Hybrid Workplace Series: How to build great culture in a hybrid workplace

In this episode, Ryan Burwell, Director of Training & Facilitation at TwentyOne Toys shares how leaders can use the joy, curiosity, and experimentation of play to create stronger teams and improve business results.  

• Play is a mindset of curiosity, experimentation, learning from failure and embracing diversity – it’s not about ping pong tables and team karaoke events. While social moments are important, play runs deeper. It is about how leaders invite teams to ideate, to try new things, and to think beyond what’s been done before.
  
• Leaders have a critical role in unlocking play for their teams. Great leaders allow teams to truly ideate in early stages of projects, are choiceful in their language (e.g., "let’s play with that more”), and avoid ‘shutting down’ ideation too quickly after failure.
  
• Play can drive better performance. Better business results are driven by the new, creative, and stronger ideas that are unlocked through play-inspired experimentation and open-minded thinking. Teams may experience stronger retention by creating an environment where individuals are having fun, thinking big, and feeling like they can introduce new ideas.
  
• Strong emotional intelligence is critical for leadership success. Empathy helps leaders tap into diversity and unlock innovation. Embracing failure helps leaders develop resiliency, strength, and confidence.

Connect with Ryan Burwell on LinkedIn here. Check out TwentyOne Toys here.

Meet Ryan Burwell

Ryan is passionate about play. He believes that organizations who approach work and teams with curiosity, experimentation, open-minds, fun and joy will ultimately achieve better results. Both for the business and for the human beings inside. As the Director of Training and Facilitation at TwentyOne Toys, Ryan has worked with executives, post-secondary organizations and teams all over the world increase their emotional intelligence through play. Ryan believes that playing is learning – and that we’ll never be too old or too accomplished to benefit from both. 

About TILTCO

Founded by Tineke Keesmaat, TILTCO is a boutique consulting company that helps leaders define and execute their strategies in order to achieve extraordinary business and personal results. As our LeaderLab host, Tineke brings her more than 20 years of leadership consulting experience rooted at McKinsey & Company, Accenture, and TILTCO to support today’s leaders achieve exceptional results.

In an era where the pace of change is rapid and relentless, the need for effective team communications is critical. People leaders will be the primary point of contact, and will need to be prepared and equipped to effectively engage and guide their teams forward.  

In this episode, we dive into the art of team communications with Lisa Durante, Chief Content Strategist at Jack Communications. She shares how people leaders can build personal connections with their teams to engage in two-way, productive conversations. 

In our conversation, Lisa shares the following insights:  

●      People leaders are the conduit of company messages, contextualizing information for their teams.
“The vision, the plan, the context of what is changing really does need to come from the top of the house, but the people leaders need to translating that for the employees. Oftentimes that’s missed. So, it’s providing people leaders with the information and time to consumer and digest it, as well as providing them the skills to be able to communicate it in a way that will resonate with their team.

●      The art of conversation is the foundation for effective communications for people leaders
“We’re actually losing the art of the conversation. We text, email. We spend time on Zoom or Teams – it’s a lot of one-way of conversing. And then we’re not in the office, so we’re not having those hallway interactions. We’re losing that art of the conversation – that ability to look someone in the eye, translate their body language or read the energy in a room – all of that is really important and necessary for communicating effectively.”

●      Connection fosters more open and receptive communication environments
“It’s the humanness of each of us, that we are more receptive and more willing to listen… Leaders that spend time connecting before sharing messages, especially if there’s going to be any hard message coming down, so being prepared and having that connection is the strong foundation that you can depend on no matter which way the business or environment requires you to go.”

●      Leaders should use any and all available communications methods to connect with their people
“I really think more leaders need to be active externally. This isn’t to share company information externally. It’s another way where your team is seeing you, where they can engage with you, where they can see what you’re thinking about or talking about. It will give another dimension of them to connect with you.”

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ldurante/. Learn how Lisa can help you communicate internally and externally https://jackcommunications.ca/. 

Meet Lisa Durante

Lisa Durante is a storyteller obsessed with telling authentically human stories that help businesses and leaders build authentic connections with their people. Her 20+ year career started in journalism and has evolved with the ever-changing field of marketing and communications, spanning executive and internal communications, content marketing, thought leadership and social media marketing. She has successfully supported organizations from start-ups to F500 global companies, including KPMG, CPP Investments, Siemens and MetLife, better connect with their audiences and more successfully achieve their business objectives. Visit https://jackcommunications.ca/ for more information.

