Leaders are struggling to guide their teams effectively as they navigate the COVID-19 global pandemic, the ‘Great Resignation,’ and an unstable economy. 

Recent research by BetterUp shows that one-on-one coaching helps employees navigate change by building the resilience, authenticity, and overall well-being to thrive against uncertainty.

As an executive coach who partners with senior managers and executives as they navigate complex change, I can attest that coaching is a powerful tool to help tackle ambiguity and uncharted territory with self-assurance.

In this article I’ll:

• Break down the importance of coaching your team during times of change
• Share five coaching skills every leader needs to be successful right now
• Share mistakes to avoid when attempting to coach your team during these challenging times.

Sprinkled in are insights from several people managers and global experts in coaching. So let’s get to it!

Why coaching is a crucial people manager skill?

So, why do people managers also need to learn how to coach? To begin, coaching is the process of empowering your employees to discover answers to their problems through asking powerful questions and helping them to self-discover. Learning how to coach will enable you to guide your team to become more self-sufficient and productive.

But these aren’t the only advantages of learning how to coach your team well. Additional benefits to employees include:

• Gaining a clearer understanding of your employees’ strengths and areas of opportunity
• Creating a space for teams to experiment, make mistakes, learn, and grow
• Increasing employees’ communication skills, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence.

But coaching doesn’t just benefit your employees. Vanessa Shaw, the founder of momentous.work, explains that “creating a coaching culture in your team not only supports the team but also you as a leader.”

During times of change, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic, the looming recession, and the current political climate, coaching is a particularly helpful change management tool. As Tracy Avin, founder of TroopHR, explains, “leaders who effectively coach their teams through change will help them realize the learning moments, adapt more efficiently, and advance their capabilities from the experience.”

Lastly, coaching is an opportunity to retain team morale, which can quickly become depleted during challenging times. Jami Delaney, chief care officer and head of people strategy and customer experience at Assemble, says that “coaching helps reinforce the existing trust and confidence of the team that can be an unintended casualty during times of change.”

What coaching skills do managers need to thrive through change?

Coaching requires a blend of skills. What are the most essential coaching skills a modern manager needs to succeed in today’s fast-moving world? According to the experts I spoke with, here are the top five:

Coaching skill 1: Listening

To begin, listening is the number-one skill needed to be a successful and effective coach. While this may sound simple, de la Poer explains that competencies such as “positive regard, not interrupting, stillness, being present, listening beyond the words, noticing body language, [and] what someone is not saying” can be difficult to truly master.

With everything going on in our current world, mastering the art of listening is more important than ever before. However, not all listening is created equal. Begonia explains that “most people listen to respond and are often thinking of the thing they want to say next instead of actually paying attention and deeply listening to what the other person is saying.”

If you want to develop your listening skills, try giving the OARS technique a try:

• Open-ended questions: Ask open-ended questions.
• Affirming: Affirm the speaker’s thoughts and feelings.
• Reflection: Reflect what you heard.
• Summary: Summarize the conversation. 

Coaching skill 2: Curiosity

Building upon listening skills, Delaney recommends people managers learn how to get curious when they’re listening. She explains that “when teams feel vulnerable or uncertain, they’re looking to their leader to set the stage for how things will unfold… Teams want their leaders to be clear communicators, compassionate, and confident while leaders have the unique and undoubtedly difficult job of leading while experiencing their own portfolio of emotions.”

Consequently, Delaney advises you to “explore, observe behavior, and consider the idea that each member of your team experiences and processes challenges and change differently.” Doing this “will better prepare you to tap into what the team needs on an individual level and help them maximize their performance when you need them most.”

Learn how to ask powerful coaching questions that provide the coachee an opportunity to explore their options. You can give a few of my favorite coaching questions a try:

• What did you like about that? What didn’t you like?
• What do you think went well? What didn’t?
• Are there any other options available to you?
• Who can help you with that?
• What else?
• What’s the best-case scenario?
• What’s the worst-case scenario?
• Can you tell me more?

I also like to hand over the reigns to the client and ask, “What question do you want me to ask you right now?” or “What question do you not want me to ask you right now?” Both of these questions spark curiosity and get clients to think in new ways.

Coaching skill 3: Mirroring

While listening and curiosity will ensure your team is supported and empowered, mirroring is equally important during turbulent times.

Simply put, “mirroring is empathy in action – it is when you reflect back what your team is feeling so they feel heard, understood, and grounded,” explains Amy Varga, president of The Varga Group. Mirroring is not about trying to fix the present situation. Instead, “it’s about your team feeling heard and understood,” even when “you might not be able to tell your team what exactly lies up ahead.”

Varga explains that mirroring is an important coaching skill because you want your team to know that “their feelings matter and that you understand what they are experiencing.” Additionally, she says “change and uncertainty fuels anxiety, and mirroring is an antidote that allows people to take a deep breath, knowing that even if it’s not clear what is up ahead, they are not alone in their experiences.” 

As a people manager, you can practice mirroring by reflecting what your employees say back to them, then checking in to ensure you summarized their thoughts and feelings correctly. The OARS technique can come in handy here, too. I encourage my coaching clients to integrate OARS into both staff and one-on-one meetings. 

Coaching skill 4: Courage

Change can be scary and anxiety-producing, and coaching your employees to find the courage within themselves to enact change can be difficult to accomplish. However, when done right, the results can be incredibly powerful.

But how exactly do you help an employee to show up more courageously in the workplace? Shaw says you “give up on confidence… You don’t actually need it to create significant change and meaningful impact at work.” Instead, she recommends “going after becoming your most courageous self, whatever that looks like for you” and your employees.

Partner with your employees to map out what that vision looks like for them, then develop a strategy to turn that vision into a reality. You can ask your employees coaching questions like:

• What do you hope to achieve in the next 6 months, 1 year, and 5 years?
• How will you measure your success?
• What resources and support do you need from me to turn this vision into a reality?

I regularly assign these types of reflective questions as “homework” between meetings, then explore them deeper with clients during coaching sessions. Your role as a coach is to make space for your coachee to find and practice courage.

Coaching skill 5: Strategy

Lastly, you can take your coaching to the next level by helping your employees turn their ideas and insights into action.

As Avin explains, “leaders who provide strategic support while being empathetic see the greatest results with their coaching efforts.” She says that “rather than just identifying an area of opportunity (growth) for an employee/leader, it is important to also have a plan (strategy) to achieve that growth.”

Partner with your coachee to turn their ideas and insights into action plans. During coaching sessions, I often have clients pull up their calendars and add their action items to their schedules to prevent them from falling to the wayside.

Mistakes To Avoid When Coaching People And Teams

Although coaching can be a powerful tool, you also want to look out for these common missteps when leading your team through change:

Mistake 1: Feeling like you always need an answer

You do not need to have all the answers to your coachee’s problems, in fact that’s not the point.

Catherine de la Poer, founder of Halcyon and an adjunct professor at Hult International Business School, urges leaders to avoid the common feeling that they need to fix every problem presented to them. 

“The person (the coachee) has the answer to the problem.” Your role as the coach is to simply be present with your coachee and create a space for thinking to take place.

Carissa Begonia, a business and leadership coach and the founder of CONSCIOUSXCHANGE,  clarifies that “leaders sometimes don’t always have all the information or knowhow to coach through certain situations, and that’s OK.” She says this can become sticky as leaders will sometimes pretend to know the answer, say something just to appease the coachee, or make promises they cannot keep.

The solution? Practice honest, open communication with your staff, even if that is simply notifying them you have nothing new to share.

Mistake 2: Evading difficult conversations

Being able to lead difficult conversations is necessary when you are a people manager, yet many leaders are reluctant to have them.

This is a big mistake. Varga says “people know when you’re guessing about the future or putting a rosy spin on an uncertain future. When you act like you know the future when you don’t, you lose your credibility. Your team trusts you less, and trust is the most important currency for leaders to have when leading.”

Delaney explains that this is because “leaders often believe their role is to protect their teams during challenging times, and they make the mistake of not being candid.” However, “this action of ‘care’ can backfire and make it more shocking and harder to digest when the team faces a significant change or challenge.” Instead, she recommends that you “bring your teams along on the change journey.”

Mistake 3: Being reactive

We’re all emotional beings and get triggered once and a while, but Shaw says that “being reactive is the most overused error leaders make.” She says “reactive behaviors happen at all levels in an organization and keep you in a loop of putting out fires fast enough so you can be ready to put out the next one.” 

