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March 7, 2022 | 13 Mins Read

Wise Words from Women in Service on IWD 2022

March 7, 2022 | 13 Mins Read

Wise Words from Women in Service on IWD 2022

By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

This week, March 8th, we celebrate International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is #BreaktheBias. As stated on the International Women’s Day website, this theme is meant to inspire us to:

Imagine a gender equal world.

A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.

A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

A world where difference is valued and celebrated.

Together we can forge women's equality.

Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.

When I began my career in this industry in 2008, I was often the only woman in the room. I lost count pretty quicky of the stereotypical comments and was put in more than one very uncomfortable situation because a man felt it was perfectly acceptable to treat me in a manner he’d never consider treating another man. When I had children, I was forced to face the realities of just how difficult the traditional corporate structure makes it for a woman to succeed as both a mother and a career woman. I combatted gender discrimination with grit and tenacity, knowing many wouldn’t have the confidence to speak up in that way – or didn’t have the privilege to risk doing so.

I’ve learned a lot from my own experiences with bias, stereotypes, and discrimination and one thing I’m certain of is that while we have most certainly made progress since I entered the professional world, we must acknowledge we have a long way to go. I still encounter comments fueled by bias on a very regular basis, and I am acutely aware that there are women who grapple with the added complexities of being women of color or differently abled or any number of other compounding factors.

One way I feel I can play a role in the need to #BreaktheBias is by speaking out about my own experiences. But another is using the Future of Field Service platform to share the stories, journeys, and experiences of other women to share different perspectives and points of view that we can all learn from. I’m grateful to have that opportunity and thought, to celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day, I’d share some wise words from some of the women who I’ve interviewed this year.

On What Inspires Us

While we may sometimes become frustrated by our individual or collective circumstances, or feel angry about the inequity that persists, we – women – are an imperative piece of achieving equality. We must forge ahead, and a good tool for those frustrating days is turning to what you find inspiration from.

For Jennifer Deutsch, CMO of Park Place Technologies, that inspiration comes from her team. “I get inspiration from my team. For the size of our business, I have a fairly small team, I’ve got 11 people on my team, and I am the oldest,” she says. “We have people that range in age from 23 to 58, and from the young talent and the diversity, I’ve learned an awful lot. A 25-year-old looks at social very differently than I look at social. I’ve got a 25-year-old who runs our social program, and I’ve got a content guy who used to write for Rolling Stone. I also have a guy on my team who was an agency veteran for 20 years, who was never in the tech space. He writes copy for us beautifully. The team inspires me.”

Maybe your inspiration comes from seeking camaraderie, maybe it comes from finding some solitude. Perhaps there’s a power song you can listen to that will get you back into a positive headspace, or maybe journaling is a good outlet for you. It doesn’t matter what your inspiration is, just that you find a source of it – because on the hard days that are inevitable in the face of massive change, we have to seek what we need to fuel up and keep going.

On Knowing You Have the Power to Pivot

Sometimes our circumstances can make us feel stuck. It’s important to remember that you have the power to pivot. Catherine Wood, Service Owner for Engineered Deployment at Compugen, went to school for fine arts and was a teacher before she entered the world of IT. “It's been a strange road. I went to school for fine art. I loved art, always have, but I've also been interested in computers since I was a kid,” she shares. “When I finished school and started having a family, I wanted to go back to work after my kids were in school. So, I took a computer course at a local college, but just to be able to use a computer again as it had been a while. I got a job as a teacher, teaching arts. At one point I was teaching at a private school and their computer teacher left and they asked me to fill in. So, all of a sudden, I became a computer teacher and it turned into me only being a computer teacher after a few years. And from there I went to IBM and there began my career in IT.”

Catherine’s story brings about another important point, which is that not only do you have the power to initiate a pivot – but you can also benefit from staying open to the opportunities that are presented to you. We hear all of the time about how women won’t apply for a role or accept a position unless they meet every single criteria, but sometimes things work out when you are willing to take a bit of a risk on a growth opportunity.

On Our Individual Power to Effect Change

While the overall objective of equality can seem incredibly daunting, we need to ensure we don’t see our power as too small and as a result pass the buck on our individual responsibility. If you’re a leader in a company, yes that company should have a strategy in place for addressing biases and creating better diversity, including and equity, but that corporate strategy doesn’t absolve you from your personal responsibility. Lauren Winans, CEO of Next-Level Benefits, says, “You can even make small tangible changes for your own teams. Any leader can make small changes to some of the things that they’re doing to increase inclusivity or help someone get promoted by getting more development opportunities or making sure that everyone on your team is making a fair and equitable wage for the work that they’re putting in. You have the power; we all have power when it comes to this. It’s just a matter of figuring out where you fit in the equation.”

The acknowledgement of our individual power goes for women too – just because this is an issue we are at times on the receiving end of, we are still responsible for being a part of the change. Looking for ways to lift other women up, to help, to create connections or suggest opportunities, whatever that looks like in a certain scenario – we need to be playing an active role in being a part of the solution.

On Having Hard Conversations and Exploring Unconscious Bias

Our individual power – and responsibility – also bleeds over into our willingness to speak up and speak out when we see an action, behavior, or belief that doesn’t align with #BreaktheBias. This includes being sure we examine our own unconscious biases. Latasha Reindl, Director of Service Operations Excellence at Schneider Electric Digital Buildings suggests a book on how to take advantage of opportunities to have conversations that will prompt reflection and hopefully change. “I read a book a while back called Crucial Conversations,” she says. “I thought that book was fantastic. It talks about how important effective communication is as well as making sure you take advantage of opportunities that you’re in and have that courage to speak up in that moment, because they’ll be more impactful.”

During our podcast conversation, we talked about some of the work Schneider Electric has done around improving diversity, equity, and inclusion and Latasha has been particularly impresses by their commitment to addressing unconscious bias. “I think it’s important to understand that we all have some kind of unconscious bias. Schneider Electric does a great job at sprinkling the concept of unconscious bias throughout their organization, whether it be initiatives, business processes, communications. And when they sprinkle those little topics and things throughout the year, it makes you think not only at work, but outside of work as well,” she says. “For example, I was interviewing candidates for a global position and working with the recruiter. They send you the overall package that includes the candidate’s resume and with it there’s interview tips and tricks and a specific reminder and checklist to leave your unconscious bias behind. This was the first time that I’ve experienced that before in the 20 years that I have been managing people and I’m so proud to be a part of an organization where I can see that they’re really taking tangible steps toward progress.”

On Being the Minority in a Male-Dominated Field

I often ask women how they’ve handled being in a male-dominated industry, and I’m always interested in the variety of responses. I find the answers to be incredibly telling of their personality types and while there’s absolutely no one right way to handle these situations, it is important to think about how best to be your own advocate.

