Frontline Innovators
This is Frontline Innovators. Hosts Justin Lake and Gene Signorini speak with experts who are leading the way and driving digital transformation to the frontlines. We explore how to overcome challenges and achieve success when we empower our essential workers. This podcast is sponsored by Skyllful, on a mission to help frontline workers learn and use the technology needed to succeed in their jobs.
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Episodes
Friday Apr 08, 2022
Friday Apr 08, 2022
Jon Kent is the Director, Global Telematics at Yanmar. He is passionate about music and making sure that employees on the frontline are ready for any change in technology. Jon sits down with host Justin Lake to talk about how management can better prepare deskless workers for the issues of today and tomorrow.
Takeaways
The lack of feedback from constituents and stakeholders is one of the biggest challenges facing companies today.
Create a feedback form to hear from the frontline workers. They are the ones using the technology and their input is very important.
Companies are steering away from product focused environments and more to a consumer focused environment.
Do a month to month review of how things are going. This will allow you to take time and go over things that are really important.
When you are in a change management role, you aren’t just solving problems for today but also for problems 6 months from now.
The testers of products are the real advocates. They will go out and mention what works and they will promote a product for you.
There are regional differences and you have to be prepared for that. Be ready to change tactics depending on where people are located.
Quote of the show
5:54 “A lot of companies and organizations are moving away from a product focused environment and more to a customer focused environment, internal and external customers. And that draws out the empathy. You can't hide from the feedback of the folks that are using your application, your technologies, or, otherwise. I'm not saying long gone as the days across all companies, but certainly there's a lot less ivory towers around today than there were yesterday.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentjon/
Company Website: https://www.yanmar.com/
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/RluZz8yX4mk
Tuesday Apr 05, 2022
Tuesday Apr 05, 2022
Todd Gernady is the Senior Manager Process Improvement, Business Architecture, and Organizational Change Management at United Airlines. After he discovered his passion for consulting, Todd went on to become a Lean Six Sigma belt and used that to share his passion for making a process run smoothly. He joins host Justin Lake to talk about the issues facing frontline workers.
Takeaways
Getting the right information for the frontline workers to do their job is one of the biggest challenges that they face today.
Having all the knowledge and information on a tablet or an electronic device can help mitigate the need for employees at airports to run all over the place.
Technology can help to streamline a process and make communication easier. This works for airports as well.
You want to catch mistakes when they happen. Don’t just continue to go through the process because that mistake will threaten the integrity of the change.
Start with the process. You want to make sure that the process is solid before you bring it to people and find out that it doesn’t work.
You want to make sure that all instructions given to frontline workers are clear and make sure it’s presented on a device where it is easy to read and understand the information given to them.
Sometimes the simplest ways to reach frontline workers are through older techniques rather than technology. Leave signs in the break room or bathrooms or other public spots.
Quote of the show
18:41 “We built a roadmap and it allowed us to remove some of those obstacles and avoid potholes down the road versus things that we would have stubbed our toe on. And reworking, I will guarantee you will often take you longer to resolve than it is to catch it in the moment. If you've ever built a Lego set with your kids, if you screwed up something on step 12 and you are on step 32, it is very painful to take those Legos apart. So you can fix that one piece and go back and do it again.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-gernady-0069831b/
Company Website: https://www.united.com/en/us/
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/A7CkOLN1T98
Friday Apr 01, 2022
Friday Apr 01, 2022
Steve Acuna is the Director of Organizational Enablement at a leading healthcare insurance company.. He sees the importance of change management and how much of a positive impact it can have on a company. He sits down with host Justin Lake to talk about some of the challenges that frontline workers are facing today and how to overcome them.
Takeaways
Frontline workers are the case study for how change management can change the future for how we interact with employees.
You can affect the mindset of people and how they operate based even off of how prepared they are for change coming down the line.
The metric side of change management helps because it shows people where the opportunities are to improve.
Make sure that everyone involved with the change is on the same page. Make sure they know who to talk to and that they have a solid support system underneath them.
There is a retention issue with frontline employees, so you want to make sure you are meeting their needs and be on the same playing field as them.
