served companies, including IBM, JPMorgan Chase, the GAP, Pfizer, AXA Equitable, and Prudential. In 2011, she was recruited to Zurich Insurance to run Talent Acquisition, University Relations, and Diversity. She enjoyed the opportunity to see talent in action and build an organization. She returned to outside search and, ultimately, her own firm. Her clients include those from her previous firm and CDW, Icahn Enterprises, Citizens Bank, Pet Supplies Plus, Bloomberg, and AIG.

She focuses on every stage of talent management. That includes talent acquisition, development, management, assimilation, experience, and retention. Debbie’s expertise is in consulting with corporations on their internal policies and practices to make them efficient, executive search, and executive coaching. She has been involved with HRPS and was co-chair of its annual conference and various planning committees. She is part of the original CHREATE team, understanding and addressing the HR leadership of 2025. She is a frequent and popular speaker before business groups.

The average person is overloaded with passwords to remember. What if instead of giving the same old online security training, we started making it about personal privacy? When you think about it, your company has your salary information, your social security details, and your home address, and they have an obligation to make sure it never gets leaked.

By talking about data security in terms of personal privacy, you can not only get the ear of the people in your organization - but you can also make your company more secure. We know that people are sick and tired of passwords, each person has upwards of 97 passwords as of 2022. The answer is not to write your password in a book, it's not writing them in an app, or having a browser remember all your passwords.

What would it look like to go password-less? With the technology we have available today we can rely on biometrics, multi-factor authentication, and single sign on.

In this week's episode, we interview Mircosoft Partner of the year, Denis O'Shea for his take on what data security looks like for 2022 and beyond. If you're wondering how to be more aware of your digital privacy whether you're working at home or in an office, this is the episode for you.

1. Why are you so passionate about the idea of businesses going paper-less, server-less, and password-less? [4:19]
2. After doing a study on how people work in a post-pandemic setting, what did you learn? [6:28]
3. What do people need to do to secure their home office when working remotely?[14:47]
4. What role do generational differences play in the approach to data security? [20:44]
5. A key question in interviews is, "do I have to come into the office?". For people who grew up in a world that was physically unsafe, it relates back to privacy. How much of this drive for privacy is tied to the need for personal agency? [30:48]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisosheamobilementor/

https://endpointecosystem.com/

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Denis O’Shea founded Mobile Mentor in New Zealand in 2004. Since then,

the company has helped millions of people unlock the full potential of their

technology. In 2017, O’Shea moved to Nashville, Tennessee to launch the

company’s US business, with a focus on securing the mobile workforce in

industries such as healthcare, education, finance and government services.

Mobile Mentor is a global leader in the endpoint ecosystem, helping clients to

navigate the right balance between security and employee experience. The

company was named Microsoft’s 2021 Global Partner of the year for Modern

Endpoint Management primarily for their work helping Alive Hospice safely treat

patients during COVID 19. In addition to being a top Microsoft partner, they are also

certified by Apple and Google. Mobile Mentor has recently worked with Vanderbilt

University Medical Center, Michigan Medicine, Mayo Clinic and the US Coast Guard.

What role does your upbringing play in how you address conflict at work? Emotional landmines, abrasive leaders, and lack of emotional intelligence can spell a recipe for disaster in the workplace when left unchecked.

This week's guest, Bonnie Artman Fox, shares her experiences as a coach helping leaders develop healthy interpersonal skills to stop dysfunctional workplace relationships. Whether we like it or not, our family dynamics can often come out to play in our work life. However, we can choose to what degree we allow this energy to dictate our actions.

If you're wondering how to resolve differences sooner and make work relationships stronger - this is the episode for you. Abrasive leaders exist everywhere, listen in for productive conflict strategies, tips, and inspiration from Bonnie.

1. What do healthy coping skills look like in the workplace? How do I know if I'm in fight/flight/freeze? (8:27)
2. What does H.E.R.O.I.C. leadership look like? (17:55)
3. As a manager of an abrasive leader, how do I invite this person to change?(23:45)
4. What behaviors prevent a leader from creating meaningful behavioral change in the workplace? (29:43)

Website

Linkedin

Bonnie's Book: How Did My Family Get in My Office?!

Claim your complimentary 30-minute call at SOSwithBonnie.com

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After working with thousands of clients as psychiatric nurse and licensed family

therapist who were struggling with dysfunctional workplaces, Bonnie Artman Fox

discovered the Workplace Family Factor®: The connection between how conflict

was handled in your upbringing influences how you handle conflict today.

Since 2012, Bonnie has been applying her proprietary system -- Regard the Scar,

Reframe to Stop Blame, Respect and Connect, and Resolve to Evolve to transform

how leaders and employees transform their conflict style from divisive to

collaborative in organizations such as Mitsubishi Electronic Power Products,

Inc., Penco Products, Inc. and Elliott Group.

