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Developing a company culture that attracts and retains talent

Happy business team at corporate training, team building activity, diverse employees group, workplace culture concept.

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Company culture can have a big impact on employee job satisfaction. A good company culture starts from the top and trickles down, but an inclusive workplace that values and celebrates diversity starts during the hiring process. 

Company culture can have a big impact on employee job satisfaction. A good company culture starts from the top and trickles down, but an inclusive workplace that values and celebrates diversity starts during the hiring process. 

To discuss the importance of building a positive workplace culture we’re joined by Linda Lee, Chief People and Culture Officer, at Velocity Global.

Linda was most recently the Chief Culture Officer at Anaplan, where she played a vital role with the HR team and serving as a ‘culture champion’ to ensure Anaplan had a strong, effective, and accountable culture. Over the course of the rest of her career, Linda has also worked at Red Hat, Cisco Systems, and Qualcomm in a variety of roles including Business Development, Operations, Strategy, Communications, Culture, and Human Resources.

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hello everyone thank you for tuning in as always I am Katie Bateman the content director actually can code and today
we’re discussing the importance of developing a company culture that attracts and retains Talent now a good
company culture starts from the top and trickles down but an inclusive workplace that values and celebrates diversity
starts during the hiring process to discuss the importance of building a positive workplace culture I’m joined
today by the wonderful Lindley Chief people and culture officer at velocity Global welcome Linda
thank you for the introduction I’m very happy to be here thank you so much for joining us we’ve got so much super this
is going to be a really um great topic uh to go into today so to
kick off though can we set the scene with a bit of background about yourself and how you got into Tech how you landed
your role and tell us all about you yes well thank you I started with eight
years in the government of Canada of all places where I really thought I would
die there because it’s the golden handcuffs It’s a Wonderful pension stability consistency and then I got
this wonderful opportunity to represent the Canadian government on broadband technology uh issues around Apec and I
got to be the Canadian representative I just still boggles my mind that they give me that opportunity and through
that opportunity I met a ton of technology companies naturally one of them being Qualcomm based in San Diego
California and they recruited me down and that started my Tech Career and I
did it mostly in business development um after Qualcomm I met a an incredible
leader named Frank calderoni who was the CFO of Cisco Systems and he and I just
connected on so many levels and I became as chief of staff and kind of ran his
cultural initiatives at Cisco when he had about 5 000 employees days reporting
to him and next thing you know let’s fast forward almost 14 years Kaylee and
I have been with him at Cisco red hat and a plan and velocity Global so I’ve
had the same manager for 14 years can you imagine I had a great sponsor for
you obviously I could talk forever about sponsorship because I realize how
important important he was as a sponsor and I always had mentors who were who
are still incredibly important to me but absolutely he was the one who had my name ready to go in that important room
when people are making decisions for the next promotion or next opportunity or even just lateral moves which he had me
do I was in I didn’t go up in in traditional HR he had me in operations
and in strategy and in Communications and cultural initiatives and people strategy was very important to him uh
but the the last uh role I had with him at annaplan he put me in the chief people role and I remember thinking to
myself is he crazy I am not someone who’s traditionally
grown up in HR but he wanted to see how I would do understanding every aspect of
the business and that had immensely helped me in that role so when we came to Velocity Global
I said I absolutely will take on HR however culture has to be a part of that
remit so that’s how I all started with it’s incredible you um I hear it a lot I hear ladies
that fell into Tech um which is nice to hear in itself that people eventually make it into the industry that’s five of
us um did you did you think that when you were younger though that you might fall into Tech
you probably didn’t look to Tech as a great career or did you think it was
boring or no no I just didn’t think it was part you know what I thought of it as
the lottery yeah only a select few get to have the experiences we do in Tech
and I just didn’t think I’d be one of those people who would win the lottery and I remember when I joined Qualcomm I
I was so grateful for the opportunity because I felt like I truly won a lottery and so I would say that I never
ever thought I would make it into the tech World in fact my parents are still
in shock even though I’ve been in it for almost 20 plus years they can’t believe someone who had a liberal arts degree
who did a master’s in Intercultural Communications could possibly be where I
