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7 Ways To Revamp Your Resume For A Leadership Position

7 Ways To Revamp Your Resume For A Leadership Position
  • December 6th, 2024
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Are you a prime candidate for a mid-level or senior-level leadership role? If so, you have to shake up the way you tailor your resume for that position.

The way recruiters and hiring managers look for leadership candidates is a bit different than the way they search for candidates in other roles. They’re not just looking for technical skills. They want to see evidence of your ability to inspire teams, drive results, and lead through challenges.

Your resume needs to tell a compelling story about your leadership journey, showcasing both your achievements and the impact you’ve made on organizations. Before you apply for that leadership position, make sure you leverage these seven strategies to tailor your resume for maximum impact.

1. Revamp Your Resume’s Keywords

As you may know, the computer databases, or applicant tracking systems, that store and analyze incoming resumes for job board, employer, and recruiter sites count the number of times certain words are used in your resume. These keywords are industry-specific and unique to each role in each company. Your resume ranks higher if you include more of these words in the document.

  • Include a keyword section in your summary and stock it with 12 to 15 keywords pulled from the job description of the role you are pursuing.
  • More importantly, use these keywords in each relevant job listing you include in your document. They can be easily woven into sentences in your position overview statements, as well as your achievements.
  • If you’re a new grad, have recently attained an MBA, or don’t have all of the experience sought in the job posting you’re applying for, try listing relevant coursework in your resume’s education section. This will boost your keyword count.
  • Fairly universal keywords include terms such as strategic planning, operations leadership, business management, cross-functional, cross-cultural, global, talent management, organizational restructuring, and P&L accountability.

2. Reposition Your Resume’s Summary

Man fixing his resume on his laptop and tailoring it for a leadership role

Each time you apply for a new role, you need to tweak your summary to highlight the right skills and keywords relevant to the position. You also need to emphasize the right capabilities.

When you apply for a leadership role, it is imperative to showcase your skills and experience with strategy creation. In lower-level jobs, you have to demonstrate your tactical execution strengths; in director-level plus positions, designing and implementing strategic plans is absolutely critical.

Instead of writing a typical summary on your resume, change your top fold to an experience summary, which is a list of 6-8 hard or transferable skills needed for the specific job you’re applying for.

Here are some tips to make your experience summary stand out for a leadership position:

  • Tailor your skills: Identify the most critical skills for the leadership role you’re targeting by studying the job description and aligning your experience to those requirements.
  • Use industry-specific keywords: Incorporate terms commonly associated with leadership in your field, such as “organizational transformation,” “team development,” or “market expansion.”
  • Keep it concise: Each skill or experience point should be clear, impactful, and tailored to the role, avoiding unnecessary detail.

A well-crafted experience summary gives hiring managers an immediate sense of your suitability for a leadership position and ensures you stand out as a candidate.

3. Clarify The Context Of Each Position, Promotion, Or Achievement

Woman reviewing her resume and tailoring it for a leadership role

One of a resume’s key tasks is to tell the story of your career. Yours must convey the importance and relevance of each position change you’ve made while simultaneously clarifying the key challenges you faced in the role.

  • Include a brief position overview or introduction to each role on your resume. If the position was a promotion or special assignment, make that clear.
  • Showcase the context of your hire or promotion. Were you the first salesperson in a new territory, or the newest manager in a series of five within a short time frame? Were you hired or promoted with specific challenges in mind? Were you hired or promoted based on specific skills or experience you possessed?
  • If you were placed in the role to resolve specific challenges, it’s vital to note the circumstances of your entry into the position. For example, if you were hired to turn around declining sales, what was the sales level when you started? What sales level or position did you attain during your tenure?
  • Keep it brief. Your position introduction should take up only two to three lines of text. Make every word count!
  • Do the same thing with your achievements by including key details that reveal the larger context of your actions. If you averted a division closure by turning around sales, that’s vital to highlight. If your marketing efforts helped open new market sectors that paved the way for a mission-critical merger, say so. Use numbers to quantify these achievements. Don’t just focus on results; put your results in a larger context that makes your overall contributions more clear.

4. Front-Load Your Resume’s Achievements With A Strategic Focus

Woman on laptop looking over her resume and tailoring it for a leadership position

Most job seekers assume that recruiters read resumes the same way that they do. However, that’s not the case.

Many recruiters read a resume “out of order” (aka in pieces and parts) to see the big picture of the prospective candidate’s career. This often includes reading achievement statements differently than you do.

Before reading them in their entirety, some recruiters briefly review the first few words of each bulleted statement to test the waters, so to speak. They also do this to see if the accomplishments are more tactically or strategically focused. It’s imperative that you front-load your achievements with the strategic focus they’re looking for, assuming you have that experience.

  • In leadership positions, your strategy influence is often a bigger deal than your monetary impact. Begin your bulleted statements by clarifying your strategic impact, then note the specific impacts you achieved.
  • For example, here’s a typical “homemade” bullet written by a real job seeker: “Working on a green field project that would double the capacity of the plant.” Here’s a revamp that shifts the emphasis to strategy: “Road mapped Greenfield plant start-up from strategic planning to on-time, on-budget rollout in 1 year. Outcome: Doubled throughput and increased revenue by $42M.”

5. Align Your Education & Extra Sections With A Leadership Focus

Man looking over his resume on his laptop and formatting it to market his leadership skills

It’s always vital to include up-to-date listings of your educational credentials, including certifications, relevant affiliations, and professional development coursework. However, you shouldn’t overlook other details that can bolster the leadership focus of your resume.

  • Any evidence of your present or past leadership experience may be relevant. So, consider adding present or past volunteer leadership roles in professional or community organizations.
  • Make sure you include any for-profit or not-for-profit board or committee roles you have fulfilled. If space permits, include key initiatives you have contributed to during your tenure on these boards or committees.
  • Leadership courses completed at major grad schools deserve emphasis as well.
  • When you list industry-specific certifications, include them in acronym form as well as spelled out because either form is a keyword.
  • If you have won leadership awards or been selected for leadership development programs with any of your employers, make sure you note these.

6. Use The Job’s Title As Your Resume’s Title

Smiling man working on his resume on his laptop and tailoring it for a leadership job

This is a quick change but a critical one: make sure you insert the exact title of the position you’re pursuing into your resume as its title. This will add more keywords to your resume, and, more importantly, it will shape the perception of your resume’s readers to see you as qualified for the position you are targeting.

Now, this won’t work if you apply for a leadership role for which you have few qualifications. However, if you are well-qualified for the position you’re targeting and meet 75% or more of the role requirements, then this is a wise and appropriate thing to do.

7. Harness Your Personal Brand In A Tagline

Woman on laptop updates her resume for a leadership role

Whether you call it a tagline or personal branding statement, these single-line headlines are the perfect length to encapsulate the problem you solve for employers. These kinds of statements are big-picture by nature, so they encompass the whole of your career rather than just your most recent role.