About TILTCO

TILTCO is a boutique consulting company that helps leaders define and execute their strategies in order to achieve extraordinary business and personal results. Founded by Tineke Keesmaat, she brings her more than 20 years of leadership consulting experience rooted at McKinsey & Company and Accenture to supports today’s leaders achieve exceptional results.

The rapid and frequent changing dynamics affecting teams demands innovation. It also demands people leaders more actively facilitate innovation on their teams. 

In this episode, we talk with Robyn Bolton, Chief Navigator of innovation consultancy, MileZero, about how people leaders can create the synergies on their teams to innovate focused ideas that will move a business forward, while setting in place the structures to move ideas forward.

In our conversation, Robyn shares the following insights: 

●      Leadership matters more today in part due to innovation and evolving dynamics

“Leadership has always mattered, it matters more now than ever because change is happening so fast, and things are so uncertain and work requires so much interaction. And so, leadership is no longer managing and making things happen. It’s very much about truly leading people and setting a vision and encouraging people to follow you.”

●      Unlocking productive innovation starts with defining the problem clearly for your team

“If there is a problem that needs to be solved, frame it and give people somewhere to focus their attention. A lot of leaders worry: am I shutting down creativity. No, you’re not. Creativity thrives within constraints.”

●      Listening and critical thinking will fuel innovation on your team

“When you see a leader actually listening to someone, it changes the whole mood on the team, the whole atmosphere. The other thing is leading with questions, genuine questions, and then listen to the answer so you can engage in a conversation about ideas.”

●      Leverage the human-ness of your teams to innovate ideas
“Humans are messy and we can’t eliminate the mess. So how do we work with it? How can we take the things that make us human, our emotions, our perceptions, our intuition, and instead of being scared and trying to minimize them, how can we actually turn them into tools and data that help us work better?”

Connect with Robyn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynmbolton/. Learn how Robyn can help you and your team innovate at https://www.milezero.io/.

Meet Robyn M. Bolton

Robyn M. Bolton is the Founder and Chief Navigator of MileZero, a consultancy that works with leaders of medium to large enterprises to use innovation to consistently and confidently grow their revenue. Her clients include Nike, Medtronic, Warner Bros Discovery, Curriculum Associates, and Motif Food Works. Previously, she was a Partner at Innosight, the consulting firm founded by Clayton Christensen, and also worked at the Boston Consulting Group and as a Brand Manager at P&G where she helped launch Swiffer and Swiffer WetJet. Visit https://www.milezero.io/ for more information.

About TILTCO

TILTCO is a boutique consulting company that helps leaders define and execute their strategies in order to achieve extraordinary business and personal results. Founded by Tineke Keesmaat, she brings her more than 20 years of leadership consulting experience rooted at McKinsey & Company and Accenture to supports today’s leaders achieve exceptional results.

Companies tell us they want people to bring their whole selves to work, but leaders aren’t quite set up to accept, support and lead the whole human beings on their team. To add, leaders aren’t assessed, let alone rewarded, to do so. 

Yet, the data continues to show that happier, more engaged people perform better, are more productive, are less absent and less likely to leave their company. 

In this episode, Dan Pontefract, renowned leadership strategist, author and keynote speaker, calls on leaders to create a better mix of work and life factors to support their teams through the different seasons of their work and personal lives. This way, leaders and teams can thrive and bloom. 

In our conversation, Dan shares the following insights: 

• Leadership is increasingly impacted by the societal and personal pressures affecting people today.
  “There’s a palpable increase in stress, anxiety, burnout, loneliness and isolation. I don’t believe that we as leaders are actually paying enough attention to these societal factors.” 

• We can’t disconnect our work self and our life self, and leaders need to be sure they’re considering both when leading teams.
  “Work and life are inseparable puzzle pieces. People can’t completely check all that’s going on in their life at the door when they’re at work. So if you’re a leader you should be thinking about your people as holistic human beings and look at their well-being, their connections, their skills, their sense of meaning, do they feel respected, are the organizational norms here normal, etc. And, ask yourself what you need to do to help people see that you’re there to care about them as a whole human beings.”

• Human centered leadership requires understanding where people are in their life and supporting them through it, rather than penalizing them for it.
  “People’s lives are cyclical and they can fit into one of four quadrants: blooming, budding, renewal and stunted. We know that people aren’t at their best at times because of these cycles and seasons. So this model and this way of thinking can be a way for leaders to appreciate when people are on the downs and be able to offer them some tools to support them through the stage.” 