am today however I will tell you it just takes so much more which we’ll get into
um the soft skills that are transferable and the ability to as women in
particular to make sure we present ourselves truly in
in the light that that we are a lot of us wait till we are absolutely
overqualified or perfect in the roles to take it on and yet all of our male counterparts
surpass us very quickly because they’re not waiting to be a hundred percent they’re waiting at sometimes 20 40 and
we’re trying to get to that level so I would say um I I I Mentor a lot of young ladies
and I always say to them stop trying to over a treat stop telling yourself you’re not good enough what if you
actually do well in this role where you are today and that stops them in their tracks because a lot of us just assume
we’re not quite ready and that’s especially if you didn’t take a stem subject or a piece of Science degree and
you think that’s it you know I have absolutely no chance um so if you took something quite creative and a lot of
people don’t necessarily think that there’s a crossover there but actually they get in the industry and think that
she’s really creative industry and she said there are so many transferable skills that it’s like why is that the
best hidden secret about this exactly exactly and I find if I can say this
I actually look for working moms and parents they’re the hardest working
people I know partly because you are balancing and managing and yet getting everything done truly you you work
full-time you’ve got full-time kids you’ve got some you know full-time spouse partner whomever is there or may
not you may be single and yet you’re getting all of this done and it’s it’s
extraordinary because you know how to prioritize you know how to be creative you’re Innovative you know how to work within a community you understand how to
ask for help all of those things is what we need in the workplace yeah an incredibly loyal oh gosh employees like
that they kind of they’re not the people that and we’ve all done it you’ve all been you know that younger graduate that
comes in and thinks I only need to spend a year two years here and I can go but actually you’re right if you’re a
returner or a parent or you’ve got some other um commitment you you the last thing you
want to do is change jobs and find somebody you know you have to fit in with with
how they work and and you kind of have to say this is my routine and you know they kind of they’re just very loyal
people that I totally agree yes yes absolutely so we we’ve got so much
covered today so um I I want to kick off um with a little bit obviously about
um the the company culture and as you’ve touched on it already um so why is it important for companies
to hire uh companies to be more intentional about who they hire um because surely growth is is more than
just hiring people with great qualifications that we just touched on a little bit there yeah it’s you know so most of my
interviews for example I’ve done probably I’ve been in the role about a month
and I’ve probably done 50 interviews because I’m hiring for some key roles
and I’m not hiring based on skill set or expertise because that’s what got you in the door that that’s not what’s
important to me what important to me is if you’re a cultural addition so I’m not
suggesting a cultural fit you hear that very often and I actually think that’s an outdated uh term you need someone who
will add to your culture not someone who’s going to be intentionally fitting into the way you do things in fact I
want someone who’s going to be creative Innovative thoughtful genuine authentic in the way that they want to solve
problems and continue to evolve the company so you actually have to be very intentional with the way that you think
about someone being an addition to your culture and I give it I think of an example in my own career
I have when you work with someone that doesn’t work oh gosh it’s so difficult
for you either as the manager the peer the subordinate when someone doesn’t
work on your team it’s like this disease that just spreads right
but imagine when you’re that person that doesn’t actually belong or feel
safe or and I have been that person on teens yeah
I’ve been that person and I remember I remember the moment I was I
was at uh you know a very early on tech company and I remember not knowing
Haley and uh they brought in a consultant for our small team and the Consultants started
to really hone in on me and I remember thinking oh my gosh they
hired a consultant for team building exercises because their issues are with
me and I remember feeling horrible and I
remember thinking I’m not I have been trying to fit I’ve been trying to fit into their uh square
and I’m a circle and I quit and it was one of the best things I ever did for
myself and I remembered also thinking I never want anyone else to feel that way and so if someone doesn’t quite match
I’m going to give feedback I’m going to give coaching I’m going to try so that
someone doesn’t walk into a situation like that and realize everyone is not
happy with you and so I think it does quite a disservice to the team the
company and the growth and what you’re trying to build as a culture and so it is so important because it deeply
impacts people all who are affected when there isn’t quite an addition to your
team and so I actually think it’s more just on a human level besides yes we all know