  • Highlight your leadership value: Craft a statement that emphasizes your ability to drive results, inspire teams, or implement transformative strategies. For example, “Empowering cross-functional teams to achieve record-breaking growth through innovation and strategic planning.”
  • Showcase your unique approach: Use the branding statement to reflect your leadership style or the specific value you bring, such as “Transforming underperforming departments into high-performing units through data-driven decision-making and motivational leadership.”
  • Align with the target role: Tailor your branding statement to the leadership position you’re seeking by aligning it with the company’s mission or industry needs, like “Driving sustainable growth and operational excellence in fast-paced technology environments.”
  • Incorporate quantifiable achievements: If space permits, include a standout metric to demonstrate impact, such as “Proven leader with a track record of delivering 30% year-over-year revenue growth through innovative market strategies.”

All of the foregoing are content shifts you need to make in your resume to properly position yourself as a leadership candidate. In addition, consider overhauling your resume’s “look and feel” to call attention to executive-level experience. Use a clean, professional design with consistent formatting to exude sophistication and clarity. Incorporate subtle elements, such as bold section headers and plenty of white space, to emphasize key achievements without overwhelming the content. Finally, ensure your resume aligns with your personal brand and reflects the qualities you bring to a leadership role.

If you’re looking to land a leadership role, we can help!

Become a member today and learn how to earn more, stress less, and truly love what you do.


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Formulating Problem-Solving Moves Throughout Your Day
  • May 1st, 2024
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Have you thought about how much problem-solving you typically do each day? If you don’t think very much, you may not be giving yourself enough credit.

Individuals typically solve numerous problems throughout the day for both personal and work. While many problems are solved consciously, you also engage in an unconscious problem-solving process throughout the day. These may involve automatic or instinctual responses to familiar situations as well as subconscious processing of information and experiences that influence decision-making. It could involve routine tasks, strategic decisions, and unexpected situations.

Problem-solving skills are essential because of their wide-ranging impact (and are listed as a required skill in many job descriptions). It fosters adaptability and resilience, enhances decision-making, enhances critical thinking and analytical skills, and drives innovation and creativity. So, learning from failures and adapting your approach based on feedback and new information is important.

There are several problem-solving techniques. Depending on the situation, some techniques will lend themselves and be more effective than other techniques. Some popular problem-solving techniques are brainstorming, PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), and root cause analysis (RCA).

Different Problem-Solving Techniques

Social media concept

Brainstorming is a creative technique that involves generating many ideas. It encourages individuals to generate ideas without judgment, potentially leading to innovative solutions. To generate a diverse collection of ideas, it’s crucial to have a diverse group of individuals with varied backgrounds, perspectives, expertise, and roles. Other considerations:

  • Clearly articulate the problem you’re addressing and any specific goals or outcomes you hope to achieve,
  • Establish ground rules to ensure productive and respectful participation,
  • Capture and document ideas in real time using visual aids such as whiteboards or digital collaboration tools, and
  • Summarize the key ideas generated and identify the next steps for further exploring, evaluating, or implementing promising ideas.

For example, if the organization wants to revamp its social media strategy utilizing gen AI, it may benefit from having a brainstorming session. Afterward, it may use the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) technique to see how well the implemented strategy is going.

The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) is a continuous improvement cycle used to address problems or make improvements systematically and iteratively. It involves planning a solution, implementing it, checking the results, and acting on the findings to further refine or adjust the solution. PDCA’s popularity stems from its simplicity, flexibility, and effectiveness in driving continuous improvement.

Root cause analysis (RCA) is used to identify the underlying root cause of a problem. It involves identifying the root causes (versus addressing its symptoms) responsible for a problem and then addressing those causes to prevent the problem from recurring. Some components of an RCA are:

  • Identify the problem including its symptoms, observed effects, etc.,
  • Analyze the impact quantifying the cost, risks, and implications associated with the problem,
  • Identify the root cause including the primary and contributory root causes of the problem,
  • Propose corrective actions and measures to prevent recurrence of the problem, and
  • Remediate and monitor including timeliness, responsible parties, and performance metrics.

I like creating an RCA report after a system outage. It explains the 5 Ws—who, what, where, when, why—and how the outage occurred and to prevent it from happening again. It’s imperative to share the RCA report with your business partners.

Continuously Improving Your Problem-Solving Skills

Rick Warren quote about problem-solving

Reflect on your problem-solving skills and commit to continuous improvement. If you want to improve your problem-solving abilities start by clearly defining the problem and practicing critical thinking and analysis. Do you have any experiences, insights, and perspectives on problem-solving to share?

For more information on the importance of having strong problem-solving skills, follow me on LinkedIn!

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Myths In Sales

Myths In Sales
  • March 22nd, 2024
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Sales is an art rather than a science. Sure, there are trainings out there that may give newbies a leg up, but a lot of the learning is done by being mentored by experienced salespeople and observing salespeople in action.

Unfortunately, there are several bad examples out there of “gems of wisdom” that are anything but. I am discussing a few of them.

Schmoozing Your Way To Your Clients’ Hearts

There is certainly a stereotype of the salesperson as a master charmer. They know precisely what to say and how to say it to achieve their ultimate goal: sell.

I guess sales have been achieved purely because of such a charm offensive. Just not that many.

Behind the idea of the schmoozer is an assumption: Sales is the art of manipulating a client into entering into a business relationship. That supposes that most clients can be manipulated—if only you turn on the charms and deploy your “secret tactics.”

That is a terrible, very dangerous assumption.

In my decades of experience, clients are generally bright. They see right through attempts at manipulation and will hold manipulation against any salesperson foolish enough to attempt it.

I can tell you I have been on the other side of that fence, as we all have at some point in time, and made sure the manipulators would not get any of my budget. And I am not alone: I have also heard clients complain about salespeople who felt they were too “foxy.”

Some don’t go that far. They do not attempt to manipulate. But they want to become their clients’ best buddies, so they keep buying.

Obviously, people like to buy from people they like or at least don’t hate. But relying on friendship to carry the day is a sure way to miss quota. People buy to either solve a problem they have or gain a tangible advantage, neither of which has anything to do with friendship.

Find the right accounts, the clients where your products and services can make a positive difference. Then, treat clients with respect and work hard to ensure their success. They will like you for it, and you will achieve quota.

Leading The Conversation

A salesperson leads a conversation with a potential customer

​Other salespeople have a much more authoritarian approach. They want to be perceived as the definite reference for whatever they sell, and are ready to play hardball in the process.

They will explain (not always patiently) how the customer should think about their challenges. Of course, these explanations will always lead the clients to the inescapable conclusion that their offering is the best and that the client would be a fool not to purchase it.

Some will even try to shame you into a sale!

I saw this approach employed multiple times: follow-ups on LinkedIn stating, “Since I did not hear from you, it must mean you like to lose money” (no kidding!); a salesperson telling an important organization leader that she was wrong in front of her reports; another salesperson, visibly scripted, not giving a prospect a chance to engage in a meaningful conversation.

This results in a poor customer experience. Once again, it is about the salesperson being manipulative.

But in fact, it is even worse. Here, these salespeople are simply not listening at all.

Why is this worse? Because information is power, and your customer has information that can be worth gold to you. Yes, even if they provide you with details that disqualify them as potential customers.

By not having a conversation, these folks deprive themselves of valuable information. Instead, the best salespeople are excellent listeners. They try to understand what their clients are going through. They empathize first and then think about whether they can lend a helping hand.

They do not put together a dog-and-pony show. They can do demos and presentations, but they monitor their audience’s reactions and collect feedback to enhance their value to their clients. In other words, they keep the meetings conversational. By doing so, they build trust, the currency of choice for closing deals.

