A Leader We’re Watching: Beth Chung

This month, we spoke to Dr. Beth Chung-Herrera, a leading research expert in leadership development and inclusion. She is currently a management professor at San Diego State University and the Director of the Institute of Inclusiveness and Diversity in Organizations (IIDO). She shared with us how she uniquely defines workplace inclusion, and offers practical guidance for leaders to create more inclusive work environments.

Q: How do you define ‘inclusion’ in your research?

Inclusion has been described as belonging for the longest time, but just belonging isn’t enough. We define inclusion as the intersection of belonging and uniqueness because those are basic human needs. We have to relate to other people. We want to relate to other people. We want to feel accepted as humans. , we don’t all want to be the same. So, even within a group, we want to feel like we have different or special skills than others. If you think about your own groups that you’ve been in, you want to feel like you’re a part of it, but then you kind of want to have your own thing too. You want to be valued for your uniqueness and bring all parts of yourself to work. Inclusion is about fulfilling both of those human needs.

Q: What are the practical steps that a leader can take to both respect differences and help people feel like they belong within their org and their team?

First, they can practice being willing to listen to everybody’s input and not react to it in a judgmental way. There will be people that have viewpoints that are different from yours, and you’re going to think “wow, that’s wild.” But stopping and really listening and trying to understand that viewpoint will make a huge difference to that person, even if you ultimately go a different way with your decision. Sometimes we pretend to hear, but we really don’t.

The second part is acknowledgment. To say–yes, I heard you, and I see your viewpoint. When people say things that are “out there,” we tend to dismiss it instead of harnessing it for the parts that can be useful and that can help you think differently about a topic…The more you’re accepting of them offering that viewpoint, the more they’re willing to give that viewpoint in the future.

Q: Outside of being willing to listen during meetings, where else can leaders encourage others to share their perspectives and input?

When you are writing emails, are you saying things like “we” when you’re inviting input? Are you writing your email, or whatever else, in a way that makes people want to respond? Are you open to feedback when somebody has feedback for you? All of those things are signals that people send. You can try to do all the right things, but if your intention is not there, it shows in the signals that you give people. And so, I think that signaling by the leader is really important because they are role models and their behaviors will be interpreted and adopted by others in the organization.

If you’re interested in reading more of Dr. Chung’s research, here is her piece that defines workplace inclusion, here is some practical guidance on sustaining workplace inclusion, and here is more inclusive leadership skills.

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This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.

Leaders We’re Watching: Mary Schlegel and Nigel Dias

This month, we bring you insights from two leaders to keep an eye on – Mary Schlegel, a former Learning and Development Manager at a Fortune 500 company and current consultant, and Nigel Dias, managing director of 3n Strategy.

Read on to learn why Schlegel thinks everyone should get a reverse mentor, and why Dias is encouraging all leaders to take a data-driven approach to leadership development.

Q: You’re a proponent that “everyone could use a reverse mentor,” in other words, someone who might be younger or more junior and wouldn’t normally be in the position of “expert.” Why do you say that?

Schlegel: It’s an opportunity to build the skill sets of existing leaders while giving future leaders valuable development and exposure. According to the World Economic Forum, 85 million jobs that existed in 2020 will cease to exist in 2025. In the same time period, 97 million new jobs will be created. The WEF research also says that for workers who are going to remain in their roles for the next five years, nearly 50 percent will need to be reskilled.

It’s time for leaders to learn not just from the people who’ve come before them, but from those leading alongside and after them.

If you want to seek reverse mentorship, one of my favorite starting points is a network diversity analysis. This means writing down the names of the people who you consider and consult whenever you’re making a big decision, whether it’s personal or professional.

Then reflect:

How similar is my network to me? In which ways?

How many share my gender identity, race, education level, etc.?

How does the makeup of this network impact the way that I see the world, the way I see what’s fair?

Where are the greatest opportunities for expanding my perspective?

Before you reach out to anyone to be your reverse mentor, commit to something you’ll do to develop yourself in the area where you’d like to grow – don’t outsource the learning!

Q: Why do you encourage companies to take a data-driven approach to making decisions about who to select for leadership development opportunities?

Dias: The impact of not taking a data-driven approach to leadership development is the same as traveling to work without a travel app. Yes, you will still be on the same journey, and you might take the right route, and you might dodge the traffic based on intuition alone. But how much more likely would it be that you would arrive safely–or make the trip faster–if you had facts to supplement your existing knowledge?