the studies when you have high performing teams that really respect and
trust one another in their psychological safety nothing but growth comes nothing but positivity productivity efficiencies
Effectiveness all of those things happen naturally but we also have to think
about the human element and The Human Side of feeling like you belong gosh that’s that makes all the world of
difference yes I oh gosh I I love everything you just said because
um we had a we had our live webinar recently and velocity Global was involved in and um exactly that it was
about imposter syndrome and we’ve all had that feeling of feeling like we don’t belong but actually there are
those moments where you just think it’s not me thinking oh I just don’t belong here it’s you really don’t belong there
you’ve been either hired into the wrong role or it’s just not for you or you you
know there and it’s and is that as you said that psychological safety of of trying to feel like how do I get out of
here with the mental health intact and not completely ruining my confidence and
because we we had a speaker on there and she was saying you know when I’ve been in those positions she said every time I
saw you know a slack notification or a team’s notification go off I’d think oh I don’t want to talk to anyone because
they she had the same feeling that you said and you’re starting to go down and down and down into this spiral where
you’re thinking I’m just no good and you know yeah you’ve got a problem with me I shouldn’t be here
um and and you’re right it is a bit on both sides as to you know you thought
you were walking into something else they thought they were hiring somebody else and it’s kind of like at that point
as you said you know you made the right decision of thinking
and it was the best decision because you know what happened after that I took nine months off and can you believe I
trained for a triathlon oh gosh
Studio but but then I met Frank calderoni who changed my life so it was the right thing for me to do
at that time and by the way I’ll just plug Holly uh Kane was on that lovely webinar from velocity Global you should
take a listen to that lovely imposter Center one yes yes she yet so insightful
and um I could have spoke um so much longer on that okay I wanted to go on I
let the ladies go because it’s just such an interesting topic we’ve all had that
feeling of imposter syndrome um and and a lot of it stems into finding a company that is a is a good
culture fit I mean as you I love the fact that you call that um you know an addition and a cultural Edition rather
than a fit because you are absolutely absolutely right it’s not just slotting into a team it’s you know how how much
further can you take it um and and grow but yeah we’ve all had that feeling where you’re on the wrong
team yes and you just yes what am I gonna do um yeah kind of find your tribe you kind
of go into the next thing you think This Is My Tribe this is where I meant to be you know
flows freely when you’re at a company that makes you you know feel that way
um but as you said it is intentional and companies you know good companies they try hard to ensure that that happens
because as you said it if you get somebody that’s wrong and it starts to bleed into team members like negativity
bleeds in um and it’s it’s very difficult to keep everybody you know that kind of those
little things will will start to get another team members heads and think well maybe there is a problem
and what happens is and it’s in every company so it’s not like anyone’s unique
or Pro you know immune to this you’ve got your high performers right they’re functioning really well they’re doing a
great job so what do we do as natural leaders we ignore them because we’re focused on their resistors the ones
complaining loudly and often and being difficult and so we spend all our time
with the resistors and that is a mistake and then and what you have to do is show your love to your highest performing
Visionary leaders and so that you ignore the complaining and you just manage that
carefully whether it’s through coaching whether it’s through Performance Management whether it’s exiting the
company so that you show your highest performing people that we love and care
for you because you are performing at the highest levels which is what we expect we’ll take care of this behind us
um and that’s the kind of culture we have to show otherwise what we tend to
do is go so focused on the resistors that these people leave yes the high
performers leave because they’re sick of it yeah right yeah and you’ve got a really toxic situation that happens and
so I always recommend when you’ve got a situation you’ve got a loud complainer and you’ve got someone who’s just really
working hard all the time you focus your efforts on the person working hard acknowledge them recognize them value
them listen to them spend more time with them I guarantee this loud complaint
will get quieter and quieter as you start to manage that out and your performers will perform even more than
you expected yes instead of I suppose some managers assume as well that
um if you’ve got quite a young Workforce who haven’t been you know in lots of different companies yet those that have
done the rounds a little bit and are kind of been in some bad workforces and then this one’s really great I’m not
going to listen to anybody that’s complaining about anything because I really like this one but if you’ve got
