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Author: sydney.lofthouse@ifs.com

December 17, 2025 | 3 Mins Read

2025 Retrospective with Roy Dockery of TSIA 

December 17, 2025 | 3 Mins Read

2025 Retrospective with Roy Dockery of TSIA 

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Episode 345

Field service leaders made bold predictions for 2025, and while progress has been real, the gap between ambition and execution reveals critical lessons for navigating 2026 and beyond. 

In this episode of UNSCRIPTED, host Sarah Nicastro sits down with Roy Dockery, Senior Director of Field Services Research at TSIA and author of *The Art of Leading*, to reflect on their 2025 predictions, assess what actually happened in the field service industry, and explore what leaders need to prioritize next. Together, they examine workforce flexibility, customer expectations, technology debt, AI adoption, and the irreplaceable human element in service delivery—offering candid insights on where the industry succeeded, where it stumbled, and what's required to move the needle in 2026. 

What You'll Learn

  • How to recognize when economic uncertainty becomes an excuse for inaction: Understand why talent pressures temporarily eased in 2025 and why that relief may have caused leaders to defer critical workforce flexibility investments—and what that means for your competitive position. 
  • Why "response time" is now meaningless without "resolution": Learn how customer expectations have fundamentally shifted from fast response to guaranteed outcomes, and why this gap exposes complacency in service portfolios that haven't evolved beyond transactional, break-fix models. 
  • The hidden cost of technology debt: Discover how outdated systems and disconnected tools are now your execution arm's biggest liability, and why operational excellence—once a competitive differentiator—is now table stakes that must be matched before differentiation can happen. 
  • How to separate AI hype from AI reality in field service: Recognize the real misstep in 2025 wasn't failed technology—it was vendors and partners overpromising delivery timelines while underestimating the data preparation and system integration work required to unlock AI's true potential. 
  • Why storytelling has become a non-negotiable leadership skill in constrained budgets: Understand how reorgs across the industry are elevating leaders who inspire teams to do more with less, rather than those who simply manage tasks or buy talent—and why authenticity cannot be automated. 
  • How to institutionalize agility before the next crisis hits: Learn why most organizations slide back into old habits when external pressure eases, and why supply chain resilience, asset management, and adaptive processes must become permanent operating systems—not crisis responses. 

About the Guest(s)

Roy Dockery is Senior Director of Field Services Research at TSIA and author of *The Art of Leading*, known for his expertise in field service strategy, organizational leadership, and industry trends. With over a decade of experience in field operations and consulting, he has become a thought leader in helping service organizations navigate technological transformation and workforce challenges. In this episode, Roy reflects on 2025's major developments—from technology debt and AI adoption to talent retention and customer expectations—providing candid insights on where the industry succeeded and where progress fell short. His work identifying unique challenges across healthcare, food service, industrial equipment, and data center verticals has helped leaders understand that operational excellence is now table stakes rather than a competitive differentiator, making this conversation essential for service leaders looking to drive meaningful impact in 2026. 

Follow Along

[00:01] Welcome to 2025 Reflection with Sarah and Roy 

[00:02] How Economic Uncertainty Eased Talent Pressures This Year 

[00:09] Why Response Time Means Nothing Without Resolution 

[00:14] Technology Debt Is Now Your Biggest Competitive Liability 

[00:19] AI Wins and Missteps: Separating Hype from Reality 

[00:22] How to Make AI Work: The Data Prep Nobody Talks About 

[00:26] Why Storytelling Leaders Are Rising to the Top 

[00:29] Talent Acquisition Slow Progress and Long-Term Reality 

[00:32] Supply Chain: Why We Keep Learning the Same Lessons 

[00:33] Institutionalizing Agility Before the Next Crisis 

[00:34] Reflecting on What We Got Wrong and What Comes Next 

[00:35] Roy's Professional Highlight: The Standout 50 Impact 

[00:38] Sarah's Personal Highlight: Adventure in Costa Rica 

[00:39] Sarah's Professional Win: Keynote on Service North Stars 

[00:40] What's Coming in 2026: AI and Human Superpowers 

[00:44] Seven Years of Partnership and Field Service Legacy 

[00:45] Final Thoughts and Looking Forward Together 

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Also, subscribe to our newsletter right here.

Watch here:

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December 15, 2025 | 8 Mins Read

Tackling Tough Talent Topics: 10 Takeaways from Service Journey Day at Home Depot

December 15, 2025 | 8 Mins Read

Tackling Tough Talent Topics: 10 Takeaways from Service Journey Day at Home Depot

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

Last week I traveled to Atlanta for a Service Council Service Journey Day at Home Depot, sponsored by IFS and Vyn. The topic for the day was seeking and preparing the next generation of field service workers – a tall task that is on the mind of every service leader I speak with.

While the layers of complexity woven into this undertaking mean there are no simple solutions or universal answers, it’s an area of challenge where a day of thoughtful discussion and brainstorming among service leaders from various industries is especially valuable.

The day began with a warm introduction from the Home Depot team, along with a tour of their on-site museum (really cool!) and innovation center. Participants then settled in for an afternoon of roundtable discussions that covered everything from attracting younger talent and improving onboarding to speeding time to value and how best to incorporate AI into service operations.

I enjoyed hearing different perspectives, seeing common challenges through various lenses, and learning what’s working – and what’s not – among the leaders present. I am confident everyone left having gleaned some insight they’ll take back to their businesses to improve their approaches.

In no particular order, here are 10 points that surfaced throughout the day that I feel reflect areas that deserve some real reflection. Maybe some of these areas you feel your organization is really strong at, while others are more of a struggle – and that balance will be different for the next leader reading this. What’s universal is how absolutely crucial it is that we put ample focus on the talent that keeps service ticking – and even companies leading the way don’t have all of the answers.

#1: We’re Not Speaking the Language of Today’s (or Tomorrow’s) Talent

Home Depot shared a project the company recently undertook collecting input from 30 GenZ students from colleges across the country to better understand their impression of career opportunities in field service and the trades. One participant clearly stated, “I am your solution, but you are not talking to me.”

The company found that with current messaging and communication channels, candidates don’t feel welcome and/or see themselves in these roles. It was also evident that these students aren’t aware that you can make a good living in these roles.

While many organizations have made strides in modernizing job descriptions, eliminating unnecessary requirements, and seeking candidates in new places, there’s still plenty of work to be done in each of those areas. It’s important we put more effort into understanding what will resonate best with the next generation of the workforce and incorporate that into messaging, as well as work to create better and earlier awareness among students of the career potential that exists.

