Week 9

(upbeat music) Welcome back 3P05. This is part one of this week's content that we have a guest lecturer coming in for a conversation with me. We have Brittany Reed of Vialto Partners, a global learning and development program manager. And she's gonna share some wisdom regarding what makes employees in nonprofits and in the poor profit sector. Happy what is their sort of motivational, as you can talk to us about a value proposition to consider when you're an employee. And basically also just to be able to offer some really great advice to all of you we're about to enter into the job market. Brittany's part of her job is to train the leaders of organizations about how to hire and whether the sort of best practices for hiring and how to acquire talents, really exceptionally important stuff for all of you right now. We're super, super fortunate to be to have such a good in-person discussion with our nine person, I guess, but I was able to have the in-person discussion with Brittany. And if you have any questions for Brittany, if you have any concerns or if you have any thoughts about what she shared with us today and any questions for her about the hiring process or what employees are looking for, send me an email and I can put you in touch with her. And she's actually be able to answer questions that you had over email. So again, that's extremely generous of her and that's true of some of our other presenters as well. So again, if you have a question for Jeff, or if you have a question for James or our lawyer, any of those things just let me know and I can put you in touch with them. So no further ado here is our discussion with Brittany and from a claimant co-regarding employee motivation, value proposition and what makes a good employee. ♪ Be cured by the stiff and the board ♪ ♪ Because I'm young ♪ - We're so glad to be joined here by Brittany. Thank you so much for your time. If you could, give me an idea of a little bit about your work with your organization and a little bit about what your organization does. - For sure, thank you so much for having me so happy to be joining you. First of all, my role with my organization is I am a senior research analyst in learning solutions with an organization called McLean and Company. So McLean and Company is a subsidiary of a larger organization called InfoTech Research Group. And essentially what we do is we are a research consultancy. So what we do is companies come to us, different organizations, whether it's private companies, government institutions even and nonprofit organizations. And they come to us and say we want to learn more about our industry. We want to learn more about best practices in terms of how we can hire good people, retain good people and create really positive functioning work environment. So we conduct research in order to be able to provide information so that they really have very clear understanding of what they can do to function in the best way possible. - And when you conduct that research and you're actually communicating with people who work in these industries, what are some commonalities among high quality hires in both the nonprofit and the for-profit sectors? - Yeah, that's a great question. So one of the wonderful things about McLean and Company is that our research, a large part of it, is like you say, getting into conversation with leaders that are part of these organizations. So it's a way to determine what's working, what good looks like. And in fact, what great looks like in practice. And what we're seeing when it comes to emerging talent, especially in the evolving world of work, is we're seeing people that are flexible, people that are tenacious so that they are really self-starters, that there are individuals that have a passion. You know, that's something that we hear all the time. It's often been the case that you want passionate employees in your organization. But because we're now looking at especially post-COVID, lots of global opportunities. You don't need to be in that geographical location in order to work for a company necessarily. They have their pick of the litter, so to speak. So we're seeing this really choosing nature in organizations. They want to find the best candidates, and they want to find people that want to be there, and people that they can work with. People that have that passion, that have that drive and interest, and that's what we're seeing in the research as well. - Right, and on that topic related to what keeps people in the jobs that they have, or what keeps people coming back to jobs, or is it related to this concept that we're talking about this week and has job satisfaction? So something that's obviously important to young sport management students is they're hitting the internship market and the entry level job market as they leaving their sort of university cocoons. Job satisfaction, let's talk about that for a second. So generally speaking, when you're looking for leaders, when you're looking for new hires, how does the topic of job satisfaction sort of enter into your discussion with new hires and people that are going to be doing hiring? - Oh, it's such a fantastic question. So much of our research centers on this idea of job satisfaction. So we conduct these large-scale industry standard surveys, and we do it across different industries, across, again, private industry, nonprofit, and we ask employees, how satisfied are you in your job? And we ask leaders, how satisfied are you, how satisfied are your employees? And it's amazing how often we'll get a sense that leaders are, they believe their employees are thrilled with their jobs, but then they're like, we're losing people. And yet, I really think our employees are very satisfied in their roles. And then we look at the data and we see that employees often they leave, they move on to other organizations because they're not satisfied. And this idea of satisfaction and job satisfaction, whether it's for a paid role or a volunteer position, is really essential