Change management can help prepare you for things outside of work that might happen as well.
As a change leader, there will be struggles along the way but it is your job and responsibility to make sure that everyone trusts what you are doing is in their best interest.
Quote of the show
0:58 “I feel like frontline workers are really the case study for how change management can change the future of how we operate and how people interact with change management in general. I do believe that frontline workers are really the reflection of how change management is actually working or not working in an organization.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveacuna/
Company Website: https://www.premera.com/visitor
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/SBpWIivYR4I
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
Zachary Jedamzik is the Senior Change Manager at Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. Everyday he sees the need for change management and how important it is to a company. Zachary sits down with host Justin Lake to talk about the changes that frontline workers experience and how to better prepare them for all the changes.
Takeaways
The biggest challenge facing the frontline workforce today is communication. They need to understand the decisions that are being made and why they are being made.
Those working on the frontline are the ones that interact with the customers the most, so they are the ones that hear about how the customers are feeling about certain things.
A change management professional can look at an issue from different perspectives and come up with solutions that work for everybody.
The leaders at a company also need to be educated in change. Once they are educated in change they can also speak better on any future change.
Change management is like math. You start with the simple equations and you keep moving up and solving bigger problems and the basics help build on that.
The failure of technology solutions is not about the technology, it’s about the way humans are using the technology.
With better technology, you can make a small investment now to help frontline workers do their jobs more efficiently in the future.
Quote of the show
6:28 “As a frontline worker or as a maker, as a person just answering the phone, nobody's really taking our opinion on What we need to do our job, to help the customer. And at the end of the day, we're your first line of defense or first line of success with a customer. And we don't have the tools that we need because nobody really asked us. And I always found that really interesting.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-jedamzik-199784b2/
Company Website: https://www.stanleyblackanddecker.com/
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/CJbfSvgcoqU
Friday Mar 25, 2022
Friday Mar 25, 2022
Monique Jordan is the AUX Lead at First Republic Bank. She brings with her a unique perspective and compassion for making sure that frontline workers are included as part of the change in the workplace, not just experiencing the change. She joins host Eugene Signorini to talk about some of the biggest challenges that frontline employees are facing today.
Takeaways
At the core of digital transformation is the need to meet customers with the best way to use technology for them.
The biggest challenge facing the frontline workforce is that change is often done to those on the frontline, rather than with them.
Frontline workers don’t have the same access to technology as those working in the office do. This means that some new technology changes might be a challenge for frontline workers.
Because of the pandemic, things are constantly changing. One of those changing aspects is how change management is being delivered.
The point of view from headquarters is pretty limited. Bringing crews in to really sit down and talk through the issues of those on the frontline.
You want to digitize your data so it is usable and accessible when it comes to creating a good customer experience.
People want to do meaningful stuff and be valued in the company. To do this, make sure that the voices of those are the frontline and what they say.
Quote of the show
2:28 “I think what's different about the deskless worker is frequently change done to them. They're not really seen as a partner in digital change. They are seen as sort of the target of change. So those people way down there at the end of the process are going to start doing this differently. And as long as we just let them know what's happening, train them, it’s going to be perfectly fine.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniqueajordan/
Twitter: @Jordanmaj
Company Website: 6centsPartners.com
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/85siQg0aILQ
Tuesday Mar 22, 2022
Tuesday Mar 22, 2022
Samvel Lazaryev is the Senior Manager, Organizational Change Management at Sony Pictures Entertainment. He is passionate about storytelling and making sure that frontline employees are being led properly. He sits down with host Justin Lake to talk about some of the challenges facing frontline workers and how they can be overcome.
Takeaways
We are going through the great resignation right now, and it’s important to see how management will adapt to this and how agile they can be.
To have a consistent, strong culture in your company then there needs to be authenticity. Employees respond better to authenticity from management.
Be honest with your employees. You don’t want a culture of fear amongst your workforce as that lowers morale and productivity.
You want to demonstrate the behaviors that you want your frontline employees to follow. This way they can take after your example.