By not taking a data-driven approach, you disadvantage yourself, and miss out on the opportunity to make a better choice and ultimately to be more successful.

Data and analytics are evidence to help the decision-maker make a better choice – but they still need to make the decision. When it comes to making the best decisions possible about leadership development, we encourage our customers to stop thinking about what they do, and to reflect on why they decided to do it that way. If they can first recognize that they are making a decision and then think about the questions they would like to know the answer to, then they can use data to help answer those questions and make a more informed choice. This increases the chance that they’ll drive better outcomes for themselves, for employees’ experiences, and for the company overall.

Curiouser Science Lessons, No. 3: Empowering Virtual Teams

Empowering Virtual Teams

What could a researcher from 1965 have to teach us about leading virtual teams? Quite a lot, according to this review article, which uses a team development model first proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965. Among the 5 stages of this model, the authors share 3 key recommendations:

When the team is initially forming, make sure to create multiple ways and virtual channels for team members to connect and share with each other since this sets the stage for the team dynamic.

As the team starts performing and moving towards its shared goals, set expectations for team meetings. To do this, you can create a virtual team charter that outlines guidelines around communication standards, cadence of meetings, and common practices. This is particularly important in a remote setting as virtual communication can often be misinterpreted as its missing facial cues and in person body language.

After meeting its collective goals, and the team is adjourning, thank your team members publicly in relevant virtual communication channels so those successes are properly recognized.

Curious Consumption, No. 3

Some recommendations to feed your curiosity

Read

“Employees with close connections at work are more productive, creative, and collaborative…. In contrast, when employees feel disconnected from their team or lonely at work, their performance craters.” The author of this article, Rod Friedman, explores the importance of having friendships at work as essential, and not just a “nice to have.”

He shares a few recommendations for team members to build closer connections:

Connect on shared commonalities and introduce new team members with their interests to get the ball rolling

Stress shared goals of the team to foster greater collaboration

Leverage moments of conflict as moments of connection through exploring different perspectives and acknowledging expertise of your colleagues

Watch

Among the benefits of an increasingly diverse workforce lies the strength in diverse teams. Research shows that teams with members from different backgrounds tend to be more innovative as these unique perspectives bring different values to the table.

Rocío Lorenzo, a director at the Boston Consulting Group, conducted a study of 171 companies, and found that innovation jumps up when there is more than 20% representation of women in leadership. You can learn more by watching the talk here.

Listen

In this podcast episode, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, discusses with Adam Grant how he has pushed the culture towards one of growth and support, examining how their systems and processes can better foster connection. He shares their framework called “model coach care” which is the expectation that managers hold a specific set of skills, including the ability to create psychological safety and modeling receiving feedback well.

Later in the episode, he shares how “great teams are important, but great teaming is the currency.” Here, great teaming as a team member rests in one’s ability to be open to learning from others in all opportunities of connection.

Ask a Coach: Juliane Corman

Ask a Coach

Q: I hear all the time about the importance of helping my team align around the purpose in the work. Why is it important, and how do I help my team find their purpose?

Alignment on team purpose (i.e., the specific interdependent work of this team) is key to team effectiveness. It often surprises clients to know that, according to research, problems in the team around interpersonal tensions or work missing the mark, for example, are often rooted in misalignment on the team’s purpose. In order to ensure such alignment, I will often work with a leader to create a detailed draft of what they believe the purpose to be, asking questions like:

What does the team exist to do?

For what outcome?

By doing what?

I will coach the leader to present that purpose to their team and solicit feedback from the team, asking:

What resonates?

What is missing?

This process helps not only to lead to alignment, but also creates buy-in from the team. Finally, the leader, or even a team member, will redraft the purpose with the suggestions. The purpose, once finalized, should act as an anchor for all decisions made and work done by the team. Ensuring team alignment is a massive indicator of a team’s effectiveness.

— Juliane Corman, Torch Executive Coach

Ask Our Coaches: Managers Learning about Their Teams

Q: “How can we get managers to learn more about their teams–such as their interests, motivations, and passions?”

One of our Curiouser readers, Jose Santiago, asked us this question, and we proposed it to our community of coaches. Our introductory letter for Curiouser No.3 includes all of the responses at a high level, but we wanted you to see the full quotes here.