Closing Will Take Care Of Itself

Woman gives a sales presentation to potential clients

Keeping it conversational does not mean not putting sufficient effort into a deal. Sales are not easy, and momentum can be lost for a number of reasons. Without proper follow-up and a sense of urgency, one salesperson may miss quota.

It sounds like incentive plans should prevent this. And yet, I have seen this happen for many reasons, in the form of opportunities left in the funnel whose stakeholders were not contacted for months.

In some cases, that was because this was a big deal that was likely lost—and the salesperson did not want to confront that most uncomfortable realization. In others, it was a lack of stamina and drive.

Unfortunately, self-delusion and lack of determination will not help you meet your quota. There are enough external reasons why a deal may hit a snag and lose momentum; you don’t need to add self-inflicted injury to the list.

I tell the ones I manage this: We can fail, but we must try perfectly every time.

Lying Your Way To A Sale

Man makes a sales presentation at work

All of the examples above are sure ways to lose accounts and sales momentum. But I feel this one is in a league all of its own. So much so that it is frankly incredible that anyone—ANYONE—would feel this is acceptable at all.

That ought to be the worst stereotype in the world: the salesperson selling snake oil.

Yet, I saw this with my own eyes, like when a competitor told a prospect of mine that their tool was the only one that could achieve a certain software standard because of a feature unique to their tool.

Technically, their argument was built on sand: in fact, other tools lacking their unique feature were used to meet that standard.

This was also done in bad faith, not ignorance, quite a few times. The idea: if anyone pointed out this was not the case, the customer would chalk it off to that someone being defensive.

This is sometimes called planting a landmine. The problem is that it may maim those who planted it.

I called their bluff, listed a number of accounts that proved them wrong, and said I was really angry because they obviously gave our whole industry a bad rap.

We won that deal.

That is why lying is never a good way to win a sale. Chances are someone will call you out. It may happen immediately, with your client knowing better and showing you the door. They are smart, after all.

Even if they don’t detect it immediately, it is bound to bite back, one way or another. And when it does, it will be perceived as a breach of trust.

No trust, no deals. It is really that simple.

And you? What are your top sales myths? Leave them in a comment—they will certainly inspire me for future parts!

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Myths In Sales

Myths In Sales (Part I)
  • March 21st, 2024
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Sales is an art rather than a science. Sure, there are trainings out there that may give newbies a leg up, but a lot of the learning is done by being mentored by experienced salespeople and observing salespeople in action.

Unfortunately, there are several bad examples out there of “gems of wisdom” that are anything but. I am discussing a few of them.

Schmoozing Your Way To Your Clients’ Hearts

There is certainly a stereotype of the salesperson as a master charmer. They know precisely what to say and how to say it to achieve their ultimate goal: sell.

I guess sales have been achieved purely because of such a charm offensive. Just not that many.

Behind the idea of the schmoozer is an assumption: Sales is the art of manipulating a client into entering into a business relationship. That supposes that most clients can be manipulated—if only you turn on the charms and deploy your “secret tactics.”

That is a terrible, very dangerous assumption.

In my decades of experience, clients are generally bright. They see right through attempts at manipulation and will hold manipulation against any salesperson foolish enough to attempt it.

I can tell you I have been on the other side of that fence, as we all have at some point in time, and made sure the manipulators would not get any of my budget. And I am not alone: I have also heard clients complain about salespeople who felt they were too “foxy.”

Some don’t go that far. They do not attempt to manipulate. But they want to become their clients’ best buddies, so they keep buying.

Obviously, people like to buy from people they like or at least don’t hate. But relying on friendship to carry the day is a sure way to miss quota. People buy to either solve a problem they have or gain a tangible advantage, neither of which has anything to do with friendship.

Find the right accounts, the clients where your products and services can make a positive difference. Then, treat clients with respect and work hard to ensure their success. They will like you for it, and you will achieve quota.

Leading The Conversation

A salesperson leads a conversation with a potential customer

​Other salespeople have a much more authoritarian approach. They want to be perceived as the definite reference for whatever they sell, and are ready to play hardball in the process.

They will explain (not always patiently) how the customer should think about their challenges. Of course, these explanations will always lead the clients to the inescapable conclusion that their offering is the best and that the client would be a fool not to purchase it.

Some will even try to shame you into a sale!

I saw this approach employed multiple times: follow-ups on LinkedIn stating, “Since I did not hear from you, it must mean you like to lose money” (no kidding!); a salesperson telling an important organization leader that she was wrong in front of her reports; another salesperson, visibly scripted, not giving a prospect a chance to engage in a meaningful conversation.

This results in a poor customer experience. Once again, it is about the salesperson being manipulative.

But in fact, it is even worse. Here, these salespeople are simply not listening at all.

Why is this worse? Because information is power, and your customer has information that can be worth gold to you. Yes, even if they provide you with details that disqualify them as potential customers.

By not having a conversation, these folks deprive themselves of valuable information. Instead, the best salespeople are excellent listeners. They try to understand what their clients are going through. They empathize first and then think about whether they can lend a helping hand.

They do not put together a dog-and-pony show. They can do demos and presentations, but they monitor their audience’s reactions and collect feedback to enhance their value to their clients. In other words, they keep the meetings conversational. By doing so, they build trust, the currency of choice for closing deals.

Closing Will Take Care Of Itself

Woman gives a sales presentation to potential clients

Keeping it conversational does not mean not putting sufficient effort into a deal. Sales are not easy, and momentum can be lost for a number of reasons. Without proper follow-up and a sense of urgency, one salesperson may miss quota.

It sounds like incentive plans should prevent this. And yet, I have seen this happen for many reasons, in the form of opportunities left in the funnel whose stakeholders were not contacted for months.

In some cases, that was because this was a big deal that was likely lost—and the salesperson did not want to confront that most uncomfortable realization. In others, it was a lack of stamina and drive.

Unfortunately, self-delusion and lack of determination will not help you meet your quota. There are enough external reasons why a deal may hit a snag and lose momentum; you don’t need to add self-inflicted injury to the list.

I tell the ones I manage this: We can fail, but we must try perfectly every time.

Lying Your Way To A Sale

Man makes a sales presentation at work

All of the examples above are sure ways to lose accounts and sales momentum. But I feel this one is in a league all of its own. So much so that it is frankly incredible that anyone—ANYONE—would feel this is acceptable at all.

That ought to be the worst stereotype in the world: the salesperson selling snake oil.

Yet, I saw this with my own eyes, like when a competitor told a prospect of mine that their tool was the only one that could achieve a certain software standard because of a feature unique to their tool.

Technically, their argument was built on sand: in fact, other tools lacking their unique feature were used to meet that standard.

This was also done in bad faith, not ignorance, quite a few times. The idea: if anyone pointed out this was not the case, the customer would chalk it off to that someone being defensive.

This is sometimes called planting a landmine. The problem is that it may maim those who planted it.

I called their bluff, listed a number of accounts that proved them wrong, and said I was really angry because they obviously gave our whole industry a bad rap.

We won that deal.

That is why lying is never a good way to win a sale. Chances are someone will call you out. It may happen immediately, with your client knowing better and showing you the door. They are smart, after all.