Storytelling is an effective way to communicate to your employees. You can provide stories to them of how to properly handle situations.
Create a level of connectivity with the staff. You want them to feel comfortable coming to you with issues or questions.
Don’t wait until things go wrong, you should be reaching out to OCM professionals along the way and making sure everyone is on the same page.
Quote of the show:
2:10 “What's interesting to me is as we come out of this great resignation and the pandemic, how agile will leadership be in understanding what led to this and what are some fundamental changes that the leadership will do, and organizations will do how cultures change and this kind of stuff.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samvellazaryev/
Company Website: https://www.sonypictures.com/
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/t0OoitG2MVQ
Friday Mar 18, 2022
Friday Mar 18, 2022
Rob Malench and Rishi Vij are both Partners at Blue Star Partners. Between them they have over 38 combined years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies. They sit down with host Eugene Signorini to talk about the people side of change and how to help frontline workers better deal with the rapid pace of change.
Takeaways
Even during this difficult time through the pandemic, customers are still looking for more and businesses are looking to expand, and that puts more pressure on the already overloaded frontline employees.
Pancaking deskless workers can lead to potential safety issues as they will be distracted and won’t be able to fully focus on their job.
Doing a 90 day look ahead allows you to see what is coming down the road for the frontline workers and try and consolidate it for them so they aren’t overwhelmed.
You want to see the world through the perspective of those on the frontline. Going on a ride along with them allows you to tailor your messages to their needs.
Make sure that leaders are aligned throughout the entire process. You can do this by keeping up constant communication.
You need the frontline workers to understand, buy in and commit to the change. If you don’t get those then the change won’t take off.
Have resilient information. You need to be able to make adjustments depending on how the frontline employees are feeling.
Quote of the show
2:36 “The more that we sort of pancake and layer on, and the more that they're feeling stressed out and overwhelmed, the more that they might be distracted. How do we take that into consideration when we're managing large-scale change in an organization? And especially when we're touching those frontline desk-less workers.”
Links
Rob’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robmalench/
Rishi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishi-vij-1a3082135/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/robmalench
Company Website: https://www.bluestarpartners.com
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/1Nd9z1SvvFk
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
Roland Prevost is currently an independent change management consultant. He recently completed a two year engagement with a global self care and pharmaceutical product manufacturing company. He sits down with host Justin Lake about the proper way to make sure change is implemented for those working deskless jobs.
Takeaways
The biggest challenge facing the frontline workforce today is the rapid pace of change in technology.
What is happening now with the great resignation is that people are seeing the other side of work and realizing what they want to do for a living and if their job fits that.
Change management really has to do with getting people ready to apply new skills. You want to make sure that employees are ready for experiencing change.
There needs to be a willingness to accept change. Without the willingness to do so, you will find it hard to implement change.
If you don’t enjoy doing something, how motivated are you to truly get the job done and get it done right? You need to be passionate about what you do.
Not every job can be done remotely, and most of those are on the frontline. Technology can make their lives easier but it can’t allow for remote work in that field.
Communication is important. Doing it too early or haphazardly can make the change a failure from launch. Make sure to be deliberate.
Quote of the show
10:46 “You have to want to do something. Think about people who have been in careers, where they have a set of skills that they either acquire or by natural talent, and they're very good at this thing, but they don't necessarily enjoy doing it. I often think of it just in terms of willingness and ability, you may have the ability to do something, but how much do you want to, or how willing are you to do that thing? And both of those things need to be present to have a really successful organization transition.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rolandprevost/
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/R4WXv1w8Cp8
Friday Mar 11, 2022
Friday Mar 11, 2022
Paul Feikema is the Senior Change Consultant at Pioneer Management Consulting. He is a pro sci certified change management professional. He is also part of the team that was in the book “Big Change at Best Buy Working Through Hyper Growth to Sustain Excellence.” He sits down with host Eugene Signorini to talk about frontline employees and how Best Buy rose to the giant it is today.
Takeaways
One of the biggest challenges facing the frontline workforce is that they feel like they aren’t being heard.
