Work and the Future

How do you take someone with one set of skills and gret them ready for a job market that needs a completely different set of them? It is an issue that we had started to grapple with a lot before the pandemic, but the pandemic has really put it into sharp focus as some industries have waned while others have flourished. The reality is that there are skills in demand, and there are workers available, but we do need to make some tweaks before we can match the two. To talk about one possible way to cope with this, our guest today is Corey Kossack, the Founder and CEO of Aspireship.  What Aspireship does is offer training, for free, online for those who want to get into the software industry even if they come from a completely different sector. It is proving to be a really successful endeavour and it offers some lessons on what might be next for training.

Guest: 

Corey Kossack is the Founder & CEO of Aspireship, a learning and talent platform for the SaaS industry. Corey has dedicated his professional life to founding SaaS companies that help people who want to help themselves. Prior to Aspireship, Corey founded Frederick, an AI-powered marketing automation software for small businesses (acquired by Booker & MINDBODY).

Links:

To learn more about Aspireship check out their website

Aspireship | On-demand Training Courses for Teams and Individuals

The post Episode 36: Can you Reskill People to Move Between Industries? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

Over the past year we have leaned heavily on technology, but it has kind of been a love-hate relationship. We love technology it because it is cool that we can work from home, but we also get frustrated when it does not work, and we freeze up on screen, or things that are supposed to work flawlessly don’t work at all. So as much as it takes away stress, it seems to create it – or does it? Our guest today is Mohammed Chahdi who is the Director of Global HR for Dell Technologies. Dell has done some work looking at actual brain waves from people to see when they are stressed from technology or when they are happy with it. Their results are fascinating and gives some insights as to what companies can do to create ‘good’ technology expereinces rather than ‘bad’ ones’ and how they can create huge benefits by doing so.

Guest:

Mohammed Chahdi

Mohammed has been with Dell Technologies for 18 years holding different leadership roles in Human Resources, based in Toronto Ontario, he leads the Americas HR Operations team and the Global Connected Workplace program. As a founding member of the Connected Workplace program over ten years ago, Mohammed is a strong advocate of work flexibility and passionate about bringing people together to successfully collaborate and grow their careers in an increasingly digital workplace

Links:

Read more about Dell’s work on technology and stress here

https://www.delltechnologies.com/en-us/blog/blog-better-functioning-tech-makes-for-less-stress-at-work/

The post Episode 35: Does Technology Increase or Decrease Worker Stress? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

Our major economic problem right now is the pandemic and its offshoots, but that does not mean the economic issues we had before the pandemic have gone away. One of those issues is technology, or rather the speed of technological change and what that means for the labor market. With the fourth industrial revolution in full swing, the future may mean a very altered reality for workers, or at least some workers. We are going to need all kinds of new skills to cope with that future, and some workers are not going to have them, leaving us in a situation where we could have workers who are underemployed or unemployed at the same time that we increasingly do not have workers to do what needs to be done to move the economy forward. So how do we bridge that gap?

Well our guest today is on the frontlines of bridging that gap. His name is Arvind Gupta and he is the CEO of a company called Palette Inc. that connects companies with talent but also has a hand in re-skilling that talent, which is something that we will increasingly need to think about if we want to fill labour market needs without leaving people behind.

Guest:

Arvind Gupta

Arvind is the CEO of Palette Inc. and Professor of computer science at the University of Toronto. He has served as President and Vice-Chancellor of UBC, and was the Founder, CEO and Scientific Director of Mitacs Inc. Arvind was instrumental in creating the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) and the Banff International Research Station in Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS). He is a Senior Fellow of the Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and serves on the Boards of the India-Canada Research Centre of Excellence (IC-IMPACTS), BIRS, and SimTrec.

The post Episode 34: How Can We Re-skill to Keep Up with Technology? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

Remote work used to be looked at with suspicion, but after nearly a year of trial by fire, everyone knows it is great – right? Actually, not right. Despite having tried it out for months, many managers still view remote work as very much second best and are counting the days until they can go back to (the old) normal. Is that because the old normal was better, or do we just need to do better when it comes to making remote work work? Will we ever change the mindset around it? With hybrid work probably here to stay, the question is relevant if we want to prevent creating two Classe of workers with those working remotely firmly in second position. To discuss all of that, we are joined today by Chris Norton, the Owner of Green Path Strategy Chris has been helping companies transition to remote work for over a decade, and he has some strong opinions on what needs to happen to change mindsets, and the benefits that will follow once they are changed.