to the question of who's working for whom, right, like who wants to be part of an organization, not just because you wanted to apply to it, because you needed a job, because maybe the salary looked good, maybe because the organization was attractive, but that the job at the end of the day is something you want to do. And this comes down to this key topic that we bring up all the time, and we coach both employers and employees in, and that's the idea of an employee value proposition. So the employee value proposition is beyond the job title you applied for, beyond the organization itself, beyond the salary, things you know prior to starting the job. Well, what are you getting out of it? And I'm sure it feels like sometimes, especially when you're new in the working world, it feels like, well, isn't that enough? I get to be an intern for the Toronto Maple Leafs. That's enough. That's, I know what I'm getting out of it. And that's, if that's all you need out of it, great. But the idea of the employee value proposition is that on a daily basis, in order to keep going to work, in order to keep volunteering, in order to keep giving your time to a larger organization, you need to get things out of it. And those things are often beyond salary, beyond compensation, maybe beyond even just experience or the ability to put on your resume, and it will be individual to you. So what am I getting out of this? And to know your value and know your worth when it comes to making sure that you get adequate value, and that directly translates to your job satisfaction. - That's fascinating. And, you know, the glad that you pointed out that many of our young students are really just coming to terms about their value is. - Yeah. - And we talk all the time about the nonprofit sector, being in excellent place, to sort of, Sasa, what your value proposition is going to be when you hit the job market, writ large here. This really gets to another topic that we talk about this week actually, that's motivation. And that essentially is, you know, how do you motivate volunteers to work for your nonprofit? How do you motivate the vast quantities of unpaid or underpaid work that you're going to need to deliver work for your nonprofit sports organization? You're probably learning about that right now as you work with a nonprofit organization right now, just the sheer amount of volunteers that are often associated with this. So we sort of look at the ways in which motivation enter into this equation, different types of motivation, depending on how old you are, your time in the industry, or those types of things. But what kind of advice would you give to young students like ours in this course, that are just learning their value proposition, and maybe perhaps trying to learn what their motivational factors are as they enter the workforce? What would you tell them as they hit the workforce for the first time? - Well, again, that's such a great question. You know, there is a question of power when it comes to applying for a job, or when it comes to even volunteering for an organization. And it can feel like the employer has all the power. But when we go through and we're coaching leaders and we're coaching managers and directors, we're saying to them, okay, you wanted them, they wanted you, now you have hired them, they have the power now, your employees have the power. So when you join an organization, you need to make sure I'm getting something out of this, and that's an everyday question that you can pose to yourself. So what we do when we coach these leaders is we say to them, because every individual has their own unique definition of what value constitutes, you need to take the time to learn that, and you need to provide that to them in very explicit terms. So for example, for you, maybe you're like, okay, all I need are credits. If there's some sort of internship association there, maybe all I need is this salary, it's just a job. This is the one that offered me the most. Maybe, hey, we've all been there. Maybe this is just the only one that wanted me. But at the end of the day, if it's just a matter of like whoever pays you the most, well, then they're not gonna be able to keep you if there's a higher bidder. They need to understand that you as an individual employee, you ultimately are someone that they want to keep. You are a great candidate. They want to have you. So when you enter into a role, whether it is paid work, a volunteer work, especially when it comes to a nonprofit organization, ask yourself, "Do I like how my time is being spent?" And you know, maybe we all have trying days, maybe difficult tasks or jobs when it comes to a specific role, but ultimately, is this something that benefits me? And it's okay to have those seemingly selfish internal conversations. We're coaching leaders to say, "Hey, you need to know that your employees are going to have them. They have to have them. It's your best interest." And there is a sense of appreciating like, "Well, what do I need? Do I need something in a large sense from this role? Do I need to be here for a prolonged period of time? Do I just need a paycheck or do I just need volunteer hours or whatever the case may be? But be really honest with yourself in those moments of self-reflection and say, "Well, what do I value in terms of how I spend my time? What do I need?" And am I getting it from this job? - That's wonderful. I mean, I think that's a crucial factor here when you're describing the cost benefit analysis for the employee of having that discussion, where you're like, "Well, do I bring this up? Do I bolt? Do I leave those types of things?" In a position where you absolutely need the opportunity or a position where, you know, it's the difference between keeping your visa or something like that. - Oh, yeah. - Obviously, we understand the sort of skewed power dynamics that play there. But certainly as students and, you know, future employees start to develop just what it is that their value is. And I think that