Maintenance data is important for the organization but it isn’t the solution for understanding how those on the frontline feel about their work. It doesn’t give the nuances of day to day operations.
In the last 5 to 8 years, there have been a ton of frontline changes in terms of technology in order to make the jobs easier for deskless workers.
A change in technology is a way of redesigning the way work is done and how quickly work can be done.
A lot of companies grow dramatically and they don’t plan too well for the massive upscaling. You have to create standardization.
You want the core of your company to be something that you never give up and each person will represent that core.
The more we have the capabilities to teach change leadership skills, the organization is going to come out of that stronger.
Quote of the show
27:14 “The more we have the capabilities in major projects that are driving change in an organization to teach change leadership skills and continue to model and transfer those across the organization. Your organization is going to come out of that stronger.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulfeikema/
Company Website: https://pioneermanagementconsulting.com/
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/nqkOBqCGGOU
Tuesday Mar 08, 2022
Tuesday Mar 08, 2022
Alanna Roesler is the People Analytics Change Leader at Schneider Electric. She uses her education and experience to better prepare frontline workers for technology changes and makes sure the technology is something that benefits everyone. She sits down with host Justin Lake to go over some of the big topics of change management and how to help frontline employees handle change and adapt to it.
Takeaways
The biggest challenge facing the frontline workforce today is the rapid pace of change and technology. This affects not only the people on the frontline but HR as well.
Look at different ways of trying to reduce manual tasks or make the lives easier of those on the frontline through the use of technology.
It’s important to think about what the technology is and make sure that it is right fro the end users and the deskless workforce.
There are three main focuses to change; Core HR topics, research methodologies, and statistics and utilizing them to get meaningful data-driven outcomes.
It’s not all about the analytics and data, you need to also consider the culture in a company and how change is introduced to a company.
You need a welcoming environment that can help frontline workers build their data literacy and make sure that they feel comfortable asking questions.
Make sure that technology is easy to adapt to. If you make it too complicated it will never take off with the frontline workers.
Quote of the Show
1:58 “Not only are we driving fast innovation to keep up with the technology landscape, but at times our workload and our bandwidth is changing drastically as well. I think that puts our workforce in a really challenging spot and from HRs perspective as well, it's putting our HR folks in a spot of really needing to keep up with our ever-changing workforce.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alannaroesler/
Company Website: https://www.se.com/us/en/
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/uvkxz1AcrpU
Friday Mar 04, 2022
Friday Mar 04, 2022
Tricia Taylor is the Senior Director, Corporate communications and change management at Coca-Cola Bottlers' Sales and Services. She knows how important change is to a company and also the importance of staying connected with those deskless workers. She sits down with host Justin Lake to talk about some of the biggest challenges facing frontline employees.
Takeaways
Staying connected is one of the biggest challenges facing the frontline workforce today. They can do their jobs more efficiently if they receive information in a way that is good for them.
You want to know the audience of the message you are trying to send. You need to understand frontline workers and what they need most and what might help them.
Everyone takes change differently. You might need to alter how you present change to different individuals.
Always check in, have constant feedback points so that you can tell what works for change and what doesn’t.
Consider the daily impact of change for those on the frontline. You want the change to be positive, and you need to be able to communicate that.
You need to meet other employees where they are. Focus groups allow you to understand where they are coming from and what they need.
Use the technology that is most readily available at your workplace. Frontline workers won’t be in desks so you might have to come up with some unique ways to reach them.
Quote of the show
1:11 “As a professional communicator, I cannot underemphasize the importance of our frontline workers, our deskless workers staying connected, and that means what information they want to receive, how they want to receive it and in what format they would like to receive that communication.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tricia-taylor-388bb680/
Company Website: https://www.ccbss.com/
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/AqGJZKueTXU
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Michael Dwyer is an Organizational Change Management Analyst at the Lasing Board of Water and Light. Rebecca Rostar is the Supervisor of Organizational Training, Development and Change Management at Lansing Board of Water & Light. They sit down with host Justin Lake to talk about how to overcome the challenges facing the frontline workers today.