Coaches’ recommendations for managers looking to learn more about their teams:

Our coaches recommended that managers carve out more opportunities to connect beyond work, ask more non-work related questions, leverage their 1:1s with team members, and strengthen the manager-employee connection to best learn about their team members. Read more about these recommendations below:

Create more opportunities to connect beyond work

Managers can learn more about their teams by creating more opportunities to bond with them beyond work related transactions, such as arranging for outbound activities, events, or luncheons – these are great opportunities to have conversations in a very non intrusive way.
They could also hold group meetings to explicitly discuss their motivations, interests, and passions and then assign them projects or tasks that align with these.
Finally, managers can show more empathy and understanding. It’s about building trust, establishing rapport, and deepening their connection with their teams to know them as they want to be known.

– Ranjini Rao, Torch Executive Coach

Get to know your team members through effective 1:1s

Managers tend to underestimate the power of an effective 1:1. These are usually used for status updates or dealing with emergencies, but they are also a great space to get to know their team members’ interests and discuss career development.
The intrinsic motivation of each team member should then be used to create a unique path for them. While managers often think about promotion as the next step, for some people, this path could be allowing more flexibility and autonomy in their job, or supporting learning opportunities within the company.

– Serena Martino, Torch Executive Coach

Encourage multiple team members to ask non work-related questions

There are many ways to do this. A client of mine starts their team meeting asking a question that is not work related, such as: what did you do this weekend, what is your favorite ice cream flavor and why, what do you do to recharge, etc? There is rotation between those who ask the question, and there are different kinds of questions that are asked that offer insights into the team.

– Bego Lozano, Torch Executive Coach

Establish a stronger manager-employee connection

What is the connection like between the manager and employee? This is where to focus.

If the connection is real and honest and has developed over time then further conversation about strengths, motivation, and passions makes sense, and it is likely already occurring. Being vulnerable and sharing personal information is the result of connection.
If the connection is weak or fragile, then the conversations about strengths will come across disingenuous and judgmental. In this case, there is no shared belief that one person cares about the other. Most people who are feeling like this also feel judged and will protect and withdraw, the opposite of what you want. Helping managers work on what it means to connect with another human in a hierarchy is point number one.

– David Dunnington, Torch Executive Coach

Coaches’ recommendations for leaders looking to support their managers in learning more about their teams:

While managers are responsible for getting to know their teams, leaders can play a significant role in supporting them in these efforts. Coaches recommended that leaders create buy-in from managers by making the case for why team motivation and morale matters, creating structures to support them, and role modeling curiosity and open communication for managers to follow suit. Read more about these recommendations below:

Gain buy-in from managers and then create structures to support them

First, I would change the word ‘get’ to ‘inspire’, because this is how we create organizational change! If managers perceive this as extra work, if they don’t see the benefit, and feel like they are being ‘forced’ to learn more about their teams, they are less likely to do it.
We also need to take into consideration two things: education/training and supportive structures. If it hasn’t been done already, I’d first recommend that the managers attend a training where they can discover the positive impact of learning more about their teams (i.e. improving morale & performance). This is where you can inspire them as they begin to understand how new behaviors can benefit themselves and their team.
The next step is to support managers in having structures that make it easy to execute on these actions. This could look like including time in their 1:1s to ask deeper questions about their DRs outside of work, or it could look like having fun icebreakers (provided by HR if possible) in team meetings where each person gets the opportunity to share something new about themselves.

– Stephanie Staidle, Torch Executive Coach

Role model curiosity and open communication

Learning about others is about curiosity and communication. Managers can foster a culture of belonging and learn about their teams by role modeling curiosity about others. Simply showing up and sharing about themselves and then enquiring about others, often communicating openly their intention behind the curiosity. Active listening, authentic curiosity, and making people feel seen will strengthen rapport and offer a manager a real insight into their teams.

– Rafal Szaniawski, Torch Executive Coach

Make the case for why team motivation matters

Support them with identifying the benefits for getting to know their team members, (i.e., leaders who are genuinely interested in their team members as people and employees, create employees who are engaged, connected, feel a sense of belonging and have higher performance.)
Suggest that the leaders start small with shifting their 1:1 meeting framework to enable the employees to share more about themselves and their development goals. They can also implement a “I’m proud of myself this week for …” (personal or professional achievement in the prior week) at team meetings. Leaders can make the learning fun for the whole team.