Catherine Wood of Compugen first transitioned into the IT industry 20 years ago and found she was often the only woman in the room. I asked her how much that has changed, and while she doesn’t deny that there are now more women working alongside her, what is surprising is that the treatment by the men in the room isn’t all that different. “I'm not as often the only woman in the room. Men are more comfortable seeing women in IT. And we're seeing more women in leadership roles in IT, which gives other women the confidence to see themselves in these roles,” she shares. “But what’s unfortunate is some of the conversations that still occur. Just a few weeks ago, I was in a meeting, and someone tried to explain to me where the start menu is. He knew we both work in IT; he knows my role. And he's explaining to me how to find the start menu. I don't keep quiet in those situations. I used to when I was younger, but I don't anymore. I asked him as politely as possible, ‘What makes you think that you need to explain to me where the start menu is?’ My goal wasn't to make him uncomfortable; my goal was to gently educate him. Because he wasn't doing it on purpose. He was trying to help. He really thought he was trying to help, but he just was going about it in a way that he needed to be more aware of.”

This example reminds me of a lot of the comments I receive every time I travel for work, related to how much my kids must miss me, how hard my husband has it, and so on. It isn’t necessary ill intent, but they are microaggressions that – conscious or not – become frustrating. As Catherine says, this is one area where we still have a lot of work to do. “I'm asked questions that nobody would think of asking a man, because if he's in that room, he's already qualified to be there where they see a woman walk in and they think, oh, she can't possibly be technical, or she can't possibly know anything about this. Women still get spoken or talked over in meetings or dismissed or someone will say something and will get ignored. The conversation will just keep going. Those are still challenges that we deal with today. We can’t use the ‘boys will be boys’ kind of excuse. Just move on, get over it. If it happened once in my lifetime, I'd get over it. When it happens multiple times a day, it starts to have an impact on me. And maybe it's multiple people during the day and they all didn't mean it. But the challenge is changing everyone's understanding of what those comments mean and not dismissing the fact that it has an impact on the people it's happening to.”

On Diversifying the Workforce

When you consider the industries that Future of Field Service covers, they are ones who are largely in need of fostering greater diversity. Karin Hamel is the Vice President of Services for US Digital Buildings at Schneider Electric, and she’s very focused on how to create greater diversity among the company’s frontline workforce. “I’m very proud of the programs that Schneider has been driving over the past few years regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion. I think we do a really good job internally with our core values driving the right types of behavior that we want to see with our people and making sure it’s a safe, inclusive environment for everyone. When I think about the work that remains to be done, it will be all about enticing that talent, that diverse talent to come into Schneider Electric,” she says. “If we think about the look and feel of that Maytag repairman persona, and the workforce that we’ve had historically, think about the why. Why has it traditionally been white males of a certain age? We have more awareness now around STEM and we need to embrace and leverage that. So, what we’re doing is trying to find opportunities to create more entry level roles to get that talent in as soon as possible. Having programs like university recruit programs, apprenticeship programs, great onboarding and training to attract and retain that talent is a big focus right for us.”

Creating greater awareness of career opportunities that haven’t traditionally welcomed women – or that young women don’t grow up considering – is certainly important. And efforts like Schneider Electric is making to offer more entry-level positions so that experience isn’t a barrier to recruiting more diverse talent is spot on. But as you’ll read next, to dig deeper we need to explore how we begin changing the early childhood narrative.

On Changing Early Influences to Overcome Systemic Stereotypes

For our 150th podcast, we featured Shannon Tymosko whose story is just fantastic. In her late 20s, she grew tired of making low wages in childcare and other entry level positions and wanted to seek more opportunity for herself. After working on home remodel with a friend, she began exploring the trades and is now an apprentice electrician. Her story is both interesting and inspiring, and she’s begun advocating for how we make the potential of the trades more accessible to others.

“If you can see it, you can be it. Right? How often do we see celebrities more than we see anything else as children? We see Disney princesses, but do we see skilled trades workers? Do we see ladies as skilled trades workers? And so how do we believe we can do something that unless we even know it exists? And, so, the problem I think with the skilled trades is we don’t educate soon enough. There’s so much, I don’t want to say brainwashing, conditioning. There’s so much conditioning. We see us as women, we see princesses. The boys see trucks and construction workers. Well, where’s our equal balance of women construction workers to say that you can do that too?” she emphasizes.

But it isn’t just about showing it, letting young girls visualize the breadth of their options. It’s also about giving children the opportunities to try different things. “We can put the representation there all we want, but unless we present the opportunity to try, they’ll never know if they like it. Get some tools into the hands of young people. If you have a project at home, drag your kids out to experience it, get your kids involved, get their hands on the tool. You don’t know if they’ll like it until they’ve tried it, and it’s so important to give them that opportunity to try,” she adds.

Leading by Example

Shannon understands the value in leading by example. On a construction site, she is often the only woman – and while it can be intimidating, she realizes her role in not only doing work she’s proud of but in shifting these outdated perceptions of what a woman can do. “Some of the men don’t think you belong there. They don’t say it to you, but I know. And so there most certainly is this pressure to perform. With so few women in the skilled trades, I am a representation of every woman on another construction site who’s going to follow me, because men are judging me and they’re judging women as a whole at the same time. That’s not the same pressure that my fellow male apprenticeship peers feel,” she says. “Actions often speak louder than words. And being a woman in the skilled trades today means I am still a minority, underestimated and a trailblazer for other women to follow. It means I must be strong, self-aware and realistic that I’m still in a man’s world. I must be patient and not push change but be an ambassador and advocate for change. I must be persistent, work hard and show the young women of tomorrow that they too can do whatever they desire.”

I hope during this year’s International Women’s Day you will spend some time considering what you can do to help #BreaktheBias. Join us for Wednesday’s podcast, where I’ll have a conversation with Octavia Goredema around this topic. Octavia is the founder of Twenty Ten Agency, has coached leaders at renowned companies including Google, American Airlines, Tinder, General Motors, Nike, and Dow Jones, and is also the author of the new book PREP, PUSH, PIVOT: Essential Career Strategies for Underrepresented Women.

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What Makes a Great Leader Great?

February 28, 2022 | 11 Mins Read

What Makes a Great Leader Great?

By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

It takes only a glimpse at news headlines to be prompted to reflect on the impact leadership has on our world, our lives, and our future. You see incredible leaders doing deeds that will have a ripple effect for generations – along with the stark contrast of leaders abusing power. And whether you consider the world stage, tech, banking, or any other industry, you can find examples of how the power leaders hold can be channeled in such different ways.

This makes me think about what it is that makes a great leader great – what is it about their character or their personality or their experiences or their drive that enables those positive examples that we’d all like to see more of? Before you read further, let me just provide the disclaimer that I don’t have all of the answers. But it is a topic I’ve been thinking quite a bit about, and I thought I’d share some of those thoughts with you all.