Even if they don’t detect it immediately, it is bound to bite back, one way or another. And when it does, it will be perceived as a breach of trust.

No trust, no deals. It is really that simple.

And you? What are your top sales myths? Leave them in a comment—they will certainly inspire me for future parts!

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Importance Of Being A Trusted Business Partner

Importance Of Being A Trusted Business Partner
  • March 21st, 2024
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Importance Of Being A Trusted Business Partner

Did you recently get a big promotion or start a new job and now have a new circle of individuals you’re working with (whether you work in IT, finance, HR, or another department)? It’s important to do the job successfully and that includes being a trusted business partner. Within IT, how well does the IT technology plan support the business partners? For example, how much does the plan focus on the technology initiatives versus aligning with the goals and objectives of your strategic business partners?

Most organizations have limited resources so it’s key to use those resources efficiently and effectively. Not only do you want efficient resource utilization, but still be strategically aligned with the business goals. So actively work together fostering collaboration and creating a culture of collective problem-solving. When you do, some potential benefits of working together are:

  • Cost optimization,
  • Increased productivity,
  • Better adoption of changes,
  • Innovation and competitive edge,
  • Measurable value creation, and
  • Trust and credibility.

Not Working In A Silo

Working in a silo concept

​If you don’t invest enough time to build strong relationships, others could make assumptions on their own. Generally speaking, do departments including IT seem to operate more in silos? Or is there a perception that IT is seen as more technically focused over understanding the business’ broader goals? If this is the case, IT could be perceived as a cost center with limited involvement in strategic decisions.

If that is the case, these perceptions can be changed, and it’s not just for IT. Years ago, I took over Internal Audit at a bank. The group meticulously performed audits but wasn’t a “trusted business partner” who was sought out. I told my boss that I would know we had successfully changed our reputation when we started getting phone calls from the business requesting our assistance and participation in projects. We changed our processes, developed the staff, and turned around our reputation. We had established ourselves as a competent, collaborative, and trustworthy partner. As a result, there was mutual respect, and they knew that we had their best interests in mind to help them.

Regarding IT, it can go beyond being a support function to a strategic partner that is innovative and solves challenging problems with transformative solutions. A partner that fosters cross-functional collaboration focusing on the business and customer experience helping build a competitive advantage. Some initiatives affect both IT and the business such as cybersecurity, or when the organization wants to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to automate repetitive tasks, enhance decision-making, or unlock new possibilities for data-driven insights.

Solutions Aligned To Business Problems

Problem and solution concept

Take the time to understand the business goals and processes. Then make sure the IT initiatives align with those business goals. Since business needs are continually changing and evolving, communication is key. Seek feedback from your partners and have regular check-ins so that you can adjust, as necessary. If there are any challenges or conflicts, address them right away.

When completing projects, show tangible benefits such as key performance indicators (KPI) for business objectives or measuring the return on investment (ROI) for IT projects. Once the change has been implemented, discuss what went well and what could be improved next time. Also, encourage continuous improvement and monitor to ensure you’re getting the anticipated benefits or other additional improvements.

When you implement these types of practices, you will be better connected with the business and aligned with its goals. This will enhance your relationship to become a trusted business partner driving organizational success.

For more information about the importance of being a trusted business partner, follow me on LinkedIn!

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10 Ways To Become A Better Leader

10 Ways To Become A Better Leader
  • March 15th, 2024
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10 Ways To Become A Better Leader

During your career development, there comes a point when your leadership skills will be put to the test. Technical skills are obviously important because they will get you to a position where you may have to start utilizing your soft skills. This is the exact reason why leadership skills are considered a very important attribute that can help you climb the career ladder.

With a combination of technical know-how and valuable leadership qualities, you can get promotions easily and be regarded as an important asset to the company. Here are a few tips that can help you become a better leader.

1. Focus On Your Goals

Happy executive focusing on his goals to become a better leader

It is a leader’s job to keep a very clear vision of the goal and make sure the team members are happy and thoroughly motivated to follow. This means the leader also should know how to put forward a certain task in front of the team to get maximum output from them with ease.

The leader also should bring out the importance of the goal and the reason why the team should put the ultimate effort into it. This ability can really bring all of the team members together and unify them to give their best for the ultimate goal.

2. Develop Good Communication Skills

Leader developing her communication skills at work during a team meeting

Communication plays a very important role in all relationships, especially between a team leader and their team members. Team members rely on their leader for ideas and motivation, which can be generated only with good communication skills.

As a leader, you should also create a very friendly environment where the employees are engaged in sharing their ideas and concerns. It has been said that a team leader who can communicate well wins the trust of team members.

3. Be A Good Listener

A leader demonstrates his good listening skills while talking to a coworker

If you wish to be a better leader, then you will have to be a better listener too. Listening skills help in generating feedback from the team members regarding the project, and the right feedback can be a good way to solve issues and achieve goals with ease.

Listen without any distractions, keep steady eye contact, and respond thoughtfully. Apart from being good at verbal skills, you should be aware of your body language while talking to your team.

4. Learn To Tackle Conflicts

Female leader tackles conflicts at work during a meeting

It is a part of leadership skills to understand people and resolve conflicts positively. In situations where an employee does not give their best and brings negativity to the team, the leader has to be able to talk to the member in private.

You should keep courage and never shy away from honestly speaking your mind. This approach is better than firing people without knowing their side of the story.

5. Maintain A Higher Level Of Professionalism

A senior executive/leader maintains a higher level of professionalism at the office

It is important that you keep high standards of professionalism, integrity, and work transparency to earn respect from your team members and your clients.

It is the leader’s job to set a high standard of credibility and strong character to motivate the team to perform to their level best.

6. Share Your Passion

A good leader shares her passion with her employees during a team meeting

Passion is quite contagious, and if the leader shows a lot of passion, it may rub off on the team members too. This helps in easing pressure from difficult projects. It also drives the employees into encountering hurdles with ease.

The positive energy and enthusiasm should flow within the team through the leader first.

7. Motivate Others

A good leader motivates others at work during a team meeting

A genuine leader is one who has the capacity to influence members and drive them to perform at optimum levels. The leader’s positive motivation is important, especially when members lose focus or get disappointed in the wake of difficulties that may arise during a job.

A leader should be upfront in talking to team members and tell personal stories that would encourage the members to help them get back in the game.

8. Inspire And Nurture Innovative Ideas

An executive/leader inspires and nurtures innovative ideas during a team meeting/presentation

Innovation is coined to be the most important aspect of growth and is largely related to out-of-the-box and unorthodox thinking. Great leaders are the ones who can instill a culture of innovation among the team members and help them find solutions that can involve some trial and error.

Such an outlook will help in achieving long-term success with the team and earn their respect furthermore.

9. Respect Everyone

A good leader respects everyone during a team meeting

The truest and most genuine leaders are the ones who are humble, honest, and respectful toward all the members of the team. A leader also has to constantly learn from all of the members and encourage others to do the same.

Such leadership qualities can help in motivating and inspiring the members to achieve greater success and produce fruitful results.

10. Recognize And Reward The Deserving

A manager/leader rewards an employee for his good work

A team member feels more positive and motivated if their work is being appreciated. As a team leader, it’s your job to recognize such hard work with rewards and recognition. This will also drive and encourage the other members to be more productive.