– Veronica Matthews, Torch Executive Coach

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This article was featured in Torch’s newsletter, Curiouser. Each month, we deliver the latest research, stories, questions, and insights about the art and science of coaching to your inbox. Sign-up and join a community of people who are passionate about growth, learning, and leadership.

Ask a Coach: Jon Huggett

Ask a Coach

Q: I manage a team with a diversity of backgrounds and experiences. While I know that there are lots of benefits here – diverse teams are often more innovative – it has still been hard to create cohesion, and bring the group together. How can I help strengthen this team as a leader?

Uniting and exciting a diverse team can be tricky. If you’re used to building cohesive teams by rewarding merit and loyalty, consider turning that inside out and putting…

Respect before merit: If any team member feels disrespected, it’s not their problem, it’s your problem. Building mutual respect among all members establishes psychological safety, which Google found to be a more valuable ingredient of successful teams than the “merit” of each member.

Curiosity before loyalty: Research in Scientific American showed that being around people who are different from us makes us more creative, more diligent, and harder-working. It’s not just that diverse teams bring more perspectives. Each team member also ups their game. Encouraging curiosity can be scary for a leader. Robust questioning can feel like disloyalty, but it’s really a sign of trust.

Adhesion before cohesion: Cohesion around you might not be enough. Diverse teams need a stronger glue that sticks each team member to each other. Make team meetings so rewarding that members have FOMO.

All of this makes more work for a leader. It’s harder than leading lookalikes. But the payoff can be more innovation and fewer mistakes – a winning team.

Jon Huggett, Torch Executive Coach

Curiouser Science Lessons, No. 2: Problem Solving and Combating Groupthink

Science Lesson 1 : Solving a Problem? Start with Empathy

As a manager, when you see your employee struggling with a challenge, your first instinct may be to dive into the problem to help them fix it. While this may feel intuitive, it may not be the best strategy.

Neuroscience research has shown that starting from a place of empathy and connection opens up an individual more to new ideas from others, compared to addressing problems head on. Prioritizing listening and understanding also removes emotional roadblocks for employees to navigate the challenges on their own.

In a study comparing two different approaches to coaching, researchers found that individuals whose coaches first appealed to their clients’ dreams and long term aspirations, before addressing challenges, were more likely to be motivated and cognitively open compared to those whose coaches dove straight in.

This approach, called “coaching with compassion,” activates areas in the brain associated with motivation, social and emotional connection, and the parasympathetic nervous system (i.e. rest and digest). These coachees were more likely to find their coaches to be caring and inspirational, and were more open to new ideas proposed by their coaches. This stood in stark contrast to those who were asked to think about their challenges right away. Their brains showed activation in areas related to self-consciousness and the sympathetic nervous system (i.e. fight or flight).

Managers can approach their relationships with employees in a similar fashion. Starting with empathy strengthens the relationship between manager and employee and increases the employee’s engagement and openness to problem solving, in lieu of first focusing on challenges which may shut them down.

Science Lesson 2: Combating Groupthink

Group decision making can be difficult, especially when trying to form a unanimous decision.

As a leader, it can be hard to know if team members agree with each other, or are just capitulating to stronger voices in the room and/or those who hold authority.

This reflects a psychological phenomenon called groupthink. When groups come to agreement prematurely, it’s a sign that they value social cohesion over fully evaluating all the alternatives to make a decision.

To combat groupthink, there are a few simple steps you as a leader can take:

Wait before voicing your opinion. This allows others to fully express what they think, without worrying about conforming to the leader.

Formally assign a devil’s advocate. This formal assignment can make standing up for the minority or dissenting view more comfortable and can encourage members to consider all their options.

Give members time to write down their opinions in advance. By providing the decision making context ahead of time, group members can form their own opinions and perspectives outside of the influence of others and bring them to the conversation.

Curious Consumption, No. 2

Some recommendations to feed your curiosity

Read

Sometimes leaders think that in order to gain credibility, they must appear flawless or perfect all the time. However, demonstrating vulnerability can actually increase how much employees trust their leaders. This article dives into specific ways to practice vulnerability, by normalizing mistakes as learning, sharing their own personal development experiences, and staying open to others’ abilities to solve problems.

Watch

You may think we’re pulling your leg, but researchers have dedicated real time and resources to research on whether or not humor is important to leadership (short answer: it is). This TedX talk with two faculty members at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas, explores how good leaders are able to crack a few jokes, since humor builds closeness (after releasing hormones), and it also cultivates trust. In fact, some researchers point to these jocular leaders as 27% more motivating.