Guest:

Chris Norton is Owner/Consultant at Green Path Strategy. Specializing in performance-based organizational systems that support successful remote working environments, he has been transitioning organizations since 2010. Prior to consulting, Chris worked in the Financial Services sector for 20 years in multiple Senior Management roles. He is well-traveled and has lived in Dubai, the Cayman Islands, and Canada. Chris obtained his MBA in 2017. He is currently writing a book on the topic of remote work standards and governance.

Links:

https://greenpathstrategy.com/bio

The post Episode 33: Will We Ever Change the Mindset Around Remote Work? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

Guest:

Bretton (Brett) Putter is an expert in company culture development who is consulted by companies and leaders worldwide to help design, develop and build high-performing cultures.

Company culture can be a fairly murky concept. Roughly defined as ‘how we do things’ it should be reflection of company values and it should be well-communicated to workers, but that is often not the case. Now, coming out of the pandemic, will we see a focus on creating a positive culture? How will that work when many companies continue to allow remote work? And what will it all mean for the future of work? To talk about it we are joined by Brett Putter, CEO of CultureGene. He is on the front lines of company culture in both Europe and North America and he has some strong views on what is happening and what needs to happen next.

Guest:

Brett Putter

He is the CEO of CultureGene, a culture leadership software and services platform. Prior to founding CultureGene Brett spent 16 years as the Managing Partner of a leading executive search firm based in London working with startups and high-growth companies in the UK, Europe and USA.

In 2018 he published his first book, Culture Decks Decoded and his second book Own Your Culture: How to Define, Embed and Manage your Company Culture in September 2020.

Links:

Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettonputter/

Company’s website: https://www.culturegene.ai/

The post Episode 32: What’s Next for Corporate Culture? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

Can an organization actively build a a resilient workforce? Are there ways to create resilient workers? It would seem to be to our advantage to do that: according to a study published by PwC, programs that foster a resilient and mentally healthy workplace returned $2.30 for every dollar spent, with the returns coming in the form of lower health care costs, higher productivity, lower absenteeism and decreased turnover. To talk about ways to do that and to help workers pivot with change,we are joined on this episode by Lara Root who is the Chief People Officer at CBI Health, an organization that had to move fast and adapt with the pandemic and help their workers do so as well.

Guest:

Lara Root joined CBI Health, one of Canada’s largest community healthcare companies, in October 2019 as Chief People Officer and Head of Human Resources. CBI Health is focused on improving the health and enriching the lives of Canadians through 2 lines of business: Rehabilitation Services and Home Health. Lara is responsible for shaping the talent, culture and engagement strategy of 12,000 healthcare professionals across Canada.

Prior to CBI Health, Lara was Vice President and Head of HR for Rogers Media and Corporate Groups, and Vice President of HR at TD Bank.

Lara holds a degree from Queen’s University and an executive certificate in Human Resources Management from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Lara is a certified Human Resources executive (CHRE) from the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) and she is a certified executive coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF).

Links:

Learn more about CBI Health here

https://www.cbi.ca/

The post Episode 31: Coming Back Stronger Part IV: What Can Companies Do to Craft a Resilient Workplace? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

This is Episode 3 of  aspecial series on Coming back Stronger sponsored by Microsoft. In our first two episodes we talked about how companies can come back stronger, and how workers can build the resilience to cope with their new stresses. Today we look much longer term and address the reality that tomorrow’s workforce will have to continuously ramp up their education and skills over their lifetimes. Accepting that that will have to happen, what role can post-secondary educations play in that? Traditionally we have thought about four-years-and-you’re-done for a lot of people but if that’s over, will both individuals and institutions be ready to step up?

Our guest today is is  Deborah MacLatchy, who is  the President of Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. She believes that if we are to keep skills updated in a world where things are changing fast then part of the solution has to come from our educational institutions and she is changing the one she leads to make good on that.

Guest:

Deborah MacLatchy was appointed president and vice-chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University on July 1, 2017. As president of Laurier, she has spearheaded the development of a five-year institutional strategic plan. Laurier Strategy: 2019-2024 focuses the university’s direction into two interconnected themes: thriving community and future readiness.

During her tenure at Laurier as president and previously as provost, she has championed equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives, including the growth of supports for Indigenous students, an enhanced focus on women in science, and the creation of a community of practice model to advance and distribute EDI initiatives throughout the university.

A distinguished biologist with extensive experience in research, teaching and administration, MacLatchy served as dean of Laurier’s Faculty of Science from 2007 to 2009 and as provost and vice-president: academic from 2009 until 2017. Previously, MacLatchy spent 13 years at the University of New Brunswick where she was dean of Science, Applied Science and Engineering, and director of the university’s International Office.

MacLatchy holds an honours BSc from Acadia University and a PhD in zoology from the University of Manitoba. She is a founding fellow and past chair of the science directors of the Canadian Rivers Institute, and is a past-president and council member of the Canadian Society of Zoologists.