In my role, I have the opportunity to speak with many leaders and it does give you a real flavor for the differences that exist – as well as an evolution that has taken place. It’s clear that over the last few years, many leaders have begun to adopt more progressive viewpoints that are a departure from the older, lead from the top, results at all costs style of leadership. Modern leaders tend to recognize the importance of company culture and value the contribution of employees at all ranks, and they tend to be less concerned with being the smartest or best or strongest in the room and more concerned with curating an ecosystem of talent that can innovate and drive results.

If you missed my recent two-part podcast interview with James Mylett, SVP, U.S. Digital Buildings at Schneider Electric, I’d urge you to go back and have a listen. Much of what I’m going to share below are thoughts formed from that conversation – and while I do believe James is a great leader, I don’t mean to put him in the hot seat of being the one to aspire to, but rather to use some of the points he made during our conversation to reflect on some of the traits I think are helping today’s strongest leaders excel.

Acceptance of the Journey of Continuous Development

James, who is Brooklyn born, went straight to work after high school. He tells how his very first boss instilled in him the criticality of continuous development and self-growth and made it a condition of his employment for James to get his Associates Degree. A bit further along in his journey, James had another leader who reinforced this mindset. “While at Carrier, I had a leader who said, ‘Your parents grew up in an era where if they showed up for work every day, worked really hard, were loyal to the company, they could count on lifelong employment. That deal doesn’t exist anymore. Nobody talks about it out loud, but if you are working for a great organization, you can count on lifelong employability if you take advantage of the learning opportunities that they put in front of you.”

This mindset stuck with James, and he has always made it a priority to learn, evolve his thinking and practices, and develop new skills. I think this trait is very important and one that great leaders share – they don’t achieve a level of success or “rank” and allow themselves to feel they’ve crossed some sort of finish line; rather, they recognize the need to continually evolve and improve.

Authenticity

This is the hardest trait on this list for me to describe somehow in words, because in my personal experience someone just is or isn’t. James is certainly authentic, and this has been clear to me since I met him over a decade ago – and my impression has been corroborated by every direct report of James’ I’ve ever spoken to, who all speak his praises.

Perhaps this comes down to some concoction of humbleness, no pretense, kindness, self-confidence but never cockiness, honesty, and a little vulnerability? That’s the best I can do to describe what authenticity feels like to me, and I’m certain it is a lacking description. But I do believe great leaders are authentic, and that their authenticity is part of what inspires teams and individuals to want to follow them and learn from them.

From James’ perspective, two important aspects are the leader’s agenda and the environment in which they are operating. “I think agenda makes a difference. My agenda is to help teams win and to help people who want to get better, get better,” he says. “But the key is, are you a part of an organization that is willing to create an environment to where you can be authentic? As we all talk about the war for talent, as people get experiences with organizations that allow them to be the best version of themselves there, and to be their genuine selves there, the tolerance level for any environment that doesn’t goes way down.”

The Ability to Balance the Now and the Next

James and I talked a number of times during our interview about the leaders’ need to balance the present and a view of the future – to keep an eye on the mid and long term in every decision and action. This challenge is one that many of the leaders I speak with lament – how do you think ahead or drive innovation when you are constantly struggling to keep up with the daily demands?

“I always try to do is stay focused on the long game. When trying to make big change in an organization, it never happens in a big step. It’s small incremental steps over a long period of time that make the biggest lasting sustainable change,” says James. “Larry Levin wrote a book called Top Teaming. And in it he talks about how leaders have to find the right balance between the now, the new, and the next. And this has always been the case, but what has changed is speed. When you think about cars, it took 62 years for cars to get to 50 million users. It took credit cards 28 years to get to 50 million, debit cards 12 years, PayPal five years, and then Pokemon GO got to 50 million users in 19 days. Think about that! Think about all that change and just how fast it’s moving today. It’s dramatically different. And so, we have to adjust our leadership style. We have to adjust the environments that we’re creating, otherwise we’re not going to attract and retain the talent that’s going to be needed to win in these new markets.”

Cultivation of Resilience

Certainly, over the last couple of years, we’ve seen the importance of resilience amplified more than it has been in most of our lifetimes. In my mind, resilience is a mix of patience and perspective. But when we think about the role of resilience in leadership, it is both personal as well as the acceptance of your role in nurturing resilience among your teams. This can be a tall task, particularly in a landscape where burnout is at an all-time high.

“In today’s environment, it’s hard to survive if you don’t have resilience,” says James. “As a leader, you have to remember that you’re the person that you used to look up to. And what is it about that person when you looked up that drew you to them and if you had to inject some improvement in that, what would it have been? Because that’s your opportunity today. So, personally, we have to check ourselves and make sure that we’re filling our own buckets up to where our resilience levels are high. Because our organization’s going to get our cue from us.”

According to James, a big part of this is mindset and also setting boundaries for yourself to step away and rest and recharge so that you don’t burn out. “When I think about leadership attributes, mindset is one of the biggest things that’s going to make a difference on whether or not you win or lose,” he says. “There’s a movie called Facing the Giants. If you go to You Tube, type of Facing the Giants and Death Crawl. It’s all about a coach seeing something in a player that he didn’t recognize in himself. And it goes back to this notion about the influence that you have as a leader. If you don’t think we’re going to win, they won’t think we’re going to win. And so, what comes out of our mouth is so critical in terms of setting the tone for the organization.”

Integrity and Accountability

You may assume that every great leader has high integrity (although we have to be careful with assumptions), but the point James made that I loved is that a leader’s responsibility when it comes to integrity isn’t only a personal. In addition to personal integrity, great leaders also take on the role of ensuring their teams are accountable for integrity as well.

“We know failure shouldn’t be fatal, but the area where it has a potential to be fatal is an integrity. And it comes in a lot of different flavors, but at the core of it, it’s how you carry yourself. Are you authentic? Are you trustworthy? Are you someone that people can count on? Are you transparent?” says James. “When I think about integrity as an organization, the antidote for that malice is the culture that you build. And the purposeful intent on culture. One of our pillars at Schneider Electric is to embrace different. And that we call out bias where we see it. So, you think about that, you’re on a job site and you see something, what do you do? Do you step up, do you speak up or do you just look the other way and keep going? Our core value says you’re calling it out. And, so, it’s that type of culture build that creates the antibodies against the wrong behavior on the integrity front.”

Embracing Curiosity

I’m a big believer in the power of curiosity – I think inquisitiveness and a hunger to learn and understand combats so much closed mindedness. I also think great leaders who have a strong sense of curiosity are not only more likely to look for the non-obvious answers or ideas, but also to accept the reality that they aren’t the only intelligent and valuable person in the picture – because their curiosity helps them see the intelligence and value of the teams around them.

“There was an article that was written on my father that referred to him as a searcher and I think that I inherited that trait,” says James. “When I bump into situations, I have tendency to want to unpack them. Today’s environment is probably the richest environment for somebody that’s wired like me, because there are so many opportunities for transformation. And so, what I try to do as a leader is immerse myself in situations that allow that opportunity for me to get engaged.”

