Work and the Future

If you watch any kind of high level sports, you have to marvel at how much training it takes to get to an elite level as well as the training it takes to perform on game day. Doing things under pressure is not the same as doing them day to day in practice, and that is something to think about in the business arena as well. What are the lessons that elite athletes can give business leaders in terms of how to perform? To talk about that, we are joined on this episode by Diana Drury, Director of Team and Executive Coaching at the Smith School of Business at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. Diana is an expert on how athletes succeed, and on how leaders can learn from them on how to get through challenges and succeed themselves and she shares with us lessons from athletes that leaders can apply to their own careers.

Guest:

Diana Drury is the Director of Team & Executive Coaching at Smith School of Business. She is an experienced Team Performance Coach, Counsellor, College Professor and Facilitator. Diana is responsible for the overall leadership of the team and executive coaching programs which operate across 11 of the Smith School of Business MBA and Master’s programs and Queen’s Executive Education. She also works extensively with outside organizations. She has over 30 years’ experience working with high performing teams as an Administrator, Athletic Director, Coach and as an athlete at the College, University, Provincial and National levels. She has been the recipient of numerous coaching awards. She also competes as an athlete nationally representing Canada at the World Masters Games. To date, Diana has been inducted into seven Halls of Fames across Canada as an Athlete, Builder and Coach.

The post Episode 56: What Can Business Leaders Learn from Olympic Athletes? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

At one time mental health may have been a subject that organizations wanted to avoid discussing, but those days are rapidly disappearing .  With the pandemic still ongoing, this is a very difficult time for many and as it is taking a toll on mental well-being.  In turn, organizations are starting to realize that supporting their workers means supporting their productivity.   Our guest today is Paula Allen, Global Leader and SVP, Research and Total Wellbeing at Lifeworks. Lifeworks has done considerable research into the subject of workers’ mental health, and Paula talks to us about the challenges facing workers and what organizations should be thinking about as we move through this next phase of the pandemic and its aftermath.

This episode is part of a series sponsored by Microsoft looking at the issues we face in the workplace as we move into this next phase of the pandemic and eventually into post-pandemic life.

Guest:

Paula Allen

Global Leader and SVP, Research and Total Wellbeing

Lifeworks (formerly Morneau Shepell)

Paula Allen is the Global Leader, Research and Total Wellbeing and a Senior Vice-President at LifeWorks. In this role she manages the research agenda for LifeWorks, which includes primary research, exploratory data science, research collaborations and meta-analyses. Given her focus on industry leading research, Paula also leads LifeWorks’s thought leadership and is co-chair of the organization’s product and innovation strategy.

Paula is focused on the current and emerging issues that impact health and productivity and related costs. Her scope includes all areas of wellbeing – social, physical, financial and mental. She is also a well-recognized expert in all areas of workplace mental health, learning strategies, disability management and drug plan management. She designed and led the most comprehensive employer response to the H1N1 pandemic and is currently LifeWorks’s business response and resource lead for the COVID-19 pandemic. She also works directly with many of Canada’s leading organizations.

Paula is a member of the Women’s College Hospital’s Board of Directors, a member of the Virtual Learning Advisory Board consulting to the public sector’s post-secondary online learning strategy, a member of the International Women’s Forum, a Civic Action Diversity Fellow mentor, on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Club of Toronto, on the Guiding Council and ESG task force of One Mind@Work, was Co-chair of Civic Action’s Champions Council on workplace mental health, was a member of the Income Security Working Group providing advice to the Ontario Government on issues relating to disability and income support, and sits on several research and strategy advisory boards that address issues ranging from e-mental health solutions to substance abuse in the workplace.

Paula completed undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Toronto in psychological research and neuropsychological testing and clinical intervention.

Links:

The post Episode 55: How Can Organizations Support Workers’ Mental Health? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

It is  the fourth quarter of 2021 and we are still in a state of flux in the work world.. Companies are struggling with whether to bring everyone back to the office, there are labour shortages all over, and just what normal looks like in terms of work is not really clear. But some organizations are handling things better than others.

Our guest today is Tammy Browning who is President of KellyOCG.  KellyOCG has done a comprehensive survey called the 2021 Global Workforce Agility Report that has looked at how companies have coped during the past year and a half and as well what they are planning in terms of strategy.  They separate out  those companies that have been ahead of the curve on work issues and the ones that have behind it –  they call  vanguaurds and laggards. Tammy talks about how each set of companies operate and what we can learn from that – in terms of practices to emulate, and in terms of things to avoid.

Guest Intro:

Tammy is president of KellyOCG®. As president, she leads the global Managed Service Provider (MSP), Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), and The Ayers Group outplacement practices—along with adjacent solutions such as services procurement, payroll outsourcing, independent contractor compliance, and contingent search. She oversees $9 billion dollars in spend under management for the company’s MSP portfolio, which partners with some of the largest organizations in the world including many of the Fortune 500®.