To combat this, she says it’s important to “slow down, get curious, [and] think long-term.” If you’re not sure where to start, you can ask yourself and your teams, “What will be the decision we make right now that 3 years from now we will be glad we did?”

Mistake 4: Making assumptions

Avoid generalizations and assumptions. Avin urges that “through these difficult times it’s more important than ever that leaders do not make any assumptions while coaching.” For instance, she says “just because your company is not experiencing layoffs doesn’t mean that a spouse or partner of an employee is in the same situation, which can also affect your employees.”

Avin reminds us that “each individual has their own unique considerations to be taken into account when coaching them.” The antidote here is empathy. “Empathy is crucial to driving results with coaching, as all people consume information and learn at different levels. Understanding employees’ individual needs throughout the coaching process will drive the most success.”

Mistake 5: Not owning up to your mistakes

Lastly, mistakes happen. Your job as a people manager is to own up to them and take restorative action. “We never set out to make mistakes, but they will happen, especially when facing uncertainty and increasing complexity,” explains Shaw. 

However, if you say or do something harmful, “turn toward each other” and “invite a conversation.” As a people manager, “your ability to create, repair and maintain relationships is the precise way to face times of change, uncertainty, and complexity—by doing it together and building trusting partnerships amongst colleagues.”

Final Thoughts

Know that becoming an effective coach takes time, and mastering coaching is a lifelong journey. Consider choosing one or two of the skills in this article to focus your attention and energy on in the coming months, then outline your plan of attack in the comments.

Also, if there are additional must-have coaching skills you would add to this list, share them with us below!

Some further reading:

• How to go from manager to coach
• Why Inclusive Meetings Are Better (And How To Lead Them)
• 5 Powerful Performance Review Questions To Tap Your Team’s Potential
• The Secret Code To Exceptional Leadership (with Ian Mills from Transform Performance International).

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We’re passionate about the world of work, and how we can make it better. To help satisfy our curiosity, we’ve launched an interview series where we pick the brains of experienced leaders, business owners, managers, and individual contributors to get their thoughts on how we can collectively build better workplaces.

Join us in our next installment below as Thuy Vu—Co-founder and CEO of Global Mentor Network—shares her insights with us.

We’d love to get to know you a bit better, tell us a bit about your backstory.

I’m originally from Vietnam. As a young child, I fled Saigon (now renamed Ho Chi Minh City) on a harrowing boat journey with my family at the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975. We were part of what came to be known as the “boat people” refugee exodus. We lived in a couple of refugee camps before my family was resettled in Duluth, Minnesota with the help of the Lutheran Church there. We went from the tropical weather of Vietnam to the below-freezing temperatures of Minnesota! And if you add to that the fact that none of us spoke English and we had nothing but the clothes on our backs…well, you can imagine the challenges. Being an immigrant, though, teaches you a lot about life. What’s important, what’s not? How life can become devastating in an instant, and how you can rise from the ashes.  

I eventually not only learned English but chose a profession where English language and communication skills were critical to my career growth. I became a seven-time Emmy award-winning television news reporter and anchor for two decades in San Francisco before pivoting a few years ago to become co-founder and CEO of the Global Mentor Network. For me, GMN is very much a pay-it-forward venture, a way to help others in their development and leadership journeys since so many people have helped me in mine. 

If we were to ask a friend to describe your personality to us, what would they say?

I’m pretty outgoing and enjoy hearing people’s stories. I love people who can make me laugh out loud, but I also love people who can make me pause and reflect.  Here are some actual words friends have used to describe me: energetic, effervescent, analytical, driven, kind, thoughtful, community-minded, funny, serious. 

Thinking back to your career journey, what’s an interesting story that stands out? 

There was an instance when both main anchors on the flagship evening newscast at the CBS station where I worked had the night off. My female African-American colleague and I were tapped to be the substitute anchors. It was a big deal and I was excited. After the newscast, some really nasty emails from viewers came in criticizing the station for having two women at the anchor desk. This was more than 15 years ago when primary anchor teams always consisted of one man and one woman. Some viewers also didn’t like seeing two women of color as the “faces” of the big show. One even told me to “go back where I belong.” 

It was hurtful, but also made me more determined to do my part to make sure underrepresented groups have pathways for career growth, visibility, and leadership opportunities. As the saying goes: “If you can see it, you can be it.”

What’s the most impactful lesson you’ve learned over your career thus far?

When I was a student at U.C. Berkeley majoring in Rhetoric (yes such a major exists!), I anchored a news program on the college radio station. That was when I fell in love with journalism. The news director told me if I wanted to succeed, I needed to change my name because no one would ever hire someone with a strange name like “Thuy Vu” as a news broadcaster. At the time, there were no Vietnamese-American journalists on TV news in the US. 

I was worried about my job prospects and seriously considered changing my name to Nicole since I really admired a girl named Nicole on my dorm floor. After much stress and internal debate, I decided to keep my name because it was my heritage. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made because my unusual name made me more memorable to viewers, plus I heard from so many Vietnamese people how proud they were to see someone with a Vietnamese name on the air. 

A big lesson I’ve learned is when you’re conflicted about something, be true to yourself.

Thanks for giving us some insight into who you are! Let’s jump into things. When you hear the phrase “build a better world of work”, what comes to mind?

We need to be more creative and thoughtful about how and where we do our jobs. In this increasingly hybrid work world.

People are often taking dysfunctional practices from the office environment and simply shifting them to their homes.

We need to completely reimagine the way we share knowledge, make connections and build a sense of community within organizations. 

For you, what’s the main blocker you see as standing in the way of building a better world of work?

Lack of agility, courage, and curiosity.

What’s one thing within our control that we can practically do to build a better world of work today? And, how do you recommend going about it?

The pandemic has been extremely challenging for everyone. We know there are high levels of employee attrition and disengagement, as evidenced by reports from McKinsey, LinkedIn, and other sources. They highlight some very interesting employee trends:

• “Quiet quitting” – 80% are disengaged, costing US companies about $350 billion annually
• 80% of Gen Z workers want to work at companies that align with their values
• 75% desire more opportunities to learn new skills and expertise

What can companies do about this? They can provide growth opportunities and meaningful connections through multi-faceted, scalable mentorship and leadership development programs online. 

These programs are mutually beneficial. 

• For employees—the programs help them broaden perspectives, develop skills, increase confidence, and ultimately grow their careers. 
• For employers—employee engagement and retention are improved while creating a pipeline of internal candidates for leadership roles to drive the business.

Hybrid work poses its own set of challenges, but it also offers employees the chance to virtually connect with peers and leaders they may not have otherwise had a chance to meet, much less learn from, in a traditional office environment. 

I know it can be tempting for busy employees and managers to put mentorship programs on the back burner, but this is a mistake since they’ll be missing out on an effective way to keep employees engaged and happy. 

With the help of technology, it’s easier than ever for leaders to automate matching mentors and mentees based on their interests and goals. Just doing matches, however, isn’t enough. At Global Mentor Network, we take a much more holistic view to make sure success stories are shared and the impact of democratized learning permeates the entire organization. We do this by offering a platform that addresses four key areas:

1. Automate mentor-mentee matches plus integration with major HR systems to ensure easy tracking of participant growth and promotions
2. Create easy opportunities for everyone in the organization to learn from one another, form cohorts, and build a sense of community
3. Encourage participants to share their learnings and discuss their perspectives regularly in group settings and through fireside chats on the platform
4. Leverage content from leaders and “power mentors” outside the organization who provide advice and talk candidly about their real-world challenges and solutions

Modern mentorship programs must meet the needs of modern workers, who don’t always have physical proximity to one another. The programs don’t have to be built around cumbersome coursework or only around in-person meetings. They can be just as (if not more) effective by facilitating strong connections virtually around targeted topics and encouraging ongoing discussion. 

Can you share one thing you’ve experienced, seen, or read about that is leading us towards a better world of work?

I didn’t have access to mentors in my life until pretty late in my career, and I’ve often wondered if I missed out on opportunities for growth and advancement because of that. I think the pandemic forced all of us to become more comfortable with communicating virtually and taught us that connection is not necessarily about proximity but rather about the quality of the connection. This is a mindset that’s essential to understanding current work environments. It’s exciting to see how technology is evolving to help HR leaders and other executives create dynamic skills development and people connection programs that employees want to participate in and find valuable. 