James points to his adoption of the Oz Principle as a leadership evolution born of his curiosity that has also helped him see the value in promoting more curiosity among his teams by introducing them to new experiences. “One of the models I subscribe to is Oz Principle, which basically says that your beliefs are driven from the experiences that you have. So, this curiosity mode gets me in a position where I’m getting different experiences today than before and learning as I go,” he says.

Prioritizing Problem Analysis

James brought up an excellent point about the need to focus more on the root cause analysis of problems than to jump to problem solving. This is a point that I truly feel so many could benefit from really pondering, because many of the struggles I see companies facing today are a result of racing to a soliton before truly understanding the problem (or opportunity).

“I want to make sure that our team is focused on root cause analysis for problem solving,” James says. “When you think about a problem, everybody wants to go to ideation, to solve. We don’t spend enough time defining what the problem is and then doing the root cause analysis. Every organization I’ve worked with, brilliant people get in a room and God help us if there’s a whiteboard, the next thing you know you’ve got all these great ideas up there and then there’s a program that gets deployed. My preference is to start at the problem and work backwards from that and put a solution in place that’s supported with data. That’ll really move the needle because you know that that’s the root cause for the problem.”

Why the default to problem solving over root cause analysis? It’s more work, and many aren’t patient enough to do that extra work or perhaps their ego dissuades them from considering that they may need to better understand the problem to be solved. “It takes hard work to really dig in and to get the root cause. And it takes courage to face into the data when it doesn’t support what you thought the root cause was, and that happens a lot. You don’t want to get paralyzed by the data, but it has to have role in the conversation,” says James.

Treating People Well

Again, you may be thinking – um, duh, Sarah. But sadly, we see far too many examples of leaders who want to lead by demand and use their power as force rather than recognize how power can actually be amplified when you share it with your teams. Treating people well means having empathy, it means considering – not catering to – their feelings and needs, and recognizing their efforts and contributions.

“Part of what’s changing is people buy in for their reasons, not ours. So, what is our workforce’s reasons for buying in and does the culture that you’re purposefully building match up to what they’re wanting to buy into? And so, we talk about having an organization that’s focused, that’s purposeful, that’s driven, that’s going to achieve great things while is also being benevolent and kind, and gracious. That’s a great combination to have, and it’s a value proposition that absolutely resonates with the emerging workforce,” says James. “I think for us, it’s important that when we put our front line out in front of the customers that they’re in the right state of mind, and they feel genuinely appreciated in what they’re doing. And they understand how, what they’re doing is helping us. I get a report at the end of every month on our net satisfaction scores for the whole organization and I see everybody that got a nine and a 10 and I recognize each of them. If nothing else, just to let them know that I see what they’re doing, and I appreciate it. Back when I was a frontline technician if I was getting a note from the president of the division or senior vice president, it made a difference. I think we underestimate that sometimes when we get to these positions, just the impact that we have on lifting people up.”

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If You’re Striving for Digital Transformation Perfection, You’re Doing it Wrong

February 21, 2022 | 5 Mins Read

If You’re Striving for Digital Transformation Perfection, You’re Doing it Wrong

By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

I read a Harvard Business Review article last week written by Harmit Singh, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Levi Strauss & Co., sharing four lessons from the company’s digital transformation. It’s an excellent article, ripe with self-awareness and nuggets of hard-earned wisdom any business leader can benefit from. What stood out to me, though, was the point Singh made around perfection – to not let “perfection be the enemy of good.”

For the retailer, the focus on perfection is innate and Singh shares that overcoming the instinct to apply that same principle to the company’s digital transformation was one of its biggest challenges. We’ve talked before about how digital “transformation” is really more of a journey, and if you liken the digital journey to any journey of self-improvement the way in which striving for perfection can be detrimental becomes clear. IDC expects global spending on digital transformation to reach $6.8 trillion by next year, and for those investments to make their intended impact, companies are well-served to recognize the need to release visions of perfection.

In his article, Singh shares how the 168-year legacy of Levi means that the company was going into this journey with a lot of deeply rooted beliefs, practices, processes, and habits. This is the case for so many organizations who start out thinking that the digital journey means layering on more modern, sophisticated technology only to find that it is far more a journey of reshaping not only the company’s identity but its culture, mindsets, structure, and processes. This, my friends, is why we began using the term digital transformation over ten years ago and are still discussing it today – it is far more complex in practice than any headline can properly convey.

Singh shares his top four lessons learned, which again are well worth reading. What I want to share, though, are my thoughts on the five areas where visions of perfection prohibit attainable progress with digital transformation.

#1: Legacy Lingers

Any company who has embarked on their digital journey can tell you that the hardest parts have far more to do with people than they do with technology. And so much of that is related to legacy thinking, beliefs, feelings, and patterns. And it’s important to recognize that is okay – it is to be expected. We can’t charge ahead into a new way of work and simply expect to snap our fingers and erase the legacy that has made the company what it is; nor should we want to. Rather, we need to acknowledge up front that overcoming legacy thinking and behaviors that don’t fit into the digital journey will be a challenge and we need to plan accordingly. Focus on progress rather than perfection. Be respectful of the ways in which change can be hard for your teams and put ample effort into change management to help their transition into the new company ethos be smoother.

#2: Agility Muscles Must be Built

Singh talks about how the concept of becoming more agile was particularly challenging for Levi, as it is for many others. But it is absolutely imperative as the pace of change is never going back to a former speed. Technology today simply doesn’t fit into anything but an iterative process, and companies who are unfamiliar with the approach can really struggle to make progress because of this fact. And I’m not only talking about agile as a methodology, but also as a mindset. Before we can flex our agile muscles, though, we must build them over some time. A big part of this that Singh discusses in his article is normalizing failure. The agile mindset – and process – is one of continual improvement, in which trial and error is normal. This is often at odds, though, with the legacy culture of the company – and leadership needs to understand the importance of empowering employees to work differently without fear.

#3: Look Ahead, Not Beside

Yes, it is important to pay attention to what your competition is doing when it comes to all aspects of differentiation, including digital. However, your digital journey can veer far off course by measuring your progress against someone else’s journey rather than your own improvement. Singh talks about how it can be difficult not to panic when you feel “behind” the competition – but this sort of sideways attention only detracts from the forward progress you must make to keep pace. There will be a time to study competitors but being distracted by their journeys when it comes to what is a very company-specific transformation is a waste of effort and energy.

#4: Data Mastery Takes Effort

One of the key objectives of digital transformation is to create and leverage far more data than you’ve ever had before. This is powerful, but it can also be overwhelming – and sometimes company let this overwhelm paralyze them from making forward progress. You don’t have to perfect data use from the start, in fact I’d argue it is impossible – you will always be finding new ways to use data to glean insights that help the business and your customers. But you should know, from the start, that becoming adept at converting data to intelligence takes an investment and must be a part of your digital transformation strategy. Singh shares that, “To realize the full potential of the data, employees must embrace new tools and develop data savviness. We don’t expect that to happen overnight, given employees are comfortable using systems that have worked for them for years. We realize with training and a clear picture of how the systems simplify and supercharge their work flows we’re creating an innovative and responsive culture around data savviness.”

#5: Stay Open to the Journey

Part of a more agile mindset is realizing that while you may start your digital transformation journey with an “end goal” in mind, the reality is that the end goal is always evolving. For people, like me, who really relish the satisfaction of crossing a project off the list, this can be a tough pill to swallow. However, the companies who have the most successful digital transformation stories have recognized that being too fixed on your initial vision of success can prohibit you from seeing and incorporating valuable learnings along the way. As Singh says, “Success doesn’t always look like what you initially thought. I’ve seen this throughout my life both professionally and personally, and this is especially true in business. The place we end up is different from what we set out to be, and often, the journey becomes even more valuable than the actual outcome.”

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Future of Field Service Launches Its First Live Tour – Globally!

February 14, 2022 | 3 Mins Read

Future of Field Service Launches Its First Live Tour – Globally!

By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

I couldn’t be more thrilled to share that this Spring, Future of Field Service is hosting its first-ever collection of in-person events. That’s right, yours truly will be going “Around the World in 80 Days” to bring the objective, peer-driven, tactical content you’ve grown to expect from our content to a city near you. After a long stretch of sessions held through Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and webinars it brings me great joy to finally be able to bring this next evolution of Future of Field Service to life.

Those of you that follow along regularly know that I am passionate about building a sense of community – of creating a space where we expand our collective knowledge and share our stories. Anyone who isn’t a “regular” here, don’t be fooled by our name – Future of Field Service content reaches far beyond the field. Our aim is to provide leaders across industries, and spanning geographies, a home for both information and inspiration on how to differentiate their businesses through service and lead through change. We prioritize conversations over clickbait, always. By keeping our content focused on sharing the voice of the industry, we provide a place you can come to learn how your peers are tackling today’s trends, challenges, and opportunities.

Nothing Like Face-to-Face Communication

And while we’re confident that we accomplish this mission well through our written content and weekly podcasts, we fully recognize that there’s no experience that can replace the value of sharing a day with a room full of people who are showing up to learn, engage, and connect. In-person events have been a vision of mine since Future of Field Service launched – that vision was simply delayed a bit in being realized. But this Spring, I will be visiting five wonderful cities across the globe to bring to you an opportunity to step away from the daily chaos, to connect with like-minded individuals, to hear the real-world perspectives of local leaders on a variety of timely topics, and – last, but not least – to have some fun!

Here is a list of the cities and dates of our very first Future of Field Service Global Roadshow:

April 7th, Paris
May 5th, London
May 19th, Frankfurt
May 24th, Stockholm
June 14th, Austin TX

We will be sharing a detailed agenda for each location soon, but you can expect a high-quality lineup of speakers who “walk the talk” discussing a variety of topics including digital transformation and technology trends; service strategy, evolution, and revenue growth; customer experience and satisfaction; recruiting, hiring, and retention; employee enablement and engagement; leadership styles and tips; and change management and company culture.

Each event will be a day of content and discussion, followed by a little fun and networking to conclude. You have my word that you won’t experience a day of yawn-inducing PowerPoints and there will be NO sales pitches! The events will be educational, conversational, and hopefully inspirational.

Detailed agendas for each location will be coming soon, but you can register now to join us at the city closest you! I look forward to seeing many of your faces on my trip around the world this Spring.

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As Service Becomes More Sophisticated, How Will You Differentiate?

February 7, 2022 | 5 Mins Read

As Service Becomes More Sophisticated, How Will You Differentiate?

By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

Based largely on customer demands, service is becoming supremely sophisticated. As the bar raises, it is increasingly harder for organizations to differentiate. Your two-hour window is no longer sufficient, because your competitor has reduced the window to 30 minutes. Trying to sell predictive service? The competition has shifted to using predictive service to guarantee outcomes.

While not long ago it was only the leading edge who were successful in bringing modern service to bear, today we see plentiful examples of companies really embracing the service evolution. More and more companies are wise to the powers of market demand and advanced technology, and they are up to the task.

So, if you stood out because you were an early adopter of guaranteeing outcomes, what happens when all of your competitors jump on the bandwagon? We live in an era of rapid change and, as we’ve discussed previously, we the need to balance artful execution with forward thinking. The key to differentiation moving forward lies in staying a step ahead and fighting complacency at all costs.

Now it’s impossible to predict the future, and you don’t need to – I believe you can win by mastering a few core concepts. Note that I said mastering, because this is the crux of where companies fail – they fight tooth and nail to innovate in a certain area or around a particular initiative, but they don’t operationalize innovation so that it becomes more seamless. Doing so allows for far more agility and being agile is what will enable you to keep your edge in service.

If we think about the concepts that companies should master to create an environment where innovation is not a breathless sprint to the “finish line,” but rather a comfortable, steady-paced marathon, a few things come to mind:

Company cohesion. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t really love the term “service transformation,” because for companies that have really recognized the power of service it is an aspect of business transformation. Yes, I’m probably splitting hairs – but my point is that to maintain relevance, the traditional siloes in a company need to be broken down. There must be an overarching alignment on company identity, vision, and mission – and there must be a culture of collaboration toward those.

Whether we’re looking success around service growth or digital transformation, companies who have a very siloed structure are the ones that struggle. There is too much to be considered in the customer journey for a fragmented approach to work, and our digital world has outgrown fit-for-purpose, disparate systems. Connectedness, of systems and teams, is critical.

Customer intimacy. The best source of inspiration for your service evolution is your customer relationships. First, ask yourself an honest question: Are they indeed relationships, or transactions? They must be relationships. This doesn’t mean that your customers will always be able to verbalize what they need or how they need it – or what’s coming next. But knowing your customers and building trust and openness is how you will understand their needs enough to identify, evolve, and articulate your value proposition – now and into the future.

How do you engage with your customers – how regularly and in what forms? What do you learn from those interactions, is that knowledge captured and shared, and is the business taking action on what you’re learning?

Digital skillfulness. Yes, being digitally competent is core for the introduction of more sophisticated service models. But those who will lead aren’t simply competent, they are skillful. And to be clear, this does in no way mean they are using every single “latest and greatest” advancement. What it does mean is that they understand the value of information, they realize the benefit of simplifying complexity, and they make decisions around technology investments with their impact on key objectives in mind.