A good leader understands the value of taking a backseat sometimes and gives the due credit to the rightful individual to promote team building. A great leader ensures that the work rate of the team is increased without increasing the stress levels.

Leadership is a learning process. Each of the tips above can help you achieve greater success as a leader, and also help you understand that when you are a leader, the most important goal is always to keep the team together and performing at the highest level.

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This article was originally published at an earlier date.

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Navigating The 2024 Maze: A Guide For Small & Mid-Size Growth Companies

Navigating The 2024 Maze: A Guide For Small & Mid-Size Growth Companies
  • February 29th, 2024
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The past 18 months have painted a picture of economic ambiguity, with predictions ranging from smooth landings to potential recessions. Geopolitical tensions add further complexity, making future outcomes elusive. While perfect foresight remains out of reach, proactive risk management can equip mid-size growth companies to navigate these uncertainties and achieve resilient growth.

Challenges And Opportunities In A Tightening Credit Landscape

Banker shakes hands with a client

Regional banks, traditionally a financing mainstay for mid-size companies, are facing constraints, leading to tighter credit and higher borrowing costs. This necessitates exploring alternative financing solutions like private credit, even though they may differ from traditional bank loans in terms of structure and cost. Equity financing, while dilutive, might become a last resort. Asset-backed lending offers possibilities for asset-intensive companies, but collateral risks require careful consideration.

Top-Line Growth In A High-Interest World

Interest rate increases, high interest rate concept

As interest rates rise, companies must prioritize debt reduction and focus on value creation for both customers and shareholders. A comprehensive understanding of the value chain within each business unit is crucial, enabling informed capital allocation and ROI maximization. Operational efficiencies alone won’t suffice. A C-suite equipped to understand and leverage the “value equation” is essential for driving growth through strategic investments, sales, and capital deployment.

Supply Chain Resilience In A Geopolitically Charged World

Woman in warehouse thinks about supply chain management

The current geopolitical climate poses challenges, but proactive mitigation strategies can lessen their impact. While predicting specific outcomes remains impossible, companies can identify and address supply chain vulnerabilities through comprehensive assessments and diversification strategies. This includes diversifying sourcing locations, suppliers, and production facilities. Additionally, contingency planning, buffer stocks, and contractual flexibility offer further safeguards in this complex global landscape.

Technology Innovation In A Capital-Constrained Environment

IT operations, information technology concept

​Justifying IT investments in a cost-sensitive environment demands clear demonstrations of cost savings and business value. For mid-size companies, this challenge becomes even more crucial. Trade-offs between IT security, infrastructure upgrades, and other needs are likely to arise. Identifying and prioritizing critical IT needs that directly support growth is essential. Continuous tracking and communication of the value delivered by IT investments are key to securing future funding.

Building A Thriving Culture In A Hybrid Workforce

Woman working remotely for a hybrid company attends a virtual meeting

The post-pandemic era has redefined the traditional office environment, presenting challenges for company culture and talent acquisition/retention. Creating or maintaining a strong culture while embracing hybrid work arrangements is paramount. Aligning values and fostering engagement when staff are physically dispersed requires open communication and hard conversations about roles, compensation, and expectations. While small and mid-size companies can operate remotely, sustained growth often necessitates fostering a strong in-person element as well.

Adapting To A New Interest Rate Regime

Financial, accounting, stock market, graphs, interest rates concept

As the U.S. economy recalibrates to a 3.5% to 4% interest rate environment, mid-size growth companies reliant on regional bank financing must adapt. Exploring alternative financing solutions, stabilizing supply chains, building a strong culture, retaining talent, and driving innovation are crucial for navigating this new reality and achieving sustainable growth.

Below are examples of consulting interventions to address these challenges:

  • Scenario Planning: Facilitate scenario planning exercises to help clients anticipate and prepare for diverse economic outcomes.
  • Financial Modeling: Develop robust financial models that account for varying interest rate environments and financing constraints.
  • Operational Efficiency Assessments: Identify and implement operational improvements to enhance cash flow and reduce reliance on external financing.
  • Supply Chain Mapping & Risk Management: Conduct comprehensive supply chain assessments and develop mitigation strategies for potential disruptions.
  • Talent Acquisition & Retention Strategies: Design and implement talent acquisition and retention programs tailored to the hybrid work environment.
  • IT Investment Optimization: Guide clients in prioritizing and justifying IT investments that deliver demonstrable value and support growth objectives.
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5 Traits Of People Who Are Respected At Work (And Get The Most Career Opportunities)

5 Traits Of People Who Are Respected At Work (And Get The Most Career Opportunities)
  • February 27th, 2024
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5 Traits Of People Who Are Respected At Work (And Get The Most Career Opportunities)

I had a sad career coaching call with an extremely successful woman recently. When she told me her career story, which I have all my clients do, her story was riddled with a highway of situations where she was taken advantage of, where she wasn’t given the respect that she deserved.

As a career coach, I have each person tell me their career story because I can always tell, based on the story, where your sticking points and roadblocks are. And for this woman, it clearly was getting herself into situations where they wouldn’t respect her. She was almost in tears while telling me this, but she was still so professional, and then she said, “What is it going to take, JT? What is it going to take for me to get into one of these environments and not be taken advantage of?“

I didn’t want to give her a pat answer, so I said I was going to sleep on it and then come back and tell her the traits I see in people who are respected at work and, therefore, get the best career opportunities. I want to share those five traits with you because I think it’s important that everyone hear them.

1. They See Themselves As A Business-Of-One.

The first trait I see in people who are respected at work is they always see themselves as a business-of-one. They don’t work for a company. They work with them. They partner with them. Therefore, right out of the gate, there’s mutual respect. Then, if they start disrespecting you, you can have a conversation and tell them that they’re either going to get this right or you’re going to go find a new partner because you’re not going to be treated that way. You’re not going to allow yourself to be treated that way. It’s about setting boundaries and addressing the disrespect before it gets out of hand. Respected employees are able to communicate these boundaries without being harsh.

2. They Aren’t Complainers; They’re Curious.

Professionals listen to a friend talk to help him through a career challenge

The second trait is they aren’t complainers; they’re curious. Nobody likes to work with complainers. The people who are respected at work don’t walk in and dump a problem on a manager’s desk. Instead, when they see a problem, they meet with people and they get curious. They ask questions. They try to understand. In fact, one of their favorite phrases to use is “help me understand.” They ask clarifying questions to get to the source of the problem so that hopefully the people they’re talking to can realize the problem, but if not, it gives them permission to then point it out and have a conversation.

3. They Ask Questions Instead Of Bossing People Around.

Woman asks her boss for a raise

The third trait is they get really good at “ask, don’t tell.” They don’t boss everyone around. They don’t tell everyone what to do. They know how to ask questions so that things become other people’s ideas and they get permission to then share their points of view, their ideas, and their perspectives. It’s how they get buy-in. It’s how they get consensus. And, again, it’s how they gain and keep people’s respect.

