Frontline Innovators

In this episode, host Justin Lake sits down with Heather Brizzi, IT Director of Generative AI Initiatives at a Wholesale Building Materials company.   Heather shares her insights on the transformative power of AI and its impact on both frontline and knowledge worker roles. With a career dedicated to integrating technology with process enablement, Heather's expertise provides valuable perspectives on the evolving landscape of work.   "So whether it's software technology, whether it's automation technology, this is where, you know, for me, we have the opportunity to be able to meet people right where they are and identify 'How do we get better at the way that we work?'"   Key Points to Listen For: AI and Job Transformation: Heather discusses the impact of technology on job roles, emphasizing that the way we work today will not be the way we work tomorrow due to advancements in AI and robotics. Collaboration and Innovation: Heather highlights the importance of collaboration in solving problems and driving innovation, even across different industries and job roles. Human and AI Coexistence: The conversation delves into how humans and AI can coexist, with technology serving people rather than replacing them. Heather introduces the concept of "cobots," which work alongside humans to enhance productivity. Overcoming Resistance to Change: Heather addresses the resistance and fear that workers often feel towards technological advancements, and how understanding and upskilling can mitigate these concerns. Future Skills and Workforce: Heather talks about the skills that will remain crucial in the future workforce and the importance of continuous learning and adaptation to stay relevant in a rapidly changing technological landscape.   Tune in to this enlightening episode to gain a deeper understanding of how AI is shaping the future of work and what it means for both frontline and knowledge workers.   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-brizzi/ Youtube - https://youtu.be/GACHs9CeZjM Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com

This week we have Justin Eubanks, Learning & Development Manager at Great Day Improvements on the Frontline Innovators podcast with host Justin Lake. Justin is a developmental strategist with extensive experience using LEAN methodologies to engage, attract, and retain the frontline workforce in a variety of ways at Great Day Improvements.    Quote: "I asked them how, how do you measure culture and how do you measure learning? You know and the answer I got was, it takes years to collect that data and you can't engage in something like this and expect six months from now everyone to be highly engaged, highly motivated, and want to stay here.  That's not how that works. What we have noticed is that the engagement has gone up and the more people that know about it, then the more people want to talk about it, engage, and ask questions."   Key Takeaways: ➖ Aligning change management throughout the company is key ➖ Let the frontline know that change is not a threat - it is a motivational factor for you to excel ➖ Creating change agents on the frontline is beneficial to increase engagement and adoption ➖ You need to have a people-first mentality and culture ➖ You have to have continuous learning for manufacturing environments to succeed   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justineubanks/ Company Website: https://greatdayimprovements.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music -  https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast -  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify -  https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher -  https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play -  https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/yXGQO7jJVuk   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com  

This week on the Frontline Innovators host Justin Lake speaks with Jerry Ryan, Senior Solution Principal at Dell Technologies. Jerry has over thirty-five years of information technology, management, and overall business experience including IT Management, IT Project/Program/End User experience primarily around Microsoft Technologies. He is currently responsible for services pre-sales activities to DoD entities including the U.S. Air Force and Navy.   Quote: "How are you doing things now? How are you deploying? How are you getting applications to people? How are you training them? And then we go, OK, in the middle is the transformative piece. So this is how we're going to transform everything. Oh, and here's the "to be".  Here's what it's going to look like when we're done, and here's how you're going to save money by transforming everything from the way you're doing it here to the way you're doing it. And when you can show that to a customer, that usually gets them pretty well motivated."   Key Takeaways: ➖ It's important to put together a smart lifecycle plan for your frontline  ➖ Training your frontline has to be at the forefront in choosing the right device ➖ The more times you touch an asset as you're deploying it, there's more room for error  ➖ It's vital to understand how long it takes to procure devices for your frontline and how quickly they can get their essential apps  ➖ There are user experience implications when software is not up-to-date for the frontline   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerry-ryan-8587042/ Company Website: http://www.delltechnologies.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music -  https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast -  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify -  https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS titcher -  https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play -  https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/qJhMa9O1oTM   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com  

This week on the Frontline Innovators we're speaking with Don Jacobson, IT Business Partner for Innovation @ City of Las Vegas Don brings 23 years of experience in municipal government with enterprise-wide initiatives, and he supports the city's many initiatives to become a model Smart City as well as the visioning for its Innovation District and associated programs and projects.   Quote: "A key factor in digital adoption is understanding the benefits to every party whether it be the public, the citizen, the resident, the tourist, the business owner or internally whether you're executive or you're the person that's out in the field. Everybody needs to understand and appreciate the benefits. Reception is better if workers know how adopting technology will help them be more successful at their job."   Key Takeaways: ➖ Lack of recognition creates added stress for the frontline  ➖ Anytime an organization grows, there's going to be potential for breakdown in communication ➖ Your frontline needs to know that their actions are contributing to a better community/public ➖ Technology ambassadors will help shift your organization's culture for the better  ➖ You need to give your frontline ample practice to adopt their new technology   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/don-jacobson-6050ab9/ Company Website: https://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/     Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music -  https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast -  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify -  https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher -  https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play -  https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/JmG8rnpCsxk   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com