Bonnie’s unique perspective on conflict resolution is the secret weapon top

organizations turn to defuse conflict and create cultures that work in a profound

and profitable way.

The way we think about ourselves plays a huge role in the outcomes of our lives. Our behaviors, actions, and non-actions are all influenced by the thoughts we hold about ourselves. The human mind on average thinks of 6,000 individual thoughts in 24 hours. How many of these thoughts are serving you?

Our self-awareness and our ability to make decisions is more like a muscle than it is anything else. Willpower is a muscle. Decision-making is a muscle.  Like with any muscle, if you overwork it'll become fatigued. And when it becomes fatigued, it tends not to be able to give you what you need to help you make better decisions or lift the weight of what is happening in front of you.

In this week's episode, we have Resilience and Mindset Expert, Chazz Scott on to share his advice on how we can become more self-aware and empowered to change our thoughts, which will change our behavior, which will change our lives.

1. Give us an example of limiting self-talk. How can I flip it to be empowering or motivating? [06:54]
2. You talk about the idea of a "default network". What contributes to that, and why does it stop us from being the best that we can be? [12:46]
3. After a big life change, there's often a dip in motivation afterward. Does that happen to everybody? And how do I get myself out of that dip? [17:08]

www.chazzscott.com

instagram.com/mr_caviar

https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesscott15/

https://twitter.com/Mr_CaViar

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Charles "Chazz" Scott is a keynote speaker, resilience & mindset expert, and published writer.

​After reading The Power of Positive Thinking by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale just before graduating undergrad, Chazz went through a self-transformation that radically changed his paradigm of life. This new belief within himself led him to work alongside nuclear physicists at a national laboratory, what many consider to be “the smartest square mile on Earth" and encouraged him to start a nonprofit sharing the importance of positive thinking with youth to combat mental health stigmas.

Under his consulting agency, Supra Mentem, LLC. – Chazz specializes in coaching leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals in providing effective strategies to propel individuals toward their potential. His trainings and seminars will leave you equipped with the practical knowledge of the human mind to feel more in control of your life, increase productivity, and gain more fulfillment in life.

Chazz is also the Executive Director & Chief Creative Optimist of Positively Caviar, Inc., a grassroots 501(c)(3) nonprofit, focused on using positive thinking to build mental resilience and disrupt mental health stigmas faced in underserved communities. The organization provides experiential science-based mental wellness workshops rooted in positive psychology to provide youth with preventative tools to curb stress and increase well-being to flourish in life.

Chazz has been named a BE Modern Man by Black Enterprise Magazine, selected as Top 30 Under 30 by HBCU Buzz, and a recipient of The Positive People Award by The Baltimore Times. Chazz is a contributor writer to Thrive Global and The Baltimore Times. He holds both a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and a Master of Science degree in Cyber Security from Hampton University. In addition, he's published multiple cybersecurity research publications in various peer-reviewed journals

Are you leading deliberately in the workplace? The term deliberate means on purpose, it's an intentional action. And that usually also means that we have considered how we want to show up as a leader in the workplace and we're actively making choices to be aligned with that vision of who we want to be in the workplace, whether that's based on our values, what behaviors we want to be doing. 

In this week's episode, Katie McLaughlin, Founder of the McLaughlin Method, talks us through how leaders can use tools like body language, tone, and dialogue to positively impact business results.

Katie describes most leaders as people who are "kind of leading by accident and aren't aware first and foremost that they have choice and that they have the ability to affect behavior and affect change. And then secondly, that once they know that they can do that, how do they want to show up? If they've never thought about what does it mean for me to be the leader I want to be? And how does that look when I'm leading my team?"  

If you're wondering how to positively impact relationships and drive the results you want in your organization, this is the episode for you.

1. Talk to us a little bit about the impact of theater work in the workplace. What do you think it can help us achieve? (12:22)
2. What do people get wrong about body language? Can we really fully understand others just by watching their body? (15:22)
3. Can you tell us more about the role of theater in your programming, the McLaughlin Method? (19:01)

https://mclaughlinmethod.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mclaughlinkatie/

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Katie provides Leadership & Culture transformation for mature startups — helping leaders create inclusive cultures, build emotional intelligence, work through their assumptions & biases so they can actually connect with and get the MOST out of their teams. She does this all through interactive, experiential, theatre-based exercises. Her bias for action is HIGH so attendees to her sessions always leave with at least one action item to immediately do to shift something in your behavior, relationships, and company. Working with Katie, you benefit from the powerhouse combo of her theatre background and over 15 years in the heart of business strategy, organizational development, and change

In this episode we cover, the five fundamental skills all great managers and leaders master, from motivating people to developing self-awareness. We cover three distinct tools at your disposal as a boss—and when to use each. Thrasher also covers proven approaches to the key manager responsibilities, from setting clear goals with employees to keeping people accountable (without becoming the dreading micromanager) to attracting superstars to the team.