I’m curious, thinking about building a better world of work, is there a company and/or leader who stands out to you as someone we should follow? If so, what are they up to?

Ohhh this is a tough one. We’ve interviewed incredible top leaders from companies like Alphabet, Meta, Wayfair, Clorox, Metlife and so many others. This is like being asked to choose your favorite child! Okay—I’ll give it a try. I think VMWare’s CHRO Betsy Sutter is very innovative and forward-thinking. I’m also really impressed by Blue Shield of California’s CHRO Mary O’Hara along with their VP of Talent Kristin Wood—they’re both very thoughtful and intentional about developing people to enhance employee mobility. 

How can our readers follow your work?

The best way would be to follow Global Mentor Network on social media—we have an active community and that’s where we post any news or updates. I’ve also had a lot of fun co-hosting our podcast for HR and talent development professionals over the past few months, Leader’s Playbook, which just wrapped up its first season. We have a new group of exciting guests planned for Season 2 and we encourage all your readers to subscribe so they can be the first to know when new episodes drop. You can also contact us at [email protected] with any questions, comments, or suggestions. And of course, you could give me a follow on Twitter the more the merrier! 

Thank you for adding your voice to People Managing People’s interview series on How to Build a Better World of Work! 

Add your voice to the conversation

Join our interview series and share your ideas for how we can build a better world of work!

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You know all of those printer cartridges, staplers, browser security apps, and networking lunches your employees have spent money on? Well, all of those expense receipts have to be recorded, managed, and tracked somehow as business expenses. 

Most companies use expense management software to keep track of their employee spending, however, 43% of companies still manage expenses manually using spreadsheets and even paper. Manual input cuts into the employee’s time, the manager’s time, and the time it takes to process reports and reimburse employees’ spending through accounting.

What is Expense Management Software?

Expense management software is a type of automated software application that helps manage employees’ business expenses. These solutions use automation to help employees and managers submit, track, and report their expenses, ultimately simplifying the expense management process while reducing labour costs and errors. 

The traditional way of expense tracking was to rely on the employee to log and manage their expenses until a specific time/date. The employee would then submit their expense report, and the admin would have to go through the list of expenses, checking the paper receipt and then approving or rejecting them.

Many companies are still using this process and are unaware of the benefits that can be gained through using expense tracking software or expense management system.

Expense management software can help ensure that your company doesn’t overspend on business expenses, and it allows you to issue reimbursements in real time. 

How Can Expense Management Software Benefit Your Business?

You may already be fully convinced that automated expense management software is the way to go, but, just in case, here are some benefits you may not have heard of when it comes to expense management software:

Time

On average, it takes 20 minutes to complete a manual expense report. With automation, this time can be drastically reduced. Expense management software offers instant receipt verification upon submission, can check non-conforming receipts with accuracy, and can produce expense reports with a click of a button. 

These features prevent the need to back-track and sort through receipts, not to mention looking through spreadsheets to find an error or revisit an employee expense that may have conflicted with your policy. 

Accuracy

Automated expense management software dramatically reduces the likelihood of errors. Small mistakes can go unnoticed and may affect the expense report. To make your finance team’s lives easier, adopting an automated system will reduce those errors exponentially, leaving you time to focus on more important things like forecasting future expense management strategies or developing appropriate spending policies. 

Expense Reporting/Forecasting

Most expense reporting software and expense management software systems have an analytics feature that can help track expense claims and analyze trends.

Analytics can give insights into future spending and can even give recommendations when expense management policies need to be adjusted. In the long run, this could save your company time, money, and excess stress.

User-Friendly

Employees use expense management software to submit their expenses. With this in mind, many software systems have integrated smartphone features that allow employees to take pictures of their receipts, inputting them into the system right away. 

Employees may use company credit cards that integrate into the software system. This type of software interface is generally easy to use, with training modules and customer service often included. 

Dual Integration

Many expense management software systems can be integrated with accounting software, making managing expenses all the more streamlined and easy to use.

Accountants won’t need to input expense data. Instead, all expenses and receipts can be accessed on the platform, and reimbursements can be scheduled and issued more quickly. 

Integration also helps freelancers and professional services companies submit expenses for projects more easily and be tracked and reimbursed without getting lost in the riff-raff.  

Better Approval Workflow

When it comes to approving or rejecting an expense, expense management software can be set up to approve expenses automatically and send a notification to appropriate approvers for faster validation. This validation process can be saved and applied to other categories of expenses, reducing the time it would take to send proper proof to the approver. 

Key Features Of Expense Management Software

• Tracks Receipts – Track receipts instantly as they are submitted and access receipts quickly as needed for audits. 
• Dashboard Features – Unified dashboards can be accessed easily by employees and managers alike and allow for easier internal and external auditing by accountants.
• Smartphone Camera Feature – Allows employees to capture their receipts by smartphone and upload them instantly to the dashboard.
• Credit Card Integration – Routes company credit cards directly to the platform and allows employees to keep track of spending on a user-friendly dashboard. 
• Notifications – Notifies when approaching spending limit and flagging expenses if not verified. 
• Routing Receipts – Receipts can be quickly sent for verification to managers and approvers as needed. 
• Policy Violation Check – Analyzes receipts and user data to track spending limits and when an expense should be audited. 
• Expense Policy Adjustments – policies can be adjusted quickly and can be applied right away.

How to Choose Expense Management Software?

Now that you know the benefits and key features of online expense management software, how exactly do you know which system is best for your company? Here are some questions to ask yourself when purchasing this type of software:

How do your employees make purchases?

If your employees use a personal credit card, you will need a photo-capturing feature on the mobile app so that can input receipts. If company credit cards are used, then features that integrate credit cards would be essential. You also may need to implement more security features in case the card is missing or if certain expenses need to be audited. 

What features do you normally use in automated expense software?

Looking at your current automated software programs will tell you what features to look for in expense management software. For example, if your existing software sends notifications to stakeholders or authorities regularly, including a notification feature for your expense management platform may be useful to your company. 

How big/small is your company?

For a small business, you may not need expense management software with dual integration capability (adding on accounting software). For larger businesses, it may be essential to have a feature that allows freelancers or service groups to submit an expense claim receipt or automatically bill your company to accounts payable. 

Consider the size of your company, depending on the nature of your business, your policies and integration may already be in place. 

How many departments are working together? 

If you are allocating costs to different departments regularly, making sure you have a good analytics feature may be necessary to gain insights and properly develop your expense management solution and policy.

What Do You Think Of Expense Management Software?

Whether you are convinced or not, expense management is a necessary process that often goes underlooked. It has the potential to save you time, money and your sanity when it comes to processing and expense tracking. Not to mention, it can help improve workforce management systems. 

Even if you think you have a good process in place already, consider the employees’ perspective: 82% of companies who have invested or are planning to invest in expense management or expense report software say that they are doing so to make the lives of employees and managers easier.

Whether you want to ease up the process or grow your company, the benefits of expense management systems continue to become apparent. 

Ready to take look? Check out our pick of the 10 Best Expense Management Software For Business in 2022.

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We’re passionate about the world of work, and how we can make it better. To help satisfy our curiosity, we’ve launched an interview series where we pick the brains of experienced leaders, business owners, managers, and individual contributors to get their thoughts on how we can collectively build better workplaces.

Join us in our next installment below as Sydney Elaine Butler—Founder, DEIB Facilitator and Neurodiversity/Accessibility Consultant at Accessible Creates—shares their insights with us.

We’d love to get to know you a bit better, tell us a bit about your backstory.

My backstory? Sounds a lot like an origin story.

I grew up understanding that I had more obstacles than most being a biracial girl who had speech and other challenges, however my parents were always supportive and encouraging where they could be. I attended speech therapy for numerous years while in school and had challenges in school. I had special interests in certain subjects which I excelled in. I thrived in extra curriculars, such as Soccer and Girl Guides. Throughout my time in Girl Guides, I became more confident in learning as well as speaking up for myself and using my voice.

I then went to an Art School for middle school, and fell in love with acting and performing, and learning how to overcome my speech challenges. In High School, I fell in love even more with Theatre and also found love in Business studies. I wanted to be an Environmentalist, but I did not have the grades to do so in Mathematics and Science. So, I applied for a Business-Human Resources program, and fell in love again while also understanding the lack of Accessibility in Business and decided to become an HR Professional who focuses on Accessibility, and other areas of Diversity and Inclusion.