#2: The Importance of Strong Leadership Cannot Be Overstated  

Many of the discussions I took part in throughout the day wound their way back to one common thread: employees don’t quit roles; they quit poor leaders. The role of leadership in services has never been more important, and this connection deserves more attention, focus, and resources.

Home Depot shared that, as a result of input from its field service technicians, it created a new supervisory role to aid the regional leaders in supporting the frontline workers. Regional leaders were struggling to invest time 1-1, which everyone agreed is essential to creating the level of employee engagement needed for positive relationships and retention. With the introduction of this new role, each frontline employee gets more direct interaction, helping them feel more connected, respected, and supported.

Another element of leadership that came up is trust. How important it is for employees to have psychological safety, to feel they can ask questions or give honest feedback without repercussion, and to know that their leader is looking out for their best interests.

#3: Ignoring VoE Is a Misstep in More Than One Way

One element of strong leadership is the art of listening. Everyone agreed it’s really important for employees to feel heard – not only to have proper channels to provide input and feedback, but to feel that their opinions and ideas are wanted and valued.

According to research the Service Council shared from its 2025 Voice of the Service Leader’s Agenda report, 30% of field service technicians do not feel they have input regarding innovations at their company. What’s worth considering is how this is a misstep in more than one way.

When an employee doesn’t feel they have the opportunity to provide feedback or share ideas (or have the opportunity, but feel no one truly listens or cares) engagement and satisfaction suffer. But also, companies miss out on a wealth of insight from those closest to their customers. Not viewing your frontline workers as a valuable source of information to help improve processes, select tools, impact CX, create new products and services, and more is doing your business a real disservice.

#4: Career Paths Are Crucial, But They Must Be Clear & Actionable

Many organizations realize career paths are important to today’s talent and have introduced them for field service roles. What was interesting about the conversations I took part in, however, is where how this intended “solution” can fall short when it isn’t properly conceptualized or executed.

For instance, one leader shared that they have career paths but while the levels are clearly defined, the competencies needed to achieve each are not. Another leader shared that they’ve struggled to make career paths actionable, because they don’t feel confident that as progression is achieved, they’ll have the capacity to create/support the higher level roles.

So, yes – career paths are important to today’s talent. But they can’t be a check-box exercise; they need to be thoughtfully designed, clearly articulated, and actionable.

#5: Onboarding Sets the Tone for Engagement or Indifference

Onboarding provides an important first impression of the employee experience, and the Service Council’s research shows that only 55% were satisfied with their onboarding. One point I appreciated is that, while time-to-value is important, we need to balance that with understanding that so is making a new team member feel welcome and part of something.

As such, you might consider Home Depot’s approach – they frontload onboarding with learning about the company’s culture. Giving employees an opportunity to understand what they’re becoming part of before you get straight to the technical parts might help create that positive first impression.

You also want to ensure they feel well-supported, not only in what they are learning but by leadership and by co-workers they engage with. One recent addition to the Home Depot team shared how impressed she was that when she started, every interaction at many levels started with, “what can I do to help you?” She felt everyone she encountered was invested in her success.

#6: Recognition Matters (Even When It’s Simple)

Feeling heard is likely the #1 desire for employees, but feeling appreciated for their effort and contributions is up there, too. A programmatic approach to recognition can make participation accessible to all and help foster peer-to-peer accolades, but leaders are well-served to remember that simple isn’t small.

Often, the simple gestures delivered genuinely make the biggest impact. Meaningful recognition doesn’t have to be big, glitzy, or expensive – it can be accomplished in a hand-written note, a five-minute phone call, or an authentic shout-out.

#7: Sorry, But…Time to Value Is a You Problem

One of the roundtable discussions I took part in centered a lot around the challenge of time-to-value. What this looks like varies quite a bit from company to company but is often a source of stress when pressure is high to manage costs.

There were two quite different examples at the table – one company whose time from hire to independent work was five weeks; another whose timeframe was one full year. As we discussed what happens in both these scenarios and what’s required for independent work, the conversation evolved to how much (or little) it is a frontline worker’s responsibility to understand P&L (related to time-to-value and beyond).

While there were different perspectives, the consensus seemed to be that field technicians and frontline workers shouldn’t be burdened with that consideration. One leader said, “generally, as leaders we isolate our teams from having to think about P&L and encourage them to focus on their work.”

If time-to-value is a point of stress for you, there are multiple aspects to consider including the effectiveness of the process, how technology could be leveraged to speed time-to-value, and how to keep employees engaged throughout this period (especially if your timeframe is on the longer side). But I agree that this weight is a leaders to bear – your employees should be focused on executing their duties well, not feeling burdened beyond their scope of responsibility.

#8: You Must Determine How to Create Accountability Without Rigidity

Another interesting conversation that arose was how to ensure the job gets done right without creating an overly rigid process that feels restrictive to employees that want some autonomy. An example that came up was around completion of checklists in a medical environment to confirm compliance with regulatory requirements.

In this example, the checklist was quite cumbersome and manual. So, the issue is less likely related to the collection of information itself than to the manner in which it’s being collected. This is where employees who are technology adept will have little patience for environments that haven’t matured beyond paper forms or arduous platforms with poor UI.

Are you asking for unnecessary information or confirmation? Then there may be steps you can remove to streamline the workflow and reduce frustration. If the information or confirmation is necessary, then either the process in which it’s being collected is causing friction or the reason why it’s important hasn’t been properly communicated (taking us back to leadership).

#10: Without Capable, Modern Technology AND Strong Change Leadership, Your Talent Efforts Are in Vain

I’ve often reiterated the fact that technology is just a tool. And I stand by that. However, today it is a tool that is foundational to success.

And not just “technology” – often it’s outdated or poorly designed systems that are causing the most angst among frontline workers. Modern technology that truly eases the burden of your field technicians’ days and amplifies their ability to create value for your customers is what you need.

The Service Council’s 2025 Voice of the Service Leader’s Agenda revealed that only 62% of technicians agree the technology available to them makes it easier to get work done. In very short order, this number should be nearing 100% because there’s simply no excuse for it not to be.

Moreover, 48% reported they don’t have clarity on how their company plans to incorporate AI. From a change management perspective, this is a major problem. Frontline employees already feel anxiety about AI replacing them in the workforce – a lack of clarity from leadership exacerbates that.  

Today’s workforce deserves technology that makes their day-to-day work easier and allows them to spend more time doing the aspects of the job they love. And they deserve companies who invest in leaders that prioritize communication, value their input, create trust, and truly support their success.

