Frontline Innovators

Kristi Walker, Change Management Consultant at Arizona Public Service, joins host Justin Lake to discuss the constant changes that frontline workers are seeing and what tools are out there to make their lives easier. With over 20 years of experience in change management, she was also the assistant executive director at the Arizona Exposition and State Fair.  

Takeaways 

• The biggest challenge facing the deskless worker today is the transfer of information between people.

Quote of the show:

0:43 “The biggest challenge for them right now is communications. We have such a hard time making sure that they get the information they need to be successful. We've worked with their leadership to get involved, they have these tailgate meetings before the start of every shift. You really have to get in front of them, kind of face-to-face if you can, to get the information across. So that's our main way of working with them, but we're always exploring new ways to really reach out and make sure they have what they need.”

Links

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristiwalsh/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS 

Listening to deskless workers can provide valuable feedback for those in the management position. On this episode of Frontline Innovators, host Justin Lake is joined by Shelby Matzell, Manager, Gas Transformation Change Office at National Grid. Together they talk about how utilizing feedback from the frontline workers can make those hard workers feel heard and understood, while also answering questions that management may not have known where being asked. 

Takeaways 

• The biggest challenge facing deskless workers today is being able to reach them with communication. 

Quote of the show:

11:51 “I would say if we could just take their feedback from any form that we're able to get that from, whether it's a survey, live feedback, anything that they're requesting more info on, or just like we talked about a tool.

If it's a tool that they need a refresher on, whatever it is that they're asking for. And if we have the ability to deliver that for them doing the best we can to meet them where they need to be. Because I do think if we were able to take their feedback or their suggestions and deliver, then they would be more receptive to anything else that we bring to them in terms of communication or in terms of what they need to know for their role, and being able to deliver that as well.”

Links

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelby-matzell-22b35122/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS 

Corbin Kimberling, the ITSM Change Manager at Sage Therapeutics, knows that the process in change management and being proactive is key to change management success. Along with host Justin Lake, they go over ways that successful change can help those on the frontline, as well as the role empathy plays in understanding the struggles of the deskless workers.

Takeaways 

• The biggest issue facing the deskless workers today is the communication gap between those in upper management and the frontline workers themselves. 

Quote of the show:

4:33 “People that create these new changes to applications, new changes to infrastructure, their intention is to help out and to make it better. A lot of times what's causing these changes are the people that are on the frontline. They're sending in a ticket saying, ‘hey, it'd be better if it worked here.’

And I think the assumption is, well, if I go out there and change that everyone's going to celebrate me and I'm going to be great. It's gonna be awesome. And they forget exactly what they've asked for. But that was one person and that one person, may be in a specific place where they may not understand what all the other people are going through.”

Links

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corbinkimberling/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS 

After working at companies like eBay and Sports Authority doing business and system analysis, Ashish Nangia, Program Manager II of Configuration and Change Management at Amazon, Inc. went back to school to learn about something he is passionate about; management information systems. Ashish, joins host Justin Lake to discuss ways that upper management can show their appreciation for deskless workers and come up with solutions for everyday issues that they face. 

Takeaways 

• The biggest challenge facing the frontline workers right now is making sure they feel more valued and wanted. 

Quote of the show: 

1:06 “What has not been taken into consideration is the thought process and the feelings that somebody who's at the front end, who doesn't have that flexibility goes through. And I think as a leader and as bigger companies, I think those thought processes are now being thought of at the front end. And some of the changes are coming through.

You see companies offering education, or funding, college tuition, and so on. So the biggest challenge is how do you make them feel more valued? So it's a level playing field for everybody in the organization.”

Links

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashishnangia-solution1/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS 

On this episode of Frontline Innovators, Michelle Pacilli, the Change Adoption Manager at Echo Global Logistics, joins host Justin Lake to talk about the biggest challenges facing frontline workers today and how a sense of community amongst deskless workers and management can help those on the frontline get through issues they are facing. 

Takeaways 

• The biggest challenge that frontline workers face today is how they can make working from home easier on themselves.

Quote of the Show: 

1:34 “The silver lining of everything that's happened over the last two years is that we've developed a community in a sense, in any aspect, whether that be at work or at home frontline workers.

We've developed this sense of 'got to get through this together and what are you doing to help you get through this?’ And so it's very interesting.” 

Links

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-pacilli-0636946a/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS 

Maddie Neuman shares her admiration for the bravery and courage of frontline workers - particularly during the pandemic. Neauman, is the Manager, Learning & Development & Organizational Change Management Office within the Technology organization at T-Mobile. She joins host Justin Lake to give her insight on how upper management can show appreciation for those deskless workers.