Her path to executive leadership started more than 20 years ago with a temporary role as a candidate coordinator with Kelly®. Demonstrating a skill for visionary thinking, combined with a passion for operational excellence, Tammy held several customer- and talent-facing manager roles across the business—eventually leading the west territory and IT practice for the company’s U.S. staffing operations. In 2010, she joined a supplier to Kelly as senior vice president responsible for all U.S. operations before returning to Kelly in 2017 with additional expertise and expanded oversight. Tammy’s 360-degree view of business operations provides her a unique level of insight that continues to shape her leadership style today.

She’s passionate about the opportunity to change lives and provide purpose by connecting people to meaningful work. Tammy is inspired by the extraordinary stories of the people her team impacts and their ability to help customers realize the value of all workstyles. She brings a pioneering spirit to internal and external challenges. This approach to do things different extends across every part of the KellyOCG business. Tammy is always looking for new ways to add value for her customers by helping them discover what’s next in the world of work, and is recognized for her ability to spark change through forward-looking solutions.

Tammy is an industry thought leader—regularly sharing her insights on the ways people want to engage with work today and how organizations can meet their workforce challenges of the future. Staffing Industry Analysts® recognized Tammy as one of the most influential leaders in the staffing industry, naming her to its 2020 “Staffing 100” and “Global Power 150” Women in Staffing lists. Diversity Journal also recognized Tammy’s strong leadership efforts and named her a 2020 “Women Worth Watching” award recipient.

Tammy is a well-seasoned and self-proclaimed “travel sports mom.” In her free time, you can find her spending time with her family and spoiling her grandchildren.

Links:

The post Episode 54: What Can We Learn from Companies Who Have Dealt Well with Pandemic Work Issues? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

Even in a post-pandemic world, it seems unlikely that we will ever go back to an old-style workplace where everyone comes into the office on a daily basis. Work from home arrangements and hybrid workplaces will be the norm, which means we will lean on technology more heavily than ever.  The digital workplace will be our reality, but what makes an effective digital workplace?  Our guest on the episode is Neil Miller, the host of the podcast The Digital Workplace. Neil talks to us about what we need to do to make the new workplace effective, from how to best use technology to how to create an inclusive culture while we do it.

Guest: 

Neil Miller

Host, The Digital Workplace

Links:

5 levels of a digital workplace

The Digital Workplace | Rebuild work for the digital age

The post Episode 53: What Makes an Effective Digital Workplace? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

With the pandemic not behind us yet, how can organizations be agile and  willing to change up how we do things, maybe several times more before we get to the end of this? And how can workers come together to get things done effectively as we go through this phase of the pandemic? Jason Brommet,  Head of Modern Work and Security Business  with Microsoft Canada. joins us on theis episode to give us his insights on how to  keep productivity high through the next phase of the pandemic, as well as how to keep people engaged and upbeat when the things are not going exactly to plan.

Guest:

Jason Brommet

Modern Workplace Lead

Today, people are an organization’s most important asset. Empowering each of them and their organizations to be their best and bring their best is more critical than ever. The modern workplace is an inclusive, creative and culture-centric environment. As the Lead of the Microsoft 365 business in Canada, Jason (Jay) leads the team that is responsible for enabling organizations to amplify the ingenuity of their people with secure, collaborative platforms and tools that accelerate business growth and success. Within the Microsoft 365 portfolio, Jay oversees productivity platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, as well as security and compliance tools. The Microsoft 365 team also works with and across Microsoft’s sales and delivery teams, and their market-leading ecosystem of partners. Jay is also an advocate for technology enabling inclusivity and accessibility.

Previously, Jay led Commercial Channel Strategy and Programs in Canada, working across their ecosystem of over 14,000 partners to build the capacity, capability and growth of the Microsoft Channel, to enable organizations of all sizes to drive digital transformation. Broadly, he and his team were responsible for delivering on Microsoft’s promise of partnership, stewarding the Microsoft Partner Network.

Since joining Microsoft in 2003, Jay has held a variety of roles spanning Product Marketing, Business Development, Segment Marketing and Sales Leadership. Before joining the Microsoft Canada team, he worked in the marketing services industry, developing and leading teams delivering strategic sales and marketing programs in B2C and B2B environments, across diverse industry verticals such as publishing, telecommunications and technology.

Links:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jason-brommet

Twitter: @jbrommet

The post Episode 52: How Do We Work Effectively Through the Next Phase of the Pandemic? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

Can you turn departing employees into loyal alumni? When a worker leaves, most companies bid them well, perhaps doing a hasty exit interview on the way out.  That, however, may be a short-sighted way to do things. Today’s guests are Dr. Alison Dachner of John Carroll University and Erin Makarius of the University of Akron, author sof a recent article n the Harvard Business Review on the subject of how to turn departing employees into loyal alumni, and what they say is well worth listening to.