As Bagdonas shares, “We can do serious things without taking ourselves so seriously, and in fact, often, we can do them better, and more fashionably.”

Listen

Many of us have heard the idea of a glass ceiling. But ever heard of the glass cliff? This podcast episode, “The Rigged Test of Leadership” features activist Sophie Williams, who explores the research behind this phenomenon where women and women of color are more likely to assume positions of leadership during times of poor org performance – often setting them up as scapegoats for potential failure. She offers reasons for why this may be and discusses how organizations can avoid creating these rigged tests.

Asking Our Coaches: Coping with Team Realignment

Q: “How do I best help staff process and honor the grief and loss accompanying a team realignment change?”

One of our subscribers asked us this poignant question, and we proposed it to our community of coaches and mentors. We included a couple of responses in our introductory letter, but wanted you to see all of the interesting responses we received.

We found, at the high level, that coaches recommended the following:

Provide support, by first acknowledging and allowing space for a full range of emotions, as well as offering tangible opportunities to help

Communicate with transparency and specificity, with a plan for future steps

Create a process for re-employment to connect laid off individuals with other opportunities

Here are the rest of the responses:

Be empathetic and provide support through check-ins and offering tangible opportunities

“As a manager, you can support your staff…

By being more empathic, caring, and compassionate.

By allowing them to be themselves and by constantly checking in with them on their journey.

By providing them support by offering them opportunities (e.g., well-being programs, counseling, etc.)”

– Ranjini Rao, Torch Executive Coach

Use “leadership nudges” as tools to both empathize and move the team forward

First, leaders should explicitly acknowledge collective loss. Often out of their own discomfort with the change, they may want to move on quickly and try to force a positive spin on the circumstances. Initially, this can eliminate space for individual team members to grieve and heal. Making “rose-colored motivational” strategy comments too early after a significant change can generate resistance towards it and result in a lingering of reduced team engagement. Instead, leaders should create room for the team to address the disequilibrium they are experiencing by showing their own vulnerability and compassion. Oh, by the way, this does not suggest a leader needs to give up their capacity to be directive and competent, however, it does mean leading the team forward through an uncomfortable experience.

One of the best ways to do this is through what Dr. Edgar Schein, a prominent psychologist in organizational development, calls “adaptive moves.”

An “adaptive move” is the opposite of a big strategic team intervention. It means using one’s curiosity and being empathetic to what the team is experiencing in the moment to better connect and understand their reality. Any action is designed to enhance relationships and help propel the team forward. In my practice I call these moves ‘leadership nudges”. So how does a nudge look in real time? It’s often very subtle but we can use a well known practice from improv to illustrate:

“Well, I understand we have all experienced a significant loss with this recent downscaling, including losing important colleagues, BUT now, we need to work together to move on”;

versus;

“Well, I understand we have all experienced a significant loss with this recent downscaling, including losing important colleagues, AND now, we need to work together to move on”.

In the first case, the “but” generates a negation to the leader’s initial acknowledgement of loss, including a micro-imposition that team members need to immediately move on from their loss. This is counter to how the “and” leaves room for the loss and ties it to the possibility of a collaborative conversation on how to move forward. Nudges offer leaders a way to learn as they go with their team so whatever a restructuring might bring, there can be shared ownership and engagement in what follows.– Dana DeNault, Torch Executive Coach

Be specific and transparent in communications and share a plan for next steps re: roles/responsibilities

“When you need to make hard decisions, there is a big difference in employee performance and morale if employees know that companies are treating them with compassion and respect. The best way is to be transparent during the whole process:

Be very specific about what is happening and how you will make the decision

Managers need to keep working and motivate their teams. Help them to understand if, when, and/or how the team might be impacted

Update each member on what will happen next and support them in their transition to the new role and responsibilities”

– Serena Martino, Torch Executive Coach

Practice acknowledging feelings beyond the toddler emotions (mad, sad, happy):

“Acknowledge their feelings, and go beyond the three that we used as toddlers: mad, sad, happy. A feelings wheel or working on the Mood Meter (an app created by researchers at Yale University) are good starting points. The only way is through with feelings, so be there for them, and be prepared to hear things that may be uncomfortable for you.”– Bego Lozano, Torch Executive Coach

Create a process to support re-employment:

“Job loss is a sudden shock to the system and brings up feelings. Helping others involves creating a safe place for employees to share their anger, concerns, and fears about the current situation and future reductions. The single best way to help others who have been laid off is to provide an in-house process. Employees still at work can use this process to understand what laid off employees are interested in, and what types of job titles and roles they are looking to fill. This process includes getting access to resumes so they can be forwarded as part of recommendations for other roles. These recommendations, leveraging networks of relationships in other companies, is the best way to facilitate re-employment. It helps current employees feel like they’re helping and helps the people looking for employment feel like they are not alone, greatly reducing anxiety for all parties involved.”– David Dunnington, Torch Executive Coach

The Inclusive People Development Playbook

Ask a Mentor: Erwin A. Rezelman, MBA

Q: I’ve recently been promoted. I know I can do the new job, but am feeling overwhelmed by all of my new responsibilities. Do you have any suggestions for how to think about this transition?

This is a question that has started many of my meetings with Torch mentees. There are many books out there that address similar questions, but each situation is unique. A book will help to understand what someone else has done in their particular situation, but it is key to look at your specific situation.

Step one: Pick apart the new challenge, which is also an opportunity. What has changed with the new role? List the skills (soft and hard), situations, responsibilities, accountabilities that are different.

Step two: Cross out the items you feel confident about and highlight the new items. It can also be a combination of items. For example, maybe previously you submitted input for a budget plan and now you not only submit input but also collect and consolidate the input of others.

Step three: For each of the highlighted items, write a short description answering these questions: What does it mean, what is required and how is success measured? Include steps on how you may be able to deliver on those new responsibilities. What kinds of resources do you need?

As you create this plan, it’s important to remember that you are not alone. Reach out to peers who already went through this for their advice. And if you don’t already have a mentor, consider seeking one out who can support you on your journey.

Erwin A. Rezelman, MBA
Torch Mentor since 2012

*Feeling inspired to give mentoring a try? Torch is looking for new mentors to join its network, and you can apply here.

Curiouser Science Lessons – No. 1

Listening is one of those essential managerial skills that sounds simple, and is anything but. In a review of research on listening, social scientists uncovered something that they call the listening paradox: listening becomes harder as it becomes more important to do so. One tip that they offer to address this challenge is changing listening structures inside your workplace – in other words, “the procedures, norms and practices that structure how listening occurs.” For instance, why not use a round-robin structure for your next meeting, facilitating listening by encouraging everyone to go around the room and share their thoughts and ideas? You can find the research synopsis here.

Curious Consumption – No. 1

Some recommendations to feed your curiosity

Read

Managers are expected to do a lot these days. A skill that continues to be crucial: leading teams during times of uncertainty. This article offers practical, behavioral science-backed tips on how to do this, including future scenario planning, developing new team rituals, and acknowledging what’s happening in the world, even when it’s painful or scary.

Watch

Delivering feedback more equitably, and why feedback is an equity issue, are the main topics in this conversation between our friends at Peoplism and Lattice. “People may be more likely to find errors in the work created by people of color, but then less likely to give them feedback about it,” says Peoplism Co-Founder Amber Madison. “That becomes really damaging when it comes to being able to progress in your career.”

Listen

It’s easy to talk about the importance of being an “authentic” leader, but what does that really mean? How do you find the balance between what feels right, and what’s expected of you at work? We’ve been enjoying this podcast, Coaching Real Leaders, where executive coach Muriel Wilkins invites us into real coaching conversations. In this one, Wilkins and her coachee unpack what it could mean for her to lead authentically.

A Leader We’ve Got an Eye On: Sarah Chapman Bacerra

How one leader is rethinking the way people learn, and how to design more effective programs.

When Sarah Bacerra was a kid, she wanted to be a dolphin trainer when she grew up. She did end up in training of sorts, but for people, rather than for sea creatures. In her own words, she ended up becoming a bridge – between people and perspectives.

“I think it comes from being mixed race,” Bacerra, the founder of Trailblazing in Color, told me during the Association for Talent Development conference in May. Sarah’s father is Black and her mother is white.“My whole life I’ve been navigating different cultures, trying to see where I belong, not being sure, and not wanting other people to feel that way. For better or for worse, the role I’ve played is bringing people together.”

And now she plays that role in her work, as a founder, consultant and coach helping organizations create learning spaces for people to reach their full potential and connect across differences. Bacerra and I caught up about what makes her approach different, how she sees leadership development evolving, and how all leaders in this space can become more strategic.