These companies know that part of the service evolution is providing insights and knowledge as a part of the value proposition. They are seeking the most appropriate areas to layer in automation and intelligence in a way that allows anticipation of needs and a seamless customer experience but removes effort or cost from delivering it. The concept of a strong foundation upon which layers can be added and changed is understood and acted upon, and there is a common understanding that a continual improvement strategy is necessary.

Talent development. Many organizations today are so hyper-focused on the short-term stressors of the skills shortage that they’ve yet to see the big picture of talent development. Those who want to set themselves up for success are recognizing that the employee experience is critically important and needs more attention. They are understanding that as service evolves, the frontline workforce needs to as well – this can mean reskilling or upskilling, or even introducing new roles.

The companies who will have a competitive advantage are those who are focusing on how to farm talent – meaning, they are accepting the fact that continuing to seek experienced workers is unsustainable and they must shift focus to taking more responsibility for developing their own talent. Companies must make more investment in democratizing knowledge, skill building, and recognition of employee contribution. The organizations who are most successful at innovating value the creativity and contributions of all within the company, not a few at the top – and they ensure the voices of the frontline are heard, considered, and valued.

Personalization. Our world is more connected than ever but somehow more disconnected at the same time – and what’s often lacking is the human element. In many cases, companies who stand out are those who find the perfect ways to add a personal touch. They acknowledge that no matter how technologically sophisticated their service becomes, relationships are at the core. People can’t compensate for a company’s inability to evolve to meet customer expectations, but they can absolutely be a – if not the – point of true differentiation for those that do.

Moreover, customers want to buy from a brand, a company, a person they feel is genuine and that they like. Too narrow a focus on your value proposition itself without marrying that to the story you tell, the passion you have, will miss the boat. As we focus on innovation and look for new ways to meet customers’ needs, let us never forget the impact and value of personal touch.

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7 Limiting Beliefs Preventing Service Success

January 31, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

7 Limiting Beliefs Preventing Service Success

By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

For every few conversations I have with companies successfully embracing a new business model or evangelizing the potential of service evolution, there’s one cringeworthy discussion that reveals some sort of limiting belief holding that company back from successfully transforming service into the competitive advantage it can – and should – be.

I get it, change is hard. Legacy thinking is daunting to overcome. Stale leadership can be a huge barrier to innovation. The operational changes required to appropriately address customer expectations and digital transformation are cumbersome. But the potential of service transformation has proven itself, and the need to evolve is pressing.

Here are seven limiting beliefs I’ve heard individuals share – either of their own, or of their organization’s leadership – that it is time to move beyond:

It’s not who we are as a business. I’ve heard this in relation to a product manufacturer servitizing and embracing the As-a-Service potential, or in relation to a service organization shifting to an outcomes-based, guarantee-oriented service delivery. Do you think that perhaps this belief is one Blockbuster held when Netflix came on the scene? It may very well have been. Just because what you’ve done historically has worked, or even is working, does not mean it isn’t time for a change – and the identity of your business can evolve.
We’ll watch and see. This is a company that is hedging its bets – it wants to see if a certain type of transformation is proven, and then will join the bandwagon. There are a few issues here – first, the benefits of modern service models are proven. Second, by the time you wait until you’re comfortable, it may be too late in terms of your competitive advantage.
Our customers won’t go for it. Or, our customers will continue to do business with us because (fill in the blank). If your service evolution is geared toward better meeting your customers’ needs, they’ll go for it. If they don’t, you are likely positioning an evolution geared toward your needs as a benefit to them – and they know the difference. And if you think today’s customers will continue to do business with you in your traditional methods no matter what, you are naïve. Customers expect a lot, and if you don’t change with the times – they will go elsewhere as better value propositions pop up.
That’s the service division’s responsibility. Innovation is the entire company’s responsibility, and innovation through service is no different. The existence and acceptance of operational siloes is a huge barrier to not only service transformation, but digital transformation as well. Companies need to create more cross-functional teams, more cohesive strategy, and put more focus on the customer journey versus any particular division’s “job.”
What if we fail? Companies who are leading the charge have embraced the fact that failure is inevitable on the path to success. They have created a culture where fear of failure is eliminated and learnings from failure is encouraged. This promotes greater creativity among employees and prevents complacency. The focus becomes less “what if” and more “when” – companies put systems in place to fail fast and small and recover stronger and better.
We’ve already invested in X, we have to make it work. Technology is the great enabler of service transformation, but unfortunately sometimes organizations have made an investment that simply doesn’t meet their needs – or can’t evolve into what they need as they grow and change. You can’t force a square peg into a round hole and being realistic about whether your existing systems meet your needs is important. Trying to build upon a cracked foundation is a recipe for disaster, so no matter how tough a pill to swallow you have to ensure your digital infrastructure meets your transformation goals.
The frontline workforce are executors, not innovators. In a break-fix world, a mechanically skilled technician who could show up when needed and get the job done was a win. In today’s service landscape, customers want more – and the role of the frontline is changing. Interactions are shifting from transaction to relationship and repair to trusted advisor, and while this may require some upskilling or even a change in who you hire into frontline roles, it’s an essential aspect of service transformation. When you begin to view your frontline as an integral part of your service growth rather than an afterthought, you will realize their power in helping the company innovate. Their firsthand customer interactions and the perspective those provide make them a wealth of knowledge in helping shape strategy.

These are just a few of the limiting beliefs that quickly come to mind, but I am sure there are many more. The sooner we can let these beliefs go and seek inspiration from the companies and leaders who are embracing the opportunity to innovate, to create a more modern company culture, to fully leverage digital, and to reinvent themselves and their companies to keep pace with change, the more success stories we’ll have to share.

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The Role of Employee, Customer, and Technology Trust in Transformation

January 24, 2022 | 5 Mins Read

The Role of Employee, Customer, and Technology Trust in Transformation

By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

Nearly every business is amid some sort of transformation today. The two most common forms we discuss here are digital transformation and business transformation, in the sense of evolving the company’s go-to-market and customer value proposition. What I want to discuss today is the critical role that trust plays in the success of transformation and the importance of prioritizing the development of trust among your employees, your customers, and with the technology you invest in.

As this Deloitte article, Ethical Technology and Trust, states, “In what we recognize as an emerging trend, some companies are approaching trust not as a compliance or public relations issue but as a business-critical goal to be pursued—one that can differentiate them in an increasingly complex and overfilled market. Every aspect of a company that is disrupted by technology represents an opportunity to gain or lose trust with customers, employees, partners, investors, and/or regulators.”

Building a Culture of Trust

I believe the focus on trust must start internally. If your customers don’t trust the company vision, top-level company leadership, or their individual managers, building trust with customers becomes nearly impossible. A culture of top-down mandates and forcefulness is a thing of the past – you need to focus on how you build a culture of engagement and satisfaction, and trust is fundamental.

This Harvard Business Review article, The Neuroscience of Trust, reveals that “Compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report: 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives, 40% less burnout.”