Takeaways
Communication in terms of talking about change is the biggest challenge facing the frontline workers today. You need to find the best and most effective way to talk with them.
You have to be open to feedback and criticism and be able to let management know how you feel. Nothing will change if you don’t tell them that something isn’t working.
Having boots on the ground is an invaluable resource. Make the trip once a month to spend a day with those on the frontline and see what they are going through and what can be improved to help them.
A Change Manager can help bridge the gap in communication between management and those on the frontline more effectively than through zoom meetings.
Increasing the volume and the quality of communication is a key to success. You want to find a healthy balance where you aren’t overwhelming those on the frontline.
You want to be intentional with the communication you send out. You want to cover all the bases and make sure everyone is on the same page.
Employees should feel safe to open up about if they understand the change they are facing. There needs to be trust and transparency between both management and deskless workers.
Quote of the show
15:56 “I try to foster an environment where people feel okay telling me things. Just tell me what you think, because we can't change stuff. We can't make corrections. We can't address issues without you telling us how you truly feel to what's going on and change management is feeling a lot of it is how you feel about something.”
Links
Michael’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dwyer-b9745025/
Rebecca’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-rostar-45156615/
Company Website: https://www.lbwl.com/
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/b6hdV58D7XE
Friday Feb 25, 2022
Friday Feb 25, 2022
Eva Althaus is the Organizational Design and Change Management Consultant at Boeing. She sees the importance of having empathy for employees working on the frontline, especially with the current supply issues. She sits down with host Justin Lake to talk about some of the challenges facing frontline workers and how they can be solved.
Takeaways
The lack of empathy is the biggest challenge facing frontline workers today. Everyone needs to be more patient with deskless workers and realize what they go through daily.
Understanding that change management is the key to helping others learn is incredibly important.
Change only works when everyone is working together and is trying to achieve a common goal.
Using an empathy map as a tool can help to understand the needs of those on the frontline and the end users as well.
Employee listening has to be a practice and a habit. You want to make sure the employees know that they are being heard and not ignored.
Design brings new changes to a company, but change brings opportunities for more design areas.
You want to make sure you are training and enabling employees to better navigate through change.
Quote of the show
12:09 “Change can only happen when the right environment and the right players are performing the role effectively and in harmony with the rest of them.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eva-mariana-althaus-9497b485/
Company Website: https://www.boeing.com/
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/2OHz_KOLBIM
Tuesday Feb 22, 2022
Tuesday Feb 22, 2022
On this very special episode of Frontline Innovators, hosts Justin Lake and Eugene Signorini look back on the last 50 episodes and the guests they have talked to. They share some of their favorite moments and go over what they have taken away from some memorable guests.
Takeaways
You want to introduce technology with people. You don’t just want to thrust change upon employees but rather slowly integrate them into the technological change.
There’s plenty of change on a daily basis that it creates a change whiplash effect for employees. It’s important not to overwhelm them with change.
Failing safely and failing fast is ok. It’s a learning curve when on the job and you want to make sure that it is ok to fail at something as long as it is done safely.
Empowering the frontline workers is something that can go a long way. Technology is not a one size fits all solution.
The frontline workers should be prioritized and given everything they need. They are the life blood of an organization and without them there is no business.
You want to build a relationship with the frontline workers and make sure that they are aware of the change that is coming down the road.
You need to be transparent with those on the frontline and earn their trust. They are the experts in their job and it’s your job to make their lives easier.
Links
Justin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jelake/
Eugene LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenesignorini/
Company Website: https://www.skyllful.com/
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/0XUSiiQ-G1c
Friday Feb 18, 2022
Friday Feb 18, 2022
Haris Muhammad is currently Program Manager at PVA Consulting Group. He is a change champion and knows what it takes to make sure that digital transformation is successful for all businesses. He sits down with host Eugene Signorini to talk about how to implement technology change in your company more successfully than most.
Takeaways
The biggest challenge facing frontline workers today is communication. With everyone working from home and using zoom, it’s been difficult for people to communicate.
Working with the frontline employees is important for any business. They are the key to success and the business can’t thrive without them.