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CX Isn't a “Nice-to-Have” in Uncertain Times; It's a Competitive Lifeline 

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CX Isn't a “Nice-to-Have” in Uncertain Times; It's a Competitive Lifeline 

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Episode 344

In this episode of UNSCRIPTED, host Sarah Nicastro sits down with award-winning CX expert Jeannie Walters to explore why customer experience isn't a nice-to-have (even in amid uncertainty). She sheds light on how to align your organization's mindset, strategy, and discipline around it, and explains why frontline employees remain a largely untapped resource. Whether you're a service leader struggling to justify CX investments or an operational executive navigating budget pressures, this conversation is packed with candid insights on bridging the gap between CX intent and execution.  

What You'll Learn

  • How to bridge the intention-resource gap: Translate CX commitments into concrete budget allocation and daily operational activities by anchoring customer experience goals to organizational priorities like revenue growth and cost reduction, not feel-good messaging. 
  • Why employee experience directly determines customer experience outcomes: Employees are the number-one driver of CX—if you make promises to customers but treat employees poorly, you create an integrity crisis that erodes trust and increases turnover. 
  • The Mindset-Strategy-Discipline framework for authentic transformation: Move beyond surface-level CX initiatives by establishing a clear customer experience mission statement (internal-first), defining measurable strategies aligned to business goals, and maintaining disciplined execution through consistent feedback loops and accountability. 
  • How to leverage frontline workers as your richest insight source: Field service teams, cashiers, and customer-facing staff observe trends, customer pain points, and operational friction daily—create safe channels for them to surface feedback and include them in journey mapping conversations. 
  • Why surveys alone fail and how to build a multilayered feedback strategy: Combine NPS and surveys with behavioral analytics, real-time coaching insights, and voice-of-customer programs to identify actionable patterns rather than vanity metrics; avoid gaming the system by ensuring feedback directly influences operational decisions. 
  • The role of AI in elevating human service, not replacing it: Use AI to equip frontline teams with real-time knowledge and handle routine inquiries, freeing humans for complex, emotionally-demanding interactions—but remain intentional about where human connection is non-negotiable for competitive differentiation. 

About the Guest(s)

Jeannie Walters is an award-winning customer experience expert and founder of Experience Investigators, a firm dedicated to helping companies increase sales and customer retention through elevated customer experiences. With decades of expertise in customer experience strategy, she has authored the upcoming book *Experience is Everything* and delivers keynote speeches and training workshops to organizations across industries. In this episode, Jeannie addresses the critical intersection of employee experience and customer experience, providing service leaders with actionable frameworks for aligning organizational goals, building authentic listening cultures, and maintaining customer-centric focus amid uncertainty. Her work has empowered companies to move beyond surface-level CX initiatives to drive measurable business outcomes, making her insights invaluable for operations and service leaders seeking to transform customer experience into a genuine competitive advantage. 

Follow Along

  • [02:20] Why CX Investment Gaps Matter in Uncertain Times 
  • [05:32] The Conflicting Priorities Killing Your Frontline Teams 
  • [08:55] Lead with Business Language to Advocate for CX 
  • [13:26] From Talk to Action: Building Your CX Mission 
  • [15:18] Frontline Workers Are Your Richest Insight Source 
  • [19:15] Employee Experience Directly Drives Customer Experience 
  • [23:49] Authentic Listening: The Foundation of Strong Culture 
  • [28:08] Mission Moments: Building Trust Through Consistency 
  • [30:42] Beyond NPS: Building a Multilayered Feedback Strategy 
  • [37:36] AI's Role in Elevating—Not Replacing—Human Service 
  • [45:32] Balancing Automation with Human Connection 
  • [47:16] 2026 CX Trends: Personalization Meets Ecosystem Thinking 
  • [49:16] Key Takeaways: Making CX Your Competitive Advantage 

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Also, subscribe to our newsletter right here.

Watch here:

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Service Growth: The Good, The Challenging & The Actionable

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Service Growth: The Good, The Challenging & The Actionable

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

I was joined on the UNSCRIPTED podcast last week by Dave Clement, Partner at Simon-Kucher, to introduce a joint project we’ve been working on together behind-the-scenes for the last few months. Simon-Kucher was founded in Germany in 1985 as a university spinoff by Dr Hermann Simon, Dr Eckhard Kucher, and Dr Karl-Heinz Sebastian with the vision of helping companies grow using scientific methods to address real-life business challenges. Today, the global consultancy has more than 2,000 employees operating in over 30 countries.

Future of Field Service and Simon-Kucher joined forces to conduct a research project looking at the state of commercial strategy and growth in field services. The study polled 180 executives globally, primarily across North America and Europe. Participants cut across company sizes from mid-market firms to multinational enterprises, and spanned environmental services, mechanical work, facilities management, and beyond.

Positive Outlook on Service Growth Potential

Perhaps the most striking finding from the research is the degree of optimism permeating field services: the majority of surveyed executives express genuine optimism about the future. Eighty-four percent of respondents share that services represents a growing portion of their long-term business trajectory; 15% report it is stable; and only 1% see services diminishing.

Moreover, on a 1 to 7 scale with 7 being strongest, 83% of firms ranked “field service as a differentiator” to their business as a 5 or higher. "The magnitude of optimism was higher than I expected, transparently. That is genuinely high. In this day and age, that's something to celebrate," notes Dave.

In the podcast, Dave and I discussed some of the factors that are likely fueling this optimism. First, leaders recognize that the tools to drive transformation are more accessible than ever. Even five years ago, the level of sophistication available in technology today seemed nebulous and aspirational; there are now success stories of a truly impressive caliber setting the bar.  

Second, the macro environment has forced organizations to become more agile and resilient. The past few years have brought uniquely challenging circumstances with COVID disruptions, labor market upheaval, inflation shock, and more. But, on the upside, these circumstances have created organizational muscle memory around managing volatility and change which leaves organizations more adept at meeting evolving customer expectations.

Third, the competitive playing field is surprisingly level. Research shows that most organizations face similar challenges and haven't yet fully optimized their commercial engines, creating conditions ripe for the most agile and innovative firms to use to their competitive advantage.

The Challenges: Overcoming Operational Pain Points

About those challenges, though. One finding from the research stood out as genuinely surprising: despite surveying 180 executives across diverse geographies, company sizes, and service verticals, the core challenges and priorities remained remarkably consistent.

"I thought we'd see more variance," Dave admits. "US companies versus European companies doing things differently. Multinationals versus nationals operating differently. HVAC services versus waste management taking different approaches. But we didn't see that. The consistency was striking."