If we were to ask a friend to describe your personality to us, what would they say?

Well, I did ask a friend, I asked my best friend, my life partner Gordon and he said Outgoing, Committed, Energetic, Funny, Engaging, Caring and Loving.

A lot of my friends also say I am resilient. As I have had to overcome lots of barriers to get to become who I am today, and they have seen the growth and the long journey it has been for me, and how I continue to push forward and move forward to improve myself, my life and others around me.

Thinking back to your career journey, what’s an interesting story that stands out? 

An interesting story that stands out is that I have always wanted to be a speaker ever since I was a child. I was working in an HR Position while helping the company focus more on Accessibility as well within HR as I was upfront with them about my passion for both and the lack of Accessibility within HR.

I was approached on LinkedIn by an individual who was looking for someone to come speak about Accessibility, and Neurodiversity in the Workplace. I think of the quote “If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.” ― Lemony Snicket, The Ersatz Elevator. I felt a bit of imposter syndrome when I did it, but I loved every second of it, and wanted to continue to speak at companies and events, educating attendees on these topics I was so passionate about within Business and Human Resources as I realized I could combine my passions and my dream of being a speaker.

What’s the most impactful lesson you’ve learned over your career thus far?

The most impactful lesson I have learned over my career thus far is to do work you are passionate about. Yes, I am passionate about HR and being an HR Professional but merging that with my passion for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, and creating my own path of doing the work I am passionate and proud of allows me to get the most out of my career, and change not only my own life but other’s. I encourage you all to Be true to yourself, and do not be afraid of doing the work you really want to do, life is too short not too. 

Thanks for giving us some insight into who you are! Let’s jump into things. When you hear the phrase “build a better world of work”, what comes to mind?

Creating a more inclusive workplace where the wellbeing of ALL employees feels included and valued. As people with disabilities and their wellbeing at work is usually overlooked or seen as an afterthought.

For you, what’s the main blocker you see as standing in the way of building a better world of work?

That people are so stuck in the old ways of doing things and not understanding that it is not okay to feel misery in your place of work.

People think you have to struggle and put well-being aside for the sake of your job.

That they are scared to stand up for what they think is right, and push it aside. Change starts with you and your actions. This needs to change and has started to change in certain industries and countries. Be on the right side of change, or get afraid of being left behind because things are changing fast, and it is okay if you don’t know everything, admitting you don’t is a way to remove those blockers. 

What’s one thing within our control that we can practically do to build a better world of work today? And, how do you recommend going about it?

Understanding the well-being of ALL employees. These include diverse employees, and understanding that:

First and foremost, have a conversation with your employee(s) about how they are feeling, and how you can best support them in their work, and understand that daily needs change especially when looking at employees with disabilities or neurodiversity. 

What are some tips for having a supportive conversation with diverse employees to ensure they feel safe to honestly share how they’re feeling or what they need? 

• Ask Questions but also respect when they do not want to answer certain questions
• Listen actively instead of passively
• Come from a place of understanding instead of being defensive

What are the next steps a leader or manager should take after having these conversations with their employee?

• Follow up with them after the conversation
• Continue the conversation as needed
• If they voiced concerns or things they wish to see changed, start the initial stages of implementing and implementing these changes

Can you share one thing you’ve experienced, seen, or read about that is leading us towards a better world of work?

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are things I have experienced, seen and also read about that are leading us towards a better world of work. ERGs are Employee Resource Groups which are voluntary, employee-led groups whose purpose is to help foster a diverse, inclusive workplace and are aligned with the organizations that are a part of.

They are usually led and participated in by employees who share similarities and commonalities e.g., gender, ethnicity, religion/spiritual beliefs, lifestyle, or interest, and much more. The purpose is to provide support and help in development both personally and professionally. ERGs facilitate and moderate a safe space where employees can create and bring their whole selves to the group and at work. It is important to understand that while these groups are for people who share similarities that other employees should be allowed to join the ERG as allies to continue to foster that support between coworkers.

By having these groups, it allows for a better workplace as these groups usually have goals of improving the workplace conditions, creating a safer space, fostering leadership skills and leaders, and much more which contributes to the well-being of ALL employees.

I’m curious, thinking about building a better world of work, is there a company and/or leader who stands out to you as someone we should follow? If so, what are they up to?

There is so much amazing work that is being done right now around building a better world of work and more people are dedicated themselves to this work which includes myself. However, other people in this space include; Becca Lory Hector, who also a Neurodiversity subject matter expert such as myself, Diana File who focuses more on DEI Analytics for trainings and organizations as whole, and Avegaile Calzado who is focusing on the well being of immigrants who come to Canada and struggle to find work in their field they have worked in their home country. Lots of work is being done, and these are just some of the people that I would recommend for you to follow.

How can our readers follow your work?

Please feel free to follow and connect with me on my LinkedIn, and my Business LinkedIn for Accessible Creates, as I have other work and articles posted on both of these accounts and will share links and insights there of my work. 

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We’re passionate about the world of work, and how we can make it better. To help satisfy our curiosity, we’ve launched an interview series where we pick the brains of experienced leaders, business owners, managers, and individual contributors to get their thoughts on how we can collectively build better workplaces.

Join us in our next installment below as Taylor Goucher—Head of Growth at Connext—shares his insights with us. 

We’d love to get to know you a bit better, tell us a bit about your backstory.

Of course, I graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2015 with a degree in Nuclear Engineering. From there I moved to Fort Benning Georgia as an Infantry Officer and completed the Army Ranger and Airborne School. After that, I served at Schofield Barracks, HI in the 25^th Infantry Division for a little over 5 years. Once that journey was over, I moved into the startup world and began helping build Connext as the premier outsourcing firm for small and mid-sized businesses. 

If we were to ask a friend to describe your personality to us, what would they say?

Constantly striving to get better, learn more, and make more happen every day. 

Thinking back to your career journey, what’s an interesting story that stands out? 

When I was transitioning out of the military, right as the pandemic began, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I had spent 8+ years in the military and truly didn’t understand anything about the outside world. I ended up sending cold LinkedIn messages to a wide variety of folks simply asking for help. I received many replies, but one stood out. That person is now my boss. I would have never imagined being in a place or position like this and am thankful every day that I had the guts to do the cold outreach. 

What’s the most impactful lesson you’ve learned over your career thus far?

Networking and building relationships are the number one most important thing you can do to improve your career or business. Second, but definitely related to the first point, is the importance of communication. I never understood the power of these two lessons until I entered the civilian workforce. Now, I try to practice them daily as I grow both in my career and at Connext.

Thanks for giving us some insight into who you are! Let’s jump into things. When you hear the phrase “build a better world of work”, what comes to mind?

A better world of work to me is one that is more productive.

Whether that is working from home, in the office, hybrid, or part time, we need to strive to continue to make the workforce more productive.

I think now, more than ever, we have the ability to optimize what can be accomplished daily. Whether that is adjusting schedules, allowing someone to work remotely, or supplementing them with artificial intelligence or robotic process automation, we can maximize individual employee productivity. If we can do that, organizations will be able to achieve amazing things. 

For you, what’s the main blocker you see as standing in the way of building a better world of work?

Rigid thinking when it comes to how and where work is done.

Embracing a flexible world of work, whether that is staff working from home, in different countries, freelancers, or a combination of all the above, will be critical to companies having happy, loyal, and productive employees. 

What’s one thing within our control that we can practically do to build a better world of work today? And, how do you recommend going about it?

We need to do a better job of understanding employee performance.

Creating measurable and useful metrics to measure employee performance and then using the data to make informed decisions about how and where employees are working and what they can do to be better.

At Connext we measure productivity, utilization, and quality for each of our employees. Productivity tells us how much someone is able to get done, utilization tells how long it took and what else they spent their time on, and quality gives us an idea of their accuracy. We measure these metrics against well thought out key performance metrics to help us give better feedback to employees, conduct retraining or performance improvement plans if needed, allocate work differently to optimize the performance of the team, and get ahead of potential employee issues. 

You don’t have to have these exact metrics in place, but you should have something to gauge how employees are performing and to have quantitative insights so that you can manage better. 