Take the time to spend a day with the frontline workers and see what they do. Then you will understand the struggles they go through.
Awareness is key and making sure you take the time to understand the different learning styles is key to making change successful.
There needs to be a fix for the disconnect between the executive suite and those on the frontline.
The most successful change champions are the ones that want to see the company do better.
There is a real need for digital transformation and help with that as it can be a large undertaking.
Quote of the show
11:47 “You got your steel-toe boots, you got your high vis vest and you follow all protocol at whichever client that you're with. And, just by doing that act alone, a lot of the times you'll hear feedback from those employees saying, wow, even my own supervisor or manager has not spent time with me and figured out what my barriers are to do my job day to day. Those barriers could be technology-base, it could be training based, it could be competency based. All of the above.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harism93/
Company Website: https://www.pva.ca
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/vpBhdPtPw24
Tuesday Feb 15, 2022
Tuesday Feb 15, 2022
Jason Jackson is the Manager in Change Management North America Lead at Miebach Consulting. Victoria Ma is the Digital and Innovation Lead for North America at Miebach Consulting. They sit down together and join host Eugene Signorini to talk about some of the challenges facing frontline workers today.
Takeaways
Retention and motivation are big issues facing deskless workers. The news is covering all the issues with frontline workers and they can’t escape it.
It’s hard to keep up with the rapid pace of change and it forces frontline workers to adapt quickly. They will finally learn a new technology and then something else replaces it.
Frontline workers don’t have the option to use different technology they are used to. They need to adapt and it creates a lot of stress among workers.
You want to provide people with the tools to deal with digital transformation but also tips on it as well, so they know how to handle more changes in the future.
Make sure you understand the effect that change will have and who it will affect. That will make it easier to implement so you know who you need to talk with.
Educate people on the importance of change management. If they don’t fully understand it they won’t embrace it.
The most influential person at any company is not the person with the biggest title but the person who can rally people to their cause.
Quote of the show
24:25 “We all have different change curves that we go through and the speed by which we go through those changes is different for every individual. When we do our offers, we actually talk about change curve management as one of our opening slides to our clients, because it's important that they understand and appreciate that they may be miles ahead and they may have to slow down a little bit and make sure that the rest of the train, you know, and the caboose has caught up to the engine at the front.”
Links
LinkedIn for Jason: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonjacksoncscp/
LinkedIn for Victoria: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-ma-41607539/
Company Website: https://www.miebach.com/en/
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/1ghXGcS4sXk
Friday Feb 11, 2022
Friday Feb 11, 2022
Jason Herman is currently the Enterprise Asset Management Change & Training Lead at Evergy. He went to work post Air Force in the chemical mfg industry as a maintenance technician. He sits down with host Justin Lake to talk about what some of the challenges facing deskless workers are and how they can be best prepared for change.
Takeaways
Learning new technology can be a major challenge for a lot of frontline employees. That’s why change management is so important.
Every piece of rotating technology has a normal signature and frequencies and then you use that as a baseline to understand those numbers over time and what they mean.
Making sure that management and the employees are on the same page in terms of change is incredibly important.
Make sure that leaders are equipped to handle change. Workers will always be experiencing different changes more than once so you want to make sure they have the tools to handle it in the right way.
You want to have a good relationship with your coworkers because that will help them be more willing to accept change.
Take the end user experience into account. This will help to understand what changes need to be made from their perspective.
Take time to engage with people. Making sure that everyone is heard and feels values makes them more engaged in work and production goes up.
Quote of the show
13:35 “We can't do it all. I have a team of just a few people, but really every person has a part in the change. Everybody from our sponsors, our executives behind this project, clear down to that person that end user that's being impacted by this change. They may not know they have a role in this change, but they do.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-herman-55b21524/
Company Website: https://www.evergy.com
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/8ALYDe0oDY8
Tuesday Feb 08, 2022
Tuesday Feb 08, 2022
Carlee Wolfe is the Director of Organizational Effectiveness at Hyatt Hotels Corporation. She has worked across many different companies of different sizes and she saw the need for digital transformation for those on the frontline. She sits down with host Justin Lake to talk about some of the challenges frontline workers face.