you know young graduates who haven’t been through that they’re going to take it in they’re going to start soaking up
the negativity and they’re they’re going to think oh you know that person’s complaining about something I I must
listen maybe there really is a problem that I didn’t know about um so if you’ve got quite a a young Workforce it is you
just need to nip that in the butt as soon as possible absolutely and I would also say that you know I have to say we
have a young Workforce gosh there’s Savvy they’re wing horse savvy than I was back in the day and I will tell you
though what I I found about them is you know I think when I first started
out I didn’t I wouldn’t have said culture was my top five reason to join a company it would have been money title
maybe my manager the company brand you know all of those those things that
nowadays do not matter at all to me um but I find that that it’s changed
generationally that they culture is one of their top three
um they’ve learned very quickly that a culture that’s accepting evolving
transparent uh is go is what’s going to attract the smartest of those those
Young Generation and I’m even finding as the more experienced leaders who I’m
trying to look for I think they’re top one they’ll say to me is culture and I’m talking all the way up to the chief
levels they’re all asking well what’s the culture like well what culture are you trying to build how do I fit into
that what do I what do you expect from me and so it’s becoming and a lot of uh
top leaders want to talk to me specifically if they want to join the company about culture what are you what are your initiatives
what are you driving what are your metrics how are you doing this and so I
I find myself almost selling our culture which I wasn’t expecting um and and yet it’s become one of the
top three reasons why people join a company in my opinion definitely uh yeah I think the pandemic
um really changed things but I think people were feeling that way before anyway I think as you said it’s it has
become a generational thing now people expect more from companies quite rightly
um and then you know they ask different questions in the interview process so
yes what about uh velocity Global we know what what are Velocity doing to to
create a positive company culture that is more inclusive and diverse because you spoke a little bit there
um about what company culture is and how you how you actually describe it I I
I’ve heard it described on this podcast before is it’s it’s not just a slack
group it’s how you feel every day at work you know it’s not just setting up
another employee group where we can meet and have a chat it is actually how you feel every day that you come to work and
you know what what are the losses you do in there to create a positive company culture well thankfully I joined uh already when
there was a positive company culture what I will say though is I want to evolve it and enhance it because
uh for me every human no matter what shape size gender age
industry you all we all want to belong there has
to be a sense of belonging and I I think that they have a couple employee
resource groups which I think are important to build communities which I think is important to have safe spaces
for specific groups however I actually think it’s gone a little far not at velocity but in
general my previous companies where it’s been very siled groups separated from
the rest when we actually have a lot more in common and so I want to bring cross-collaboration amongst all of the
employee resource groups and the diversity Affinity groups so that we all actually Foster a sense of belonging
a lot of times what happens in when we think and talk about diversity equity
and inclusive efforts we have to have a victim and a villain when I actually think we need to think through how we
best break down systemic barriers that are causing us to feel that way in order
to do that across collaborative approach would be far more effective than one going after this one after going after
that and so I hope to build a big a real important sense of belonging and I’m
going to create a belonging Council the other thing is I’m also doing just today
is I’m I’ve created a culture Committee of high potential employees across all
the functions all different levels all different tenures shapes and sizes who are going to come together and bees my
eyes and ears you know I I’m at a certain level now that I will not know what really is the feeling of what’s
happening the other thing is I’m going to build a dashboard of cultural metrics I did this at the last company and what
that looks like is what are your attrition rates what are your exit interviews talking about what’s your
hiring acceptance what do your referrals look like what does Glassdoor ratings look like so taking all those metrics
and actually articulating you know your employee survey results why what culture
looks like will be important and why you need to make improvements so I think you have to measure it I think you have to
actually articulate it and Define what it is and you need culture Champions
throughout I might have the title of culture but it’s not a sole responsibility of me right it’s everyone
across the company who has to feel like they’re adding to the culture um and so I’m going to be doing some
very specific initiatives and projects around the world because we’re so diverse in 185 countries with lots of
different cultures that I want to make sure that if we’re celebrating Diwali