She has been recognized for her many achievements with a number of significant awards, including an honorary doctorate from Acadia University in 2016 and the 2015 Recognition Award from the Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada. As well, she was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women for 2012 in a Top 100 list compiled by the Women’s Executive Network.

More information about MacLatchy’s research and academic career can be found on her faculty profile page.

Links:

Follow Deborah MacLatchy on Twitter at  @LaurierPres

Learn more about Wilfred Laurier’s strategy here.

You can also learn more about a recent Laurier initiative with Communitech Here

The post Episode 30: Coming Back Stronger Part III: How Do We Get Ready for Continuous Education and Reskilling? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

This is episode 2  of a special  4-part special series of Work and the Future called Coming Back Stronger sponsored by Microsoft. In Episode 1 we talked about what organizations should do to come back ready for the post-pandemic world, but what about individuals?  Their first task is to get through this next phase of the pandemic, and that is challenging in itself. Finding the resilience to keep going at work can seem like a difficult thing to do The pandemic is lifting our stress levels in general and when it comes to work, many of us are having to learn new things and take on responsibilities while working under conditions that are a lot less than optimum. Our guest today is Executive Coach Dr. Monique Valcour and she shares her insights on what she has seen from working with leaders in the United Nations and elsewhere and how workers are learned to be resilient and come back stronger from other crises and what we can learn from their experiences.

Guest:

Dr. Monique Valcour, Phd PCC

Executive Coach and Management Professor 

Monique Valcour builds people’s capacity to learn, engage, perform, and communicate at work while thriving in all domains of life. Her expertise is built on 20 years of experience designing and delivering executive education, combined with rigorous coach training, certification, and high-level coaching experience in multiple countries and industries. Monique holds PhD and MSc degrees from Cornell University, an MEd from Harvard University, and a BA from Brown University. She has served as a management professor at EDHEC Business School (France) and Boston College (US). She coaches and teaches leadership, coaching skills, performance management, career self-management, and well-being for the United Nations System Staff College and for multiple business schools and organizations. She is a frequent external speaker and workshop leader renowned for her evidence-based, engaging, and energizing style.

Monique provides thought leadership and advises on leadership development, coaching, career and talent management, communication, mindfulness, and well-being. She is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review. Her digital articles are available at http://hbr.org/search/Valcour/0

Links:

Connect with Monique through the following links:

E-mail : [email protected]

Website: www.moniquevalcour.com

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquevalcour

The post Episode 29: Coming Back Stronger Part II: How Can Workers Build Resilience? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

This is episode 1 of a special  4-part special series of Work and the Future called Coming Back Stronger sponsored by Microsoft. We are still fighting this pandemic but we are also seeing light at the end of the tunnel. But how are we going to come back? Can we come back stronger? Some organizations can and will, and now is the time to plan for that: to get ready for a world that is not exactly like the one we left, particularly when it comes to the workforce.

To kick  off the series we are joined y by Jason Brommet who is Modern Workplace Lead at Microsoft Canada. We talk about workplace policies and what they should look like so that we can get to a place where we want to be post-pandemic, and to be stronger than we when we started.

Guest: 

Jason Brommet

Modern Workplace  Lead, Microsoft Canada 

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:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/

The post Episode 28: Coming Back Stronger Part I: What Should Companies Do Now to Come Back Stronger After the Pandemic? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.

The gig economy’ sometimes gets a bad rap – people hear it and they think of ride-share drivers who really want to be full time.   In fact though the gig economy is a much more nuanced place, one that encompasses different kinds of gig workers, including those who are highly skilled and who very much want to work the way that they are doing. Pre-pandemic, they perhaps made up a sliver of the workforce, but there are reasons to believe that in the post-pandemic world they are going to be increasingly important, That is, companies will be looking for the right talent and the right way to get that may not be by hiring full time workers. That is going to leave us with a complicated workforce, one that is a blend of employees and gig workers. So who how can companies build the right culture around this new culture? To talk about what is happening and how organizations can adapt we are joined by Joseph Fuller Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School and a co-leader of the school’s initiative called Managing the Future of Work. He is also the lead author of a new report out called Building the On Demand Workforce which centres around how companies can re-think their talent model by using digital talent platforms to get the best freelancers.

Guest: 

Joseph B. Fuller

Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School

Links:

Here is the link for the Managing the Future of Work project at the Harvard Business School https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/Pages/default.aspx

The paper ‘Managing the On-Demand Workforce’ mentioned ib the podcast

https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/research/Pages/building-the-on-demand-workforce.aspx

The post Episode 27: How Can Companies Build a Culture Around the Gig Economy? appeared first on LINDA NAZARETH.