4. They Talk About Their Results, Not Their Character.

CMO talks to his marketing team during a meeting

The fourth trait is they talk about their results. They don’t talk about their character. You know that you have to be your biggest self-advocate in the workplace, and you’re hired to save or make money. You’re hired to solve problems and alleviate pain, so when you’re talking about the results that you were able to get, when you’re talking about what’s actually valued, not that you were a great team player, etc., you’ll stand out and be respected for the value that you create on the job. You’re going to have to find strategic ways to talk about your results without bragging or sounding like a narcissist to make sure that people understand the quantifiable impact that you’ve had on the company, and the people who are respected at work do this well.

5. They Never Initially Disagree With Someone.

Coworkers talk to each other in the office

Lastly, the people who are respected at work never initially disagree with someone. This might be a hot take, but whenever they clearly disagree with someone, they don’t say “I disagree.” That’s not how they lead the conversation. What they do instead is they find a commonality with the person, something they can agree on, and then they talk about that. These people know how to disarm somebody by talking about what they agree upon first before they discuss where they have differences or disagreements.

I’m sure there are more traits you could add to this list, but when I really looked at the people who are the most respected at work, who are incredibly successful and seem to get all the opportunities they want, they’re doing these five things consistently in their careers. They have these five traits. And it’s having an incredible impact on their brand.

If you’re struggling with getting respect at work, I can help. Sign up for a Work It DAILY membership today (FREE for 7 days!).

Good luck, and go get ’em!

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Optimizing Remote Workshops For Enhanced Collaboration
  • February 10th, 2024
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In the wake of the pandemic, businesses worldwide rapidly adopted tools such as video conferencing technology to facilitate remote collaboration within distributed teams. Despite the move towards this technology, large workshops that were traditionally dependent on physical spaces have continued to remain in-person events for many organizations.

And I get it—meeting in person can help foster camaraderie and sidebar conversations. Employees can tune out from the constant Slack and email notifications, focusing on the task at hand. But in my experience, in-person working sessions also bring on massive inefficiencies. Many colleagues are forced to dust off their suits and travel from various locations, disrupting their routines and sleeping habits. Despite efforts to gather everyone in person, inevitably there are individuals who either live in distant markets or couldn’t attend in person and must virtually dial in, leading to a fragmented experience. Whiteboarding is done on large Post-it notes, requiring someone to take pictures and manually transcribe information for digital sharing. Employees end up spending long days in conference rooms, feeling drained, and often feel obliged to attend happy hours.

Companies aiming to sustain or even improve creativity, culture, and engagement need to invest in alternatives that meet the flexibility of the current business environment.

According to a Gallup poll, 51% of employees report disengagement from their work. The difficulty lies in maintaining a robust company culture when most interactions occur through screens (source).

Benefits Of Virtual Workshops

Woman works from home during the summer

While many argue that in-person workshops are more personal and interactive than remote meetings, new and innovative technologies are bringing benefits to distributed brainstorming:

  • Productivity: Parallel team ideation leads to significant time savings, shorter time to produce artifacts with templatized digital materials, and accelerated decision-making with digital features such as voting and timers.
  • Cost Savings: Digital meet-ups are far more cost-effective than teams traveling to a centralized location, workspaces are quicker to set up, and they require less logistical coordination than in-person sessions.
  • Greater Inclusivity: Virtual sessions guard against groupthink, creating an equitable environment where no single individual or group dominates ideas.
  • Streamline Documentation & Scale: Teams can easily share workshop documents, create standardized company-wide templates, and integrate with existing external digital tools/workflows. Digital whiteboards maintain “the whole story” of the session as well as reduce the need for duplicative notes.

Use Cases

Woman attends a remote workshop

As a management consultant, I often act as the facilitator, incorporating virtual workshops in various scenarios across clients. Here are some ways I have leveraged remote workshops to enhance collaboration:

  • Process Mapping: Partnered with teams to develop a new marketing process by grouping various stakeholder groups and mapping the current state customer journey from start to finish. Understanding the customer journey helped the team come up with innovative ideas for the future state.
  • Gap Assessment: Created a structured, collaborative discovery framework to help a company determine gaps across people, processes, and technology in their current operations. Recommendations to remediate current challenges were voted on and prioritized, which created the design of future projects.
  • OKR Coaching: Utilized a virtual whiteboard to organize ideas for OKR development. The team identified strategic themes and prioritized the most critical areas of focus. We created an actionable plan with defined objectives and key results.
  • Retrospectives: Leveraged the agile retrospective framework “Rose, Bud, Thorn” to recap and reflect on a program that required cross-functional collaboration between teams. Walking away, the teams felt they had fostered a culture of continuous improvement and ultimately improved morale.

Additional popular use cases include prototyping, “Design Think,” team stand-ups, strategic planning, project charters, and more.

Best Practices

Man on laptop attends a remote workshop

To ensure successful virtual brainstorming sessions, consider the following best practices:

  • Choose the Right Tool: Select a collaboration tool that is quick to learn, requires minimal setup, and aligns with any company security requirements (i.e., industry regulations, privacy, GDPR, etc). My favorite tool is Mural, given its optimized user interface, flexible permissioning, and timer features.
  • Define the Scope: Clearly define objectives, problem statements, and establish guidelines for communicating through the session.
  • Design: There is no need to recreate the wheel; take advantage of templatized frameworks. Think about how you want to organize and prioritize ideas as a group.
  • Choose a Facilitator: Designate a facilitator to ensure a productive and respectful environment.

In conclusion, embracing virtual workshop tools can transform remote working challenges into opportunities for enhanced collaboration, creativity, and engagement within distributed teams.

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3 Steps To Help You Master The Art Of Delegation

3 Steps To Help You Master The Art Of Delegation
  • February 2nd, 2024
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One of the great opportunities of leadership is the delegation of tasks to others, which not only frees up your time to be more strategic but also develops those employees to whom you’ve delegated. Although it is a great opportunity for leaders, it is also a great challenge.

Delegating means letting go of a fair amount of, if not all of, the control associated with the way tasks are completed. I find this to be a struggle for many leaders, myself included. As the owner of my business, I find that letting go of tasks and delegating to others can be quite a challenge at times. What if they don’t do it right? What if they don’t get it done on time? What if they upset the clients?

These “what-ifs” can go on forever! I’ve tortured myself through many of them and I’ve seen many of my clients do the same.

What I’ve learned, both personally and through working with others in this area, are some key steps to take to ease concerns about delegating to others.

1. Have Confidence In The People You Hire

Manager delegates tasks to his coworkers

First, you want to have a high degree of confidence in the people you delegate to; therefore, be diligent in your selection of those you hire to work for you.

Oftentimes, leaders are in a hurry to get a position filled so do not take enough time to be sure they are making the best selection. Without confidence that you have the best people on your team, delegating can be difficult. Yet when you know you’ve got the right people in place, it is much easier to delegate with assurance.

2. Schedule Check-Ins

Manager talks about delegation in a team meeting

Second, you will probably need a fair amount of updates and status checks on how your team is doing with the tasks. You may need more updates and status checks early in the relationship.

Once you get to know the individuals and their work ethic, and your relationship develops, the amount of check-ins decreases because the expectations are well-understood, and your confidence in their ability to meet your expectations increases.

3. Keep A Positive Mindset

Leader delegates some responsibilities to his colleagues

Lastly, you want to change any “what-ifs” from negative to positive. So instead of thinking, “What if they don’t do it right?” try, “What if they do it better than I ever could?” or “What if this works out better than I thought?”