• Unlocking human potential and caring for your employees can be learned.  
  “You can always teach people to be better human beings, ergo leaders can learn and develop the muscle of what it means to be a more holistic, wholesome, empathic type of leader. There are certain large chasms to cross for certain individuals. There are others that are just genuinely awesome human beings, and typically, this type of leadership comes naturally to them. But this is learned, and you can get better even if these skills are or are not innate to you.” 

• Leaders have the tools to support their teams through the seasons of work and life, it’s a matter of knowing when to push and when to stand on the sidelines.
  “When you lead a team, presumably, you’ve been there before and you’ve got some experiences that can help your team from a work side. For the life side, there’s a point in which we want leaders to know they don’t want to go too far. You can stay on the periphery of it and just say, alright, let me know how I can help. But that doesn’t mean you wait a year to ask again, you’re sort of checking in regularly to make sure the balance isn’t off.” 

Check out Dan’s latest book: https://www.danpontefract.com/work-life-bloom-preorder/. 

Learn more about Dan and his work at https://www.danpontefract.com/

Meet Dan Pontefract

Dan Pontefract is a renowned leadership strategist, author, and keynote speaker with over two decades of experience in senior executive roles at companies such as SAP, TELUS, and Business Objects. Since then, he has worked with organizations worldwide, including Salesforce, Amgen, the State of Tennessee, Nestlé, Canada Post, Autodesk, BMO, the Government of Canada, Manulife, Nutrien, and the City of Toronto, among others.

As an award-winning and best-selling author, Dan has written five books: WORK-LIFE BLOOM, LEAD. CARE. WIN., OPEN TO THINK, THE PURPOSE EFFECT, and FLAT ARMY. Dan also writes for Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and other outlets.

Dan is a renowned keynote speaker who has presented at four TED events and has delivered over 600 keynotes . He is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria’s Gustavson School of Business and has received over 25 industry, individual, and book awards.

Dan’s career is interwoven with corporate and academic experience, coupled with an MBA, B.Ed, and multiple industry certifications and awards. Notably, Dan is listed on the Thinkers50 Radar, HR Weekly’s 100 Most Influential People in HR, PeopleHum’s Top 200 Thought Leaders to Follow, and Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers.

Learn more about Dan at his website: https://www.danpontefract.com/ 

About TILTCO

TILTCO is a boutique consulting company that helps leaders define and execute their strategies in order to achieve extraordinary business and personal results. Founded by Tineke Keesmaat, she brings her more than 20 years of leadership consulting experience rooted at McKinsey & Company and Accenture to supports today’s leaders achieve exceptional results.

AI is powerfully evolving jobs, organizations and industries. Will it redefine what it means to be a leader, too? 

In this episode of LeaderLab, we are joined by Levi Goertz, Head of Client Solutions at Valence, who helps us unravel how AI may automate and augment leadership with workforce trends and insights to speed up decision-making. But AI is only a tool and the value of human connection, empathy and intentionality will likely remain irreplaceable.

In our conversation, Levi shares the following insights:

Effective leadership has always been a combination of intuition and data.
“Psychological safety, trust, strong communication that hasn’t changed and I don’t think it will change. How you achieve it changes.” 

AI can be a valuable partner to people leaders, offering them the data and insights to make a greater impact on their teams.
“Rather than starting from a blank cursor or page, you can get a first draft ready based on a series of inputs… and so instead of spending time gathering all the data and prepping everything, you can spend a good 45 minutes thinking about how you’ll share the feedback and that will have a much higher impact on your team.”

Intentional reflection done consistently is a key practice behind the best people leaders. 
“Invest a bit of time in the reflection of your people, how you think your team is responding to you, maybe get some feedback from them on how you are doing, and also, most importantly, consider the impact you’re having on the people you’re leading.”

Learn how Levi and the team at Valence are using AI to build more successful and empathetic leaders and teams: https://www.valence.co/

Meet Levi Goertz

Levi leads Client Solutions at Valence and lives for you to make an impact with our tools. He joined Valence in the early days and has worked with 100% of our clients who use the tools. He wants to bring that knowledge to you.

Levi previously co-founded a software startup that grew organically to over 100 staff with operations in 22 countries across Africa and Asia.

He learned how to tuck in his shirt and support client success at McKinsey & Company where he advised on organizational transformations and IT projects.

Despite being a hippie in his youth Levi now has an MBA from UC Berkeley and a B. Eng from the University of Saskatchewan. He spends Saturdays riding a giant cargo bike taking his 2 children to hockey.

About TILTCO

TILTCO is a boutique consulting company that helps leaders define and execute their strategies in order to achieve extraordinary business and personal results. Founded by Tineke Keesmaat, she brings her 20 years of leadership consulting experience rooted at McKinsey & Company and Accenture to supports today’s leaders achieve exceptional results.

