Strategic Momentum

This is my July Column for Shared Services Online, titled “Managing for the Future of Work: Human-Centered Management & The Employee Experience.” You can find the column at https://www.ssonetwork.com/contributor/connie-steele and I’ll also be sharing audio versions of each article as bonus episodes in the podcast feed.

• Shared Services Online: https://www.ssonetwork.com/contributor/connie-steele
• Strategic Momentum Episode 112: https://www.conniewsteele.com/episodes/112

I just started a column over at Shared Services Online titled “The Future is Human: Understanding & Shaping the Future of Work.” You can find the column at https://www.ssonetwork.com/contributor/connie-steele and I’ll also be sharing audio versions of each article as bonus episodes in the podcast feed.

Shared Services Online: https://www.ssonetwork.com/contributor/connie-steele

We like to think every season of Strategic Momentum has a story. We don’t necessarily plan the narrative, but one of the best parts of making the season is watching the story unfold as our guests touch on similar themes and concepts. So we end every season with one of these compilation episodes to highlight the way our experts’ insights, tactics, and strategies compliment each other — and to save you a little time if you aren’t able to listen to every episode but want to better prepare yourself for the future of work.

And in this season, I think we were really able to see how the world of work has been changing in real time as we all adapt to new levels of uncertainty. And we got a lot of great advice for how individuals can navigate the unique challenges that present themselves today — and, perhaps more critically, why organizations need to change to adapt to this new human-centric era of work and how they can start.

Key Takeaways for Individuals

• Give yourself permission to pause, reevaluate, recalibrate, and re-imagine your life.
• Success is about playing where you fit best so that you can be your best self.
• If you have a long-game mindset, there is no finite destination. But that doesn’t mean there’s no success — it’s this mindset that allows you to say, “I'm winning today,” every single day.
• “There's no one who can force you to be less than who you are, but it puts the onus on you to figure out what you can be and go after it.” —Elaine Pofeldt
• Want to find your purpose? Do the continuous work of trying to assess what you're interested in, what the market wants, and what you're good at. It will take some testing and learning to find the sweet spot. The journey is not a straight path.
• Go all-in on your strengths and delegate your weaknesses. Of course, you have to figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are, first.
• To understand what you can truly delegate, document what you do everyday over a two week period. Once you have that written down, then you can identify who the right people are to help you with these various tasks/initiatives  based on this information. 
• You are doing yourself a disservice if you’re not “info sponging,” or taking what you learn in one area of your life and applying that to other areas of your life. Learning to connect these dots, even when things may not seem related, has a compounding effect.
• Remember the 3 components of the Free Time framework:
• Align - should you be doing this in the first place? And if something about the work is not aligned, how can you realign it and recalibrate. Think about how you are systematizing the spirit of your business and remember there's no point in optimizing something that no longer needs to be done.
• Design - Get clarity and be intentional in designing how you’re going to tackle the work before you start.
• Assign - Ensure you can stay really focused on the work that you’re uniquely gifted to do by delegating everything else that you can. 
• Your calendar should reflect your values, including things such as taking care of yourself and ensuring quality friendships. This requires thinking in advance about how you want to spend your time because the difference between traction and distraction is forethought.
• You can think of your values as attributes that reflect the person you want to become. You can also break them into the three life domains of you, your relationships, and your work.
• Being strategic and intentional with your time is a skill like anything else. Don't expect to know exactly what direction you want to go in for the rest of your life right now. Just start by getting into the mindset and habits of a person who is strategic. Things start to get easier from there.
• As an employee, you can help create a better employee experience by assuming positive intent and providing the feedback that can make their organization better because every employee can be a leader too. This way you can also help bridge the experience gap that exists.