That mindset shift will help you expect the best instead of expecting things to go wrong. Does this mean things never go wrong? Of course not. But it certainly sets up an environment that is more expectant of success than if you continue to think of all the possible ways things could go wrong.

Although this is not always easy for leaders, letting go of control and delegating is necessary and highly beneficial for all. It not only enables you, the leader, to focus on more strategic items, but it also motivates your workforce to take on more responsibility and fosters more employee development.

This month’s development tip: Have you mastered the art of delegation? If so, congratulations! We’d love to hear some of your success tactics. If not, follow the suggested steps in this article; with each step, you should begin to get more comfortable with letting go.

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This article was originally published at an earlier date.

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Unlocking Connection: Proven Strategies For Tackling Remote Work Loneliness

Unlocking Connection: Proven Strategies For Tackling Remote Work Loneliness
  • February 2nd, 2024
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Unlocking Connection: Proven Strategies For Tackling Remote Work Loneliness

As we navigate the evolving landscape of remote work, shifting from traditional office settings to decentralized home-based work has brought advantages and challenges. In the wake of the global pandemic, employees across industries adapted to a new normal, juggling professional responsibilities amid the chaos of family life and virtual schooling.

Four years into this transformative journey, the flexibility of remote work has become a lasting aspect of our professional lives. While the benefits include increased productivity, reduced commutes, and enhanced work-life balance, there’s a lingering challenge that demands attention—remote work loneliness.

As employees continue to strike a balance between solitude for focused productivity and the need for social connection, this article explores proven strategies to address remote work loneliness and foster meaningful connections in a decentralized work environment. Whether you’re a seasoned remote worker or navigating the new normal, the insights shared here aim to enhance the quality of both professional and personal well-being.

Sharon Grace

It’s 2024, four years past the “two-week shutdown and quarantine” at the onset of the pandemic. Many employees were quickly forced to transition to working from home with the rest of their family members, including kids trying to do virtual school. It was a crazy time!

I think companies have accepted the employees’ desire to have flexibility and not have to work in the office every day if they do not want to. Like most things, there are pluses and minuses, and working remotely has both. We have learned more during these past few years about the effects of working remotely. For some, quiet thinking time is beneficial to productivity. Most remote workers feel they are less distracted at home and are accomplishing more. Not having a long commute or being stuck in traffic is a plus and adds time to their day to work out or cook dinner more often.

I mentioned that quiet time is thinking time and helps some of us focus. However, for others, it can bring a sense of isolation and loneliness. Some struggled coming out of the pandemic being accustomed to staying at home with little or no reason to leave. Last year, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy warned of an ‘epidemic of loneliness and isolation’ (2023 advisory).

Today, most employees work in the office an average of three days a week. Most people I speak with want to get out of the house and connect with their colleagues in person again if they live close to the office. Many people have moved away from their employer’s offices and can only work remotely.

How do we identify the need for quiet, thinking time for productivity versus feeling removed from social interactions? People who are extroverts and introverts can experience both.

  • Get to know yourself better and analyze your thoughts, actions, and how they relate to your social interactions and productivity.
  • Measure your workflow, productivity, and quality of work in your quiet, thinking time. Did it take longer to complete, and was the quality below your regular standards? Were you completing work to complete it, or were you fully engaged and lost track of time in it?
  • How is your mood during the day? Have you taken a break and stepped outside?

Try to tailor your workday around interacting with colleagues. Send instant messages or schedule a phone chat or a short video call to connect. Consider a morning meeting to discuss the day’s projects, a lunchtime chat for a quick break to disconnect from work, or even an end-of-day happy hour to discuss the plan for the next day. If possible, planning offsites to meet in person is a great idea to bond and get together to collaborate or to socialize without discussing work.

If you are interviewing for remote positions, consider asking questions about how the teams communicate, bond, and frequency. Try to meet as many people as you can. Remote and hybrid work is here to stay and remember the value of human connection. We need it for professional and personal well-being.

Sharon Grace is a veteran search executive at Duffy Group who helps hiring leaders hire great people because of her proven track record as a strategic partner and advisor to recruit, identify, and assess talent.

Kristin Pozen

Man on laptop deals with remote work loneliness

As organizations adapt to flexible work arrangements, employers must now prioritize addressing their remote workforce’s social and mental well-being. By understanding the unique challenges associated with remote work, employers can play a pivotal role in creating a supportive and connected virtual work environment.

Understanding and prioritizing combatting remote work loneliness is essential for maintaining mental well-being and productivity in the workplace. Employers must ensure that everyone has the opportunity to connect, regardless of where they are located. Be intentional about connecting employees outside of their teams. Make it a once-a-week event for casual connection and a once-a-quarter or annual event for more formal L&D or strategy planning.

Here are some employer strategies to tackle remote work loneliness:

Establish Regular Virtual Meetings: Encourage teams to schedule regular video calls with each other. This helps maintain social connections and provides a sense of belonging.

Provide Automated Collaboration: Tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or others allow for employees to stay connected throughout the day. Instant messaging can simulate the casual conversations that happen in an office setting.

Schedule Virtual Coffee Breaks: Informal meetings where you can discuss non-work topics that mimic the casual interactions that occur in an office environment.

Set Up Virtual Social Events: Organize virtual social events, such as virtual happy hours, game nights, or team-building activities. This helps maintain a sense of camaraderie.

Work From Co-Working Spaces: If possible, consider offering to work from co-working spaces occasionally. This allows for face-to-face interactions with others and a change of environment.

Offer Online Communities: Provide access to online forums or communities related to your company’s industry. This can provide a sense of community and facilitate networking.

Evaluate Your Employee Mental Health Benefits: Are they being utilized? If not, ensure your employees know they are available and confidential. Do they need to be enhanced to provide more coverage or more access?

Make Onboarding More Experiential: Onboarding is a critical first opportunity to facilitate friendships at work. Since the pandemic, millions of employees have started new jobs and have never met one of their colleagues in person. Especially for early career employees, this can be incredibly challenging.

Make Recharging a Reality: We must take employee health seriously for human connection and friendship to thrive. We can start by supporting more generous family leave policies, child care, and elder care. Also, ensure that when taking time off, employees recharge by not answering emails and phone calls. They can truly check out for a week at a time.

Kristin Pozen is a research recruitment recruiter at Duffy Group and a former HR recruiter.

Colleen Neese

Woman working from home on laptop deals with remote work loneliness

In a world increasingly adapting to remote work, Duffy Group, a global recruitment firm based in Phoenix, Arizona, stands out with its 33-year history of successfully operating as a remote workforce. As pioneers in the field, company leaders have valuable insights on fostering employee success in the virtual realm, beyond the conventional steps of establishing a dedicated workspace and managing distractions. Duffy Group emphasizes the importance of meaningful connections and combating loneliness in the evolving landscape of remote work. The company showcases a holistic approach to maintaining a strong sense of community among its widely dispersed team, providing inspiration for other organizations seeking innovative ways to keep their remote employees connected.

Duffy Group is a national recruitment firm headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona; however, our recruiters live all over the country and work from home. We have been a remote workforce for 33 years, way before the pandemic and the recent trend that has led to many workers working from home either full time or part of the time.

