Tag Archives: US

5 tips for leading IT remotely

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By Bob Violino

With WFH and hybrid workplace strategies stretching into 2021, IT leaders must settle in to new work habits to ensure success in leading IT from afar.

Many people have had to adapt to working from home and other remote locations — at least part of the time — in the hybrid workplace that’s emerging because of the pandemic. That includes CIOs and other IT executives.

Whether executives are working remotely for one or more days per week or full time, leading IT has change significantly — and perhaps permanently.

The new working model affects many facets of management, including developing IT strategies, maintaining culture, driving change, and collaborating with business colleagues. The situation presents challenges, but it also offers growth opportunities for technology leaders.

Here are some suggestions from home-working IT leaders on how to make the most of the new environment.

Continue reading →

How to work with every damn Myers-Briggs personality type

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by Jonathan Thompson

We got experts to weigh-in on how classic personality traits translate to remote work.

The shift to remote work has given many of us a new perspective on how we do our jobs. Without the context of a shared workspace or the rhythm of a typical office day, our own personalities are having far more of a say in our performance.

It follows, then, that the best way to maximize our output in a WFH environment is to better know our personalities – and those of our dispersed colleagues.

An efficient (and intriguing) way to manage this personality wrangling is via the tried-and-tested Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Generally regarded as one of the most accurate personality tests out there, the MBTI is widely applied within the business world, with 89 of the Fortune 100 companies utilising it.

“The MBTI is deceptively simple, but it’s also an extremely useful way to see how team members are inherently different, and how you can work together more successfully,” says occupational psychologist John Hackston, Head of Thought Leadership at the Myers-Briggs Company. “It’s a means to boost productivity in people, increasing their engagement and making them generally happier in their work.”

In other words, the MBTI might just be the key to turning your remote team into a smooth autonomous unit.

The 16 personality types and their traits

Based on Carl Jung’s Theory of Psychological Types, the MBTI is a self-reported personality survey that has been around in various shapes and forms since the 1940s. Respondents answer a series of simple questions about their feelings and preferences, eventually aligning with one of 16 personality types.

Each of these types is identified by four letters, starting with an E or an I (for extrovert/introvert) followed by S or N (sensibility/intuition), T or F (thinking/feeling), and finally a J or a P (judgment/perception). Each type also has a descriptor, e.g., “the analyst,” to further characterize the personality type in action.

Once you know your team members’ types, the thinking goes, you can better assign them to projects which match their preferences, proficiency, and proclivities. You can also communicate more effectively if you have a better idea of how people process information.

To get started, take the official Myers-Briggs test here (or try a similar free questionnaire, recommended by psychologists here), then check out our expert guidance below on how to work with each personality type. Continue reading →

12 Leadership Lessons from DocuSign CEO Dan Springer

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by Jason Nazar

In Comparably’s ongoing series in partnership with Entrepreneur, If I Knew Then: Leadership Lessons, I host virtual fireside chats with high-profile CEOs of major brands from, Nextdoor and Blue Apron, to Waze and Warby Parker. As the host, I ask talented leaders to share some of the valuable lessons and practical career advice they learned during their career trajectory. These rare, candid insights into the lives of remarkable catalysts for success in the business world are accessible as a resource of inspiration for current and future entrepreneurs and are not to be missed. When CEOs get transparent, you can’t help but lean in.

For the latest episode, I sat down with Dan Springer, CEO of DocuSign, who leads thousands of employees globally, allowing DocuSign to modernize organizations by making every agreement 100 percent digital. Driving innovation and growth in technology and the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industry exemplifies Springer’s executive leadership and experience for the past 25 years. Prior to DocuSign, the Harvard MBA graduate served as chairman and CEO at Responsys for a decade, where he revolutionized and grew the business from a private startup to a leading cross-channel global marketing automation platform — resulting in Oracle’s $1.6 billion purchase of Responsys in 2013.

As a veteran of Silicon Valley, Springer holds honors as both the Bay Area’s Most Admired CEO and Best CEO. He is also a 2020 recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award, sharing this accolade alongside top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, as well as San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick, for his leadership on social change during these trying times. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bono, and the late Representative John Lewis have also received this award, catapulting Springer into the company of greatness.

Among other topics, this conversation covers Springer’s origin story — from “winning the ovarian lottery” to attending the famous Lakeside High School with alumni such as Bill Gates and Paul Allen — laying the foundation for his early life before becoming a serial entrepreneur. Here are the 12 essential takeaways from our chat:

1. Successful business leaders don’t all come from the same mold 

Everyone has a different background and path in life; use that to propel you forward. Springer shares that he grew up with a single mom in an affluent suburb, which might have given him a chip on his shoulder in the early part of his career at McKinsey. However, he turned that initial insecurity into something positive by excelling and overachieving. Continue reading →

Managing the COVID stress crisis with finesse, compassion

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By: Tracey Ferstler

With the pandemic causing new anxieties, employers need to rethink their benefits to provide a better mix of tools for managing stress, burnout and depression.

Everyone faces stress in their life, but the ripple effect of COVID-19 has caused new sources of financial, social and physical stress that go far beyond the norm. These stressors are lasting and pervasive, piling up to the point where they pose a significant threat to employee well being if left ignored.

According to a new MetLife mental health study, employees say that their top stressors are financial issues (81%), job insecurity (77%), fear of catching the virus (60%) and social distancing (47%), followed by concerns about the presidential election, social justice issues and not having access to healthcare because of COVID-19. On top of this, separation of work/home life is increasingly blurring, especially for parents trying to juggle children at home.