Can you share one thing you’ve experienced, seen, or read about that is leading us towards a better world of work?

A dedication to employee development and education. We just launched an internal management university that promotes manager and employee development and gives them opportunities to learn and improve. When I was in the military, we would spend massive amounts of time and energy on leader development. I think we need to do that in all organizations and industries more consistently. 

I’m curious, thinking about building a better world of work, is there a company and/or leader who stands out to you as someone we should follow? If so, what are they up to?

Simon Sinek uses the phrase ‘Infinite Game’. He uses this to describe how we can build better companies, working environments, and employees for the long run rather than just focusing on building profits. I think taking this approach will help us achieve a better world in both work and life. All of his other books and work are fantastic as well. 

How can our readers follow your work?

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorgoucher/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/goucher_taylor

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We’re passionate about the world of work, and how we can make it better. To help satisfy our curiosity, we’ve launched an interview series where we pick the brains of experienced leaders, business owners, managers, and individual contributors to get their thoughts on how we can collectively build better workplaces.

Join us in our next installment below as Charlie Schilling—President, Enterprise Business at Emeritus—shares his insights with us.

We’d love to get to know you a bit better, tell us a bit about your backstory.

My professional background begins with ice cream: once I had my driver’s license as a teenager, I drove a Good Humor Ice Cream truck. Much to my seven-year-old daughter’s disappointment, however, I did eventually have to give up the keys, and ultimately pursued a career building businesses around empowering people through education.

Today, I lead the US, Europe & Canada Enterprise business for Emeritus, a global education leader committed to teaching the skills of the future to individuals, companies, and governments around the world.

And education has been a throughline in my career: after early days as an investment banker focused on technology, media, and telecom, I was General Manager of Corporate Markets at GLG, a member of the CEO’s Office at Bloomberg LP, and a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. This all led me to the executive team at General Assembly, leading our enterprise business, which focused on teaching entrepreneurs and business professionals practical technology skills. I see education as key to the future of work.

If we were to ask a friend to describe your personality to us, what would they say?

It depends on which friend you ask, I suppose! On balance, I imagine they would say that I am high energy, both in and outside of the office. I thrive being around others in groups large and small. 

Thinking back to your career journey, what’s an interesting story that stands out?

When I was in college at Georgetown, I worked on Capitol Hill, which was an amazing experience. I did lots of things like opening letters and helping to maintain one of the first email systems used by a US Senator. The best part of my job was occasionally getting asked to pick the senator up at Dulles Airport in his GM Geo Metro. These drives were amazing. From my perspective, the more traffic the better— it was a chance to ask questions and learn. Today, I think about this all the time, and it’s true for leaders at all levels:

always approach with curiosity, and seek out opportunities to learn.

What’s the most impactful lesson you’ve learned over your career thus far?

Early in my career, I worked for a mentor who had an incredible approach to solving problems, structuring work, and building trust. When a new assignment would come up, their approach was, “ok, this is what our client needs to do, and here is the context. I am going to get started by doing x,y, and z. What I need you (and the rest of the team) to do is a, b, and c.” What I learned from this approach is that it’s important to share context and show that you are all in it together, with the boss willing to also roll up their sleeves.

This type of servant leadership is incredibly important, where everyone has the opportunity to grow and contribute towards an ambitious vision, and it’s always grounded in empathy.

Thanks for giving us some insight into who you are! Let’s jump into things. When you hear the phrase “build a better world of work”, what comes to mind?

To me, this phrase means building a world of work that includes and respects individuals, and gives them the room to be themselves and explore their passions, all while moving the ball forward for the company. Perhaps not all the time, but work should be joyful and provide a sense of accomplishment.

If you aren’t laughing at work and with your colleagues for at least some of each day, it’s probably time to find something new.

For you, what’s the main blocker you see as standing in the way of building a better world of work?

The main blocker is education. Too many people do not have the skills they need to compete in the workforce, and most companies are ill-equipped to provide learning paths that will help current and future employees succeed. At the same time, people in many regions around the world are priced out of education, which means that skill gaps only expand. Part of what gets me excited about my work is the opportunity to help companies think about how this can be done differently, providing benefits to employees and employers alike. 

What’s one thing within our control that we can practically do to build a better world of work today? And, how do you recommend going about it?

The main driver in building a better world of work is fostering and encouraging employees to embrace lifelong learning and giving them practical, fulfilling reasons to stay with their current company. 

In some quarters of the world of work, particularly with the emergence of remote work and distributed teams, it’s too easy for people to feel isolated and culture to fall apart, or to feel like their work is not contributing or having deeper meaning; that’s when people quickly switch to the next shiny thing. Proactive employers who invest in building and empowering talent will build a better world of work.

At a societal level, we need to build the right conditions. Unfortunately, today the US limit for employers to contribute to employees’ education assistance programs is too low: it’s about $5,000, when realistically it should be closer to $13,000. While the Biden administration has now taken steps to relieve student debt and payments because of the pandemic, it’s now time to take that a step further and shift more of the burden of continuing education payments to employers.

At the same time, HR and L&D teams can also push for their organizations to take on educational costs, to help make lifelong learning more accessible for all. Studies show significant benefits when organizations roll out successful tuition reimbursement programs: they can better retain and attract talent, increase organizational readiness for the future, and build competitive advantage to stand out in today’s talent war.

By investing in your people now, you’ll help them grow internally, and you’ll see immediate ROI for your business when your team is upskilled and reskilled.

Can you share one thing you’ve experienced, seen, or read about that is leading us towards a better world of work?

Making the workforce more diverse and inclusive is building a better world of work, no question! As the husband to a female CEO and father to two daughters, I am so happy to see more women in leadership roles, and a growing culture of more balance between work and family obligations. We still have a long way to go, but we can all be part of building a better, more inclusive world of work.

As leaders, we have a responsibility to shape policies so that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. At Emeritus, we’re always looking for ways to build more inclusive policies, and we recently replaced a limited maternity leave policy with an inclusive parental leave policy, available to all employees. Evaluating policies, getting feedback from your team, and making updates to be more inclusive will benefit everyone.

I’m curious, thinking about building a better world of work. Is there a company and/or leader who stands out to you as someone we should follow? If so, what are they up to?

I am biased because I used to work there, but the company I admire most is Bloomberg and its leader Michael Bloomberg. The company’s products are incredibly useful in the markets it serves. Uniquely, the company and its leadership unabashedly support causes integral to creating a better world of work, like education, climate change, and public health. 

How can our readers follow your work?

You can follow me on LinkedIn and Emeritus on LinkedIn and Twitter for all of our latest news and events with university partners.

Thank you for adding your voice to the People Managing People’s interview series on How to Build a Better World of Work!

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We’re passionate about the world of work, and how we can make it better. To help satisfy our curiosity, we’ve launched an interview series where we pick the brains of experienced leaders, business owners, managers, and individual contributors to get their thoughts on how we can collectively build better workplaces.

Join us in our next installment below as Aaron Rubens—Co-founder and CEO at Kudoboard—shares his insights with us.

We’d love to get to know you a bit better, tell us a bit about your backstory.

My early career was spent in education where I worked as a high school math teacher for Teach for America (and remained at my placement school for several years).  During that time, I built systems for teachers to analyze their classroom data and ultimately became interested in building technology products at a larger scale to drive change. I later worked for Khan Academy building their college admissions resource and then started Kudoboard, an appreciation platform to help employees celebrate the moments that matter.

If we were to ask a friend to describe your personality to us, what would they say?

I am someone who likes to be in motion. When I go on vacation, I have a hard time sitting still and would prefer to be out exploring and trying new things. So friends probably describe me as adventurous or active (on a good day) and a bit much (on a not so good day!).

Thinking back to your career journey, what’s an interesting story that stands out? 

During the early days of Kudoboard, we didn’t charge for the product because we thought that we’d grow virally and “figure out the money-side down the road.” We were struggling and eventually decided to start charging. To our great surprise, we saw an immediate bump in usage and traffic—which really hammered home the point that often price can signal quality. People can be very skeptical when something is free (i.e. “what’s the catch”), and that can lead to counter-intuitive results.

What’s the most impactful lesson you’ve learned over your career thus far?

Sometimes the best thing we can do is just keep showing up at taking at-bats.  Whether working as a teacher or working in technology, it’s not often that lightning strikes immediately. We often have to try a bunch of different things before finding a pathway that works.