Guests:

Dr. Alison M. Dachner ([email protected]) is an Associate Professor of Management at the Boler College of Business, John Carroll University. She earned her M.B.A. from Cleveland State University and her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Dr. Dachner has experience working as Director of Education for an international call center as well as consulting on special projects in a variety of industries and companies, including NASA. Professor Dachner’s research interests include how changes to the modern work environment and characteristics of certain populations (e.g., emerging adults) influence the design of strategies to most effectively engage, develop, transition, and retain employees and students. Her work has been published in Human Resources Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Journal of Management Education, Academy of Management Annals, and Harvard Business Review, among others. Professor Dachner is an Associate Editor for Journal of Management Education and serves on the Academic Advisory Board for the HR Leadership Group of Northeast Ohio. Her research can be found on Google Scholar and you can follow or connect with her on Twitter (@ProfDachner) or LinkedIn (Alison Dachner).

Dr. Erin E. Makarius 

Associate Professor of Management 

College of Business 

University of Akron 

Dr. Erin E. Makarius ([email protected]) is an Associate Professor of Management at the College of Business at The University of Akron. She received her M.B.A. from John Carroll University and her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Dr. Makarius has several years of experience in human resources and management, including working at and consulting with a variety of companies in the financial, insurance, and consumer products industries. Professor Makarius’ research interests include boundary spanning in the form of technological, international, and organizational boundaries, with emphasis on the role of relationships and reputation in these processes. Her work has been widely published in journals such as the Journal of Management, Organization Science, Academy of Management Perspectives, Journal of World Business, Organization Studies and Harvard Business Review. Dr. Makarius’ research has received coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Management, Fox News, Forbes magazine, NPR, SHRM, and the Akron Beacon Journal, among others. She sits on the executive board of the regional Society of Human Resource Management, serves as a Representative-at-Large for the Careers Division of the Academy of Management, and is on the editorial review board of the Journal of World Business. Her research can be found on Google Scholar and you can follow or connect with her on Twitter (@ProfMakarius), Instagram (@prof.makarius), or LinkedIn (Erin Makarius).

Links:

https://hbr.org/2021/03/turn-departing-employees-into-loyal-alumni

The post Episode 51: Can You Turn Departing Employees into Loyal Alumni? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

Sooner or later we will be going back to offices and work space, but we will be doing it with a different mindset. Partly that is around how safety how do we set things up so we don’t spread the next virus, but there are other considerations as well. We have gotten used to working from home, maybe from outside on our patios or in different places and we are going to bring a different sensibility to where we work when we come back. Given all of that, what should workspaces look like? Our guest on this episode is  Nasim Kurting, Head of Design at the Office Group  London, England. Even before the pandemic, Nasim was involved in creating flexible workplaces and she has a lot of what office design should look like as we move to the next phase of the pandemic and beyond.

Guest:

Nasim Köerting – Head of Design at The Office Group

Originally from Sydney, Australia, Nasim Köerting joined The Office Group (TOG) in 2019 as Head of Design after founding and running London-based design practice Studio Köerting. Trained as an interior architect and designer, Nasim has worked for a number of leading award-winning practices, including HASSELL and Softroom architects.

At TOG, Nasim leads a team of in-house architects and designers, overseeing all of the business’s creative output, including the planning of workspace within new buildings and refurbishments. In her role, she also appoints and works collaboratively with external architecture practices to design and develop interior concepts and products for flexible work environments in every new building that TOG opens.

Prior to TOG, Nasim co-founded Studio Köerting with her partner in 2017, an interdisciplinary studio which works across high-end residential, furniture design and hospitality design projects.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasim-k%C3%B6erting-78511a4a/?originalSubdomain=uk

The website of The Office Group

 https://www.theofficegroup.com/

Nasim’s Instagram

 https://www.instagram.com/nasimkoerting/?hl=en

The post Episode 50: How Should We Re-Think Design for the Post-Pandemic Work World? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

How do you create a corporate culture where workers have a voice, and if you are a worker how do you decide to speak up? Employees are the ones on the front lines, the ones who know what is going on in a organization and who could point out burgeoning problems before they become real trouble. That said, they often find it better to not speak up rather than raise their voices or they do raise their voices and they get ignored. There are so many examples, from alligators at Disney to planes at Boeing where workers did try to talk about issues, but did not make much headway.

Our guest today is Dr. Jana Raver wbo is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Smith School of Business at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. She  jons us to talk about  her research on employee voice and why leaders need to encourage that voice to be raised.