Never before have employees had to cope with so much at one time, and never before have benefits programs been tested across the spectrum of holistic health, including physical, financial, mental and social health. Per the study, nine in 10 employers say their organization is not completely ready for a mental health crisis, although one in five say the United States is in crisis right now.

This is the perfect opportunity for employers to rethink their benefits approach to provide a better mix of tools for managing stress, burnout and depression. This will not only help employees become more resilient and productive, but will also improve long-term business recovery.

Start with understanding key stressors

Anxiety is at an all-time high, with 5.5 million employees saying they no longer feel mentally healthy and 38% of adults reporting symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorders, an increase of 27% since 2019 (pre-pandemic). In addition, 41% of employees say they feel stressed, burned out or depressed at work on a regular basis.

Financial stress is the No. 1 driver of overall mental health stress, up 29% since 2019. The biggest sources of financial stress rest in concerns about long-term savings and medical bills/expenses followed by fears about stock market volatility and retirement plans.

These concerns, combined with all the other top stressors listed above, are creating a workforce at the tipping point. This is compounded by the fact that not everyone can “self-diagnose” the warning signs of mental health. When asked, employees don’t always think they have a problem but say they have specific symptoms. Most employees report at least five key signs of burnout—such as feeling emotionally and physically drained—and at least five signs of depression, such as feeling tired, hopeless or unable to sleep.

Next, create an environment of support

As they plan for business recovery, 76% of employers say resilience is very important. Compared to least-resilient employees, those who are most resilient have better mental health, are more likely to be holistically well, and are less likely to be burned out or stressed.

To help return employees to good health, benefits plans should try to span every area of holistic health since financial, mental, physical and social health are interrelated. Organizational support tools can include effective tools like employee assistance programs that offer everything from financial consultations; to counseling for stress management, work/life and substance abuse; to childcare and legal support. Employees with EAP access show 17% more resilience than employees without EAPs.

Insurance programs (like life, disability, hospital indemnity, critical illness) may also help employees boost financial security.

It is one thing to offer the right mix of tools, yet quite another to create an open culture that makes mental health a priority. This culture also should build awareness about available resources, educate employees about the warning signs and remove the stigma of asking for help.

The ability of employers to manage the looming mental health crisis with finesse and compassion can only help drive loyalty, productivity and long-term success.

Source: Human Resource Executive

VP BPO Sales – Life Sciences

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Responsibilities

This role is responsible for ensuring growth and profitability of the new logo accounts that they win, effectively handhold and manage client relationships at the appropriate level, and facilitate delivery in the account set up stage.

The Sales Executive (hunter) is also responsible for achieving the assigned annual revenue quota from new client’s they win by actively managing the won accounts and managing revenue targets assigned.

Additional responsibilities include:

  • Develop specific sales plans for each won account so they can maintain business and where possible increase the sales volume
  • Target Life Science based client industries to sell full set of BPO and Transformational Services
  • Work to increase revenue by identifying additional products to complement what is currently sold to the existing customer base of won accounts
  • Drive to generate growth through new account penetration and referral and direct efforts towards building sales
  • Translate clients’ strategic requirements into enabled solutions to improve their business results
  • Work with others to achieve better results and forge close working relationships and alliances in order to get things done internally for the client
  • Need to have experience of handling multiple accounts
  • Be required to work with the Prospective/New Client Team to achieve revenue growth and profitability targets
  • Position as a strategic partner, trusted advisor and value-creator to clients
  • Stay on top of information needed by prospective customers in an effort to serve as a resource
  • Demonstrate patience and a willingness to repeat or reinforce ideas and information until the customer understands
  • Seek to provide an appropriate solution by understanding what the customer is trying to accomplish
  • Change the sales approach or solution to accommodate the customer versus force fit the customer to an existing model
  • Understand the financial impact of developments on the industry and company
  • Orchestrate services into solutions that meet client’s business objectives, while delivering measurable results
  • Drive the creation and execution of new account plans
  • Work closely with Delivery teams to meet and exceed client expectations, and resolve relationship and/or operations issues in a timely manner for new clients
  • Collaborate with other CEs, Delivery Leaders and Leaders to grow the overall portfolio
  • Participate in client visits, industry events, trade shows, conferences and/or other marketing events as necessary

Qualifications

  • Effectively and proactively managed client’s expectations, built deep client partnerships, and developed excellent communication and executive presence to connect at all levels in the organization.
  • Experience in mining long term complex multi-million dollar accounts, services or solutions and adding new accounts.
  • Ability to communicate confidently at the C-level to build meaningful internal and external relationships.
  • Broad functional knowledge within the sector and able to connect with a variety of executive level stakeholders
  • Strong BPO sales process and operations skills (pipeline management, forecasting, budgeting, etc.)
  • Strategically minded and able to create a consultative and solution-minded sales environment.
  • A forward & innovative thinker constantly focused on shaping the organization to meet and anticipate both near and long-term business issues
  • Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural global environment.

Key elements for the role:

  • Ability to multi-task
  • Cross Sell ability
  • Ability to work with multiple stakeholders
  • Persuasive skills
  • People management and leadership skills
  • Industry focus approach
  • Relationship management
  • Dedicated to achieving business results
  • Be a thought-leader

Location: Northeast US

If you would like to explore this opportunity or know someone who might, please let me know.

Larry Janis, Managing Partner I Integrated Search Solutions Group

P-516-767-3030 I Email: janis@issg.net

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