While companies should feel comforted by the fact that, relatively speaking, no one has it “all figured out,” the challenges at hand are complex and layered.

More than 80% of firms surveyed expect cost increases in YoY, with technology investment, labor, and input costs cited as the top drivers. Respondents list their top five operational pain points as:

  1. Workforce shortages – 68%
  2. High operational costs – 51%
  3. Limited adoption of automation/technology – 41%
  4. Higher complexity repairs – 40%

These challenges are compounded by the need to keep pace with customer expectations, which have evolved much faster than most service organizations. They want real-time visibility before arrival. They expect personalized service recommendations based on history. They compare each digital experience to Amazon Prime and Uber, and frankly, most are losing that comparison.

We’re at an inflection point where the rules of competitive advantage in field service have fundamentally shifted.

What separates leaders today? The ability to layer commercial innovation *on top of* operational excellence. That means knowing your customers intimately, pricing your services based on the value you deliver rather than the cost you incur, cross-selling intelligently based on customer needs, and using digital tools to enhance rather than replace human expertise.

"It's not that operational excellence isn't important anymore. It absolutely is. But it's table stakes now instead of competitive differentiation,” says Dave. “So now you need people that can come in and say, 'This is amazing. Keep being excellent. But how we differentiate is actually going to be X.'"

The Actionable: Exploring Best Practices Across Industries

The research digs in to some of the actions companies with the strongest success are taking. Digital transformation, both from a foundational and more advanced perspective, is crucial. Fifty-four percent of respondents are currently upgrading core technology and 68% are investing in AI and automation.

But, as we know, technology alone won’t get the job done. The study highlights how firms with disciplined integration of both commercial and digital levers consistently outperform peers on revenue and margin expansion.

It also explores how respondents are navigating commercial topics like account segmentation and prioritization, value selling, enablement, offer design & construct, pricing best practices, and much more.

Download Part One of the commercial excellence benchmarking study

(additional findings will be published in early 2026)

Listen to the full podcast with dave of simon-kucher

Finally, Future of Field Service and Simon-Kucher are co-hosting a Service Growth Executive Summit in NYC on February 3rd. This live workshop among an exclusive group of service leaders will provide an opportunity to deep-dive into more findings from the research, share perspectives across industries, and hear firsthand success stories. Spots are very limited, but if this is of interest, please email me.

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Episode 343

In this episode of UNSCRIPTED, Sarah Nicastro sits down with Dave Clement, Partner and Head of the New York office at Simon-Kucher, to unpack a joint global research project to explore the trends, challenges, and opportunities defining commercial potential within today's service landscape. Whether you're navigating digital transformation, rethinking your pricing strategy, or building a customer-centric growth model, this conversation sheds light on what the research reveals about the foundational shifts required to translate commercial excellence into competitive edge.

Part 1 research report: DOWNLOAD NOW

What You'll Learn

  • Why operational excellence is now table stakes, not competitive differentiation—and what actually separates leaders today (customer centricity, commercial strategy, and innovation in how you engage and serve) 
  • How to shift from industry-only benchmarking to cross-industry learning—the competitive edge comes from understanding what works in consumer tech, retail, and other sectors, then adapting it to your service model 
  • The critical distinction between digital foundation and digital intelligence—you must build a modern core platform with real-time visibility before layering AI and predictive analytics, or you risk building on unstable ground 
  • Why pricing remains massively underutilized as a lever for growth—most field service organizations haven't tapped value-based pricing strategies despite mounting cost pressures, creating immediate opportunity 
  • How to identify if your company has "its house in order"—companies with strong customer segmentation, foundational tools (CRM, data governance), and clear processes outperform competitors by 20 points on profit and revenue growth when implementing digital capabilities 
  • The "force multiplier" mindset that separates optimistic leaders from those in survival mode—reframe digital transformation and commercial excellence as amplifying your team's capability rather than cutting costs, which fundamentally changes how organizations approach change management and adoption 

About The Guests

Dave Clement is a Partner and Head of the New York Office at Simon Kucher, a global consultancy specializing in commercial excellence and value-based pricing strategies. With thirteen years of experience at the firm and a focus on industrial services, Dave brings deep expertise in sales strategy, pricing optimization, and digital transformation within field service organizations. In this episode, Dave shares findings from a comprehensive study of 180 global executives spanning multiple service industries and geographies, offering practical frameworks for improving commercial performance, implementing digital capabilities, and driving sustainable growth. His insights on bridging operational excellence with customer-centric commercial strategies provide actionable direction for service leaders navigating pricing pressures, talent challenges, and evolving customer expectations in today's competitive landscape. 

Follow Along

  • [00:01:33] Meet Dave Clement: 40 Years of Commercial Excellence at Simon Kucher 
  • [00:03:35] Why Field Service Needs Commercial Excellence Now More Than Ever 
  • [00:09:17] Research Deep Dive: 180 Executives, Global Insights, Real Trends 
  • [00:13:31] Universal Challenges Across Industries Create Community Strength 
  • [00:16:25] Operational Excellence Is Now Table Stakes, Not Competitive Differentiation 
  • [00:20:51] 80-90% Optimism Signals a Wide-Open Window for Growth 
  • [00:23:14] Challenges Are Opportunities: Pricing, Competitors, and Digital Adoption 
  • [00:25:36] From Eye Roll to Game Changer: The Digital Journey in Industrial Services 
  • [00:27:56] Foundation First: Why Digital Infrastructure Beats Innovation Without Fundamentals 
  • [00:30:13] Distinguish Digital Foundation From Digital Intelligence to Avoid Misaligned Investment 
  • [00:35:46] Reframe Digital as Force Multiplication, Not Cost Reduction 
  • [00:37:24] What's Next: Research Rollout, February Event, and Ongoing Content 
  • [00:40:04] Key Takeaways and How to Connect With Dave Clement 

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Also, subscribe to our newsletter right here.

Watch here:

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5 Ways to Close the Gratitude Gap in the Workplace

December 1, 2025 | 4 Mins Read

5 Ways to Close the Gratitude Gap in the Workplace

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

Along with turkey and sweet potatoes, last week’s Thanksgiving holiday in the US served up a reminder to practice gratitude. Many of us could benefit from a more regular practice to cultivate gratitude in all areas of our lives – but the workplace is especially ripe with opportunities to show more appreciation.