Key Takeaways for Organizations

• The State of Work and Career Success 2022 survey shows that when individuals feel successful with the progress they are making in their career, it not only positively impacts their personal and professional goals but also influences their likelihood to stay with their company, be committed, and even recommend it to others. 
• Only 29% of those who feel unsuccessful when it comes to their career progress respond that they plan to stay at their current job. This is in contrast with 64% of those who feel highly successful with their career progress. And we see very similar responses when it comes to recommending the organization and their commitment to it.
• For many of us, there is also a level of uncertainty that never existed before. Is that job worth the time you’re losing with your family, with yourself? Will you still have that job if things take a turn for the worst again? Is that job worth potentially risking your life for?
• Partially as a result, people are, many for the first time, seeing an opportunity to take control of their careers, whether that’s by leaving their job for a better one or by going solo.
• For companies to create a great employee experience, they have to shift from being metrics-led to being purpose-led.
• This isn’t just a nice thing to do. With staffing shortages prevalent, you won’t be able to attract or retain the right workforce to help you accomplish your business goals if you don’t make some changes.
• Delivering a great employee experience enables people to be able to bring their whole selves to work. It’s about creating that sense of belonging so that people are not afraid to be vulnerable because that’s when the greatest learning can happen. 
• Employee experience refers to the beliefs, feelings, attitudes, and behaviors that result from your job experience and is composed of the task experience, social experience, and fulfillment experience.
• There are four critical elements that are involved in creating a great employee experience: purpose, agency, belonging, and recognition.
• A company is just one collection of people who are on a mission to help another set of people. As a CEO/leader, your job is to not only provide direction but provide the safest path forward so that we can achieve that mission.
• Don’t focus too much on outcomes. If you’re focused on helping the people you serve and the people within your organization, you will drive growth in the process. Because organizations don’t create outcomes — people create outcomes.
• Leadership needs to truly embody the values the company stands for and constantly check with others to ensure it’s being realized. Otherwise, you will have people leave.
• There needs to be education and vocalization regarding the desire to establish a culture of belonging across every layer of the organization to ultimately create a diverse workforce. 
• Look at your end-to-end recruitment experience to ensure you have that strategic alignment from the beginning across the technology, tools, and people involved.
• Understand that the tools you use may have unconscious biases embedded in them, which perpetuates the problems in identifying talent at its core. 

Listen to full episodes from this season:

• Ep. 104 - Becoming Your Own Boss: A Look at Tiny Businesses That Make Big Money - with Elaine Pofeldt
• Ep. 105 - Supporting NextGen Leaders: Winning At Business & Life on Your Terms - with Justin Lafazan & Dylan Gambardella
• Ep. 106 - Just Work: Taking Control & Being an Upstander to Fight Workplace Injustice - with Kim Scott
• Ep. 107 - Free Time: How to Reduce Overwhelm, Burnout, & Busywork - with Jenny Blake
• Ep. 108 - What Workers Want: Insights from the 2022 State of Work and Career Success Study - with Gina Woodall and Scott Vanderbilt
• Ep. 109 - Cultivating the Collective & The Constant Pursuit of Purpose - with Hooman Radfar
• Ep. 110 - Time Management is Pain Management: How to Be Indistractable - with Nir Eyal
• Ep. 111 - Mogul: Creating A Circular Model for Global Good & Bridging the Diversity Gap - with Tiffany Pham
• Ep. 112 - Employee Experience: Why Fulfillment Matters & How to Close the Experience Gap - with Jill Popelka

Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast:

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The world of work has fundamentally changed from one that is siloed, sequential, rigid, and conformist to one that's much more fluid, collaborative, multimodal, and individual. People are truly recognizing the importance of being able to bring their whole self to work — and, for the first time for many of us, feeling like they should be empowered to bring their whole self to work.

And today, we’re talking all about the employee experience in a post-COVID world with Jill Popelka. 

Jill is the author of the new book “Experience, Inc: Why Companies That Uncover Purpose, Create Connection, and Celebrate Their People Will Triumph.” She’s also the President of SAP SuccessFactors and a sincere believer that purpose drives people, and people drive business performance to help the world run better and improve people’s lives.

Resources:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillpopelka/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JillPopelka
• Read: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60308614-experience-inc

Tiffany Pham is the Founder & CEO of Mogul, the largest platform for diverse talent worldwide. Mogul has impacted over 430,000,000 people across 195 countries and 30,470 cities, and it all started with a desire to create a place where women and minority talent could come together to find opportunities, information, and resources to help their career journeys.

In addition to being a successful entrepreneur who is changing the game when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion, she’s also a TV personality, an award-winning film producer, and the bestselling Author of “You Are a Mogul” and “Girl Mogul.”

This episode shares so much of what I want to spotlight on this show: what it looks like when you relentlessly pursue purpose, how that passion can help build a portfolio career and a company that focuses on bringing positive change in the world, and the winding path filled with constant growth that we have to walk down to flourish. Plus, a really lovely story about how her grandmother inspired it all.

Learn more and find the complete show notes at https://www.conniewsteele.com/podcast

Resources:

• Learn more about Mogul: https://onmogul.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tifftpham/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tifftpham/

Nir Eyal’s latest book (“Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life”) is an indispensable resource in our uncertain world.

Nir goes beyond just providing good time management tips — although he has quite a few of those — by helping us get to the root of why we get distracted in the first place so that we can actively shift from being distractible to being indistractable.

And the best part is that these strategies are surprisingly simple. They help you take a big problem — planning your work AND life — and break it down into manageable, solvable situations. And while you’re focusing on what you can do tomorrow, you’ll end up building habits that make everything easier in the future.