Thanks for giving us some insight into who you are! Let’s jump into things. When you hear the phrase “build a better world of work”, what comes to mind?

If you focus too much on any particular set of stakeholders and forget the others, it doesn’t work. 

For you, what’s the main blocker you see as standing in the way of building a better world of work?

We are now a fully remote organization and have seen huge value in allowing our team to work from wherever they are most effective. It’s had tremendous benefits, but we are still navigating the complexities of keeping everyone on the same page when they aren’t in the same physical space. 

Kudoboard itself is often used among remote and hybrid teams to build culture (celebrating moments that matter like work anniversaries, new employee welcomes, farewells, etc)—so that is certainly one thing we rely on to keep us feeling engaged.

What’s one thing within our control that we can practically do to build a better world of work today? And, how do you recommend going about it?

For organizations that are remote or hybrid, there is a lot of power in trusting your team. It’s not a panacea—without goals and accountability, trust doesn’t get us far. 

But trust can make all the difference in employees feeling motivated vs. micromanaged.

One way I do this is to have 1-on-1s every couple of weeks with my team, but explicitly have it so that they set the agenda. The purpose is to allow them to drive the conversation where it will be helpful and I can unblock them rather than for me to use it to check on progress.

Another major element of trust is letting go. Particularly as a founder who has been with Kudoboard for a while now, I often have strong opinions on how things should work based on past experience in the organization. I remind myself at the start of each week the things that I need to focus on and the things I’m trusting my team to handle, and then try to stick to that. It’s frankly something I still struggle with, but understanding that it’s a weakness helps.

Can you share one thing you’ve experienced, seen, or read about that is leading us towards a better world of work?

With so many organizations now remote or hybrid, I’ve noted a real shift in the ways that companies have adapted to get information to their employees. More specifically, it’s become far more important to over-communicate everything because otherwise people will simply miss it without the inter-office chatter, and as a result, it can (and in many instances, has) lead to a flatter and more egalitarian workplace where information is disseminated systematically rather than ad-hoc.  

I’m curious, thinking about building a better world of work, is there a company and/or leader who stands out to you as someone we should follow? If so, what are they up to?

Cloudbeds is a leader in the hospital management industry and has grown rapidly to 700+ employees across 40+ countries. Their entire team is fully remote, and I’ve been incredibly impressed with the way their leadership thinks about building a remote-first culture. In particular, they’ve done a great job figuring out the profile of employees who thrive in a remote-first culture and really building their recruiting and onboarding processes around that.

How can our readers follow your work?

They can visit our organization’s blog for updates.  

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Engineering is a highly demanding and challenging career path. It involves working in various fields and dealing with complex and difficult situations. The job market for engineers is booming right now.

There are many career paths that you can take to become an engineer, and each of these can be different from one another. Having a plan and developing it will allow you to make the most of your opportunities.

Read Code

Getting caught up in the endless tasks we have to do at work can lead to a lack of perspective. A deeper understanding of how other people solve problems benefits engineers. Just as authors can improve by reading other people’s work, so can engineers.

Before you start working on projects, look at open source projects that interest you. To get a deeper understanding of the system, look at some things you’re not used to.

Be a Constant Learner

It can be hard to understand what your teammates say in meetings, especially when you don’t understand half of what they’re talking about. Instead of looking at your head and nodding, start by acknowledging that you have a knowledge gap. Having a deeper understanding of the system can help improve your performance.

If you catch many buzz words repeating in your head, that could mean that something important is happening in the organization. If you’re in a group with people with varying skill sets, identify the individuals who can help you improve.

Remember the Soft Skills

Engineers are also responsible for the various aspects of their projects and have the soft skills to communicate effectively with their team members and clients. These include listening to and understanding what other people are saying.

Engineers should be able to build strong relationships with their teammates to improve their performance. One of the most effective ways to improve these skills is by practicing them in real-life situations.

Set a Goal

One essential factor that engineers should consider when it comes to becoming an engineer is setting goals. This will help them focus on their goals and ensure they are moving forward. A clear understanding of where you want to be in the future can also help keep them motivated.

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We’re passionate about the world of work, and how we can make it better. To help satisfy our curiosity, we’ve launched an interview series where we pick the brains of experienced leaders, business owners, managers, and individual contributors to get their thoughts on how we can collectively build better workplaces.

Join us in our next instalment below as Lesley Cooper, wellbeing consultant and founder of WorkingWell, shares her insights with us.

We’d love to get to know you a bit better, tell us a bit about your backstory.

I have worked for 25 years in the design and delivery of all elements of employee wellbeing management programmes, paving the way to my current role as CEO of WorkingWell. I have committed most of my career to pioneering a more proactive approach to wellbeing in the workplace, consulting with many blue-chip employers at home and abroad, and developing enabling wellbeing measurement and management tools.

I started my career in the private healthcare sector and founded WorkingWell in 1997 after the birth of my second child. Our approach to wellbeing management has always rested on the need to understand the sources of poor wellbeing at work as well as encouraging employee resilience and offering support to those who may be negatively impacted by the demands of work and life. Our tools help leaders and managers quickly and easily assess the impact of pressure on an individual, a workgroup, a collection of teams or the organisation as a whole. Understanding sources as well as impacts enables us to assist companies in managing workplace pressure in a way that enhances growth and development, rather than energy and performance compromising stress. We were shortlisted for “Best Wellbeing Service Provider” at the Great British Workplace Wellbeing Awards 2021. 

I am also the co-author with Dr Stephen Williams of “Dangerous Waters – Strategies for Improving Wellbeing at Work”, and “Managing Workplace Stress – a best practice blueprint.”

If we were to ask a friend to describe your personality to us, what would they say?

I am pretty certain they would say I am quite an open person, with strong views on the relationship between personal wellbeing and performance.  I think they might also say that I was quite talkative and enthusiastic about life in general! 

Thinking back to your career journey, what’s an interesting story that stands out? 

The familiar golfing adage that ‘the harder you practice, the luckier you get’ feels true to me.  Many of the key ‘breaks’ I had when first starting out, happened because I pushed myself to make the contact, be braver than I felt in the face of unfamiliarity or challenge or because I took work that I felt initially anxious to deliver on.

My first ever customer as a freelance consultant became my first ever customer precisely because I forced myself out to a networking event after a conference, even though I really didn’t want to go! Having delivered my paper I really wanted to go home, which I did,  but I forced myself out again 4 hours later for the event. I was seated next to a stranger (of course—this is the point of networking!) who said that he had found my presentation ‘enlightening’, and on this basis was interested to see how we might be able to help his company. This chance meeting led to his company being one of our major customers for over 10 years but I could have given in to myself and stayed warm at home!

What’s the most impactful lesson you’ve learned over your career thus far?

That candour when consulting is not always as welcome as we may imagine! I am a big fan of psychologically safe workplace cultures—where employees feel free to be themselves and share their insights, without fear of negative consequences. I like to think that the WorkingWell team all operate on this basis, but even clients who are engaging you to help them improve in this area can struggle with unvarnished truth from consultants!  The client always has the final say in relation to how the relationship goes, regardless of the depth of our experience, and so sometimes there is a need to soften up the message if we want to avoid winning battles but losing wars! 

Thanks for giving us some insight into who you are! Let’s jump into things. When you hear the phrase “build a better world of work”, what comes to mind?

A community where leaders have cultivated a psychologically safe space where employees feel they can be open and honest without fear of judgement or consequence. 

A better world of work requires all involved to work collaboratively, and leaders need to show up for their workers and make themselves available to actively listen to their employees’ needs and show vulnerability when needed. This builds a constructive and creative environment where everybody feels included, nobody is isolated and most importantly there is an absence of performance depleting fear.  

For you, what’s the main blocker you see as standing in the way of building a better world of work?

I think that so many organisations are blind to the direct correlation between employee wellbeing and sustainable performance.

When we employ someone, the whole person comes to work—not just the bit that does the job. 

We therefore need to take a whole-person approach to wellbeing and recognise that to be fully effective at work, employees need to be able to function and have a full life outside of work. Using pressure on profitability as a reason to drive up workload (rather than resource appropriately) means that companies are often trading on goodwill and the employees’ natural propensity to blur boundaries between home and work in order to keep delivering and avoid being seen as having failed or let the side down. Recovery is a necessity for sustainable high performance—it is not something that employees should reward themselves with when they are ‘caught-up’ or so exhausted they can’t carry on.