um the Festival of Lights for those in India that we’re all celebrating that across the world and the globe for the
reasons for it so it’s just really thinking through how do we globally
connect how do we actually make systemic changes uh within the company that have
people feel psychological safe that feel like they have a sense of belonging that they also feel like they all have their
own safe communities too because that’s going to be important so we need a little bit of all of it but I am
shifting this from what I’ve done in the past where I thought ergs were were all
that made sense but I actually think you have to take it one step further and I’m going to try to do that in velocity yes
I I love the fact that the way you describe it as well is you know it doesn’t just happen I think people think
culture just magically happens and that you don’t have to have any intention behind it but you know you have metrics
and you know exactly what you want to do to ensure that something goes in the right direction have you worked at
companies where that does kind of you know people just think oh we’ve got a great company culture and then actually
you would speak to employees or look at the reviews on Glassdoor and you would do are you sure because nobody’s
actually checked as you said the feeling on the ground um and and what people were saying when they exit yes I you know I will openly
say this because Frank wrote a book about it so um and Anna plan when we first started
there about six seven years ago the first thing we noticed was how its
nickname was Mana plan oh yeah it was an old boys club women didn’t even
physically have a seat at the table heck they weren’t even invited in the room
so as much as we walked in there and they said we have a decent culture I think people were careful not to say a
great culture uh because they knew there were some issues I mean that was a big
problem what I appreciated about Frank when he became CEO is he didn’t say or
Proclaim I’m going to support women here’s my LinkedIn post about how much I
love women he didn’t do any of that his first hire was me his second hire was Marilyn Miller his
third thing was to bring subastrum on the board he just did actions he didn’t
Proclaim anything he didn’t have to say anything we heard the feedback we put it into action and that’s what I really
appreciate about a strong leadership team is those who don’t words are important but your actions are far more
important to say what you actually are going to do he actually championed a
woman’s interest Network win we’re here to win with women and he championed it at first because we didn’t have enough
female and Executives at the time and then throughout Anna plan we did pay
parity we we paid women appropriately and it was just one of his key
initiatives did he make it a big deal did he put a big split no he just said it’s important get it done women need to
be paid as well as and as significant as men I don’t ever want to see this this issue of a lack of equity and pay so
that’s what we focus on is your leaders have to show in actions
what they’re doing for the culture rather than proclaiming it and talking about it I’m not saying all the right
things because that’s okay but not good enough yeah and then you know not only
does the the company culture not grow into what you need it to be um it also as you know we’re sitting in
in the intro to this it trickles down because I wanted to ask you a little bit about the importance
um how important it is for a leadership team in creating a positive company culture because you know if you see you
know the boss is always late or they talk negatively about their team or you know um for instance you know if if
they’re saying you know you should set boundaries and go and pick up your children when you need to and do the school run but they don’t do it
themselves then it’s kind of it’s not it’s not going to trickle down the
company culture is just you know going to become quite negative or just stay the same really it really does need to
come from the top as you said just actions just seeing it yes let me let me
be really clear on this one your leadership will make or break a culture yeah hands down uh you could have the
strongest company cultural Champions ground up and they could be revered and
influential and motivating and inspiring it doesn’t matter if you’ve got leadership that’s not supportive that’s
not exemplifying that that’s not encouraging it acknowledging it recognizing it it will break your
culture you know I have seen uh even I call them microclimates you know you can
have a strong CEO and strong leadership team but if you’ve got a difficult manager on one team they can break the
culture in that team even if the company culture is fantastic you can still see those one or two managers who are very
difficult or hard on their teams gosh you’ll see everyone leave yeah right the
talent just exits they say don’t know people don’t leave jobs they leave managers and most people don’t think
about it and think actually you know it’s time for me to leave this job they tend to think what is my day-to-day like
um you know is it going to get any better um and if that’s a no then yes they
leave the they leave the manager yes absolutely and imagine if you had a poor
manager or a great manager let’s let’s do the opposite you have a great manager but a poor leadership team above that