Since we’ve been doing this so long, we feel like we’ve learned a thing or two that may assist other companies set their employees up for success when it comes to working remotely.

We all know the obvious first steps to creating a positive experience working from home such as:

  • Have a dedicated workspace
  • Clear distractions
  • Take breaks
  • Make plans after work
  • Take advantage of not being in the office
  • Consider getting a pet

But how do you ensure that your employees are connecting on a meaningful level and combating loneliness? We are in the people business, after all! Here are some of the things Duffy Group does to ensure our employees are staying connected:

  • Utilize technology! We meet regularly via video with each other, with our clients, and with our candidates. We have many company meetings via video that allow us to connect and share information. We also utilize technology to stay connected on various messenger apps. We have one that’s ‘Just for Fun’ where we share silly memes or other fun things going on in our lives, we have one ‘Just for Pets’ where we love to share photos and stories about our furry family members, we have one for our healthy habits and fitness competition, and we have the ability to message as groups or one to one.
  • Recruiter Huddles – These are small groups of employees who have scheduled informal meetings on the calendars that allow for connecting on all topics.
  • We’ve created small groups to connect for those who want to connect on things that are not work-related—for example, a Book Club and one where we share recipes and food prep tips.
  • Celebrate often! We have virtual meet-ups to celebrate all sorts of occasions, from winning awards to weddings and baby showers. My favorite was when we all celebrated our 30th anniversary and received a surprise box at our homes with food and drinks to enjoy as we celebrated virtually.
  • Provide a leadership coach who will work with all employees virtually and with those who want one-on-one coaching.
  • Strive to have in-person connections if possible. Once a year, we fly all of our employees to our headquarters in Phoenix, where we all stay at the same resort for three days of training, bonding, and community service. It’s one of my favorite events, and the karaoke night has been a hit year after year!

There are many ways to stay connected as a remote workforce. Hopefully, some of the things Duffy Group has been doing for years will inspire you to implement new and creative ways for your employees to stay connected!

Colleen Neese is a practice leader at Duffy Group. She specializes in recruiting executives in non-profit and healthcare.

Need help recruiting talent for your organization? Check out Duffy Group today.

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What Are The Five Human Factors That Make Or Break A Transformation?

What Are The Five Human Factors That Make Or Break A Transformation?
  • February 1st, 2024
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In almost 30 years of being part of a variety of transformations globally, whether it be business model, digital, technology, and/or organizational, there is a consistent set of human factors that makes the journey successful or one where millions of dollars go down the drain because a project is placed on hold, changing hands, and hence becomes a long and arduous journey. What are these human factors?

1. Obtain a clear and concise answer to the question, “What is the human desire?” Also known as the WIIFH (“What’s in it for the human?”).

Business transformation, progress concept

In the proposal stage of projects, greater than 80% of the questions asked of the potential partner are about business, technology, and commercial. There is a small portion about the people side which is quite tactical in nature (i.e., training strategy and approach; communications and readiness).

From the business front, the description of the project barely touches the human dimension. A depth of understanding is missing on, “What is the desired state that is addressed by the change or the transformation?” Desire, want, and fear are deep human emotions that when concretized and qualified from the beginning allow for real and organic movement toward the transformation’s “North Star.”

It reminds me of an opportunity with a client taking on its journey from ECC to S/4 HANA. The usual consultant in me did our background research to understand the client and get an outside-looking-in view. In the pre-sales process, my team had made the effort to grasp the client “change profile” and what their desired culture state … not merely business goals. What a powerful story. We were able to connect with this client and allow its COO, CIO, and CFO to know we listened, we understand, and we will co-create.

2. Invest time upfront in defining, “What are our ways of working and our guiding values as a collaborative organism?”

Transformation, butterflies concept

The initial phase of the journey is a defining point. It is where governance is established, the project team is onboarded, and timelines are vetted and established.

One aspect where the least time is spent is the project team culture—the ways of working and the common set of values that align everyone to the “North Star.” It is either established in a silo or entirely forgotten, especially as teams grow and activities get closer to going live. Culture sets the tone and the guiding principles behind decisions, conversations, and human/group interactions. We need to “go slow to go fast,” moving us toward a deep level of Intentionality throughout the transformation.

Establishing the “ways of working” for the project is worth the intentional time spent. In this large-scale global transformation, the client leaders demonstrated true belief in its values and how it translated back to the project team. The regional directors’ and SVPs’ engagement in carving out how values like curiosity and collaboration were made real from meeting and its outcomes, problem resolution, and leveraging the strengths of its middle managers and subject matter experts made an impact on how the project smoothly confronted challenges and barriers experienced during the course of the project. This was further reinforced during the stabilization phase, where resiliency and co-creation were visible. There was no I/we; it was truly an “us” and we are making this happen together mentality!

3. Intentional resourcing: “What strengths, skills, values, behaviors, leadership, and communication styles are important to move the ship?”

Riding bike, teamwork, leverage strengths concept

There is a level of intentionality that needs to be in place within the project’s ecosystem. It is not as simple as getting people together who are “available,” mixed with a few strong middle managers, some consultants, and a dash of hope, mix them in a project kickoff, and voila: we have a high-performing team. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

Treat it like a draft pick, where there are specific roles to be played within the team and crucial outcomes each role needs to achieve for the bigger mission. One may say we don’t have time for this; we need to simply fill the need and move on. This is what differentiates the championship team from everyone else.

Find the X factor in each individual to create a high-performing team, especially around the intangibles (e.g., values, drivers, motivators, fears). Intentional resourcing at all levels from the steering committee, program lead, and functional resources through stabilization, as we all know “hope isn’t a strategy.”

This is one of the toughest components to enable, especially as most teams are already lean as it is and are restricted to add on resources especially when the aim of the transformation is “reduce cost, increase efficiency,” which also translates to a lean and mean organization. This is one that isn’t a surprise anymore, as we all have probably been in engagements where the project had to be put on pause, or worse, on hold. Either because the project team wasn’t able to move forward, too many changes happening post blueprinting, too many open decisions that needed global buy-in, or there was no clarity on who would be able to move it forward. This is when a 12-month program becomes a 5-year program, where talented people are lost in the process.

4. Stick and carrot strategy: “What are the motivators and consequences that need to be in place?”

Motivation concept, stick and carrot strategy

It is innate in human beings to need boundaries, consequences, and motivations to allow for creativity to flourish, come up with better solutions, and speed in decision making. When this is proactively designed and reinforced throughout the course of the transformation, that is when magic happens.

It is quite a challenge if the organization’s culture revolves around the philosophy, “You are already paid to do your job,” hence, any additional motivators are not necessary. Definitely an uphill battle. In one client, what made this viable was experienced leaders who had gone through similar transformations in their past lives and have seen what a difference a clear reward and performance management system can make in a team’s long-term retention and motivation.

5. Last but not least, “What is needed to orchestrate the first four?”

Team meets for a brainstorming session

In order to make this happen from beginning to end, there is a need to invest in a grand conductor—a robust transformation office. It is a small cohesive unit that is ably steering the ship towards its North Star, in tune with the culture and values of the broader organization and the project team, has insight into when and where coaching, structure, and disciplines need to be inserted, has a pulse on its stakeholders, and knows how to leverage the strengths of the broader group toward creating the best possible solution(s).

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