Learn more and find the complete show notes at https://www.conniewsteele.com/podcast

Resources:

• nirandfar.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nireyal
• Read "Indistractable:" https://www.nirandfar.com/indistractable/

Hooman Radfar is the co-founder and CEO of Collective, the world’s first online, back-office platform designed to support businesses-of-one. He’s a passionate and purpose-driven leader, and the confidence he has in his purpose is admirable.

And I am thrilled to share his journey with all of you today because I think it really speaks to one of my favorite things — the transformative power of learning to redefine success as progress.

Learn more and find the complete show notes at https://www.conniewsteele.com/podcast

Resources:

• Learn more about Collective: https://collective.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/collectivedotcom/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hooman/

I am obsessed with studying what people truly want out of work. As people, not employees. I want to understand the “business of work” — the who, what, when, where, and why that makes people and the companies they work for thrive or fail. What holds people back? What gets people stuck? And what does it take to create positive momentum?

Making this podcast is part of that. Writing “Building the Business of You” was part of that. But I want my work in the Future of Work space to be built on a foundation of data — and that’s why I started the State of Work and Career Success two years ago.

We just launched the second annual report, titled What Workers Want, last week. And today, I’d like to introduce two research partners who worked with me to make this possible, Gina Woodall and Scott Vanderbilt.

Learn more and find the complete show notes at https://www.conniewsteele.com/podcast

Resources:

• Read the Report: ​​http://whatworkerswant.com/
• Learn more about Rockbridge Associates: https://rockresearch.com/
• Connect with Gina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginawoodall/
• Connect with Scott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-vanderbilt-375b36/

Jenny Blake is an author and podcaster who helps entrepreneurs move from friction to flow through smarter systems, powered by Delightfully Tiny Teams. Her third book, “Free Time,” launches March 22 — and it’s just in time for me!

It's easy to get caught up in just getting things done without really stopping to think how it could get done faster or better, or if you're really the right person to be getting it done at all. And "Free Time" is made specifically for people who are struggling with busywork, what Jenny calls the bottleneck in the way of your profit and potential.

After reading the book, I've been thinking about my business and what I do in it completely differently, and I'm so excited for the rest of the world to get ahold of this.

Anyone who preorders a hardcover or ebook edition prior to 3/22/22 is eligible for the Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus. They can submit their receipt to receive instant, early access to the audiobook edition, with instructions on how to gift one early copy of the audiobook to a friend.

Learn more and find the complete show notes at https://www.conniewsteele.com/podcast

Resources:

• Pre-order “Free Time” before 3/22/22 to get access to the BOGO bonus
• Instagram: @jennyblakenyc
• Facebook: facebook.com/JennyBlakeNYC
• LinkedIn:.linkedin.com/in/jennyblake

Kim Scott is all about creating workplace environments where everyone can really be their best selves and reach their growth potential, and her latest book “Just Work” offers a valuable framework and set of tools to help address many of the workplace injustices that too many of us have endured over the years. 

The book is timely because it reflects how the traditional norms are fundamentally changing. The future of work will center around a workplace that respects everyone’s individuality while also enabling them to collaborate effectively so we can ultimately do our best work.

To create that ideal workplace, leaders have to understand that it’s their responsibility to create a just work environment — and learn how to be what Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo calls an upstander.

In my conversation with Dr. Zimbardo in episode 18, he talked about the bystander effect. That’s when we observe injustice happening, but take no action or even confront it. An upstander is someone who takes action in these situations.

And I think being an upstander when you see bias, prejudice, or bullying in the workplace is something that many people have wanted to do but have never felt they had the ability to do. So it's wonderful to now have a framework and a set of tools so that we can all collectively work towards a better workplace.

Kim’s first book was “Radical Candor: How to Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity.” But she had a conversation that helped her realize that being radically candid isn’t equally easy for everyone — particularly people of color who already have to navigate bias and stereotypes.

Kim realized that she, like almost all business leaders, had played a role in preventing Just Work in the past, both in the sense of justice and in the sense of just getting stuff done. 

We aren’t usually doing this on purpose. But when we don’t use our power to be upstanders and make work a place where everyone feels supported, we are still perpetuating injustice.

Workplace injustice is not a monolithic problem, it has specific parts. And if you can break a big problem down into smaller parts, it becomes easier to solve.

Kim identifies the root causes of workplace injustice as bias, prejudice, and bullying, and the way we respond to each problem is different:

Bias is unintentional. It's an unconscious thought that we have, but not a conviction or belief. 