A big part of your work is integrating the science of human behavior into traditional learning programs. How is this missing from status quo learning programs?

When we think about how humans learn, we need a lot of reinforcement. We need lessons to be integrated into the flow of work, to be exposed to opportunities to practice new skills in a safe environment. These are some of the core ways we learn best, and yet so many of our training programs are designed to be a four-hour workshop, a one-day session. We’re not asking – how do we build the container for learning to happen more intentionally? What’s in it for learners to get excited and motivated to learn? Are we asking them to connect the learning to their future identity, and who they want to become? How are we reinforcing the learning, and introducing the opportunity to be social, collaborative, and to create communities of practice? We need to move from one-off training events to creating learning ecosystems.

What role do relationships play in learning?

We all need encouragement, especially when learning something new, or trying something new. We need to know that there’s someone behind us, cheerleading us. It can be so helpful to recognize and appreciate one another in this process. The social support piece – that space to say, I haven’t got this figured out, have you? – and knowing you have resources in the form of people, not just FAQs or links, is so important. In our digital age, we can forget that we just need open space to connect, share, and collaborate.

I always recommend and push for coaching as a component of any learning program, especially for leadership development programs. We all have challenges that are very unique and nuanced to our own experience, our own lens and story of the world. Coaching can help bring the learning (and, in some cases, unlearning) into relevance. Coaching helps solidify the concepts, the learning, the behavior change, becoming more personalized to where you’re at now, where you want to go, and how you’ll get there. By making it personal and holding you accountable, coaching helps learners get further, faster.

How do you see leadership development evolving?

I’m seeing a lot more long-term strategic planning around these initiatives. Organizations are looking at two, three and five year plans for leadership development strategies, versus just creating a program for one year and throwing in a different one next year. There’s an understanding in some organizations now that these kinds of changes take time, and cultural transformation isn’t a quick fix. The finance and operations side of a business has been doing this forever – sticking with the same model or strategy for several years. Now, the leadership development leaders are applying that same kind of strategic vision, and it’s becoming more integrated than it has been in the past.

Why do you think this shift is happening?

Two years ago, companies realized, ‘oh we’ve got a racism problem. We’ve got an inclusion problem. We have a lot of problems and we haven’t been paying attention. Now we’re going to pay attention and throw all of this stuff at you.’ Two years later, they realized nothing major has shifted and maybe we’ve made things worse by being reactive, versus thinking strategically and long-term. This is a big theme I’ve been hearing and seeing – people coming to me and saying, ‘we tried this other stuff, it didn’t work.’ Yeah, it didn’t work because you offered five sessions and you didn’t talk about it again.

How can leadership development and other learning program leaders become more strategic?

First, get champions at the top to support the initiative, especially at the C-Suite level. These executive champions can provide strategic guidance and use their influence to advocate at tables that others do not necessarily have access to. Second, align your program to the other strategic goals of the business, making those direct connections. Think about how you can create a holistic strategy that doesn’t frame leadership development as a vertical, but situates it as a horizontal across everything the company is working towards.

What is Curiouser? Inside our people development community newsletter.

Think, for a moment, about the last time you gathered in a group where the sole purpose was to learn from others. For many of us, those kinds of growth experiences are all too rare these days – even if our jobs are focused on leadership, learning and development. But as our roles and workplaces rapidly evolve, we need opportunities to learn from one another more than ever.

Our newsletter, Curiouser, is designed to help you do just that. It’s a resource for people leaders, coaches, mentors and behavioral scientists who are dedicated to helping those around them learn and grow through the power of trusted relationships.

Wondering where we got the name? In Lewis Carroll’s classic book Alice in Wonderland, Alice cries “Curiouser and curiouser!” as she discovers all that has changed through the rabbit hole. To us, Alice’s words remind us that staying curious about new ideas, connections and perspectives is a key to our development.

In each edition of Curiouser, you can expect us to share insights sourced directly from newsletter subscribers, as well as questions, advice, new strategies, emerging research and stories from thought leaders, researchers and practitioners.

Our vision is to create a space where you can learn about the art and science of coaching from others, and contribute your own ideas and insights along the way. In the future, we hope to grow this newsletter audience into a community where you can connect with individuals who share your passion for growth, development, learning and leadership. And most importantly, with people who share your curiosity.