that's another thing that we are hopefully trying to help students along here in our program is to understand what it is that they bring to this organization. Once they understand that part, which I think is where you're encountering many of your applicants and your hires. Once they're already in the other end of this, where they say, "I know exactly what I'm good at." I know exactly what I like to do is this opportunity sort of fulfilling those needs. So I encourage, you know, the students that are listening to this right now, just make sure that you have that sort of sense. And I spoke into so many of you, so many times, and it's wonderful to hear that many of you are so open-minded to so many opportunities. And you say, "I'll do anything. "I'll do anything. I'll sweep the floors. "I'll do, okay, that's fantastic." Awesome. Don't lose sight of what it is that you're good at, though. And that's something that is, I'm certainly what we're hearing from Brittany here is that employees need to have a sense of their worth, what they're, you said there was sort of value proposition. - Yeah, you're a value proposition. So what is the value that I can derive from this? And it's a great point to bring up Taylor because circumstances change, right? Like we've all been there. It's like, all right, I don't love this. This isn't my passion, but this is, you know, what I need in this moment. That's okay. There's no ability to that, but you're getting something. So it provides that value. So that's what's so important. And it's just again, as you're getting into these positions and as you're moving up and becoming leaders yourselves within these organizations, being really clear-eyed about those conversations and about the fact that people have choices more than ever before. Again, we're dealing with, you know, digital workspaces. Like people have choices. They can go somewhere else. They're not married to you. They can, they can do something else. So making sure that you're getting something out of it, whether like you say, it is as, as, you know, cut and dry as I need this financial compensation at this point, or I need something from it. It's providing, just make sure it's providing what you need, whatever that may be, and appreciating that everyone has their own unique needs and their own unique requirements out of these roles. - Right, and this gets another concept, actually, it's from our discussion this week, which is social exchange theory, which essentially is the idea that there's a reward equation that takes place whenever you're going to do stuff. So in nonprofits, especially in sport organizations, there's an understanding that volunteers are going to do something if they believe, or people are going to work for you, or work for you for a little money, or no money at all, if they believe there is something on the other end of it. Now, many students in third year are sorting out your internships right now, or perhaps even in them right now, if you're in fourth year. And I'd sure give a pretty clear idea of what that exchange is. I do work that I either, I'm born to do, love to do, learning to do, or work that I hate to do. But in exchange, I get you on my resume, and I get you as a reference in those types of things. That's the stage you're at in your sort of sporting careers. And that's fantastic. But I liked hearing what, when you were mentioning here, that you're coaching leaders to articulate what the purpose is for each individual employee. That's good to know. I mean, yeah, we talked frequently about this, whether it's first, second, or third year, or even my fourth year students. I stress to them that they, one day, they will not be in this situation that they're in this very moment. Right now, it seems as though you're going to be fighting and clawing for the next 10 years. It's not true. The leadership position likely faster than you would expect. And passing that information along to your volunteers, to your employees is essential in the nonprofit space, specifically, which again, to remind you for the 500 time, is the majority of sport that is delivered in this country is at the nonprofit level. So if you're talking about the CHL, if you're talking about the cheese, there's so many here, hockey, Canada, the NSO level. If you're working for one of these organizations, you're going to be dealing with under-employed or volunteer labor forces. You must communicate that value, which means you've got to know something about your employees, number one. So that's another test for you, I would imagine. Is that true? If you're a new hire, you're hopefully your employees would learn a little bit about who you are, even if you're just volunteering for them. Hopefully they have taken interest in who you are. And I can guess sometimes that might not occur, especially in the sports industry. Well, it's such a great point of distinction, because oftentimes, as we have these coaching sessions, as we facilitate these discussions with leaders, it's a matter of simply saying, be someone that people want to work with. And again, there's a lot of pressure on you as a new employee to be someone that people want to work with. You interview, you go through these processes, you're coached to be someone that they want to hire. But as a leader, as someone who's advancing as someone who's looking for potential, you know, a lot of times, like you say, with non-profit sport organizations, maybe you're volunteering with them in the hopes that you can be hired by them, that you can advance within those organizations at every level, whether it is someone who's the most senior at a company, or someone who's the most junior, being someone that people want to work with is one of the ways we say to do that. And that's by asking those questions, determining uniquely what each individual requires in order to feel as though their value is being appreciated and that they themselves are drawing value from their time with the organization. - That's fantastic. And again, we're imagining worlds here that are relevant to many of you in your future career space, so I want you to log this into your brains and hang onto them for when you are, in fact, leading organizations. And this draws me to one of the things that you're coming across right now and you're in your time here at Brock and it doesn't matter what sort of part of your journey, you're probably gonna be approached with many different sort of volunteer opportunities that relate to sport. It could be the NHL All-Star game, a great cup of Stanley Cup, the NHL and sports teams come to us frequently and say we need 20 volunteers. And what's, that's a fairly conventional process. And again, is that work spectacularly rewarding? Sometimes not. Is it awesome to get to come to these events, working for the world juniors as an example of the women's world championships? Sometimes it's just, you're just helping out in any way, can you get to see the event for free sometimes? That's enough. That's enough of a sort of value proposition. You get it on your resume. That's awesome. But one of the things that I think is most interesting is when we track the progression of our graduates, once they enter into paid employment in many of these sporting organizations, whether it's the Niagara ice dogs, whether it's the Toronto Maple leaves, whether it's the blue jays. One of the first paid gigs you will have and I mentioned this to you frequently in this class is managing volunteers. It's one of, again, if an organization, I say this with nonprofits, if they have three paid staff members, one of them is going to be an accountant, one of them is going to be a volunteer base and a volunteer coordinator. And one of them might be the president that's often a volunteer role. So you're dealing with volunteers and the delivery of sport are two concepts that are absolutely essential. And that means that if you do obtain one of these paid positions with whatever sports team you desire, it is inherently likely that you will be dealing with a volunteer base very soon, not in 20 years, maybe in two years after graduation. So what advice would you give someone who is about to become a leader of a large group of people who might be motivated in various ways like these various students here? How can they start thinking ahead to how am I going to manage volunteers after I move out of the volunteer space myself? - Oh, it's such an amazing question because again, it feels like it comes very quickly, right? You go from being a volunteer, you go from being, you know, someone who is that independent contributor to someone who is managing them in a paid role or not. And again, it's a matter of appreciating the fact that each one of them will be there for a different reason. Oftentimes when we say something like, "Well, I've got to get something out of this." It's like, that has very negative implications. Like, in order to do something, I better be getting something. It's like, all right, yes, I understand that can be taken in a very, you know, commercial, like, transactional sense. But for each person there, yourself included, they are getting something out of it. Whether that's something is, like you say, something on their resume. Maybe it's something they care about. Maybe it's an organization that they want to be involved with later in their career. Maybe it's something that their friend is doing also, whatever the case may be, they will have a unique thing that they are looking for, something that they uniquely want. The more time you can put into appreciating those differences and trying to understand what is motivating them, the better you will be as a motivator. So if, for example, you are a volunteer coordinator and, you know, we've all been in these situations if we've been in these roles, maybe you have some very young students, maybe some high school students that need some volunteer hours, maybe some, you know, elderly contributors that are there because they just want to spend some time working with the community, passionate about the organization, whatever the case may be, appreciating those differences and trying your best to treat those individuals with that understanding in mind will produce better results. We've noticed in terms of our research, job satisfaction or volunteer satisfaction absolutely goes down when people aren't appreciated as individuals. So that means that you might have a volunteer group but and you might need them to do cohesive task and yet if you take the time to appeal to them as individuals to learn what works for them, what doesn't and again there's there's limitations on this. If you have an event coming up and it's like I really need people to bring out tables you're not like hey what do you care about is a person? Probably can't do that in that moment but appreciating the fact that hey if they're there because they need those volunteer hours that's okay that's an absolutely worthy form of motivation for them, appreciating those differences and trying your best to appeal to them as individual people and not just the volunteers is one of the most effective strategies. Wonderful Brittany thank you so much for your time and again what what was your title at that McLean? I want to make sure that I have this correct. Yeah for sure so at McLeaning Company I am a senior research analyst so that means that I'm one of the individuals that is responsible for creating research around these topics, meeting with corporate leaders, getting into discussions with them about best practices, helping with coaching especially around things like onboarding so how they can bring in new employees or volunteers and I'm part of our learning solutions department so that specifically means that we're looking at how we can work together with companies, work together with private industries and nonprofit organizations to try and determine how they can really cultivate those positive relationships with their employees as leaders. Fantastic thanks so much. Thank you. [BLANK_AUDIO]