Teams work together differently today. Team members also face different challenges and opportunities. This demands a new approach for people leadership and the people and systems that support them. 

In this episode, Stefani Okamoto, Director of Manager Excellence at ServiceNow, shares her deep passion for people leadership and offers insights on how companies can build a pipeline of amazing people leaders. 

In our conversation, Stefani shares the following insights:  

·      Care needs to be the heart of people leadership today, especially as we work differently than before and face rapidly changing dynamics.

“Having a leader that is more caring, that is more supportive and in tune to who you are as a human being, collectively – both professionally and personally – is more important than ever before. Before Covid, teams were together all the time, which made connecting as a team easier. Now, in our dispersed way of working, leaders really have to intentionally find ways to connect with each person.”

·      The role of people leader is more difficult than ever and they need a company and senior leadership that sets them up for success.

“The data show that people managers are burning out at a rate faster than employees. So, companies need to set managers up for success by clarifying their role at the company and really valuing it. This can come in a few different ways: flipping around the performance conversation and rewarding managers who are really showing up for their teams. Senior leaders also have a role to play, acknowledging people leaders for taking on this difficult role of caring for our employees.”

·      Clarifying roles with each employee is the most important thing you can do for your team.

“Whether it’s a new team or an existing team, it’s critical to clarify roles, first and foremost. Then, together with each person, define the goals within the description or definition of the role. Also, identify individual career goals, so you can make sure you’re getting the business objectives done collectively with your team, and helping each person find meaning in their work that can open them to future career growth and opportunities.”

Connect with Stefani on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefani-okamoto-1376039/

Meet Stefani Okamoto
Management Excellence is my passion - Being an incredible manager is my purpose. I consider myself exceptionally fortunate to live my purpose and passion in the work I do every day.

In my 23 years at Microsoft, I reinvented myself many times. I grew from being a software tester to the leader of Management Excellence in Global Learning and Development. I was instrumental in redefining the Role of the Manager and landing the Manager Expectations: Model, Coach, Care. I worked to increase the skills and capabilities of Microsoft’s 30,000 managers every single day - while ensuring every manager prioritized authentically caring for each team member as human beings, especially during some of the most difficult times the world had seen. This work significantly impacted the culture at Microsoft.

In my current role, I am privileged to contribute to the success of ServiceNow, in owning Manager Excellence. I've crafted a manager excellence strategy that is designed to equip every manager with role clarity, explicit expectations, a segmented manager portfolio, and a system for recognition and accountability. My mission is to enhance manager skills and competencies, while ensuring that every manager places genuine care for each team member at the heart of their leadership. Simultaneously, I’m working diligently to ensure that each employee has a consistent, positive experience with their manager - in an environment where they can perform at their absolute best. I am dedicated to shaping the future of management at ServiceNow, ensuring that managers are well-equipped to lead effectively, and employees thrive under their guidance.

I’m proud that I not only own and drive this work, but I authentically and genuinely live and model it every day as a manager. It is my passion. It is my purpose.

About TILTCO
TILTCO is a boutique consulting company that helps leaders define and execute their strategies in order to achieve extraordinary business and personal results. Founded by Tineke Keesmaat, she brings her more than 20 years of leadership consulting experience rooted at McKinsey & Company and Accenture to supports today’s leaders achieve exceptional results.

People leaders have always been a powerful force in organizations. With hybrid workplaces, a new generation in the workforce (Gen Z), rise of AI and digitization, quickly changing geopolitical concerns, and more is people leadership more important than ever? 

TILTCO Inc. gathered business leaders, consultants and academics for Season 6 of the LeaderLab to capture insights on the role for people leaders, what great looks like and what companies and people leaders need to do to be the people leaders employees need today. 

In our first episode of this season, we speak to a roundtable of participants who offered the following insights: 

• Trust and psychological safety are elusive; yet critical for greater success on teams.
  Todd shared: “People who build trust well within an organization by reliably doing what they said they would do. They get to know you as a person and they care and are more in it for the team than they are for themselves can build trust and psychological safety for their team.” 

• Giving feedback, like many parts of leadership takes intentional practice and a commitment to self-awareness.
  Diana shared: “Giving real time feedback, sometimes in very tough settings, you need to really have good EQ skills so that you can listen, you can deliver a message that’s appropriate to the person. It can be scary to give feedback, so it requires practice, because then it becomes easier over time.”