And there are many reasons to do so, both for your benefit as a leader as well as because of the impact it has on employee morale and engagement. Here’s a quick recap of some evidence of the personal power of gratitude:

  • Can regulate the nervous system, reduce cortisol and lessen anxiety & depression
  • Can help individuals handle stress better & improve emotional resiliency
  • Can even  help improve sleep and boost immunity

And, at work, gratitude has been shown to:

  • Improve satisfaction: employees who feel recognized at work are 2.5 times more likely to be happy with their jobs
  • Increase motivation: employees who feel recognized at work are 1.5 times more likely to feel motivated to do their best

If gratitude is good for us and helps our teams to be more motivated, happier, and less likely to leave, then why isn’t it easier to incorporate? For many, it’s simply because leaders are stretched so thin. But expressing gratitude doesn’t have to be overly time-consuming, and the payback is tremendous. In fact, in times where demands are high and resources are scarce, being grateful for what we have is even more powerful.

Action > Apathy

I’ve been inconsistent at best in gratitude journaling, so while it’s a practice I believe in, I won’t lead with that suggestion. Instead, here are five ideas taken from both personal experience and interviews with some really great leaders of relatively simple actions to take to harness the power of gratitude:

  1. Deliver thanks in real-time, all the time. Think something? Say it! I’ve started practicing this in my everyday life with both gratitude and compliments. If something positive pops into your mind about someone else, tell them. We often underestimate how much of an impact these moments have on individuals. As leaders, we also often underestimate the significant power of very simple expressions of gratitude. A short handwritten note, a personal five minute call, even a really genuine mention in a meeting or email after – there are many ways to help people see how much they matter, don’t make it harder than it needs to be so that it feels time consuming or like another big “to-do.” Simple is extremely effective.
  2. Rely on gratitude for powerful reframing. Is your team facing a really big challenge? What happens (for you and for them) if you try reframing it as an opportunity. Gratitude is an impactful lever of perspective. Any time you feel overwhelmed or frustrated by something you’re facing, see if you can shift your thinking to what opportunity it’s creating or how fortunate you are to be tasked with such a thing. Some situations are just really hard, this isn’t to minimize that – but if we work at it, we can almost always find something to be grateful for.
  3. Try a new form of expression that might matter more. I had such an interesting conversation recently with Zach Mercurio, a researcher with a Ph.D. in organizational learning, performance, and change and author of The Power of Mattering. He spoke about how despite the employee engagement services industry being a $1,000,000,000 market, employee engagement is at the lowest it's been in 10 years. In our discussion, and in his book, he shares some advice for three experiences leaders should focus on creating to unlock the power of mattering: feeling noticed, being affirmed, and feeling needed. So maybe in how you convey gratitude, there’s a tactic you can deploy so that it will resonate better. You can read my synopsis of our discussion here or listen to the full conversation here.
  4. Embed gratitude into your team’s culture. Think about how the benefits of gratitude can be expanded if you were to prompt an increase in expression within your team. How might you do this? I think of some of the daily practices we have as a family. At dinner, we share our favorite part of that day. At bedtime, we express appreciation for one another, our home, our health & safety, etc. What are some simple ways you could encourage more expressions of gratitude at work? Perhaps start each meeting with “What’s going well?” Again, it doesn’t have to be an intricate plan – it can be simple shifts that prompt more focus on thinking about and sharing the positive.
  5. Offer a helping hand. Last but not least, do something to support someone(s) less fortunate than you. When we stay “stuck” in our own lens, we can lose sight of how much we have to be thankful for. Taking time to do something to help a less resourced group is a powerful act in many ways – serving a need in your community or network, reminding you your (relative) position of privilege, and creating the positive feelings of doing good for others. This is great to do as an individual, but can also be an exercise to consider for your team.

What would you add to this list? I’d love to hear more ideas! Email me anytime.

PS – I’m thankful for you, our wonderful Future of Field Service community.

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Exploring the Potential of the Rise of Robots in Field Service

November 23, 2025 | 6 Mins Read

Exploring the Potential of the Rise of Robots in Field Service

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

In an age where many households have a Roomba to do their vacuuming, it’s no surprise that there are already many proven use cases of how robots fit into the world of field service. With advancements in agentic AI, the question becomes how much more sophisticated and widespread can (and should) the use of robots in field service become?

One example of what’s become possible is newly announced collaboration between IFS and Boston Dynamics, which seeks to integrate Boston Dynamics’ quadruped Spot robots with IFS’s agentic AI platform, IFS.ai. This integration suggests the possibility of a seamless loop from sensing in the physical world to decision-making and action in the enterprise.

Robots Lessen the Pain of Labor Pressures & Skills Shortages

For organizations across many asset-intensive industries such as energy, utilities, manufacturing, and mining, an intelligent alternative to highly-skilled human field technicians holds tremendous appeal. Businesses across these industries and more are under mounting pressure as their field operations face both labor pressures and skills shortages.

It’s intriguing to consider how something like the IFS–Boston Dynamics solution is explicitly designed to mitigate these strains – offering a robotic option to autonomously perform inspection tasks that would otherwise require highly skilled humans. At the recent Industrial X Unleashed event in NYC, the companies demonstrated how the Spot robots capture a wide range of data—thermal images to spot overheating, audio to detect gas leaks, visual readings of gauges, even signs of spills or voltage irregularities. This data is fed into IFS.ai, which uses agentic algorithms to analyze anomalies, predict failures, and trigger enterprise actions such as maintenance scheduling or crew dispatch.

Conceptually, by automating routine inspections, organizations free up their human workforce to focus on the most critical, skilled interventions. This shift not only helps address labor shortfalls but optimizes the use of existing field teams, reducing downtime and improving resource allocation. To this point, yes, the coupling of physical robotics and AI also unlocks improvements in operational efficiency. With Spot feeding real-time data into IFS.ai, organizations can rapidly convert observations into enterprise-level actions: preventive maintenance, anomaly detection, and optimized crew dispatch. This kind of agentic, automated decision-making shortens response times and enables preemptive intervention. Rather than reacting to breakdowns, companies can proactively address potential issues and therefore maximize asset uptime, a key performance metric in field service.

Robots Enhance Safety in High-Risk Field Service Environments

In addition to how robots can alleviate pressure related to labor shortages, one of the most compelling arguments for robotics in field service is safety. Many industrial environments are hazardous: high-voltage substations, confined spaces, corrosive or unstable structures, or remote and difficult terrain.

In the IFS–Boston Dynamics model, Spot robots can enter these spaces instead of humans, minimizing exposure to danger. Autonomous inspections may be easier to be performed more frequently than manual ones, allowing organizations to potentially catch issues earlier and reduce the risk of failures that sometimes prove catastrophic.