Takeaways 

• The biggest issue facing the deskless worker is the lack of communication. Sometimes communication can be like a game of telephone tag and the meaning of the message gets lost on the way to those on the frontline.

Quote of the show:

1:28  “I think sometimes even if communication is trickling down, it changes and morphes as it moves along. And so I think sometimes the issue is the lack of communication.

And sometimes the issue is the changing of the communication as it makes its way through. So I think that's a really big challenge. And I would also say an opportunity for organizations to look at how to get that right, and how to make sure that employee voices and sentiment from the frontline is heard and taken seriously.”

Links

• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maddieneuman/

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS 

Today’s guest is a former frontline employee, and uses his past experience to help make life easier for other deskless workers. Lee Goldstein is a Change Manager at a major energy corporation, and he joins host Justin Lake to give his insight on how to help those frontline employees and make their lives easier through the use of new technology.

Takeaways 

• The biggest challenge that deskless workers face today is communication. Often these employees are working odd hours, holidays, and weekends which makes it difficult for them to reach someone in management with any issues or questions.

Quote of the show:

12:04 “There's two real parts to project management, change management, if you will. There's the technical side and then there's the people side. So I was on the technical side, so if you're creating a product or you're introducing something, building something, whatever, just call it technical. And then there's the people side of it. 

So I really made that jump from the operations technical side over to the people side because I've tried to tell people, it's just that altruistic jump that you make at some point. You really want to help people. And it might not make sense, but it's a path to get to the people in a new and special and impactful way. And so for the past couple of years, I've been in a change management role and it's been incredible.”

Links

• LinkedIn:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-goldstein-7756ab30/

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS 

Making sure the lights and power stay on are often things that are taken for granted, but the men and women on the frontlines are hard at work every day keeping everything going. Kurt Kidwell, a continuous improvement manager for a major electric utility, joins the host Justin Lake to talk about ways that management can listen to those on the frontline and come up with helpful solutions to their problems. 

Takeaways 

• The biggest challenge facing the deskless worker right now is how virtual meetings impact those frontline employees. Virtual meetings make it difficult to connect with those working outside on the frontline.

Quote of the show:

17:08 In terms of developing new technology... “what sounds good in an office - most times that isn't good in the field. And a lot of times we see a transfer of responsibility of gathering information down to the field and it's not intentional. I think it's something that as this technology develops and we're learning and I'm trying to get better. It's something that kind of just happens and we have to really be careful to be mindful and watch what responsibilities and what things that are we asking of our frontline employees to do.”

Links

• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurt-kidwell-2a38811b/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS 

With technology constantly evolving, it can be difficult for deskless workers to keep up with all the change. Nikki Tollefson, Principal Change Consultant, Human Resources at C.H. Robinson, joins host Gene Signorini to give her insight on how to properly execute changing technology for those on the frontline without overwhelming them at the same time. 

Takeaways 

• Over the last 18 months, frontline workers have been faced with so much change to make their role more efficient but at the same time it creates a challenge of trying to avoid so much change at one time.

Quote of the show:

5:15   “Our employees, whether they sit at a desk or they're on that frontline, they're that deskless worker, have more going on than they've ever had going on before. And how I think that's shifted my approach to how I think about the work that I do is I think how do I make it less about my change really in some ways. 

Because again, I think if we can get really, really excited about the project that we're working on and how do I make it more about what's going to make sense for them. And really that is my guiding principle that I've tried to use over this last year specifically is don't over-engineer it right? Like, keep it as simple as possible for people.”

Links

• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkimtollefson/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS 

Sean Higgins, Organizational Change Manager for Insight Global, has empathy for the frontline workers after his time working at a grocery store. He uses this empathy to better relate to those deskless workers and the struggles that they face on a daily basis. 

On this episode of Frontline Innovators, Sean and Justin discuss how the deskless worker can be better prepared for the changes in technology that they face. 

Takeaways 

• The way in which the roles will be changing for frontline employees in terms of new technology being implemented is one of the biggest challenges they face. 

Quote of the show:

9:30 "​​When I went into some of the stores as part of the team to develop the training, update the communications and so forth - there was, I don't want to say equal group, but - there was a group of people, very excited about being able to use technology in their day-to-day work.

So maybe they had been in a role in that store for a few years. They'd done different things, different departments. Now they're introducing this kind of new, fresh way of working. It's got a high profile, you get a different shirt than the rest of the employees. So you also want to leverage that too.”

Links

• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanmhigginsohio/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS