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The TalentCulture Corner Office With Jim Fields, VP, SAP

In our first Corner Office article, Cyndy Trivella, Events Manager with TalentCulture, spoke with CEO, Doug Coull. In this second installment, she sat down with Jim Fields, VP of Customer Experience Marketing at SAP to talk about leadership and the future workplace. As in keeping with the theme, this interview will highlight the perspective and experience of someone who has made the move to the “corner office.”

Cyndy: I, recently, had the great pleasure of interviewing Jim Fields at SAP. Jim is a serial entrepreneur, a very innovative thinker and someone who believes settling for the status quo is one of the biggest downfalls any company can make. So Jim, as a forward thinking executive and someone who believes that great leaders are critical to business success, what advice can you offer to first-time leaders?

Jim: It’s funny that you ask me this question now. A colleague who recently became a people manager for the first time just asked me, this week, what she should do to be a good manager. Here’s the advice I gave her:

First, always be yourself and don’t try to act a certain way just because now you’re “the boss.” Be your authentic self. That’s what got you here in the first place. Second, understand the difference between being a manager and a leader. People endure managers, they follow leaders. Managers assign work, leaders inspire it. Be a leader. Third, make sure your team knows that you will not ask them to do something you, yourself, wouldn’t do. Find opportunities to work alongside them, versus just directing them. Be a player/coach. Fourth, stay connected by doing regular team meetings/calls (weekly or biweekly) and one-on-ones with your direct reports (biweekly). My fifth bit of advice was, don’t be afraid to have the hard conversations when necessary. If someone is having performance problems, you owe it to them and the rest of the team to deal with it rather than ignoring it, as so many managers do. A team knows when one of their peers is underperforming and will consider you a weak leader if you don’t address it. Lastly, recognize and celebrate great performance, and make sure that your team’s successes are seen as theirs, not yours. I always tell my team that if your fingerprints are on something, your name doesn’t have to be, because people will know whose work it is.

Cyndy: That is great advice. You really stressed the importance of being approachable, reasonable, accessible, and setting the stage for how her behavior and actions are going to shape the behaviors and actions of her direct reports. Jim, you have a reputation for being a great mentor with sound advice for people coming up in the ranks, but how should leadership as a whole, mentor up-and-coming generations?

Jim: Let’s turn that question on its head. I’m a big believer in what some people call reverse-mentoring. That’s where an early talent (don’t call them young!) partners with a more seasoned leader to expose them to the world of the up-and-coming generation. For example, some of our new hires, at SAP, who are just out of school have worked with our executives to help them update their LinkedIn profiles, to start blogging and tweeting, and to understand the pervasiveness of mobile technology and social networks among the emerging workforce. Engaging in this type of reverse mentoring can really change a senior leader’s view of how their less-experienced employees actually think and work and will help them understand how they might need to adapt their own leadership styles as a result. It also gives the early talent employees access to, and visibility with, senior executives.

Cyndy: I love this answer! It reminds me of the saying, “Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.” This is when the pretenses stop and we just communicate with each other rather than putting up the “us versus them” walls and by doing so, create a two-way learning opportunity for both the early talent and seasoned professional. So keeping on the topic of generations, do you believe there are generational differences in the workplace, or is this a perception cooked up by the media and others?

Jim: I think that people of any generation can and should be innovators and agents of change. Conversely, they can also choose to be complacent and resistant to change. Your age or experience level is not a determinant of which category you fall into. It’s more about attitude and motivation. In fact if you talk to a “millennial” worker, they will tell you that they are tired of being labeled as such. What is different across the generations is that recent entrants into the workforce are what might be called digital natives. They never lived in a world without the internet, smartphones, social networks, etc., so their expectation of how work gets done, how people communicate, and the level of connectedness is different from prior generations, and is in fact changing the nature of work for all of us.

Cyndy: I totally agree. Staying current and business-ready has nothing to do with age. It’s how you manage your own sense of motivation to stay in the game. Jim, I’m going to go out on a limb and say, you believe leaders can, often times, be their own worst enemy. So how do they rise above this stigma?

Jim: Leaders need to provide their teams with the air cover and support they need to do their jobs successfully. The worst thing a leader can do is pass the pain on to their teams. Leadership means sometimes saying, “No” to or reshaping the requests that come from other leaders, so as to protect your team. Other times, it means that if things go wrong, you take the hit on behalf of your team instead of passing down the blame.

Cyndy: Sage and, if so chosen, quite doable by the leader. Jim, thank you for speaking with me. It was fun to dive into these topics and I’m sure our readership appreciates the advice and direction you’ve shared.

Jim: Thank you. I love to talk about these topics and share what advice I have.

Be sure to look for our next article, coming soon, from The TalentCulture Corner Office.
Photo Credit: sara_moseley via Compfight cc

#TChat Recap: How to Manage Through Influence

During today’s final #TChat show and before we transition to #WorkTrends next week, we discussed how to manage through influence. #TChat Show co-founders and co-hosts Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman were joined by Jim Fields, Vice President of Customer Experience Marketing at SAP, a multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations.

Organizations are becoming more matrixed and less hierarchical every day and command-and-control corporate structures are relics of the past. Dealing with flatter organizational structures, outsourcing, and virtual teams can be quite challenging and the power of influence is becoming more important. Managers need to get things done through their peers inside and outside their organizations.

This skill is called “managing through influence” and is as critical to success in today’s world as a sterling resume or a tireless work ethic. Jim unveiled many ways to think about the power of influence in the workplace, offering gems of wisdom along the way.

It was a lively #TChat podcast and Twitter conversation. Participants had a lot to share about the topic at hand, while also bidding Kevin W. Grossman good-bye from the show (not from the community). Everyone also showed their enthusiasm for the kickoff of #WorkTrends next week.

Want to learn more from today’s event? Listen to the recording and check out the highlights below:

The TalentCulture #WorkTrends Show is all new on Wednesday, February 10, 2016, from 1-2 pm ET (10-11 am PT). Join TalentCulture #WorkTrends Show Founder and Host Meghan M. Biro as she talks about Overcoming the Symptoms of Destructive Management with Shawn Murphy, Co-founder and President of Switch & Shift, a leadership consulting firm dedicated to helping shift from the Industrial Age to the Social Age.

Join our social communities and stay up-to-date! The TalentCulture conversation continues daily. See what’s happening right now on the #WorkTrends Twitter stream, in our LinkedIn group and on our Google+ community. Engage with us anytime on our social networks or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

Image credit: StockSnap.io

#TChat Preview: How to Manage Through Influence

The TalentCulture #TChat Show is back live on Wednesday, February 3, 2016, from 1-2 pm ET (10-11 am PT).

Last week we talked about how HR leaders achieve talent brand dominance; this week we’re going to talk about how to manage through influence.

Organizations are becoming more matrixed and less hierarchical every day. Command-and-control corporate structures are relics of the past.

Dealing with flatter organizational structures, outsourcing, and virtual teams can all be quite challenging. Because of this, more and more managers need to get things done through their peers inside and outside their organizations.

However, because the world of work has gotten so complex, the very act of change has grown increasingly difficult. Today’s flatter organizations give employees and managers much more flexibility in deciding how work gets done, but they also require greater levels of collaboration than ever before.

Success is often dependent on persuading other individuals and teams to support your projects, even if they’re not direct reports. This skill is called “managing through influence” and is as critical to success in today’s world as a sterling resume or a tireless work ethic.

#TChat Event: How to Manage Through Influence

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Tune in to our LIVE online podcast Wednesday, February 3 — 1 pm ET / 10 am PT

Join TalentCulture #TChat Show co-founders and co-hosts Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman as they talk about how to manage through influence with this week’s guest: Jim Fields, Vice President of Customer Experience Marketing at SAP, a multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations.

#TChat on Twitter — Wednesday, February 3 — 1:30 pm ET / 10:30 am PT

Immediately following the radio show, the team will move to the #TChat Twitter stream to continue the discussion with the entire TalentCulture community. We invite everyone with a Twitter account to participate as we gather for a dynamic live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: What’s managing through influence and how does it differ from other leadership styles? #TChat (Tweet this question)

Q2 What challenges do flatter organizations face in business?#TChat (Tweet this question)

Q3: How can managing through influence create a winning situation for all participants?#TChat (Tweet this question)

Until then, we’ll keep the discussion going on the #TChat Twitter feed, our TalentCulture World of Work Community LinkedIn group, and in our TalentCulture G+ community. Feel free to drop by anytime and share your questions, ideas and opinions. See you there!

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#TChat Recap: How HR Leaders Achieve Talent Brand Dominance

Last week we talked about how tech professionals can help assess and hire other tech pros, and this week we discussed how HR leaders can achieve talent brand dominance.

Employers are constantly assessing the state of their company brand. But very few understand how their talent brand impacts their reputation to job seekers and the company morale amongst existing employees.

A talent brand is what people think, feel, and share about a company as a place to work.

According to this week’s guest, less than 30 percent of the working population cares about their company’s product brand. What they are concerned with is how employers care for their people and address their needs. Most hiring authorities aren’t coming to terms with the reality that talented employees have options.

Joan Graci, CEO and President of APA Solutions, a boutique employment and human capital consulting firm, joined us to share a wide variety of knowledge on talent branding, employee brands and much more.

It was a lively #TChat podcast and Twitter conversation on a topic that’s very relevant to organizations of all sizes across industries.

Want to learn more? Listen to the recording and check out the highlights below:

Thank you to all the TalentCulture sponsors, partners and supporters!

The TalentCulture #TChat Show is back live on Wednesday, February 3, 2016, from 1-2 pm ET (10-11 am PT). Join TalentCulture #TChat Show co-founders and co-hosts Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman as they talk about how to manage through influence with next week’s guest: Jim Fields, Vice President of Customer Experience Marketing at SAP, a multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations.

Join our social communities and stay up-to-date! The TalentCulture conversation continues daily. See what’s happening right now on the #TChat Twitter stream, in our LinkedIn group and on our Google+ community. Engage with us anytime on our social networks or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

Image credit: StockSnap.io