This article from Robotics & Automation News reinforces the positive impact robots can have on safety. It discusses how various types of inspection and maintenance robots (drones, crawlers, quadrupeds, and climbing robots) are being deployed for infrastructure monitoring, non-destructive testing (NDT), and remote asset inspection.

Some examples from various industries include:

  • Transmission Line Robots: Some utilities are using ground-based robots (including robotic arms) for energized line maintenance, transfer of conductors, and insulator cleaning—tasks that would be especially risky for humans.
  • Inspection Robots for Infrastructure: Quadruped robots equipped with thermal, acoustic, and gas sensors are being used in refineries, petrochemical plants, or other sites with difficult terrain.
  • Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Robots: Robotic NDT tools, including crawlers and tethered devices, can navigate pipelines, storage tanks, and other structures to perform ultrasonic or eddy current testing—reducing the need for human inspectors in confined or dangerous areas.
  • Collaborative Inspection Cobots: In aviation, for example, the Air-Cobot project developed a mobile collaborative robot that works alongside humans to inspect aircraft fuselages, capturing high-resolution visual and 3D scan data.

The Flip Side: 5 Challenges to Consider for Robotics in Field Service

While the potential to increase deployment of robotics in field service is promising in how it can help address labor challenges, improve safety, and create efficiencies, it is also not without significant challenges. Organizations must carefully examine these potential challenges to consider how to offset limitations and avoid potential problems.

  1. Technical Complexity and Reliability. Operating in unstructured, unpredictable environments demands sophisticated engineering. Legged robots or drones must navigate uneven terrain, stairs, tight spaces, and obstacles. Sensor fusion, precise localization, obstacle avoidance, and autonomous navigation remain engineering challenges. Moreover, robots themselves need upkeep! So, organizations will need to consider how they “service” this new service workforce. Preventative maintenance for field-deployed robots is essential, otherwise they’re providing no value if not working in their mission-critical applications.
  2. Risk in Human–Robot Collaboration. When robots and humans share the workspace, safety is a top concern. Human–robot collaboration (HRC) introduces dynamic and unpredictable interactions. Recent research is developing frameworks for real-time risk assessment, such as adaptive decision-making and dynamic ergonomics monitoring, to ensure humans are safe in shared workspaces.
  3. Autonomy vs. Control. There is a trade-off to consider between full autonomy and human oversight. Some systems operate in fully autonomous modes, but many practical deployments rely on shared control or semi-autonomous operation to ensure reliability. In uses of robots alongside agentic AI, as in the IFS-Boston Dynamics example, it’s important to have parameters in place for how to override decisions, audit actions, or ensure accountability when robots act based on AI judgments.
  4. Economic and Business Model Considerations. The initial capital cost of robots is nontrivial. While long-term ROI may be compelling (fewer outages, reduced labor risk, predictive maintenance), organizations must invest in robust hardware, integration, and training. There’s also the challenge of scaling: as more robots are deployed, managing fleets, software updates, and maintenance becomes increasingly complex. A related consideration is regulatory and safety compliance, especially in critical infrastructure. For example, robotics in power transmission must meet safety and reliability standards, and companies must build trust with operators, regulators, and unions.
  5. Ethical and Workforce Concerns. Whether a factual or perceived intention, displacing workers is a sensitive issue. While it’s true that robotics can free workers from dangerous or mundane tasks, organizations should expect anxiety from employees and possible resistance from labor groups concerned about job loss. It’s also crucial to plan for how you’ll accommodate the need to retrain and reskill workers, not just to manage, maintain and interpret robotic systems, but to perform higher-value field service tasks.

Despite these challenges, there are applications where the trajectory for robotics in field service is promising. As both robotics hardware and AI become increasingly sophisticated, we may see a gradual but profound shift in how field operations are structured: routine inspections handled by autonomous agents, humans reserved for complex or strategic interventions, and safety improved through constant robot presence.

Moreover, as the inspection and maintenance robotics market continues to expand (it is projected to reach USD 146.9 billion by 2032), economies of scale may make robotics more accessible to a wider range of companies, not just the largest asset-intensive ones. This means that even if robotics are not on your immediate roadmap, it isn’t too soon to begin considering what role they could play and what strong human-robot collaboration that both benefits workforce wellbeing and operational performance looks like for your business.

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Industrial X Unleashed Highlights 

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Episode 342

In this episode of UNSCRIPTED, host Sarah Nicastro shares highlights from IFS's Industrial x Unleashed event last week in New York, exploring why industrial AI requires a fundamentally different approach than consumer-grade tools, how leading organizations like Kodiak Gas are driving real value through agentic AI, and critical considerations for making AI solutions usable and meaningful in mission-critical operations.

What You'll Learn

  • Why industrial AI is fundamentally different from consumer-grade AI
  • The realities and risks of AI in high-stakes environments
  • Major industrial AI partnerships shaping the future
  • How leading organizations are already using agentic AI
  • How to build AI solutions frontline workers will actually trust and use
  • What it means to be a “promise keeper” and “agent of change” in enterprise tech
  • The mindset shift leaders need for the “intelligence age”
  • Why now is the moment to experiment, learn, and build

Follow Along

  • [00:00] Welcome & Episode Setup
  • [02:05] What Industrial AI Really Means
  • [05:12] The Stakes: Why Consumer AI Won’t Cut It
  • [08:20] PwC’s Mohamed Kande: Entering the Intelligence Age
  • [15:55] Agentic AI at Kodiak Gas
  • [19:52] Designing AI Workers Trust: Insights from Kriti Sharma
  • [25:10] Sarah’s Reflections: Adoption, Anxiety & Realistic Progress

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Also, subscribe to our newsletter right here.

Watch here:

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Symbols Without Substance: The Missing Leadership Link Killing Employee Engagement

November 17, 2025 | 9 Mins Read

Symbols Without Substance: The Missing Leadership Link Killing Employee Engagement

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

In today’s talent landscape, employee engagement and experience get plenty of attention. Yet, all too often, it seems that attention isn’t translating into action that is having the intended impact. Where are efforts falling short?

Last week’s podcast guest has opinions, and they’re ones well worth your consideration. Zach Mercurio is a researcher with a Ph.D. in organizational learning, performance, and change and author of The Power of Mattering. He advises leaders in organizations worldwide on practices for building cultures that promote well-being, motivation, and performance and has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Psychology Today, The Denver Post, and ABC News.

The failure of employee engagement efforts is rooted in a desire to accomplish programmatically what can only be done interpersonally. In other words, the determining factor is leadership skills. “For the last 20 years, we've tried to tackle this employee engagement problem through programs and initiatives. Yet, employee engagement is at the lowest it's been in 10 years – despite the employee engagement services industry being a $1,000,000,000 market. Despite 100 validated assessments to measure engagement, countless well-being programs, DEI programs, perks, wage increases of 42% in eight years. Nothing's moved the needle,” urges Zach. “One data point that's really important in the latest Gallup survey was that amongst 15,000 people, just 39% could strongly agree that someone at work cared for them as a person. Just 30% could strongly agree that someone invested in their unique potential.”

The premise of Zach’s latest book is that mattering is what’s missing. “We can only solve this at the interactional level, which is very scary and exciting. It's scary because it means that all of your leaders have to show up in their daily interactions and make sure people feel seen, heard, valued, and needed, and they need the skills to do that,” he says. “It's hopeful because nobody can take away the power that you have to show up in your next interaction and do this. There's no red tape to caring. You don't need your organization's permission or your board permission or your shareholders' permission to show up in your next interaction and show someone they're cared for. So, it's completely accessible.”

The Power of Mattering

To understand why the power of mattering has such a pivotal impact, it’s important to understand that it is instinctual for us as humans – and to distinguish mattering from belonging and inclusion. “It's critical for organizations wanting to do anything about this, and really just in life, to understand is that mattering is first and foremost a survival instinct. It is our most primal survival instinct,” explains Zach. “If you want someone to contribute, they first have to believe they're worthy of contributing. If you want someone to share their voice, they first have to believe their voice is significant. If you want someone to use their strengths, they first have to believe that they have them. If you want something to matter to someone, they first have to believe that they matter. If you want someone to care, they first have to feel cared for. So, it's really the prerequisite to motivation, performance, and productivity. A lot of times, we've thought that people needed to add value to be valued. But psychologically, biologically, it's the opposite. People need to feel valued to add value.

And mattering is different than feeling one belongs, or even that one is included. To illustrate the distinction, Zach uses a team sports analogy. “Belonging is being picked for the team. Belonging is feeling welcomed, accepted, and connected in a group. Inclusion is being able and invited to play in the game,” he explains. “But mattering is feeling that the team wouldn't be complete without you. Why this is important is because mattering happens at the interpersonal level. You can't program your way out of it. There's no initiative or perk that can show someone how they matter. Only people can show people how they matter.”

Why Command and Control Leadership Will Never Cut it

When you consider the power of mattering, it becomes clear how command-and-control leadership is fundamentally incompatible with the innovation and loyalty leaders claim to want. Rather than putting in the effort necessary to yield employees who feel a strong sense of ownership and are empowered, many leaders simply pursue compliance.

“Despite what's on display today, command and control leadership doesn't work. A review of 43 studies from 1966 to 2021 revealed that authoritarian leadership styles are associated with reduced motivation, stifled creativity and innovation, lower job and task performance, higher turnover rates, and more dysfunctional team climates,” explains Zach. “A key contributor to these outcomes is the erosion of both interpersonal and organizational trust resulting from a lack of care and psychological safety. True sustained loyalty and performance emerge when leaders build trust, demonstrate care, and cultivate a sense of safety, not insight fear.”

So, then, the “wave of change” in leadership I refer to often on the podcast isn’t so much a movement away from an outdated style that doesn’t work anymore – but a reconciliation that it never actually did. “What it has done is incite short-term financial gain or shareholder value. If you look at the fallout of organizations that have had tyrannical leaders, there's usually a cycle of two or three years of increased shareholder value and then a massive rebuild,” says Zach. “It doesn't work in the long term. Fear incites short term bursts of energy; it doesn't work to motivate people. And one of the reasons why is you can’t think of the last time you were energized, in flow, creative, innovative, while simultaneously in a survival state of fear. They're fundamentally at odds. And so, it doesn't work for many of the outcomes we say we want.”

The Forces Fighting Against More Enlightened Leadership

If the science is clear, why is more enlightened, intentional leadership not yet the norm? Zach outlined numerous factors at play that. The first is that we’re in a period of significant geopolitical and economic uncertainty, and uncertainty tends to fuel more authoritarian approaches.

“We find that a rise of authoritarian leadership styles actually correlates with complexity,” notes Zach. “When something's complex or uncertain, we seek to control it. If you consider the different political variables going on right now, the societal variables, the technological uncertainty with regard to artificial intelligence, and hybrid work arrangements. When a leader can't get a grasp on something, they usually revert to control through fear. Leaders also aim to control what they don’t understand. Leaders who can't connect with people, they can't do the hard work to develop care and safety, or they don't know how to, or they don't want to take the time to, they usually try to control when they can't connect.”

Zach also discusses the issues of social decay and significantly reduced attention spans and speaks to how both play a role in eroding leadership focus and skill. However, with the rise of AI, it is more important than ever to be aware of these factors and protect against further erosion of crucial human skills. “Yes, AI can do our tasks. It can't take moral responsibility for them. Artificial intelligence can do things for you. It can't care for you. More people than ever are realizing that. And I think the most in demand commodity is going to be human trust,” he says.

In fact, he points out that for the first time, five of the 10 most in-demand skills for the future of work, by the World Economic Forum, are nontechnical such as curiosity, understanding, active listening and compassion. “If you cannot cultivate caring and trusting relationships,” says Zach. “I believe that in the next 50 years, you’ll have a nonviable organization when it comes to a sustainable labor force and sustainable output.”

While it’s hard to dispute the fact that these human skills will become even more crucial than they are today, honing them requires effort and applying them requires a view beyond the immediate. “I want to run a marathon, but it's really freaking hard to get up at four in the morning to run. I want financial security, but it’s really hard to stick to a budget every month,” says Zach. “We want all of these lagging indicators; we want the effects. But it takes consistent, disciplined work to invest in the leading indicator. We don’t approach developing meaningful, high-quality relationships through our interactions with the same rigor as we approach the outcomes.”

We’ve also done these skills a tremendous disservice by referring to them as “soft” for so long. “Anytime you see something as soft or simple, you're susceptible to an overconfidence bias,” Zach cautions. “This is emblematic of what we see across the landscape of human interactions; we think we're better at these things than we are.”