What’s one thing within our control that we can practically do to build a better world of work today? And, how do you recommend going about it?

A great way to encourage openness and vulnerability in the workforce is for leaders to model the behaviour themselves. Showing employees that you don’t always have the answers, that you also have fears and concerns and make mistakes can foster a culture where openness, trust and the sharing of experience and insight is possible. 

When there is openness and trust, people are more inclined to experiment with new approaches which can speed up innovation and facilitate faster recovery from failure.  

This also enables people to have more open conversations about mental health, burnout, bereavement, health problems, and other conversations that we often feel uncomfortable discussing. 

Listening without judgement and demonstrating empathy are also key in helping a  workforce feel seen and heard. This does not mean being a counsellor or having all the answers to everybody’s problems, but it does mean showing that you care and are there to offer support. 

Can you share one thing you’ve experienced, seen, or read about that is leading us towards a better world of work?

There is growing awareness of the role that low psychological safety plays in poor workplace wellbeing and, critically, just how pivotal leadership behaviour can be in creating a ‘fearless organisation’. We ourselves are much influenced by the work of Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson in this area and it is gratifying to see how interest is growing in the topic in the UK. Amy’s work mentions many US companies who are getting this right and Pixar is a great example of both a psychologically safe workplace culture and the commercial success it facilitates. 

How can our readers follow your work?

Website: https://www.workingwell.co.uk 

Linkedin: lesley-cooper-5536302

Thank you for adding your voice to People Managing People’s interview series on How to Build a Better World of Work! 

Thank you for having me!

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One of my HR mentors recently shared an anecdote from early in her career as an HR Business Partner. Her office was such a hotspot for activity that the leaders and colleagues she supported would joke that she should put a ticket dispenser outside her door. 

Others commented that she should install a sofa in her office so employees could ‘make themselves comfortable’ for the therapy session that inevitably ensued.  

While the statements were made in jest, they held a glaring truth—her role as an HR professional was often misunderstood by those she worked with. With that truth came another, she wasn’t being utilized to the best of her capabilities because she was performing duties that weren’t technically within the remit of her role.  

While a huge part of working in HR does involve helping people (this is the best part!), acting as a therapist probably falls outside of the standard job description.  

My mentor’s story isn’t an uncommon one either. The human resources function is broad and includes many duties that other employees don’t realize exist. Additionally, an HR team can vary drastically in its scope and accountability based on the size of the organization it supports, the needs of the business, and even the company culture.

So what are the most common human resources responsibilities? Here, I’ll try to capture all that HR is responsible for with regards to serving employees and the business.

Jump to:

• Attraction And Recruitment
• Onboarding
• Retention
• Development
• Offboarding
• To Outsource Or Not To Outsource?

So what is human resources exactly?

According to the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), human resource management “is the process of managing an organization’s employees. HRM includes all aspects of people management to effectively meet an organization’s goals.” 

If this sounds broad, that’s because it is. And what makes this even more complex is that human resources responsibilities are continuously evolving to meet the needs of the business.

Akin to many other professional specializations, the COVID-19 pandemic, Great Resignation/Reset/Reshuffle, and other pressures are compelling HR teams to rapidly modernize or leave their organizations floundering for talent.

Employees are now demanding more from companies in terms of compensation, culture, work-life balance, career growth, benefits—the list goes on. The human resources function is central to each of these demands. 

Subtle shifts have already occurred. Your HR team may have transitioned away from the “Human Resources” nomenclature and may be leaning into other terminology such as “People and Culture” or “People Operations”.

This updated branding is designed to better align with what human resource responsibilities are transitioning towards—a more strategic, empathetic approach to creating an employee experience where all employees and the business can succeed.    

Human resources responsibilities 

In a strategically designed HR function, all components of the HR team are aligned to enable the company to deliver on its purpose, hit organizational goals, and create a great workplace for its people.

Human resources responsibilities are often structured around the life cycle of the employee.

The employee life cycle (sometimes also known as the employee journey) refers to the various stages in which your employees will interact with your organization.  

The Human Resources responsibilities covered below are structured around this model to help you understand how Human Resources practitioners provide support to leaders and their employees during all stages of their employment.   

1. Employee Life Cycle: Attraction and Recruitment

Recruitment, also commonly known as talent acquisition, is the process of attracting, sourcing, and selecting employees. 

Recruitment is one of the single most important and challenging HR responsibilities, especially in today’s uber-competitive labor market where companies are continually vying for top talent.  

It should be more than just putting butts in seats (otherwise known as filling job vacancies). The aim is to create short and long-term strategies to bring the right type of talent into the organization. 

As such, recruitment often includes sub-functions such as university relations teams designed to build pipelines of early-career talent and workforce initiative programs developed to recruit diverse talent.

It also covers choosing technologies such as applicant tracking systems and sourcing software to manage talent pools/pipelines, post job openings, manage the interview process, and even onboard new hires into the organization’s HR Information Systems.

2. Employee Life Cycle: Onboarding 

Onboarding is the process through which new employees are assimilated into the organization.  

This consists of technical components, such as providing them with system access to the tools they’ll need to do their job, and more strategic components such as developing a 30-60-90 day plan to ensure they get off to the best possible start with your organization as possible.

Related read: best onboarding software 

2.1 Maintain employee records

Another essential component of the onboarding process includes setting up and maintaining employee records.  

Generally, this is now done in a Human Resource Management System (HRMS) or Human Resources Information System (HRIS). Through automation and shared access, these systems help HR teams, and employees themselves, to store and update employment data. They may also include numerous other features such payroll, performance management, benefits administration.

3. Employee Life Cycle: Employee Retention 

Once someone’s been onboarded, they enter the largest category of the employee life cycle—employee retention.

This includes all activities designed to deliver a great employee experience and ensure that your people have everything they need in order to remain successfully engaged with your organization.

3.1 Creating a great culture

LinkedIn’s 2022 Global Talent Trends report calls this a ‘watershed moment for company culture” stating that:

For companies to attract, retain, and grow the talent that will bring them sustained success, they need to fine-tune — or overhaul — their culture to meet the expectations of professionals to be seen as human beings first.

HR is responsible for partnering with the executive leadership team to both define and maintain the company culture.

This includes helping define the company’s mission, vision, and values, and also ensuring employees and leaders at all levels are living by the company’s values.

Related read: 15 Vision Statement Examples & How To Write One

3.2 Employee Experience 

One of the primary ways that organizations keep abreast of the employee experience is through pulse checks, listening sessions, or other data collection methodologies.  

While business leaders play a primary role in driving employee engagement within their segments, HR is strategically positioned to act as cultural ambassadors to help drive business leaders’ focus on refining the employee experience, as well as recognizing opportunity areas and proposing/implementing solutions.

Relates read: People Ops As A Product

3.3 Assisting employees

If you ask a room full of HR professionals what they love most about their job, you’ll commonly hear the same answer: “Having the opportunity to help people.”   

Providing employees with support, coaching, feedback and other assistance is the cornerstone through which human resources can help create a positive work environment at their organization.  

This could be helping employees navigate the organization and understand where to go for specific information related to their employment (such as Paid Time Off (PTO) issues, benefits questions, etc). Or it could be a much more complex task like understanding how to navigate their career path and build the right competencies and skills needed to realize their career aspirations.

The “who” behind assisting employees can vary greatly depending on your organization.  Smaller organizations may rely heavily on HR generalists to support their colleagues. Larger organizations may be much more reliant on HR call centers, automation, and other solutions to help empower employees to ascertain this information in real-time.

3.4 Strategic partner to the business and leadership

Human resources is a strategic partner to the business. Roles ,such as HR Business Partner, are often embedded into specific parts of the organization. This is so that an HR professional can partner directly with each teams’ senior leadership to help define their business strategies and align HR strategies to support the direction of the business.  

Additionally, as organizations grow or change, HR plays a major role in the organizational design process: the process through which teams are structured to ensure they are efficient, effective, and functionally capable of delivering on their goals/objectives.

3.5 Formulating compensation and benefits programs

A major part of boosting employee retention includes creating a compensation and benefit structure so that employees feel valued for their contributions and receive fair and equitable remuneration for the value they’re generating.  