If you're wondering how to positively influence employee engagement in your organization, this is the episode for you.

1. What should we be training individual contributors for vs. a manager? (12:30)
2. How do you succession plan for an individual contributor moving into a managerial role? (13:46)
3. How can leaders better understand their team's motivations? (21:00)

Check out Alicia Thrasher's Book, The Manager's Playbook.

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Alicia Thrasher is the co-founder and CEO of MGR360, a leadership development and software company based in Austin, Texas. She is the coauthor, with Joel Trammell, of The Manager’s Playbook: Make Exceptional People Management Your Competitive Advantage.

With more than 20 years of management experience in the information technology and consulting space, Alicia understands what it takes to manage people effectively, even through the most complex situations. Before becoming CEO of MGR360, she brought her leadership, vision, and strategic oversight to many executive positions, including leading programs for eBay/PayPal, Google, and Anheuser-Busch.

Alicia graduated with a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin with a concentration in Management Information Systems. She also holds Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Scrum Master (CSM) certifications.

 “The past year has presented an unprecedented shift in the U.S. economy. The demand for workers came soaring back after it dipped low during the pandemic, and millions of workers have retired early, quit their jobs or otherwise stayed on the sidelines. Now more than ever, strong leadership is necessary to help organizations stay ahead of these continuing challenges.

In her new book, The Manager’s Playbook: Make Exceptional People Management Your Competitive Advantage (January 2022), management expert Alicia Thrasher draws on her decades of experience to provide new and powerful strategies for better people management.”

Do you know how judgment shows up in your thought process? Judgment is human, we don't (yet) live in an AI world, where all decisions are powered by data and statistics. Instead, we're synthesizing information ourselves, often through the lenses of emotion, bias, and past experiences.

When you're coming up with solutions to a challenge - do you go with the first solution you come up with? Or do you tend to brainstorm and weigh multiple options? This is an example of practical decision-making strategies.

If you're wondering how to positively understand and leverage the judgments you make in strategic decision-making, this is the episode for you.

1. What role does judgment play in our decision-making at work? [3:30]
2. System bias, people bias, and processing bias all play a role in our decision-making. What does that mean? [9:50]
3. When you're a leader, every suggestion you make is going to be picked up by someone in the room as an action item. How do you set clear expectations with your team to avoid unintended workflows?[14:22]
4. If I'm a leader and I want to understand anything from succession planning, hiring, risk assessments, etc - how do I get better at this? [22:00]

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ccsuccess/

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Pam is known for her passion for people and facilitating positive change for anyone in need with an open mind.  She enjoys being an executive coach and helping people discover their strengths to make life transformations. Pam has helped design and run several leadership programs at ASU and continues to help organizations with executive staffing and team building.  She appreciates her many opportunities to work with others and being a part of their discovery process, including running Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead™ program as a Certified Facilitator and running Conversational Intelligence™ by Judith Glaser.

Pam's passion for performance grew throughout her athletic career and playing volleyball for the University of Washington.  She studied organizational and interpersonal development in her first masters and counseling in her second.   She uses her assessment tools and understanding of people to create workshops and experiences that can create transformational performance breakthroughs for both individuals and teams. She loves all the work coming out of neuroscience today and what actually leads to better performers and what helps us enjoy life to the fullest.

 She has presented to large groups, such as the Philip 66 – International Conference and Baxter Asia Pacific's International Strategic Thinking Workshop in Shanghai. She has facilitated large groups in Dare to Lead ™ and been a part of the smaller conferences such as BADD, 101 Black Women's Coalition, and ASU's Commission on the Status of Women and is a Master SPARK facilitator for ASU.

In her spare time, she loves to riding her bike, hiking, sailing and even playing a bit of golf now with her husband.

It's easy to check skills boxes - it's harder to tell how well someone will adapt, collaborate, and evolve. Will they be able to play well with others in the sandbox of your organization? Some people are great with complex matrix organizations, while others thrive in small businesses. How do you know what your organization needs in terms of game-changing talent?

When looking to source new talent, we can start by looking at senior leaders and what they anticipate will be upcoming in terms of people leaving the organization, aging out of the organization, or wanting to grow in the organization. In any business, there are areas of "evergreen" talent. These refer to any areas of the business where we are always looking for talent to drive business and move the needle in a meaningful way. We are always hiring for the next impact player, aka someone who will bring change to the organization. This can mean Heads of Sales, Marketing Leaders, Production Managers, etc.

