How to Hire with Culture in Mind featuring Kristi Skutvik

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:00:00

I think it really starts at the very beginning, from the first candidate touch point when you put the job posting out there or when you're doing direct sourcing and you're reaching out to people directly about like the opportunity is like, how are you representing the organization? What are you saying to that person to start creating the experience and then follow that through.

Kate Volman [: 00:00:21

In this episode I was joined by Kristi Skutvik. She is an HR extraordinaire with expertise building the people organization within startups, tech, technology, healthcare and biotech. She is the CEO and co-founder of w o r k v i b e s and dedicates her time to providing data backed insights and solutions that inspire workplaces to find connection and purpose among their greatest asset, their people. We had a really great conversation. Obviously being at hr, we talked a lot about the HR process. We definitely got into some of the mistakes people make in hr. What kept showing up is that people are people and we need to treat people like people. So we talked about culture and leadership and lots of HR goodness.

Kate Volman [: 00:01:03

So I hope you get a lot of value out of this episode. Kristi, thank you so much for joining us today.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:01:10

Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm so excited for this conversation. Your energy is like infectious.

Kate Volman [: 00:01:16

Ditto. I feel like we just connected not till a few weeks ago and we were on a phone call and I was like, oh yeah, we're doing a podcast and we have similar passions in a couple of different things, but one being all about work and workplace culture and people development. And this is really what you do. So why don't you share with the listeners just kind of like high level what you do. What have you been doing with your life?

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:01:40

Kristi, I've been in HR a long time. It's not what I went to school for like most HR professionals and found myself at a big global company as an HR leader and doing quite well, but really feeling like I was thinking differently than not everybody I was in the HR space with, but a good amount of folks and then getting feedback from the business leaders of like, oh, it's so refreshing to have you as my leader, my HR leader. And I like the approach that you take. And I was like, huh, okay, there's something to this. And so as we all are, we're employees. And so it was about creating the right experience. And I recognized that really early on is that my career, like the fork in the road for HR wasn't to be this legal compliance person. While that's important, it's a very fine line within hr, right? Certain things you have to do.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:02:30

But how you do it and how you translate that to the organization has everything to do with the experience that you want to create. And so that's the feedback I was getting and what I was finding out is that I was doing these things that corporate was telling me I needed to do and roll out to the business groups. And I was doing it to meet them where they were at so that they would have the right experience and not see it as a wet blanket. And so as I kind of progressed, I went out on my own and have been serving lots of small to medium sized businesses in the HR space to create that experience for them. And also more recently with a company called w o r k v i b e s that I've co founded around really, really consulting organizations, first gathering some data and then consulting organizations of how they do this, starting through connection, like connection first and then creating the experience.

Kate Volman [: 00:03:24

It's so cool. Like what, what beautiful work to be able to do.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:03:28

It's one of those things that you know you're in the right spot because it's just fun to do. And the people that you connect with that are interested in these kinds of things or doing these kinds of things, you sort of find yourself like always talking to, whether it be at like the grocery store or at the gym or, you know, in a corporate setting. What I found too is that the more people I talk to, what I love is when they light up and they're like, oh, this doesn't have to be that hard. This isn't hard. Cost me a gajillion dollars. Right. I'm actually embarrassed because this is so simple and I didn't think of it. So it's just, yeah, very interesting to like light that spark within somebody for them to understand that they can actually go do some things that will have significant impact.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:04:16

And it's so simple.

Kate Volman [: 00:04:18

Yeah. Oh my gosh. And this is why we are friends. Because it's, it's. We say the same thing about the dream manager, right?

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:04:24

Yes.

Kate Volman [: 00:04:25

Oh, care about your employees dreams and they will come to work differently and more excited and engaged and you're giving them such a gift. And it is, it is so simple. And I love that you said that it doesn't mean that it has to cost a lot in order to do that, which is awesome. So over the years, well, today, I mean, we've talked a lot about just how business has changed and also not changed. People are always going to be people. Right. But when people are coming to you now, what are leaders struggling with the most?

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:04:56

I would say connection. Right. Because we're living in this world of like, are we working remote? Are we working in office? Are we working hybrid? Are we behind a computer screen? Are we behind our phones? And so there is like a lack of connection. And that's what people want, right? They want to be in community, they want to know their next door neighbor. They want. Maybe sometimes people don't, but, like, for the most part, in general, they want to feel like cared for and that they belong to something. And so I think there's been terms thrown around for a long period of time, like belonging, right? A sense of belonging in the workplace. And I really think that comes from connection.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:05:37

So at its core, what I like to always get to, even with my kids, is like, okay, what's really driving this? And it's really a lack of connection. And I think that was significantly exposed when everybody suddenly went to work from home during the pandemic. So when I'm specifically talking about. Well, personally too, but specifically talking about the workplace is that I think there was a false sense of, I know who you are, you know who I am. We have this casual conversation, but what it really showed is that there was a lack of connection unless you were seeing the person. The leaders in the workplace, some of them didn't really know how to lead unless they were like, physically in the same space as you. And so what's happened over these last maybe five years is people really having to dig deep and finding out, like, how do I do this? How do I lead in this environment? Whether it's five days a week in the office, or it's hybrid, or it's a completely remote by design environment, and there's no one way because every organization looks and feels a little bit different. But I would definitely say if you're thinking very complicated, take a deep breath and like, keep it simple.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:06:56

Keep it super simple. You know, how do you interact with your kids? Like, just take that as an example, right? And then just maybe apply a concept, but to somebody that you work with.

Kate Volman [: 00:07:07

Do you believe that most people, not everyone, but most people can truly work.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:07:16

Really effectively at home a hundred percent of the time? Being at home? No. That's my short answer. There is, in fact, I have it saved in my podcast, Huberman Interviews. Recently a body language expert, and I haven't listened to it yet, but my sister did and she was sharing some things with me. And I think we just miss so much in terms of social cues and the speed at which we can. I think we think we're so efficient at home and we can get things done really fast. But think about all of the meetings you have to schedule in order to get a quick answer. When you could just look over to the person next to you and be like, hey, can we bounce that idea really quick? And like, let's talk about that.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:08:01

Right? So I think we can be efficient sometimes, productive sometimes, but there's got to be an intentionality for why we're doing work in certain environments. Right. So why we're doing work at home, why we're doing it in the office, I think what drives people crazy right now, at least what I'm hearing, is when there's a mandate. So all of a sudden, during the pandemic, people had all this autonomy. They could be at home, and then all of a sudden it's like, you must be back in the office. So people just feel stripped of their autonomy. It's not that they don't want to go back in. It's not that they don't see a benefit.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:08:36

I really don't think so. I. I think that they probably will. It's like a change in a habit. But their belief is that they'll lose the autonomy that they had when they were working from home. And so until their belief is switched, their behavior is not going to change and they're going to resist it.

Kate Volman [: 00:08:54

Do you see this happening differently with different generations? Like how each of them are approaching it?

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:09:01

Yes, the approach is different. I think they're all feeling the same thing, but how it comes out looks a little bit different. Right. Because everybody's in a different stage of life in terms of responsibility, and people have integrated things differently into their daily lives. So, yes and no. I think the younger generations are probably working or doing or having creative spaces that they're doing work for in as part of kind of the gig economy, if you will. And maybe older generations are more comfortable because that's what they've known. Right.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:09:38

We have to remember, anybody who entered the workforce between, like, 2020 and 2023, they entered it remotely, most likely.

Kate Volman [: 00:09:47

Yeah.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:09:48

They've never worked in, and they don't even. We have to give them a reason to believe that it's beneficial because they simply don't know.

Kate Volman [: 00:09:55

And look, I think what's interesting is how, of course, it's more convenient to work from home, and people get to, you know, they don't have to leave, they don't have to get dressed. They can throw their laundry in. And I think that people are more distracted than we think we are, for sure. And, you know, there's a Lot of self awareness that has to happen. And if you really look at the messes, a lot of people are not necessarily the most self aware. In fact, it reminds me of in the Culture Solution, Matthew shares about listening and how if you ask a group of people how good of a listener are you? Most people are going to say I'm a great listener. Right? Everyone thinks they're a great listener. But how most people listen with about 25% efficiency.

Kate Volman [: 00:10:41

So we're missing so much, which is crazy, but no one's going to say that. So I think there is some self awareness that that needs to, that that we can all kind of benefit from.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:10:52

Well, and if you apply that theory that people are really only listening with 25% efficiency and then you remove the energy that you get when you're in person. Right. So there's a level of like understanding and listening that's non verbal. I'm not the expert at this, but if that's the statistic and then everybody's at home, is anybody really listening or are they just looking at themselves on zoom and being like, oh my gosh, I should have blow dried my hair today, you know what I mean? So like how much less are people listening when they're working from home? Because there are distractions. I also think it's created this environment to some degree. Now I'm, I'm not advocating one way or another. I enjoy working from home too and I enjoy being with people. So both can be true.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:11:40

But what I hear from people now is like there are no boundaries into when we start and stop work because it's so casual that I do think the workplace allows for like the physical environment to create a space that you can focus and do the things that you need to do when you're in that mode and then you can shift your mode. Right. I worked from home before the pandemic, but before I started working from home I was working in an office five days a week and I would have a commute time that would allow me to kind of wind down and make some phone calls. And so I noticed that I like didn't have that anymore. And I think other people are also experiencing that. I think it's a good thing to have physical space for certain things. That's why we have bedrooms. We don't all sleep in like one giant box, right? That's the place you go to sleep.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:12:32

This is the place you go to work. That's why people say when they have it, office space in their bedroom, sometimes it's like they can't, like, turn it on and off. So it's just this weird dynamic that we kind of live in that we have to start creating more intentional desires. Not irrational, like, I want to do this because you let me work from home and I was super effective. It's like, no, what are we really trying to get at? And being intentional about it.

Kate Volman [: 00:12:58

It makes me think of when you say that, just the mission, like, there's a mission of the organization and we've got to fulfill that mission, which goes back into caring about your people. Right. Like, yes, there's a mission of the organization. We also have to know what drives and motivates our team members. They have their own mission, their own vision for their life. And so those two things are interlinked and we need to remember that as leaders. And I think another piece of, regardless, working from home or at the office, it's accountability. And there is a lack of accountability today with leaders, because I, I feel that bold leaders keep showing up.

Kate Volman [: 00:13:37

And I know we work with a lot of different leaders and, and our clients will say, oh my gosh, yeah, our managers, they don't have that boldness anymore that what we call managerial courage. And they're approaching their team members in a way that's, again, not holding them accountable.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:13:54

Yeah.

Kate Volman [: 00:13:55

Not willing to have the uncomfortable conversations that need to be had in order to drive the business forward. And, and also to help your team members grow. Like, these things should be working together. You know, your people are growing, the company's growing. This is supposed to work together. So when you're working with all of these leaders and they're coming to you with some of these big challenges. Right. Hr, I can only imagine it's shifted and changed over the years with everything that's been going on.

Kate Volman [: 00:14:21

But what do you see with leaders when it comes to accountability and working with their team? And how do you create these boundaries and set things up? And I know people don't want to get in trouble with how they're structuring the organization. So what are some of the things that you're seeing that leaders are challenged with?

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:14:37

I always say to them, you can't let fear get in the way of having a gut conversation. Right. I think HR in general and like the employment laws, I'm in California, I'm in one of the most, the strictest employment law states probably besides New York and Michigan. Colorado's not far behind. But you can't walk into a conversation fearing you're going to say the wrong thing, because then you'll Say nothing at all and you're actually making it worse. So it's like, take a deep breath and like, what are your intentions? What do you want to be saying and why? And let's talk through that. I mean, I'm a big fan of utilizing HR to role play a situation so that they can kind of get the cobwebs out if there are some of like, oh, that was the wrong word choice because sometimes it lands harder than in your head because you've built it up. And say, you say this one word and you're like, that's not really what I meant.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:15:36

Okay, let me back it up. You know, but we have over complicated the human conversation through all of these external, external employment laws which are set up for great reasons. And you're still human. There's still another person on the other side of this. So what is it that is getting in your way? The fear of saying the wrong thing. Okay, but what if you say nothing at all? That's actually worse?

Kate Volman [: 00:16:01

Yes. Saying nothing at all is sending a message.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:16:04

It's sending a message. Yes. We're human. We create stories in our head. You're probably going to act a certain way towards that person based on what you want to say to them and you haven't. So I suggest like I am a big fan of no surprises. Hard conversations are gut wrenching to deliver. And Brene Brown says it clear as kind.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:16:25

And so you've got to be clear because that's kind. And maybe it's a matter of wrong fit or maybe it's a matter of they have something personal going on and it opens the door for them to share something with you that they've been like holding on their heart for a long time. So we have missed the mark when it comes to like just having a conversation. And it's that simple.

Kate Volman [: 00:16:48

I know. Treat people like people.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:16:50

Yes.

Kate Volman [: 00:16:51

Even when you're going to sit down and have a hard conversation, it's okay to first preface it with hey, this is going to be an uncomfortable conversation. But it's one that the goal is on the other side. We both feel good about it and we both can move forward and laying out that expectation and it, it is so funny. Right? I mean as we communicate every day in our lives, but when big conversations come up and, and this is anything, right? Even when you have to have this converse kind of conversation with a friend or a significant other, it's never fun and you kind of have the butterflies in your stomach and you don't want to. Then when you're done. You're like, oh, I wish I would have done that a week ago. Or, you know, however ago. One of the things that I would think is interesting in that space is how many people are afraid to say the wrong thing, especially because there's a lot of people recording things that are happening.

Kate Volman [: 00:17:42

I mean, that I feel like leaders would be a little concerned by.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:17:47

Totally. And I think that's where vulnerability comes in. Right. The recordings that I've heard that you're like, oof, that was bummer. Like, I would not have wanted to be that HR person or that leader on that call because now it's viral. But what I've heard in those conversations is they're super inauthentic. They're like, we wanted to meet with you today because, you know, and they. It lacks depth.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:18:13

And I'm not saying you have to go into all of the detail, but those things should not come as a surprise because somebody on the other side of it who has been talked to, has been experiencing these things, feels like they've had dignity in the process, isn't going to out themselves on social media like that. They're just not gonna. So there's a level of vulnerability with leaders too, that they need to show that they're human on the other side of it so that they're not just blasted. I mean, every now and again, there's gonna be somebody who just can't help themselves and they're gonna blast it. But it's not gonna go viral if the majority of people are like, yeah, that person was just being honest with them.

Kate Volman [: 00:18:55

Oh, my gosh. What has surprised you being in this space for so many years and working with so many different leaders and organizations? What has surprised you in your work?

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:19:04

I am continually surprised by mature professionals, and I don't mean mature by age. I just mean, like, maybe they have good credentials or they've been working in the space a good amount of time, or they have experience doing X, Y or Z or certifications and their decision making. This isn't my story. This was a story that was shared with me from another HR professional. But this. This is something that goes into decision making. I don't know what company it was, but she was leading an HR organization and she had somebody on her team that also had her husband work there on a different team, but worked at the company, and they were hosting an event at their house, and they. You're going to die when you hear this.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:19:52

As people arrived, they opened the door together with no clothes on. What? She shared the Story with me a couple weeks ago. She's like, she'd worked for me for a while. Like, they both worked at the company. She was in hr. Like, what? I, I was like, you're not for real? She's like, I'm for real.

Kate Volman [: 00:20:15

What did they do?

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:20:18

So they, they had to go through an investigation, obviously, and then ended up, I think it was likely resulted in termination.

Kate Volman [: 00:20:26

Well, what did they say to them though? Like, I'm like, how? I know I didn't even react and respond to that situation.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:20:35

Could you imagine? No, I know. I mean there's story after story of this. This was the gnarliest one I had heard. But, but it's like story after story of like, I had an experience interviewing somebody on a phone interview. They were like, incredible for a high level VP position. They came in, interviewed with the team and they're like, that was not the same person. That person from the phone screen that we did. Not the same person.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:21:03

Like, huh. I don't know if they think they're funny or like, don't know. Their audience goes back to kind of the self awareness piece of like, know your audience, know who you're communicating to, what intentions you have. And like, these are bad decisions. Like, I am no longer surprised by people I maybe once looked to like, oh, yeah, okay, They've got it together and they know what they're doing and they're respectable. Making a really poor decision.

Kate Volman [: 00:21:32

Yeah, well, it's interesting because we make decisions every single day. Day. Lots of little decisions, some very big decisions. And we're actually never really taught how to make good decisions. I mean, we, we do it obviously because, you know, life is full of choices and decisions that we make. But there's not like a class that you take about decision making or something. I mean, you learn as you go. But I, you know, it's so interesting.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:22:03

And I think that's why, like, if we go back to the leadership conversation, right? It's like leaders become extremely important because if you have that connection and that relationship with your team, you can act as a mentor, or you can act as a coach, or you can act as an advisor, even if it's not beneficial necessarily for you. If somebody's like, this is what I'm up to and this is what I love to do and I'm going to go explore this and it might be good, it might be bad for my career, but I have to hopefully, if you have a good leader that's open to having that conversation, I've seen that go really, really well, this leadership role has a lot of potential for impact, both positively and negatively, inside the workplace and outside, right? So it's like when people just, like, promote their best salesperson to a leader, I'm just like, oh, my gosh. And it might be great, right? But there's just so much more to being in a leadership capacity, and you have so much influence on somebody and how they feel, what they do, the actions they take or don't take, that I think we forget to realize. So sometimes it's just like a crapshoot.

Kate Volman [: 00:23:11

That's why coaching is a gift, right? If you're a leader, you're a coach, or you should be. You're coaching your people, and your role as a leader is to help your people grow. And what does that look like? And by helping them grow, it goes back to what is it that they want to do. You recognize their superpowers. And that's why it is so interesting when people get promoted into roles that they really shouldn't have been promoted into. And maybe they didn't even want that, or maybe they just took a role because they think, oh, this is the clear next step, when it doesn't have to be, but we have to have those conversations. And I love that you said about no surprises. When it comes to different conversations that we're having.

Kate Volman [: 00:23:50

Great leaders, there are no surprises if something is happening. If there is a challenging conversation that needs to be had, it shouldn't come out of the blue. That's why even with performance reviews, if they happen once a year, can you imagine, like, you don't know for a whole year if you're doing a good job, bad job, what to improve on. I mean, having that constant communication is so important. I want to touch on hiring, because hiring, I think a lot of the listeners were probably resonating with, oh, this person showed up, and we don't know who that person was. Because that has happened, right? Even in the interview process. Maybe you actually make the offer and then the person is working there, and then they pop in the first day and you're like, wait a second, What? Who are you? And what just happened? So what are some of the mistakes that you're seeing leaders make so that we can avoid them?

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:24:43

I think, and I'll go back to this kind of time and time again, is like, you have to connect with the people that you're recruiting, too. So, like, just as important as it is to connect with your people, the people that you're leading, you have to connect with the person. And that doesn't mean like I'm connecting with you and like, oh, we're gonna go be best friends. That just means like understanding who they are so many times. Well, one, I think there's just like a failure to prepare for interviews in general. Like if I look back at my career, if I look at other organizations I've been a part of, it's like you get an email with an invite that you're going to be interviewing this person and then you're just like, okay. And it has like a resume attached. Some good leaders are very prepared and they let everybody know their role in the process of interviewing somebody.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:25:32

But I would say a majority of people I've interacted with fail to prepare for an interview for a role. Right. So on the interview team side, I'm saying, and I think that's where like the failure starts because then each person is kind of asking probably similar questions. You know, tell me about your experience. You're scratching the surface. And people are very well prepared. They just are. Especially with like ChatGPT now and all the AI technology.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:26:04

Holy smokes. That's a whole new component that we haven't even really understood how it will impact the assessment of people coming into an organization. But I really do think one, if you're clear inside the organization, like what you stand for, it's important to articulate that during the interview process and, and dig deep. So it's like a mixture of traditional interview questions, you know, to get skills and knowledge and then behavioral and then motivational questions that you'd ask. And don't just ask the question but like really get to like why? What was their part in the process? Like ask follow up questions so you're really understanding who they are. I think we fail to recognize. We're like, oh yeah, they check the box or we're moving so fast and we really need to fill that space seat or I'm just going to do it or I'll hire them as a temp. It's fine, they're temp.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:26:57

And then that shifts the whole dynamic of an organization if you have the wrong person in a seat. So I think it really starts at the very beginning, from the first candidate touch point when you put the job posting out there or when you're doing direct sourcing and you're reaching out to people directly about like the opportunity is like, how are you representing the organization? What are you saying to that person to start creating the experience and then follow that through.

Kate Volman [: 00:27:23

What is one of your favorite interview questions?

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:27:28

What are you passionate about? And how do you translate that passion into the workplace? And I will tell you, this sticks out to me. I interviewed this girl for an HR role who was new in career. I think she had just graduated college and maybe had six months of working experience under her belt. But she said, I'm a huge Yankees fan. She's like, I am Yankees through and through. And she was in New York. When I work for a company, I am that passionate about a company, too, and supporting what needs to happen at that company. It's just who I am.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:28:02

Like, I'm a passionate person and I'll talk about the Yankees and on a good season or a bad season, and that's how I want to represent a company, too. And I was like, wow, that's awesome. And she was. She was that person when we hired her. For better or for worse, right? Is that's who she was. And I think it's really important that people know kind of who they are. So sometimes they can be bold and stand in the gap of the things that aren't going their way during the day or during that season of life. And she definitely did.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:28:35

And she also stood up and said, I don't know what I'm doing here. Or, you know, I definitely can learn this, but I'm. I, I want to learn it so I can represent the company better. It's really cool.

Kate Volman [: 00:28:46

I like that. There's a question that I remember when I was dating, I would ask the question, what makes it hard to date you? And so I changed it. So in interviews, I would make it playful and fun. It would come at them, like, in a playful way. Of course. Yeah, same thing. In an interview, it'd be like, hey, look, people are people. We're all weird in our own unique ways.

Kate Volman [: 00:29:10

We're all difficult in our own ways. You know, we're people. And as we always say in the office, people are going to people. And so I would ask the question, what makes it hard to work with you? Kind of going back to self awareness. There's something. So we always got really interesting and honest answers.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:29:29

Oh, my gosh. I could think of that for myself. Like, I'm low detail, so I drive people crazy sometimes who are high detail because it's not the first place my brain goes. It's just not.

Kate Volman [: 00:29:39

And then that kind of leads into personality assessments. What are your thoughts on personality assessments? Do you use them? Which ones? We always get the question, well, should I use Myers Briggs or the Enneagram or Disc or, you know, all.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:29:53

There's so many options Everyone has a preference of like, what they like to use and why and how beneficial they think that they are. I have a client who uses Disc. I have another client, he uses something called an AB assessment, which is like an hour, an hour and a half assessment that a person has to go through. And it's very, very, very detailed. Culture Index is another one that I've used quite a bit for organizations and hiring. And whichever one you use, it just allows you to gain a deeper insight. So you can ask those follow up questions during the interview process and understand if that characteristic is going to work for the role, for the dynamic of the team, for the organization. You know, somebody once asked me like, well, is there a bad profile for Culture Index, for example? And I was like, there isn't a bad profile.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:30:49

Depends what you're hiring for. It depends who's already on your team. It depends what you're willing to live with. In some roles, my profile might be great. And in other organizations, this has happened to me that I've consulted with. I'm like, I am not the right person over here. Same HR skill set, same need, just different desires of how the operation works. And so it's not me, it's not for me.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:31:14

Sorry. That's what makes things so beautiful, right? And why there's like an abundance of work. Because not everything is for everyone.

Kate Volman [: 00:31:23

Correct. When you start to see people's superpowers, you get to lean into their superpowers and really help lift them up and build them up and help put them in situations that they're able to kind of enhance the mission of the organization by leveraging their skillset.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:31:40

And I would say as a leader too, don't keep that information to yourself, right? Like share it amongst the team, the other people's superpowers, or like what their goals or passions are or their dreams, right? Because you never know who's, you know, Sally's uncle is and how they might be able to help this other person realize their dreams or their passions. And I'm not saying you have to like share everything, right? Like sometimes there's things that are better kept to yourself and you again have to know your audience. But as a leader, know your team and allow your team to know each other. And we lose that when we're over Zoom. You can only have so many coffee connects where you talk about certain things. Are you familiar with the consulting firm Sand Delaney? They were like the first people in Culture. So Larry Sen actually lives in my, the town I live in and my dad has a local Business. And so Larry was in there one day when I was in there.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:32:35

And so we got talking about culture because I'm like, you're kind of like the guy, like, he. They got bought by Heidrick and struggles and like, he's still working for them. I don't know, maybe he's in his 80s, late 70s. 80s. And he's just like, do you know how we started out? Every session we gave each other a hug.

Kate Volman [: 00:32:56

Really?

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:32:58

And I was like, okay. He's like, there's something about a hug that just brings a smile to people's faces. Not in a weird way. We just like, it feels good to be hugged. People need like eight hugs a day. Again, going back to, like, simplicity is like, there's a lot more to the work that he has done. But when you really look into it, culture, going back to the pioneers of starting workplace culture, it's like the simplicity of that. And so again, yes, when you're getting coffee with somebody, maybe not always give them a hug, but many times you do.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:33:34

I think, again, like, these crazy employment laws and how they've been interpreted by HR professionals might say otherwise, but we're still human and have human needs.

Kate Volman [: 00:33:44

We're just people. We're all just doing our best.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:33:46

Just hug it out.

Kate Volman [: 00:33:48

Yeah, hug it out. We're just doing our best with what we have. Great leaders ask great questions. And with work vibes, you have this really cool deck of question, the Tuff Tough Tu F F questions.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:34:02

And that's a nod to my co founder, Chris Tuff, who's awesome. He's actually written a book called the Millennial Whisperer, but really talking about, like, generational differences in the workplace and how to utilize those in making connections and building workplace vibes.

Kate Volman [: 00:34:17

I'll link this to your site so people can pick these up because I think these are such great conversation starters and just idea generators. And I'll pick one out of the. Ooh, what book do you think everyone on earth should read?

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:34:33

I will say the one book that has had the most profound impact on me being self aware is Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. There's a level of simplicity to it and it makes sense to me. And so that is a book I recommend in the workplace to leaders from beginning to end of career, because I just think if they can build a foundation on those principles, they can do a lot of other great things.

Kate Volman [: 00:35:07

Awesome. What is one thing that the listeners can do to help them become a better leader?

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:35:16

Take a deep breath and pause. We as a generation don't do that often enough to understand our way of thinking and what we're actually thinking about to be intentional in our actions. And I'm not saying 20 minutes. I'm not saying you have to go meditate. I'm not saying you have to do anything. But if you can take a call outside or you can go walk your dog five minutes in between a call, or if you're in the office, go walk around the block just to think and get outside. Sometimes the switch in environment and getting sunshine in your eyeballs is just really helpful in, like clearing that space to think intentionally to go back inside and have impact.

Kate Volman [: 00:36:02

Awesome. Kristi, thank you so much for joining me today. It was so fun chatting.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:36:08

Yes, thanks so much. I really had a great time.

Kate Volman [: 00:36:11

And tell everyone you also have a podcast and we're actually. I'm gonna be on your podcast.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:36:15

I know.

Kate Volman [: 00:36:16

I'm so excited. So tell everyone about your podcast.

Kristi Skutvik [: 00:36:18

Yeah, so I have a podcast where we talk about workplace vibes and the stories of the leaders of how they have gotten to understand and realize that those are important and what they're doing about them or what they've done and failed at. So it's just a really fun storytelling podcast all around, creating those vibes in the workplace.

Kate Volman [: 00:36:39

Kristi, thank you so much. And I look forward to. Hey, we're. We're staying connected. I hope you got at least one idea, piece of inspiration, some takeaway that you can go back and become a better leader, focus a little bit more on your culture, building a great culture and connecting with your team members. I love what kept showing up is just that connection and that need for authenticity. So I hope that something Kristi said is going to make an impact in your role as a leader. Thank you so much for listening.

Kate Volman [: 00:37:15

We appreciate you. And until next time, Lead With Culture.