Episode 182

full
Published on:

19th Mar 2024

Unlocking Potential: How to Get the Most Out of Your Employees, Managers, and Leaders

Summary:

In this episode of the HR Impact show, Dr. Jim invites Erin Rowe, a trailblazing female founder in tech and the founder of Allspring, to share her invaluable insights on talent strategy and leadership development. Broadcasting live from HR Transform at the Wynn in Las Vegas, this conversation delves into the strategic measures required for preparing individuals for leadership roles.

Erin discusses the importance of incremental daily improvements and the role of AI in personalizing learning experiences. She highlights the significance of understanding team dynamics and operational procedures when stepping into a leadership position. The dialogue pivots to the necessity of aligning individual contributions with broader organizational visions and tangible applications of this alignment through Allspring's AI coaching framework.

Key Takeaways:

  • Empowering a team is key; establishing metrics, processes, and expectations can greatly enhance team efficiency.
  • Ensuring that employees understand and connect their daily tasks to company values and principles reinforces organizational cohesion.
  • Developing the ability to listen effectively is an essential skill for leaders, and this skill should be cultivated early in their career path.


Chapters:

0:00:00 Dr. Jim introduces Aaron Rowe, founder of Allspring.

0:01:25 Erin Rowe explains the importance of continuous learning for employees.

0:02:51 Dr. Jim discusses the need for new leaders to understand their team's capabilities.

0:04:37 Erin Rowe highlights the importance of setting norms and operational procedures for teams.

0:05:17 Erin Rowe explains how Allspring helps employees align with company values.

0:05:49 Dr. Jim emphasizes the importance of effective listening and empowering teams.

0:06:03 Erin Rowe shares her contact information for further conversation.

0:06:50 Dr. Jim concludes the episode and encourages joining the HR Impact community.


Connect with Dr. Jim: linkedin.com/in/drjimk

Connect with CT: linkedin.com/in/cheetung

Connect with Erin Rowe: linkedin.com/in/erinalyserowe

Music Credit: winning elevation - Hot_Dope



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Transcript
Dr. Jim: [:

Erin Rowe: Thanks, Jim. Great to be here.

Dr. Jim: I'm super pumped to have this conversation with you on a couple of different fronts. One, it's very rare that we have female founders in tech that are on the show. So I think that brings an interesting perspective to the conversation, but I think before we dive into the topic of getting people ready to lead, I'd like you to share with the audience a little bit about your story as well as what all spring does, and then we'll dive into the discussion.

are putting a world class a [:

Dr. Jim: Tell me a little bit more about providing a world class solution that helps employees get 1 percent better every day. I'd like you to share a little bit more detail about why that's important from an overall organizational performance and effectiveness perspective.

Erin Rowe: What I saw when I was at Pinterest was that we would push out these. It's very expensive, very heavy programming that would focus on specific topics and skills, productivity and prioritization, or managing in a difficult environment, but only about 2 percent of that is actually retained after you leave that type of session.

ere, and then B, continue to [:

What we've done with Allspring is be able to ingest kind of your daily activities, your calendar, et cetera, and be able to recommend ways to improve. Learn and grow based on what you're actually working on that day.

Dr. Jim: That's pretty interesting. One of the common issues that I often here about when I'm talking with HR leaders is that the C suite is really effective at building strategy.

And then when you drill all the way down to the line level and you ask that individual contributor, how does my work contribute? To the strategy, the mission, the vision, the goals. Most people won't have an answer. So I really like how you're building that connectivity within your organization or helping organizations build that connectivity because that's really important to have some lot, a lot of implications.

people leaders at transform [:

So when you think about building in some best practices so that those people who are, In those new leadership roles can get effective right away. What are some of the things that come to mind that you think that the audience should have on their radar?

Erin Rowe: What I'll say first is that it's very dependent on the type of team that this new manager is managing.

There's a great situational leadership framework where, are these people who are able to manage themselves? Can you delegate to them right now? Are they folks who need very specific task management approaches. So that's the first is understanding what your team is doing and what they're capable of.

I highly recommend spending [:

You want to be able to empower the team to be able to be effective. So what are the metrics? What are the processes? What are the behaviors? What are the expectations that you're setting for the rules of engagement of your team? That are going to be able to help propel you forward. The first thing is really understanding, okay, doing that diagnostics of what is your team doing?

Where do they sit in that situational leadership framework? Then it's, okay how do we empower, how do I set norms and the operational procedures for it? And then third is, how do you tie, just like you were saying, how do you tie the bigger company mission into the work that the team is doing on a regular basis?

of the things we've done at [:

Dr. Jim: There's a lot of value in what you said, but I think one of the most important things that I'm going to call out is. First time leaders need to build a discipline of learning how to listen effectively. And listen with the intent to understand what's going on and meet their people where they are.

Versus listen to immediately move into problem solving mode. So I think that's really valuable and some really important call outs from you. So I appreciate you sharing that. Obviously this is just a teaser of a much deeper conversation. If people want to continue the conversation with you, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?

am responsive there or send [:

Dr. Jim: Thanks for hanging out with us, Aaron.

It was nice running into you again at HR Transform. We hope you have a great time at the conference. For those of you who have been listening to this micro episode, I can't emphasize the importance of being able to listen effectively and empower your team as a secret to building high performance teams.

I think that's critical competencies that every leader needs to have under their belt. And if you are cultivating your next generation leaders, it's important for you to build those skills now versus waiting until they're in the seat. So I can't emphasize how important that is.

For those of you who have listened to the conversation, we appreciate you hanging out. Make sure you leave us a review. And then if you haven't already done so, join the HR impact community at www dot engage rocket dot co slash HR impact. And then join us next time where we'll have another great leader joining us.

And sharing with us the game changing insights that help them build a high performing team.

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About the Podcast

Engaging Leadership
Building High-Performance K-12 Districts
What's the secret sauce to building a high-performing school district?
Is it strong leadership? Is it excellent educators? Is it a committed community?

It's all of the above.

K-12 public schools are the hubs of communities all over the country. The best districts have excellent leadership that serves their teams and their communities.

Each week we share the stories of K-12 leaders who are transforming their schools, their students, and their communities.

Tune in and listen to their journeys.

About your hosts

CheeTung Leong

Profile picture for CheeTung Leong
I'm committed to helping people live their best lives through work.

I'm one of the co-founders of EngageRocket, an HRTech SaaS startup and we are focused on helping organizations build empowered managers, engaged employees, and elite teams.

I'm a big nerd when it comes to economics and psychology and regularly use data and tech to help folks live their best lives.

I've been recognized by Prestige Magazine as one of the top 40 under 40 business leaders and have been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, Business Insider, and Tech in Asia.

Jim Kanichirayil

Profile picture for Jim Kanichirayil
Your friendly neighborhood talent strategy nerd is the producer and co-host for The HR Impact Show. He's spent his career in sales and has been typically in startup b2b HRTech and TA-Tech organizations.

He's built high-performance sales teams throughout his career and is passionate about all things employee life cycle and especially employee retention and turnover.