person that person will leave right there’s no protection for that person to do what they need to do because the
leadership team is maybe not focused on culture or uh only you can focus on the
bottom line I think that’s obviously very important but I strongly know there’s a correlation to a strong
culture equals great profits simple equation yeah definitely but so
what if though you you’re at a point a company things are all going wrong is it
too late for a company to turn things around is it just a case of getting rid of the leadership team or is it you know
a lot more than that um it’s just a case of hiring yourself and
saying bring bring in Linda she’s gonna sort it out you had the the um pleasure
of having a positive culture already a philosophy but you know do you need somebody to come in and shake things up
well it depends on where you are in the organization right so if I would say
it’s never too late if you’ve got the commitment from a leadership team and
I’m talking your sea levels if you’re sea levels or AC level if you’re under a
chief people officer a chief technology officer a chief engineering officer a chief product officer and they’re very
focused on building a strong positive culture then it can turn around it
doesn’t have to be the CEO all the time right it if you’ve got someone that’s engaged and is willing to be authentic
and genuine and transparent and build trust and understands what it means to
have a sense of belonging oh my gosh stay where that it will turn it will will it will take time but it will turn
over completely I will say that there was no sense of belonging on a plan when we first started there was very much an
old boys club it was very siled and uh difficult to work there and I would say
within about a year it dramatically shifted and changed changed completely so I have seen complete shifts in
cultures I have seen in fact you know people who’ve been at a plan 10 years plus almost forget about that time
period because it’s been such a great culture for such a long time that was built after that so I’ve seen
turnarounds but it does take a commitment of a certain leader you can start small you can start with a team we
started with a little five-person culture Committee of little influential High potentials who helped spread the
word who helped start make those little ships and we started to celebrate people we started basic recognition programs I
mean it doesn’t actually take that much and it was all by the way free we didn’t we just started you know to say thank
you more like it lived yeah that’s all it sometimes takes right yeah just I
said she said a thank you just holding on to good stuff and if there is something
um that is wrong or something that they have spoken up about it’s just listening and as you said putting
um changes into play so I think you know when you’re at the wrong company as well when you you start hearing you know some
managers just kind of think where somebody’s complaining we’ll replace them you know and that’s just
sometimes it is you know you have to replace that person if the fit just isn’t there it’s just not working for
everybody absolutely you know you should work on that but I don’t think it should always be that that go-to oh that’s
great you know if they’re complaining to get them out you know they’re replaceable it’s absolutely fine because
it sets off this feeling amongst the team as well if you uh the the lovely
phrase you used about um you know psychologically feeling safe and you
that kind of paranoia starts to seep into the team um whereas you know good companies they
really do um invest and try and ask you said even just a thank you you can really change
your day it could also be you know here here’s a story that I’ve never forget George Floyd was
murdered in Minneapolis and we had an office there and we brought together we
sent a note immediately to the Minneapolis employees because there was riots and a lot of uh uh negative
violent activities were occurring so we wanted to make sure everyone was feeling safe
and then we met with our black ERG our black employees and I remember one very brave brave
employee spoke up and said I was highly offended that the
leadership team wrote an email to all the employees in Minneapolis to see if they’re safe but none of you checked in
with any of us black employees ah gosh what a moment yeah and if
there’s anything I’ve learned in leadership is to admit your mistakes yeah we made a big mistake yeah well
because I’ve done it on purpose somebody pointed out our unconscious bias though
right naturally went to all employees but who was hurting the most in that
moment yeah and we didn’t go to them first and I have since been come very
close to that employee because I just thought how scared she must have been but yet she felt enough psychological
safety to admit that to us but thankfully we admitted we made a mistake
and we said we were going to do things differently and refer to them more and
and we did build such a strong relationship with that group did we get everything right after that no but I
will say it was such a powerful lesson for me to always stop and pause and think what’s my unconscious bias in this
moment and how do I think differently and I will say that that even those
types of conversations or the way that you start to think will shift your culture yes
so I share that as I’ll never forget that I’ll never forget that moment in