Looking at these statistics, you can imagine how a high-trust culture pays off in business-model or digital transformation. Employees who are engaged and satisfied and who trust their leadership buy into the vision being presented and work more energetically toward the desired outcome – versus trying to pull the weight of a low-trust culture along.

When it comes to digital transformation specifically, the Deloitte article references earlier suggests considering the emotions of your employees and handling their concerns transparently. The article says, “Give employees a reason to trust. Much of the anxiety over AI and other advanced technologies stems from the fear of the displacement of labor. From an ethical perspective, this presents business leaders with a challenge: balancing the best interests of the business, the employees, and the wider community and society. It’s a task made more complex by the fact that advanced technology systems are not self-sufficient. While AI can replace some jobs, for example, it creates others that often require specialized skills and training. Companies can build trust with employees by advising them how technology may affect their jobs in the future. This could include retraining workers whose roles may evolve and who will likely work with automated systems.”

Business Growth is Contingent Upon Trust

While an internal culture of trust should be priority number one, building trust with your customers is equally important – the company culture comes first only because it fuels the success of your external efforts. Today’s customers have options – and their expectations are high, with trust being the barrier to entry. Just to earn business, let alone evolve or expand it, customers expect you to keep your word good, meet your commitments, and get the job done.

According to PwC’s Trust in Business Survey, 49% of consumers started purchasing or purchased more from a company because of trust. So, for companies looking to transform their business models from product provider to As-a-Service, or from break-fix to outcomes-based, this evolution isn’t conceivable without a strong foundation of trust. For a customer to want to invest in a new, different, expanded relationship with your company, they must have a deep level of trust in your understanding of their needs, your commitment, and your abilities.

From a digital perspective, technology has the ability to strengthen trust with your customers – or break it. You need to ensure you are applying ample attention, and investment, to your digital initiatives to ensure you achieve the former.

Invest in Technology You Can Trust

While the emphasis on trust should be weighted toward your employees and customers, your technology investments are a through-line that – when executed well – can help you build that trust. Today’s digital landscape is exciting in the sense that it is more sophisticated and intelligent than ever, but also overwhelming in that it is more complex.

The key to building a digital ecosystem you can trust is to focus on minimizing that complexity. As the Deloitte article states, one important aspect is a strong foundation. The article says, “Build a strong data foundation. Without methodically and consistently tracking what data you have, where it lives, and who can access it, you cannot create an environment of trust. A strong data foundation unifies stakeholders around a single vision of data accountability and delivers on secure technology that supports effective data management.”

Consider business needs and don’t be distracted by what’s “cool” simply because it’s cool. Be cognizant of failure points – streamlining as much as you can into a single platform helps to keep the employee and customer experience smooth and data integrity high. Start with solid execution of core elements, and only then look for opportunities to add more sophistication and automation. And get feedback as you go! Asking your employees and your customers for their input is a great way to strengthen trust (as long as they see their insights put to use). You can find some more great advice from our recent podcast guest Dr. Haroon Abbu, VP of Digital, Data, and Analytics at Bell and Howell who, in 2021, co-authored the book TRUST: The Winning Formula for Digital Leaders – A Practical Guide for Companies Engaged in Digital Transformation.

What Drives Trust?

If you’re wondering what drives trust, I’d start with reflecting on what drives trust for you. What helps you to trust an organization – or even an individual? Are those concepts reflected in your company culture, your customer relationships, and your partnerships with technology providers?

For some external perspective, PwC reported in its Trust in Business Survey what respondents said were the top drivers of trust in company (asked of both employees and consumers). The top six responses were:

Accountable to customers and employees – 50%
Clear communications – 48%
Admits to mistakes – 40%
Delivers consistent customer experience – 39%
Appropriate employee compensation – 32%
Protects customer and employee data – 29%

Each of these characteristics sound simple at face value but have varying degrees of complexity when it comes to the realities of execution. No matter the effort it takes, though, prioritizing trust is key to accomplishing the objectives we have in digital and business transformation.

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When Will the Burnout Bubble Burst?

January 17, 2022 | 7 Mins Read

When Will the Burnout Bubble Burst?

By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

The timing of this article *might* be related to my own burnout – my family had Covid around the New Year, and with the kids just back to school and my husband’s recovery moving slowly, it’s been an incredibly taxing few weeks. Of course, I am grateful my kids had very few symptoms and recovered well – and I know that while my husband is having a hard time feeling like himself, we are so fortunate none of us had any critical symptoms. Gratitude can coexist with stress, exhaustion, and anxiety, though – and the last few weeks have been a mix of it all.

However, I’m not writing this solely as a cathartic expression of my own struggles. This topic was already on my mind after having a conversation at the end of last year with a business leader who confided in me about his own burnout. We had an open discussion around how the stress of leading a company through the challenges of the last two years has begun boiling over into his own mental health.

This leader is responsible for setting standards that impact an entire company’s health and well-being. He’s bearing the weight of supporting his team’s mental health while also trying to preserve his own. He’s finding himself facing some complex emotions about significant differences in belief systems, including his own, and how to continue to keep peace among not only the employees of the company but with the customers they serve.

Burnout Impacts Everyone, From Leadership to The Frontline

Then you think about those on the frontlines. We read a lot in headlines about the doctors and nurses experiencing unimaginable stress in persisting through immense risk to their own safety and wellbeing to care for the masses. Teachers and childcare providers who, already underpaid, have now been shouldered with the responsibility of navigating angry parents, disrupted children, and a choice between putting themselves at risk or losing their livelihood.

But, as we know, healthcare and education aren’t our only frontline workers. Those providing services share many of the same burdens, often without the same levels of recognition. They must continue to show up for work, even if they fear for their or their families’ lives. They may find themselves in situations with customers where they feel unsafe or confronted by opposing beliefs. They may be in the impossible position of having children who are unable to attend school or childcare without a support system to offer help.

As I was thinking about writing this, I took to social media to see what others were saying.

On Twitter, Shep Hyken (@Hyken) said, “It is important for every employee who has any contact with a customer to realize that at any given time, they represent the company. They are the brand, the image – they are everything about the company.” This is a lot of pressure given the circumstances of the last two years.

Ron Ruggiero (@RonRuggiero105) says, “This is NOT a pandemic of the unvaccinated. It’s a pandemic of the working class. Had to: work with no PPE, laid off or hours cut, can’t work from the safety of home, get sick without paid sick time, burnout, called “heroes” without being treated like one, yelled at, and then deaths.” Reading these words, I feel so much compassion for what those in the service industries have faced while I’ve remained in my home office.

Women Are at Increased Risk of Burnout

We must also acknowledge the momentous impact Covid has had on women, especially working mothers. According to McKinsey & Company: “The pandemic had a near-immediate effect on women’s employment. One in four women are considering leaving the workforce or downshifting their careers versus one in five men. While all women have been impacted, three major groups have experienced some of the largest challenges: working mothers, women in senior management positions, and Black women. This disparity came across as particularly stark with parents of kids under ten: the rate at which women in this group were considering leaving was ten percentage points higher than for men. And women in heterosexual dual-career couples who have children also reported larger increases in their time spent on household responsibilities since the pandemic began.”