Kim shares a real story of a situation where two teams were meeting to negotiate a deal. One team was composed of two men and one woman. As the other side filed into the room, they  ended up sitting by the two men leaving the one woman alone at the end. That woman was the one that had the most expertise for her team and was the one who could win the deal. However, the other side was only addressing questions to her colleagues.

This is where a male co-worker was able to use an ‘I statement’ to be an upstander. When he stood up and said “I think we should switch seats,” it made everyone realize what was happening, made a victim of injustice feel more respected, and allowed them to get back to work. That’s often all it takes to address bias; kindly making people aware of it.

Prejudice is a conscious, negative belief about another person, usually rooted in cultural stereotypes. 

Kim shares an experience that her business partner witnessed. They were hiring and the best candidate was a Black woman with natural hair, yet the hiring manager said they couldn’t hire her because of her hair.

The best way to deal with prejudice in the moment is with an ‘It statement,’ as opposed to  a ‘You statement’ or ‘I statement.’ A You statement (e.g. You are being racist) can feel accusatory and make the person defensive. An ‘I statement’ (e.g. I don’t think we should do this) frames the situation around conflict.

An ‘It statement’ reframes the situation a little more objectively: it is illegal not to hire someone because of their hair, it is an HR violation not to hire someone because of the way they look, etc. But also an ‘It’ statement also draws that line between one person's freedom to believe whatever they want, but they can't impose that belief on others.

Bullying is simply being mean with the intent to cause harm.

This is where you might want to deploy a ‘You statement’ like ‘you can’t talk to me like that’ or ‘why are you acting like this?’ It pushes the other person away and asserts that you’re not going to submit to their behavior, and bullying is usually about trying to assert power or dominance.

Too often many of us default to staying silent because we don’t know how to respond in those situations. However, it’s important to identify the risk/reward of doing so. In that moment, you could give the other person an opportunity to do the right thing or the victim of injustice the support they need.

There are of course other workplaces challenges which occur. In particular, when you layer power and official authority on top of bias, prejudice and bullying that’s when you get discrimination, harassment, and physical violations. 

If that is happening to you, document what's happening to you as you will want to build solidarity with others. That in the end will help you manage the situation better. Also look for upstanders. It’s actually a power move to call out to others because you are asking for an investment in you because you deserve it.

In “Just Work,” there is a 2x2 grid. The X axis is labeled conformity on one side and individuality on the other while the Y axis is labeled coercion and collaboration.

Source: Just Work

“Just Work” aims to optimize collaboration and individuality, but that’s not the case with a lot of our workplaces today. Many organizations today want nothing more than conformity, but that often explicitly excludes underrepresented people. And I think we’ve all experienced both subtle and not-so-subtle versions of coercion at work, and that doesn’t make anyone feel happier or more fulfilled.

This is where leaders have a huge responsibility to be upstanders — because they have the most power to be an upstander, combat injustice so that people feel respected as individuals, and facilitate collaboration.

Leadership Advice

Be open to criticism as a leader and solicit feedback. Your goal should be to lay your power down so that you can get on a level playing field and build real relationships with everyone on your team.

• If you think you’re experiencing or witnessing bias, try using an ‘I statement.’
• If you think like you're dealing with prejudice, try an ‘It statement.’
• If you think you’re dealing with bullying, try a ‘You statement.’
• If you’re not sure what kind of injustice you’re dealing with, just try one and see what happens. You can always adjust. Don’t let the fear of not getting it right the first time prevent you from being an upstander.
• It also gives the other person the opportunity to possibly do the right thing, or at least show who that person really is.
• You’ll get your sentiments out vs. harboring those feelings, which can cause that emotional stress over time.
• It becomes a learning opportunity to help everyone learn how to effectively address situations like that going forward. 
• As a leader, it’s important to quantify bias and at each stage of the employee life cycle in order to prevent discrimination at your company.
• Make sure that there are checks and balances in your systems so that you're not giving unilateral authority to any one person. When a hiring manager has unilateral authority, for example, it's much more likely that they're going to abuse that power in a way that combines bias, prejudice, or bullying with power, which will result in harassment.
• If you are in a situation where the system is broken, there isn’t any objectivity in those senior leadership positions, and people don’t feel they can truly speak up, it’s okay to choose to leave the company if that is an option for you.
• When you get too much coercion and conformity, the result is a sort of brutal ineffectiveness.
• To resist that gravitational pull towards coercion and conformity, work with your team to create bias disruptors: create a shared vocabulary around bias, develop shared norms on how to respond to injustice, and check for potential biases that could be manifesting even when no one brings them up.

Resources:

• Learn more at kimmalonescott.com
• Read: “Just Work”
• Instagram: @radicalcandorofficial
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kimm4

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