that meeting I by the way I burst into tears because I’m an emotional person and I was incredibly embarrassed that I
did but I I was so overwhelmed with how proud I was of her to have
faced us sea levels to say you made a really big mistake and it hurt my
feelings and it was not okay um so that’s the kind of culture I want
to continue to build that employees even can come to us and say you didn’t do this right yeah this is what we should
do next time yeah at least you felt safe enough to to voice her opinion in that
situation um so you know I I’m assuming as well that she thought it’s worth me saying
this because I know you will listen yeah she might have seen that in a previous you know some something that had
happened and you know at least if I do voice my opinion I’m taking a risk but it would be worth it because they’ll
make a change yes exactly exactly so anyway that’s how powerful a
strong culture will have for your culture your company and how much it will shift and change the way leadership
will guide a company definitely I’m we are almost out of time
in a great question for you I can talk about this all afternoon um we we um have one more question
um for you do you have any tips for others that are looking to foster a good and strong company culture yes there’s
so many I the number one one I say to people is I
know it’s simple and we’ve said it a couple times but recognize people some it can be quick it can be simple it can
be easy it can just be a thank you but I I always say be specific like thank you
Keely for being organized and thoughtful with your questions today you know other than just being thank you right like
it’s it’s important to be specific but it’s also be the example you wanted in
your culture even if you’re not a leader it’s just start to set the example of the way you want to see things done in
your company I also say check your ego your ego is not your Amigo check your
ego because you have to give people the benefit of the doubt um I remember once someone slapped me
a message that wasn’t for me but about me oh yes we’ll make that mistake it’s
got the nine minutes so you goes to the wrong person yeah and it was not kind at
all so I wrote this person and so what’s my ego do and it should I think all of your
listeners would agree we could get upset and angry and tell all our friends and can you believe this jerk and how could
they say these things I didn’t do any of that I checked my ego and I emailed this person with the
message the screenshot and I said um can we have an honest conversation
I’d like to know what feedback you have for me in order for you to have said these things about
me I’m open to a conversation tomorrow the person wrote back like terrified and
and embarrassed and said uh we’ll meet and when we met the first thing this
person said was I am in shock you didn’t get upset I am in shock you
you you had I had the ability to fire this person as well and I should have
been fired for this I I I I profusely apologized and we I said enough about
that but you felt this way about me and I’m asking for honest feedback because
you can’t go back so let’s just be direct with one another and I want to
know what I’ve done to have deserved that kind of calls
and we ended up having a fantastic conversation and to this day this person
is one of the most loyal people on my team so I I always say check your ego
even in those kind of circumstances I had the right I could have fired that person I could have reprimanded that
person I could have gone all out on that person but I chose not to and I chose to
instead check my ego and think about giving this person the benefit of the doubt and how do I resolve this in a
more productive mature way so my right employee I mean why would you want to go
at them and think oh now they want to leave anyway they might go on and tell other people you know what it was like
they it’s kind of you don’t you really don’t need all of that they’re a great employee yes some of them let’s just
find out what made you feel that way I I don’t expect everyone to like me does that make sense but I do expect everyone
to respect me so if if I somehow disrespected you and you don’t feel
respect towards me then I’ve got to work on something right what happened after that was this person told everyone which
I wasn’t expecting this is what this is amazing I had this like weird following of people who couldn’t believe
I didn’t just fire this person so it it built this sense of trust and I don’t
know like it it spread and I didn’t expect him to talk to people about that situation so I always say don’t let
drama take over uh we tend to do that naturally as humans we have egos it
makes sense but it really I always switch it to what does great look like
how can I help those are the two key questions I always ask myself in those kinds of situations
and then I always think communicate as much and as often and as direct as you
possibly can because people are smart and they appreciate being treated as
professionals so do it treat them as adults uh we’ve all been in that do you say just communicate we’ve all had one
of those roles but I had this a lot when I was younger I think almost managers are worried about offending people as
well by giving feedback or you know they’re not transparent with you about what’s going on and you think I just I I
felt myself you know a few times say especially when I was younger I’m a big girl tell me if there’s something you