I can tell you as a working mom myself, the juggling act has often felt nearly impossible – and I am fortunate to be working from home, employed by a very supportive company, and have help.

Even pre-pandemic, the World Health Organization had classified burnout as an “occupational phenomenon,” characterized by three factors:

feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job;
and reduced professional efficacy.

At the time of this article, it was stated that “The WHO plans to develop “evidence-based” guidelines for mental well-being in the workplace. Its member nations are set to implement the revisions to the International Classification of Diseases by 2022.” I don’t envy that task with the impact the weight of the pandemic has had.

How Do We Address the Burnout Bubble?

So, what do we do? A loaded question, for sure. And there’s both an individual and organizational responsibility here. As individuals, we have to prioritize and advocate for our needs and what will protect our mental health. While this looks different for everyone, commonly helpful practices like therapy, meditation, and exercise are certainly worth evaluating.

But an individual, particularly one who has the professional weight of an essential worker and/or a lack of support system, cannot be singularly responsible for alleviating burnout. There is a responsibility among employers to get a better handle on the reality, severity, and criticality of this issue. And you can’t afford not to – we are at a point where companies across roles, across industries, and across geographies are struggling to hire and retain talent – to the point in some scenarios that businesses are forced to reduce operating hours and even close. This is telling us it is time to look at the topic of burnout and mental health differently.

Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) says, “The Great Resignation is really a Great Re-evaluation. What people are resigning from is a culture of burnout and a broken definition of success. In quitting their jobs, people are affirming their longing for a different way of working and living.”

I continued my search to see what recommendations I could find for how to give this issue the attention it deserves and take real steps to change our current reality (rather than simply paying it lip service). Here’s some of what I found:

Numerous comments expressing the benefit of a simple start with a genuine willingness to address burnout and transparent communication with your employees about the topic, their current mental state, and what they need from you
A move away from the “productivity-at-all-cost” mentality to one that honors the need for downtime. Some comments on social pointed out that asking employees to prioritize more time off yet only allowing two weeks of vacation is not only laughable but resentment-inducing. It’s time to consider allowing more personal time – while unlimited time off may not be possible for workers in frontline roles, sorting out what higher degrees of rest is possible is essential
Don’t insult your workforce’s intelligence. As F. Jordan Carnice (@thebullgrog_) says, “Still puzzled that most companies’ responses to employee anxiety, burnout, and fatigue is another webinar on anxiety, burnout, and fatigue.”
Determine how you’ll measure burnout and whether the actions you take to improve it are working. STAT (@statnews) shared an opinion column on Twitter by Jan Muir, PhD, RN that suggest “Hospitals must track nurse burnout the same way they keep tabs on infections, errors, and falls, and give nurses higher pay and greater agency to make them feel seen, valued, and invested in.” Considering how we track this issue to ensure it gets the attention it deserves and the improvement it needs is a worthy goal for those outside of nursing, too.
Consider the concept of “cultivating endurance.” I can’t take credit for this term, which I love. This article from Entrepreneur discusses the idea of “cultivating endurance,” and emphasizes the impact on productivity when you balance intent output with periods of regeneration. Read the full piece for five steps to take.
Prioritize Inspiration and Empowerment. In this article, author Celia Willis talks about the idea of coming back from burnout by breaking out of a constant state of reflecting on the past two years and focusing on reigniting the energy of her team. She shares her tactical steps to address burnout, which are worth the read.

While I don’t have all of the answers and can’t any offer quick fix for breaking out of burnout, I do know this topic demands more of our attention. I would like to see the burnout bubble slowly deflate rather than burst, and that will require some real effort. If you have any advice you’d like to share on how you’re battling burnout yourself or addressing this issue within your organization, I’d love to hear from you!

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If We Don’t Master First-Time Fix in 2022, We Never Will

January 10, 2022 | 3 Mins Read

If We Don’t Master First-Time Fix in 2022, We Never Will

By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

To reframe my headline into a more positive statement: I believe 2022 will be the year we master first-time fix. Why? It simply has to be! Those of you who follow my content know that change management is a topic I will rant about. Well, first-time fix is coming in at a close second.

You’ve heard the saying, “In the age of information, ignorance is a choice.” I feel the same about first-time fix. In the age of information, failure of first-time fix is simply unacceptable. There are too many tools at your disposal to not dig in and seize the opportunity to succeed in an initial visit. Now I’m not suggesting any organization have a goal of 100 percent first-time fix; perfection is never a reasonable objective. However, I do believe that those who really struggle with first-time fix – at this point – have no excuse and are missing the mark of what service today means.

If you consider the far-reaching, negative impact of repeat visits, it is a service standard that demands more of our attention. You have the cost of not one, but two (or more) truck rolls. You have your technician’s time, which in the current climate of labor shortages and talent gaps is even more golden. And besides their time, how do you think failure to fix impacts employee experience? Put yourself in the shoes of a frontline worker who is on-site with a customer, often already frustrated, and must communicate their inability to get the job done.

And we haven’t even touched on customer satisfaction yet. In a time where outcomes are demanded, the frustration that surfaces when a repeat visit is needed is not only immense but can be reason alone for that customer to seek service elsewhere. Because accepting subpar service isn’t a luxury your customers are willing to afford you – not when many of your competitors have leveraged the tools at their disposal to not only master first-time fix, but to evolve service delivery and expand service offerings in ways those struggling with first-time fix likely haven’t even thought of.

As we continue down the path of As-a-Service and outcomes-based offerings, failure at first-time fix will not only impact you in the often-mentioned ways; it will erode your profits and diminish your reputation. To maintain competitive advantage, you must realize that something like first-time fix is table stakes in today’s service landscape.

Predict & Prevent

Quite frankly, on-site service shouldn’t be your first line of defense. Leading organizations are adopting technologies like IoT and augmented reality that allow them to predict and even prevent issues that would previously require on-site attention. When issues do occur, remote resolution is becoming more and more common – and expected among customers.

Prepare

When an issue does require on-site attention, you should have the ability to know in advance what your technician will encounter on-site so that you can prepare accordingly. This means matching technician skills and assessing urgency, ensuring the availability of parts that may be needed, and using modern communication methods so that customers have a reasonable service window and have validated their availability and confirmed the appointment.

Persist

Even with proper preparation, your technician may run into an issue he or she needs help with on-site. They should be properly equipped with customer history, access to a variety of documentation and assistance resources, and should be able to rely on technology like remote assistance if collaboration is necessary.

So, let’s make 2022 the year we resolve to master first-time fix and shift our attention to more strategic focus areas and innovation. Pretty please?

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