Takeaways
Constant change and adaptation for frontline workers creates a struggle for them. The rules and guidelines are always changing which means new ways of doing things must be learned.
Technology can be an enabler to allow us to be more flexible. This can help people complete work faster or make it easier for them.
One person won’t have all the answers. Teamwork is the key to success and it can lead to a better outcome.
Every problem has a different solution. There is not a one size fits all solution, so it’s important to talk with frontline workers to see what works for them.
Building a team is a lot of work but the basic building block requires the right people and the right chemistry.
You want to make sure all team members feel heard. Listen to what those employees have to say as they have different viewpoints and experiences.
Change can plug into most change but you need to think about how it will affect those on the frontline. Corporate employees don’t see the same work as frontline employees so they need to take their opinion on technology change into consideration.
Quote of the show
11:23 “I want to be able to leave a project, a person, a space better than it was when I got there. And that's all through education. I never pretend to be the expert in everything, but I try to do a good job of knowing who is. For example if we were working together and I didn't have an answer, let's go find it together and let's learn together. I think there's power in that.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carleeawolfe/
Company Website: https://www.hyatt.com
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/CDD-0dNBnMM
Friday Feb 04, 2022
Friday Feb 04, 2022
Joshua Remerowski is the Director of Change Management, Strategy & Communication at Walmart. He used to work for Direct TV where he was installing satellites on roofs. He sees the knowledge it takes to get change going in a business and wants to share his knowledge. He joins host Justin Lake to talk about some of the issues facing frontline workers today.
Takeaways
Leaders need to do a better job of digitizing the modern workforce. Digital products can help enhance and enable your frontline workforce.
We forget that there is an actual human who is having their environment changed when it comes to change enablement. It’s important to take that into consideration.
Failure is part of the process. It’s ok to have something not work right, but you have to be able to get back the courage and try it in a different way until it works.
Patience and persistence pays off. You have to keep putting the work in and eventually your time will come.
You want to make sure everyone is on the same page. Change is only successful when everyone works together on it.
You want to make sure you are fighting for your employees as a leader. Your employees might be overworked and you need to make sure they aren’t.
Leaders apply past frameworks for a job they did 20 years ago, but that doesn’t work as times change and situations don’t always apply. A leader has to have the desire to learn the knowledge behind the change.
Quote of the show
17:41 “I think when you have that formula of patience and persistence, whatever that goal is, or thing you set your mind to, it's going to be very difficult for it not to happen. But I think a lot of people have to understand that just like sports things are not always going to happen when you intend them to be.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-remerowski/
Company Website: https://www.walmart.com
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/qB4nMoPDXwA
Tuesday Feb 01, 2022
Tuesday Feb 01, 2022
John Ross is the Strategic Change Administrator at Sunflower Electric Power Corporation. He knows that it’s important to make sure that frontline employees are respected and love what they do, as that makes work better for them. He joins host Justin Lake to discuss some of the other issues that frontline workers are facing.
Takeaways
The biggest challenge facing the deskless workforce today is engagement. It can be difficult to get them to take on a task that can be a challenge.
It’s essential to the growth of a company to build the confidence to have crucial conversations.
Change has to be embraced by the entire culture of a company. If you don’t have everyone bought in then it won’t work.
You want to make sure that frontline workers understand what they get out of experiencing change. If they don’t understand it they might not want it.
Making sure that everyone is on the same page is important to make sure that change is properly implemented.
A myth about change management is that everyone is going to follow the ADKAR method when in reality you need to find one that works for everyone.
Having a consistent view of change management is something that can be a positive for employees.
Quote of the show
2:27 “One of the things that we see as essential to the company and its growth is building the confidence to have crucial conversations and to say to the manager or a project lead, I have some reservations about this, or I think that I have a better idea on how to do this. Those are the difficult things for us to do. We really want employees to speak up.”
Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-ross-1a37b048/
Company Website: https://www.sunflower.net
Ways to Tune In:
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
YouTube - https://youtu.be/t7AFf6-n0K0