Likewise, a properly established benefits program and administration process is a key part of ensuring your employees stay healthy and cared for. When done right, both compensation and benefits can be key drivers in promoting employee engagement, loyalty, and retention.  

Related read: How To Create A Compensation Philosophy For Better Hiring And Retention

3.6 Processing payroll

Beyond the philosophical components of a compensation and benefits program, it’s equally essential that employees consistently receive their paychecks on time with both the correct compensation and in compliance with tax laws.  

Human Resource teams are accountable for processing payroll and ensuring your organization has a culture of accountability where employees trust that they will receive accurate and timely compensation for the work they are doing. This includes not just base pay, but other incentives, bonuses, paid time off (PTO), deductions, and more.

Related read: 10 Best Online Payroll Software In 2022

3.7 Designing and updating company policies

Managing an organization and its employees is nothing short of complex. Well established policies and procedures provide structure and ensure that all colleagues are treated in a fair, equitable, and consistent manner.  

So what are HR policies? According to Mike Gibbons, HR policies are the “rules and processes that govern the employment relationship between you and your team members.” This can include many areas such as employee conduct, technology use, paid time off, and health and safety standards.

As organizations grow in complexity and headcount, policy documentation becomes essential in providing self-service support to employees and managers.  

Rather than managing issues on a case-by-case basis, your employees and leaders are empowered to lean on your policies to navigate complex issues in an ethical manner compliant with your organization’s expectations. 

3.8 Ethics and Compliance

The reality of operating any business—regardless of the industry you work in—is that it’s essential to have an ethics-driven workforce that remains compliant with the rules, regulations and stipulations that impact your business.  

Compliance is key in maintaining your organization’s reputation within your industry, mitigating risk for the organization, and in preventing unwanted costs associated with regulatory violations.   Ethics and compliance can help build a culture of accountability, and ensure that all of your employees live by the company values and behaviors. 

HR teams play a major role in setting and maintaining compliance standards. This includes helping manage policy definition, employee training, incident management, and third-party audits.

Related read: Best 10 Compliance Software For HR Departments [2022]

3.9 Employee Relations and Disciplinary Hearings 

Employee relations is a critical responsibility in addressing items that impact employee performance, interactions with other employees, or other issues relating to the overall work experience at an organization.  

Here, HR plays a key role in acting as an unbiased moderator when addressing conflict between co-workers or management, addressing performance issues, and overseeing organizational disciplinary standards. This means acting as a resource to both employees and managers based on the concerns that an individual is bringing forward. 

For the investigation of complaints and disciplinary-related issues, HR plays a key role in establishing investigation protocols and progressive disciplinary policies to ensure employees are provided with a structured approach to improve performance if needed and prevent the recurrence of unacceptable behaviors.

Rapid response to investigate complaints, resolve issues and preside over disciplinary actions if necessary are essential in resolving internal issues, mitigating legal risk, and maintaining a culture of accountability and ethical behavior.  

4. Employee Life Cycle: Employee Development

Employee development is an important area for companies to invest in to improve company culture, but it also has a highly strategic component as well: reskilling, upskilling and cross-training employees is an essential part of modernizing and maintaining an organization’s talent capabilities. 

4.1 Training and Development

Training and Development (also commonly referred to as Learning and Development) is the process of aligning your talents’ capabilities to meet with the organization’s strategy and vision. 

Human Resources teams are strategically positioned to help advise on employee developmental needs and help build strategies that support the growth and development of your talent. 

Based upon the complexity of your organization, Human Resources responsibilities can vary dramatically but often include: 

• Advising leadership on employee learning and development needs and helping build strategies to support employee growth 
• Coaching employees and leaders through the creation of Individual Development Plans (IDPs) to help employees take ownership of their growth and development 
• Curriculum creation, including the design and delivery of course materials (instructor led training, web-based training, on-the-job training) and management of Learning Management Systems (LMS)
• Development of internal career mobility solutions, such as internal talent marketplaces, designed to help connect employees to new growth opportunities like their next role, stretch assignments, and mentoring.

4.2 Performance Management

HR’s duties also include defining and maintaining performance management processes that enable both the company and its colleagues to hit its organizational goals.  

A well-designed performance management process provides transparency to company goals, a deeper understanding of how all colleagues are contributing to those goals, and creates a collaborative process through which colleagues and their managers can work together to improve performance.  

Performance management is also commonly tied to an organization’s compensation philosophies.  In a pay-for-performance model, raises, bonuses, and other incentives are often tied directly to both the company’s and/or the employee’s individual performance over the calendar year.

4.3 Succession Planning 

Succession planning, or the process of “building systems and processes to ensure future leadership continuity in an organization”, is a key way in which organizations identify and invest in high-potential talent.  

Often, succession planning is part of the wider talent planning process, sometimes known as a “talent review”, during which leaders and HR partners collaborate to assess their employees based on their performance and potential (9-Box rating).  

Regular HR-facilitated conversations about high-potential talent and leadership gaps ensure that organizations are developing a pipeline of ready-now talent to fill the leadership vacancies of tomorrow.

4.4 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) remains both a key human resources responsibility as well as an effort that must be championed by all members of the leadership team.   

DEI has many components, but, in short, the purpose of DEI work is to build more inclusive and equitable organizations that are representative of the communities in which we live and serve. 

DEI efforts are closely intertwined with all elements of the employee life cycle and human resources responsibilities, from recruiting diverse talent to developing a leadership succession slate that’s representative of your organization’s employee population.  

One common way that organizations are celebrating diversity and building more empathic employee relations is through facilitating employee resource groups.  

Employee resource groups allow colleagues to gather around a common identity or interest.  This is a great way for underrepresented groups of employees to come together to celebrate their interests and organically influence change to build more inclusive organizations. 

5. Employee Life Cycle: Offboarding 

Human Resources responsibilities extend into offboarding (aka separating or terminating) employees from your organization. Generally, the HR function is accountable for defining an offboarding process (commonly presented as an offboarding checklist) and guiding people through this event. 

Depending on the circumstances through which an employee is exiting the organization, there may be additional responsibilities too. For instance, many times a layoff or position elimination situation will result in the generation of a severance package to help support the employee as they transition out of the company and to mitigate legal risk for the organization.   

Lastly, exit interviews or surveys are often conducted by human resources partners. The intention of an exit interview is to garner a deeper understanding of why your employees are leaving the organization, identify trends, and make informed changes to help continue to build the best possible experience for your employees.  

To Outsource Or Not To Outsource?

It’s clear that human resources responsibilities are broad, complex, and essential to the success of your organization. But how do you manage them all?  

A common approach is to outsource some (or potentially all) of your HR functions. Companies, large and small, slice and dice the responsibilities of their HR function to keep some in-house versus delegating to a third-party e.g. Professional Employer Organization (PEO). 

Additionally, the geographic, or even international, expansion of an organization can create employment law, tax and other challenges that many organizations aren’t well equipped to navigate. 

This is where an Employer of Record (EORs) can become useful. An EOR serves as an independent legal employer for its employees, allowing your organization to expand into a new region without needing to establish your own legal presence in that country. 

This comes not only with the benefit of being able to tap into international talent, but gives you the peace of mind of having all of the administrative human resource responsibilities (payroll, benefits processing, etc.) handled by the EOR.  

My recommendation, regardless of the size of your company, is to maintain at least a small, strategic human resources function within your organization. 

This is because having an in-house HR team is essential to understanding your employees’ needs, providing strategic thought partnership and coaching to managers and leaders, and ensuring your Human Resource responsibilities enable your company to deliver on its purpose, hit its organizational goals, and create a great workplace for your people.  

Wrapping Up

Human resources responsibilities are broad and complex, and it’s important that employees and leaders alike have a deep understanding of how their HR team is there to help both them and the company succeed.  

I’d encourage all people managers to get a better understanding of their organization’s HR functions and to build relationships with the HR Director, HR Manager, or HR Business Partner who is there to support you.

While human resources may have standalone accountabilities, there are many shared goals between leaders of people and HR professionals. HR should be positioned to help better manage the entire life cycle of employees and provide strategic input to help meet business deliverables. 

Some further resources to help you understand and/or master HR:

• The 9 Best HR Certification Courses For 2022
• 12 Best HR Books You Should Read In 2022
• Human Resource OKR Examples
• How To Develop an HR Strategy: A Comprehensive Guide
• 10 Best DEI Certifications To Take In 2022

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