Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/1336129
www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse 35 can tell you what it needs or are there opportunities to create an anonymous feedback loop so you can better learn how to support the team? Realize that people can't be what they can't see After months of research, writing, profiling senior women in leadership positions, transcribing interviews, commis- sioning countless photo shoots and devel- Perhaps we could all do a better job of showing our team that it's OK to be human at work. That it's possible to be yourself, open, honest, and transparent and still be liked, respected, and rewarded oping content, some interesting things started to happen. I started to receive emails from people, saying our stories had helped to shine a light on an issue that was pertinent to them. I received phone calls from people in tears, saying they'd faced similar adversity and for the first time they didn't feel alone. People told me they felt heard and that the series showed them what was possible. I realized countless men and women, from A recruitment expert and the founder and director of Agency Iceberg, Anna O'Dea has placed thousands of employees in the best workplaces. O'Dea is also the founder of #LeadingLadies, an award-winning interview series featuring C-suite professionals' career journeys. Follow her on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/ in/annaodea. junior professionals to executives, were seeing themselves in these stories, and that was changing people's perceptions of themselves. It made me realize that perhaps we could all do a better job of showing our team that it's OK to be human at work; that it's possible to be yourself, open, honest and transparent and still be liked, respected and rewarded. Workplaces with greater diversity deliver higher returns. Could you do a better job of more accurately reflecting the diverse range of opinions and influences that no doubt exist in your business? Are decisions reflective of what's important to the wider team or just a select few? When it gets uncomfortable, think of what others will learn from you When I told people I was going to invest so heavily in content, not everyone loved the idea. I was told I was nuts. It wouldn't generate ROI. Interestingly, and perhaps more reflective of my industry, I was also told to be careful about what I had to say. When you do something new, you bend, you grow and sometimes you fall over. You might even fail. But if you don't do that new, scary thing, you'll be exactly what other people expect of you and no further away from those doing the same things. If you really want to be competitive and attract and keep the best talent, ask yourself this: Are we communicating our initiatives internally and externally to let people know there are great workplaces like ours out there? And if we aren't, is there a reason for that?