• Leadership has always been important, but in today’s context, leadership matters more than before.
  Jennifer shared: “Leaders will help steward how organizations will evolve their ways of working, helping to adapt to the ever-changing environment. In addition, the workforce is challenging a lot of organizations and companies to really change the way that they work, the way they listen to their employees.”

• The role of the people leader has changed, demanding a new set of capabilities and responsibilities.
  Eric shared: “I think a lot of times we look up to the leader to have all the answers and right now that’s probably the biggest miss of leadership. We need leaders to understand that you’re not going to have all the answers. Your team has to find some agency and that means, you as a leader, have to create the space for your team to be able to do that and be comfortable that you’re not all knowing.”

• With people leaders expected to fulfill different roles in a company, the people systems that support them must also evolve.
  Todd said: “Operating systems matter more than they’ve ever mattered. You need to build the operating systems of the company in a way that it is able to adapt faster to complex situations, build great culture and skill development, and handle these external factors as they come up.”

Thank you to our panelists:

• Diana Amenyogbe, Managing Director, Investment Portfolio Management, Office of the Chief Investment Officer at CPP Investments where she’s leading a multi-year culture initiative. Connect with Diana on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-amenyogbe/

• Jennifer Keri Choi, Senior Strategy Manager at The Coca Cola Company. Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-keri-choi-731a2816/

• Todd Scheidt, Tech Strategist and Operations Executive, formerly of Shopify, Google and McKinsey. Connect with Todd on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddscheidt/ 

• Eric VanDerSluis, Senior Director, L&D and Performance Strategy at Edward Jones. Connect with Eric on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-vandersluis-6b22846/

About TILTCO

TILTCO is a boutique consulting company that helps leaders define and execute their strategies in order to achieve extraordinary business and personal results. Founded by Tineke Keesmaat, she brings her more than 20 years of leadership consulting experience rooted at McKinsey & Company and Accenture to supports today’s leaders achieve exceptional results.

Conversation is a powerful way for leaders to inspire and motivate their teams. It's also an opportunity to learn and make more effective decisions. Yet, engaging in conversations across an organization isn't always easy.

In this episode of LeaderLab, we are joined by Dave MacLeod, CEO and co-founder of ThoughtExchange, to explore the importance of conversations in organizations.

Based on his research and insights shared in his new book, Scaling conversations: How leaders access the full potential of people, he offers strategies leaders can use to engage in more meaningful, inclusive and productive conversations across teams.

Dave shares the following insights:

• There's never been a more important time to include as many voices in the conversation: “There are a lot of problems to solve [in our organizations] and a lot of pressure to do it. There's a lot of change to our life and a lot of recognition of systemic racism and the recognition of power to drive our business, and there’s never been a more important time to hear from everybody who's impacted by these things.
• We’re at an exciting moment where leaders feel they can admit they have bias and enter the right conversations that will move things in the right direction. “That’s maybe a really exciting moment right now... that people can say, ‘Yeah, I agree. I admit I have bias. So now what?’”
• When dealing with polarizing topics, search for the common ground. “There’s ways to solve problems for two people who think very differently about how to make their business run faster and the same mechanism actually works when you have people who disagree strong – you have to find the common ground between them.”
• Use technology and tools to eliminate our bias from conversations. “The idea of getting people to share ideas and listen to each other without knowing exactly who said them will get us to really think deeply about and empathize with each other’s points of view.”

Pick up Dave’s book to learn more strategies to scale conversations in your organization. Order Scaling conversations: How leaders access the full potential of people here: https://www.thoughtexchange.com/scaling-conversations/

Meet Dave MacLeod

Dave MacLeod is the CEO and a co-founder of ThoughtExchange, the essential Enterprise Discussion Management platform for scaling conversations. Dave’s expertise helped create the game-changing platform that’s used by millions at some of the world’s largest organizations like GE Healthcare and McDonald’s. From corporations to schools, ThoughtExchange invites participants to share insights anonymously—removing bias and getting the most important ideas in front of the leaders who make them happen. Dave is also the author of Scaling Conversations: How Leaders Access the Full Potential of People. Prior to ThoughtExchange, he was a successful entrepreneur who designed businesses and events focused on analog group communication innovation. Outside of work, Dave keeps busy as a dad of three who loves the outdoors.

About TILTCO

TILTCO is a boutique consulting company that helps leaders define and execute their strategies in order to achieve extraordinary business and personal results. Founded by Tineke Keesmaat, she brings her 20 years of leadership consulting experience rooted at McKinsey & Company and Accenture to supports today’s leaders achieve exceptional results.