3 Skills That Create a Culture of Significance

Zach has created a framework in the The Power of Mattering to help leaders build skills that will close the gap between employee engagement intentions and impact. After asking thousands of people when they felt they mattered at work and to a leader, he landed on three major experiences leaders should build skills to create:

  1. Feeling noticed. “They feel seen and heard. Someone actually remembered and checked in on the details of their life and of their work. Their voices were heard. The meaning behind their words, the feelings behind their words were addressed, and they had somebody that was checking in and not waiting for something to go wrong to hear from them,” describes Zach. “If you feel your direct report would react with fear and anxiety if you called them out of the blue, it's not that you're a bad leader. It's that too many of your interactions have been transactional.”
  2. Being affirmed. “The recognition platform market is now a $19,000,000,000 market and is projected to be a $50,000,000,000 market in 2030. We have more employee appreciation weeks, peer kudos platforms and values-based awards, and yet people feel more overlooked than ever according to recent surveys,” explains Zach. “One of the reasons is that recognition is different than the interpersonal experience of being affirmed by another person. Appreciation is general gratitude for who someone is, their presence, their role. Recognition shows gratitude for what someone does, celebrating the wins. Affirmation is showing somebody how their specific, unique gifts make a specific, unique impact.”
  3. Feeling needed. “When people feel replaceable, they'll act that way. When they feel irreplaceable, they'll act that way,” notes Zach. “One of the best ways to do this is to make sure people can see exactly how they and their unique perspectives, strengths, purpose, and impact are needed. You know, saying things like ‘if it wasn't for you’ and making sure people can see and walk the ladder all the way up to how they and their inputs are indispensable to something bigger.”

There’s nothing wrong with the creation of programs and the investment in platforms – it’s just important to understand that those things alone won’t get the job done. “An award, a certificate, a raise, a promotion – these are all symbols; they're all inanimate objects.  An award cannot value somebody. A perk cannot value somebody. They can be symbols of value,  but only people can value people,” explains Zach. “We only truly feel valued when other people value us. And that's why you cannot program perk your way out of an employee disengagement crisis. You can only reengineer how you and everybody in the organization shows up in daily interactions.”

And that work is simple, but not easy. The psychology behind this, the reality that there are no shortcuts to nurturing these very human needs – it makes perfect sense. It’s fairly straightforward to understand. But the bridge between understanding and impact takes attention, attention, and skill. To hear two practices to incorporate to build positive momentum, Zach’s advice on how all of this applies to “difficult” employees, and what to do when no one is making you feel like you matter, listen to the full podcast.

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Authoritarian Leadership is Out: Why (and How) to Embrace the Power of Mattering   

November 12, 2025 | 3 Mins Read

Authoritarian Leadership is Out: Why (and How) to Embrace the Power of Mattering   

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Episode 341

What if the secret to sustainable performance and genuine employee engagement wasn't another program or initiative, but something far simpler—and infinitely more powerful? In this episode of UNSCRIPTED, host Sarah Nicastro sits down with Zach Mercurio, PhD organizational researcher and author of *The Power of Mattering*, to explore why feeling valued is a survival instinct, not a soft skill; how the three practices of noticing, affirming, and needing can transform your culture; and why command-and-control leadership is fundamentally incompatible with the innovation and loyalty leaders claim to want. Whether you're struggling with engagement, turnover, or the gap between the results you want and the results you're getting, this conversation reveals that the magic happens not in programs, but in the daily interactions where leaders show people they matter—and why that distinction changes everything. 

What You'll Learn

  • Why mattering differs from belonging and inclusion—and why it matters most. Belonging is being picked for the team; inclusion is playing in the game; mattering is feeling the team wouldn't be complete without you. This distinction is critical because only mattering creates sustained motivation and performance. 
  • How the "noticing, affirming, and needing" framework transforms daily interactions. Leaders who implement simple practices—like Zach's "noticing notebook" example—consistently observe, note details about their people, and schedule intentional check-ins to remind employees they're remembered and valued. 
  • Why command-and-control leadership fails in complex, uncertain environments. Fear-based management may drive short-term gains but erodes trust, stifles creativity, and triggers survival mode—the opposite of the psychological state needed for innovation, problem-solving, and discretionary effort. 
  • How to reframe "difficult employees" as people experiencing unmet needs. When someone acts out or withdraws, it signals disconnection, not defiance. Seeking understanding before evaluation—and investing in relationships first—creates the foundation for actual performance improvement. 
  • The actionable difference between appreciation, recognition, and affirmation. Appreciation is general gratitude; recognition celebrates wins; but affirmation shows someone their *unique* strengths and *specific* impact. This specificity is what makes people feel genuinely valued. 
  • Why symbols of value (awards, perks, raises) can never replace the daily experience of feeling valued. The magic happens when recognition symbols align with consistent, authentic interactions. No trophy overcomes the daily experience of feeling unseen, unheard, or insignificant. 
  • How to start mattering work regardless of your organization's readiness. You don't need board approval to show up authentically in your next interaction. Leaders can lead by example, creating reciprocal norms that ripple upward and outward—all within their direct control

About the Guest(s)

Zach Mercurio is an author, researcher, and leadership development facilitator specializing in purposeful leadership, meaningful work, and the transformative concept of mattering. With a PhD in organizational learning, performance, and change, Mercurio has become a sought-after advisor for leaders and organizations worldwide seeking to build cultures that promote well-being, motivation, and sustainable performance. His research-backed approach challenges conventional leadership wisdom, demonstrating that feeling valued is the prerequisite to adding value. In this episode, Zach explores how leaders can move beyond transactional management to create genuine human connection in the workplace, offering practical frameworks—noticing, affirming, and needing—that directly address the crisis of employee disengagement. His insights are essential listening for service leaders committed to building organizations where people feel significant, engaged, and genuinely invested in collective outcomes. 

Follow Along

  • [01:30] Belonging vs. Mattering: Why Only People Can Show People Their Value 
  • [07:34] Why Fear-Based Leadership Fails in Complex Environments 
  • [15:12] The Gap Between Wanting Outcomes and Doing the Work 
  • [22:27] Notice, Affirm, Need: The Three-Step Framework for Creating Mattering 
  • [29:50] The Power of Strategic Questions and the Noticing Notebook 
  • [35:53] Showing Impact Through Evidence: The "Look What You Did" Practice 
  • [40:21] Reframe Difficult Behavior: From Defiance to Disconnection 
  • [46:32] You Matter: Finding Significance and Paying It Forward 
  • [52:15] Why Recognition Programs Can't Replace Authentic Daily Interactions 
  • [55:52] Lead With Care Regardless of Your Organization's Culture 
  • [57:53] Where to Learn More and Final Thoughts 

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Also, subscribe to our newsletter right here.

Watch here:

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