need me to change you know there’s something happening here please tell me and we can work on it and you just need
somebody to be clear and upfront with you not rude said you know we don’t need
people to be rude and we don’t need arguments to break out but just being you know open and honest is is just so
important instead of that feeling of well what does everybody else think of me you know it’s the same
I love that because what we what we say when we give feedback which is a gift
because someone’s taking the time to do this when they could have kept it to themselves or told six people about you
and don’t actually tell you we do all that don’t make it a big deal do not say
feedback for like you do not have to do you can do it in the moment you can give
feedback and it can be positive and it can be it can be like Kaylee you gave me the best questions I loved this
conversation that’s feedback that’s feedback right it’s like hey Kaylee by the way you could have asked me this
question that’s feedback people so it doesn’t have to be this formal sit down I gotta walk you through a b and c I do
I give feedback often I’ll be like hey after that meeting I’ll be like you spoke up and I loved it I wished I saw
more of it though by the way this question you asked was fantastic where did that come from I
wish you spoke asked six more questions so it’s like you can give feedback
constantly and daily and in different formats and it doesn’t have to be this
big scary thing so always remember that feedback is a gift that you’re giving to
someone because they may never have heard it before yes
and so it’s so important to say you’re on the right track this is slightly off track here’s how
I’ll help you what does great look like to you what how did you think that went
what could you have done differently these are questions that guide you through feedback but again it doesn’t
have to be this big scary conversation about it it can be daily and regular and
consistent which is what I started to do with my team here at velocity I bet you half of them don’t even know I’m giving them feedback almost every day
yeah it just it just it becomes natural and and as well you can tell those teams
or those companies where you know people not only say great things but actually in just what you see people how they go
in and out that that company I worked at a fabulous American company and a lot of
people would leave because they’d want to try something else they’d move on somewhere else but they’d come back it
was always that feeling of but I could always come back and know what the culture is like it’s a great culture it feels like a family I’ve left for a new
opportunity but I I could come back with and that really says a lot about a
company rather than people just thinking I I fled I got out I’m leaving a negative review and that’s it you know
yes and here’s my last oh my God here’s my last point about the tip on this
don’t wait for the feedback ask you can ask I do it all the time with
certain leaders I’ll ask so what feedback do you have for me how because I’ve only been here five weeks right what what have I not been focused on
what would you like me to focus on so I asked the question so people don’t go oh Linda’s asked for feedback I don’t I
don’t know what to do ask follow-up questions what you’re actually looking for how am I resonating with your team
how can I help your team be more successful what more could I be doing to ensure HR is your business partner I’m
asking these questions constantly in the last five weeks so I don’t wait for feedback I ask for it and I’ve gotten
some brilliant suggestions and insights that I had never thought about and so I
think it’s really important that you and I love what you just said boomerangs
happen all the time and what I love is when people feel safe enough to say hey
Linda I’m looking for my next role and it might not be at velocity
let’s team together and work on a transition I’d be happy to be referenced and a
referral rather than the secretive like I’m gonna do this you know and I can’t tell anyone and then I’m just gonna give
my I wish that culture could change and I did that a little bit at my last few companies where I built
um relationships with my leaders so that they felt comfortable uh being having having those open
conversations about their career yeah yeah I love that because as you said even if it’s not at
your current company it’s just ensuring that you know the best for
um uh that person for their career where where they’re going next
um it it’s so important to ensure that that employee uh feels comfortable
um and can you know uh say um I need to move forward in my career
um whether or not it’s at that company or the next one um it just makes everybody feel you know so much more
psychologically safe which um is is a phrase that you’ve used throughout this
and something that I’ve never thought of actually in company culture you’re absolutely correct yeah so you know what
Linda I could talk about this all afternoon um but we are already out of time I’m afraid so
um thank you so much for joining us today it’s been an absolute pleasure and to have you on here and and to chat
about something so important so thank you so much thank you I enjoyed it I hope everyone else enjoys it as well yes
they definitely will um thank you so much and to everybody listening as always thank you for joining us and we hope to see you again
next time

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