Here are some of the questions on our minds these days:

How do you help people develop during moments of uncertainty or change?

How can you build a culture of coaching?

How can you equip managers to talk with employees about challenging subjects?

We’re especially curious to hear from you. What are your burning coaching questions? What’s keeping you up at night? And what’s making you excited to start work in the morning? What are the beautiful questions that you’re pondering?

Please share your questions, comments, and ideas with us here. And if you have answers to the questions we’ve posed above, we’re all ears. We might even feature your insights in an upcoming newsletter.

Zendesk Fuels Inclusion and Career Growth Through Leadership Development

Infographic: Equity in Leadership Development Starts with the Selection Process

Torch’s Head of Behavioral Science Insights, Elizabeth Weingarten, and Peoplism’s Liz Kofman-Burns, Ph.D., teamed up to research the perceived decline in high-potential employee development programs. As part of their research, they surveyed over 200 HR, DEI, and L+D leaders and uncovered compelling insights around how employees are selected for these types of programs. The main take away from the research is that equity in leadership development starts with the selection process.

An infographic detailing their research is below; it covers statistics around retention, engagement, and business performance as it relates to high-potential employee program selection. It also provides recommendations for what you and your organization can do to update policies, adjust processes, and formalize plans to offer accessible and inclusive leadership development programs.

And, for additional context into into their research, you can read this article Elizabeth Weingarten and Liz Kofman-Burns authored for Fortune.com here.

The problem: Even as companies innovate on diversity, equity and inclusion, there’s one pervasive practice that is still stuck in the dark ages: selecting employees for leadership development opportunities. We asked ~200 HR, L&D and DEI leaders about how they identify high-potentials, and here’s what we learned:

Identifying high-potentials is important, but organizations aren’t using formal processes to do it. 79% of People leaders strongly agree or agree that identifying high potential employees is a priority for their company. Only 16% have a formal process, and 31% have a mix of formal and informal processes.

Most people choose high-potentials based on informal manager feedback. Informal feedback is prone to bias, putting leadership development at risk of exacerbating inequities at organizations. make their decisions based on informal manager feedback (85%). Additional sources used to help identify people, from most to least common, are: qualitative performance review feedback (81%), informal leadership feedback (80%), manager nomination (65%), quantitative performance review score (61%), informal peer feedback (54%), assessment against pre-selected criteria.

Most people inside organizations aren’t aligned on what makes an employee a high potential. When asked who is aligned on a clear definition of what makes an employee a high potential at their company, respondents answered: 70% of respondents feel that they personally knew the definition, 55% agree that their HR team does, 49% agree that senior leaders do, 40% agree that managers do, and only 25% agree that employees do. The understanding of high-potential decreases with power (creating a barrier for employees who may want to be selected as high-potential employees but don’t know the criteria).

Most people leaders don’t feel confident in how high-potential employees are identified and admit that some employees are unfairly disadvantaged. A majority (54%) of respondents do not feel confident they are able to correctly identify high potential employees using their current process. And a majority (51%) believe that the way they currently select high potential employees at their organizations gives some people an unfair advantage.

What Your Organization Can Do

Provide leadership development opportunities to all relevant employees. For example, make leadership coaching available to all managers and above. Give every employee a stretch assignment in their first year.

Clearly define what leadership means at your organization. Establish clear, measurable criteria for how to evaluate employees on this definition. Criteria should be based on demonstrated performance (less potential for bias), not “potential” (which is highly biasing).

Develop a clear process for selecting leaders. For example, when asking managers to select employees for succession planning or a leadership program, have managers rate each of their reports on 3-5 leadership factors and provide three pieces of evidence to justify their ratings. Train managers to avoid common evaluation biases.

Communicate both the definition of leadership and the process for identifying leaders to all employees.

About Peoplism

Peoplism is a leading DEI consulting firm. By helping organizations adopt more fair processes and behaviors, Peoplism drives year-over-year increases in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. HR leaders at industry-defining organizations like ThredUp, Betterment, Grammarly and Everlaw trust Peoplism to create best-in-class company cultures that attract and retain top talent. www.peoplism.com

About Torch

Torch is the People Development Platform that fuels growth through the power of trusted relationships. By combining coaching, mentoring, and collaborative learning, Torch helps you design, manage, and measure programs that drive the success of your people—and your organization. Leading brands like American Express, Zendesk, Allstate, Twitch, FICO and Reddit use Torch to develop their people.