Guest:

Dr. Jana Raver

Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University

Jana L. Raver is the E. Marie Shantz Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University, and is also cross-appointed to the Department of Psychology. She is an authority on interpersonal relations and team dynamics at work, with a specific emphasis upon the ways in which employees build and sustain high-performance teams (e.g., helping, promoting learning) versus undermining each other (e.g., harassment, bullying, relationship conflicts).

Her research is motivated by an interest in social issues, and aims to equip people and organizations with resources to prevent adversity when possible, and to empower them to overcome it when it is inevitable. Her recent work has focused on ways for organizations to overcome adversity, including building resilience, bolstering teamwork, encouraging employees to voice concerns, and building positive environments for learning and prosocial action that enable employees to thrive.

She has also led an active program of research focused on uncovering the detrimental effects of exposure to interpersonal mistreatment and other stressors in organizations. Ultimately, her goal is to seek to improve people’s well-being – especially in work organizations – by finding ways that they can thrive despite the challenges they face.

Her research is international in its scope, addresses social problems, and carries implications across levels and disciplines (individuals, teams, organizations, societies). She has been awarded honors for her research, her work has been published in top-tier management journals, and it has been disseminated widely through media outlets such as the National Post, The Globe and Mail, and the Chicago Tribune. She has also consulted and conducted applied research in both the public and private sectors. She teaches courses in organizational behavior, leadership, and team processes that span academic programs (MBA, EMBA, MIB, PhD). She holds a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of Maryland.

Links:

https://theconversation.com/why-employees-hesitate-to-speak-up-at-work-and-how-to-encourage-them-154357

How to speak up at work without hurting your career

To speak up effectively or often? The effects of voice quality and voice frequency on peers’ and managers’ evaluations

The post Episode 49: How Can You Create a Corporate Culture Where Workers Have a Voice? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

Is there a way to fairly adjust salaries so that there are no disparities by race or sex or anything else?  Our guest today says there is and she has put it into practice at her company. Marie Rose Roiux is CFO and VP Business Operations at  Unito, a tech company that has developed a meticulous system to weed out disparities and ensure fairness – although that process means undoing some of what we consider normal business practices.

Guest:

Marie-Rose Rioux M. is Unito’s CFO and VP of business operations. With over 15 years of experience, both in start-ups and large companies, she leads multiple teams under the business operations roof. Her true calling is with the tech start-up scene, and she thrives when part of a dynamic, agile leadership team.

Links:

The post Episode 48: How Can You Adjust for Salary Disparities Within Your Company? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

Can you use scenario planning to prepare for the future and the future of work? As the pandemic has shown, you can never be completed prepared for what might happen, but planning and imagining scenarios can definitely give you an advantage. Our guest today is Lance Mortlock, the author of Disaster Proof; Scencario Planning for a Post-Pandemic Future and he joins us to talk about how organizations and individuals can get read for the post-pandemic future by imagining the scenarios ahead of them and getting prepared for each.

Guest: 

Lance is a Senior Strategy Partner with Ernst & Young (EY), based in Canada and has provided management consulting services on +150 projects to more than +60 clients in 11 countries. Lance has had the opportunity to work with the c-suite at leading national and international oil and gas, power and utility, mining, manufacturing, aerospace, infrastructure and government and public sector organizations.

Bringing a broad set of strategic skills and experiences Lance helps clients solve some of their most complex strategic problems. Areas of support and experience include corporate and business unit strategy and planning, strategy execution, market opportunity assessment, merger and transaction integration and carve-outs ($60 Billion in deals completed), cost management, transformation, innovation, business management systems, process improvement, enterprise risk management, organization performance, design & effectiveness and change management.

As a strategist, Lance has authored 31 points of view on a variety of important business topics. Lance is also an expert in energy industry trends and market dynamics in Canada, with over 100 citations in various industry publications, national and international newspapers, and has been featured on BNN several times.

Lance has an undergraduate degree with Hons from Exeter University, an MBA with distinction from Cardiff Business School, is a Certified Management Consultant, Certified Change Management Professional, Certified Six Sigma Black Belt and a Project Management Professional. Lance completed a LEAD certificate in Corporate Innovation from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an AI certificate from MIT. He is a guest lecturer for the MBA program on strategy, relationship management and management consulting and an Visiting Professor at the University of Calgary Haskayne School of Business. Lance is also IDEO certified who are an award-winning global design firm that take a human-centered, design-based approach to helping organizations innovate.

Lance also serves on the Board of the Canadian Energy and Climate Nexus, a non-governmental, non-profit organization to help Canadians develop energy systems in balance with climate change constraints through collaborative problem-solving, collective commitment and bold action.

Links:

https://www.lancemortlock.com/book

The post Episode 47: Can You Use Scenario Planning to Navigate the Future of Work? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.