If you're wondering how to positively drive talent strategy in your organization, this is the episode for you. This week, we interview Deborah Snow Walsh for her expert take on the future of talent development.

This week's episode is part of a 12-month long series, where Deborah Snow Walsh will be a repeat guest on the show. Have a question you want her to answer? Drop us a line at [email protected] and we'll be sure to answer it later this year.

• What does a good talent strategy look like? (4:14)
• How does a business hire talent for 2-3 years out, when we can only see about. one year out? (7:20)
• What is the risk of hiring for “culture match”? How is this affecting organization’s productivity and ability to adapt to changing world? (11:49)
• We're finding some managers are still resistant to remote work, what would you say to them? (14:00)
• How do we measure people's proficiency after being onboarded? (18:49)

Follow her on Linkedin

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Debbie is a builder of organizations and a talent executive, focused on DEI in thought and view.  Those are her passions.  She has a unique background in sales, having successfully started her career selling large benefits packages to the Fortune 200, working for AXA Equitable.  She knew nothing about benefits, or the Fortune 200.   She was recruited to Lee Hecht Harrison, where she excelled in selling outplacement and coaching services to large, multi national organizations.  When she was recruited again into the search business, she was already focused on female and minority talent and made the decision to become an entrepreneur and open her own firm. 

Ultimately, her organization included ten professionals and served companies including IBM, JPMorgan Chase, the GAP, Pfizer, AXA Equitable, and Prudential among others.  In 2011 she was recruited to Zurich Insurance to run Talent Acquisition, University Relations and Diversity.  She enjoyed the opportunity to see talent in action and build an organization.  She returned to outside search and ultimately her own firm.  Her clients include those from her previous firm as well as CDW, Icahn Enterprises, Citizens Bank, Pet Supplies Plus, Bloomberg and AIG.

She focuses on everything Talent: acquisition, development, management, assimilation, experience and retention.  Debbie’s expertise is in consulting with corporations on their internal policies and practices to make them efficient, executive search and executive coaching.  She has been involved with HRPS, was co-chair of its annual conference and various planning committees.  She is part of the original CHREATE team, understanding and addressing the HR leadership of 2025.  She is frequent and popular speaker before business groups.

How does feedback delivery need to be adjusted for remote vs. in person environments? Often times, organizations will launch a new peer-to-peer feedback initiative, without first training employees on what good feedback looks like and feels like. Toxic feedback is much more damaging to workplace morale than a culture where no feedback is given at all. However, we know that once we nail giving and receiving healthy feedback - organizations thrive.

If you're wondering how to assess where your organization is at in terms of maturity around peer-to-peer feedback, this is the episode for you. Our host, Denise Cooper is interviewed by Alexa Greer on the ins and outs of feedback best practices to bring feedback conversations from "Ouch" to "Oh my".

1. How do you assess if your organization is ready for peer-to-peer feedback? What is your maturity around feedback? [3:55]
2. Skilled feedback vs unskilled feedback. I’ve had situations where I’ve gotten feedback from someone that wasn’t very helpful or kind. [13:55]
3. How does an organization prepare their teams to give skilled feedback? Does it differ remote vs. hybrid [22:19]

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Denise Cooper is the Head of People Operations at Pack4U.Her expertise and wisdom are grounded in neuro-leadership, behavioral & psychological principles along with 25 years of experience. Denise has worked across a wide range of industries and organizations from Fortune 500 corporations, small to mid-market & nonprofit businesses. Change is impacting every aspect of business and executives need leadership skills that inspire trust, enable quick response times, clarify purpose and create work cultures where belonging and contribution are foundational principles.

How would you rate your collaboration skills? Do you have what it takes to "have a vision" and grow into a leader in your line of work?

The good news is - we can teach you how to be a leader. In many ways, teaching someone to be an individual contributor is harder. As an individual contributor, you're hired for the technical skills you bring to the table. Hiring managers look at your resume and can typically see whether or not you have the skills needed to succeed in the job or not. However, just because someone is an amazing individual contributor does not mean they'll succeed in a leadership role. Great salespeople don't always make great managers.

In 90% of organizations, the only way you can move up within an organization is by becoming a manager. While you can make a lot of money as an individual contributor, you won't be able to move up without leadership skills.

This week, we interview Deborah Snow Walsh for her expert take on the future of work. Snow Walsh's expertise includes consulting for corporations regarding their internal policies, executive search processes, and coaching for leaders. She has been involved with HRPS, and was co-chair of its annual conference and various planning committees.

This week's episode is part of a 12-month-long series, where Deborah Snow Walsh will be a repeat guest on the show. Have a question you want her to answer? Drop us a line at [email protected], and we'll be sure to answer it later this year.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-walsh-875b932/

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