This week on the Frontline Innovators we welcome Julie Whitten, Sr. Director Change Management Strategy @ Sodexo. Julie has more than 25 years of experience in change leadership, marketing, and communications.   Julie is an empathetic leader who serves as an advisor to senior leaders and is a resourceful and creative problem-solver who drives business results with her strategic planning, organizational change management, and communications expertise.   Quote: "Maybe it's something that's coming down globally, maybe it's a structural reorganization type of change, You know that we kind of have to catch, receive and move forward with and we try to do that, you know, in the best way that we can with the people in mind. But most times, you know, whether it's a process change or a technology change, we have the opportunity to co-create that change together."   Key Takeaways: ➖ Everyone on the frontline has a different perspective ➖ At the end of the day - the frontline just wants to be included ➖ We often underestimate the amount of socialization needed for a change to go well ➖ You need to love your resistors, listen, understand, and validate ➖ We all go through an emotional journey around change   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliewhitten/ Company Website: https://www.sodexo.com/en   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/vuF5cF9By_I   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com  

This week on the Frontline Innovators we have Nea Christensen, Director IT @ ProAmpac | PMP, Process Improvement.   Nea has over 10 years of experience in providing executive-level information systems and technology leadership, leading innovative strategies and solutions-driven teams that drive business performance and efficiencies.   Nea oversees a portfolio of projects valued at $1.5 million and manages the PMO, Policy, and Documentation functions for the IT department.       Quote: "So one of the things that we do in continuous improvement is called 5 whys. And with it you go through and you say what problem that you have and then you say, well, why is that a problem? And then you answer it and you say, well, why is that a problem? And you want to keep kind of pushing to the point of actually finding what the problem is that everybody like, yes, that that's the problem. And then once you have that problem, you want to decide what to do with it."     Key Takeaways: ➖ You can have all the plans in the world, but you still need the humans to do them ➖ Let's solve the problem that we have at hand that we all agree is a problem ➖ Ranking problems helps to give objectivity and see the bigger picture ➖ Gaining trust from other departments will help the rollout be successful     LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/nea-christensen-56130028/ Company Website: https://www.proampac.com/en-us/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music -  https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast -  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify -  https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher -  https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play -  https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/XRyHrHPoin4   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com

This week on the Frontline Innovators we have Bill Padula, Executive VP of Strategic Consulting @ Evora IT Solutions.    Bill brings over two decades of experience and a wealth of knowledge varying from enterprise mobility, to consulting large-scale IT deployment initiatives. We're excited to dig into his knowledge!     Quote: "To me the biggest challenge facing the workforce is that the providers and the the implementers don't always fully appreciate or understand the environment that the frontline works in or the mentality of the worker. The frontline's focus is on installing equipment, repairing the broken machine, putting a pipe in the grounds, whatever it is they're wrench turning work. The mobile application that they use is just a tool that they have to have to do their job. But they don't really understand the technology behind it. They don't want to understand the technology. It's not that they can't, it's just their focus is on doing the job that they're going out to do and the app, device, and technology is really secondary."     Key Takeaways: ➖ A lot of the providers — big players just seem to not understand the frontline ➖ Don't just design a pretty app for an award - you have to make sure it's practical and functional ➖ The most distributed worker often represents the majority of your user population ➖ No user in the world wants to have to figure out five different ways to do something in a workflow ➖ It's always best when users can train on their device     LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billpadula/ Company Website:  https://www.evorait.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music -  https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast -  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify -  https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher -  https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play -  https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/wzgovyDeXnU   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com  

This week on the Frontline Innovators we have a special guest from Alaska.

This week on the Frontline Innovators we have two guests! ✌   Jennifer Martindale is the Director of Organizational Change Management at J.R. Simplot Company. She helps people move forward through transformation management strategies that create buy-in, transition mindsets, change cultures, challenge assumptions, improve processes, and implement solutions that stick. Stacy Gibbons is a clinical licensed mental health counselor who brings a great perspective on the people side of change and how to stay curious with their response.   Quote: "It's about preparing for change. If folks are not prepared for change, then you get to deal with the negative consequences. You don't get to opt out of that. You don't get to say, you know what, we are too busy."   Key Takeaways: ➖ One size fits all approach does not work for OCM ➖ Your leaders need to have the right tools to support the frontline ➖ Understand the change trigger the frontline is facing ➖ OCM is all about preparing folks for sustainable change ➖ Communicate to the frontline that the tech will improve their job not take it away   Jennifer's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-martindale-45b7b88b/ Jennifer's Company Website: https://www.simplot.com/ Stacy's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacy-gibbons-44a422183/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/ZIkTnrC9jsw   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com/  

This week on the Frontline Innovators we have a guest in aviation. Alexis Green is a Field Service Manager at Delta Airlines. She has vast experience in the frontline, having been a flight attendant for years before moving into her current role. ✈   She expands on the need to build a rapport with your frontline especially "above the wing" — where you will likely have a new set of co-workers each flight.    Quote: "I know that when I was a frontline employee, receiving recognition from my leader is really what made me like want to kind of step up my game, made me want to enhance my performance because I felt like my good deeds were not going unnoticed."     Key Takeaways: ➖ Constantly having a new set of co-workers each flight can lead to lapses in compliance ➖ Complying with industry standards is of utmost priority ➖ Be leader that you needed when you first started ➖ Flight attendants do so much more than providing food & drink on flights ➖ Technology changes are harder the older you are     LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexisbgreen/ Company Website:  https://www.delta.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music -  https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast -  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify -  https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher -  https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play -  https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/IjxBA4hMetI   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com

This week on the Frontline Innovators we have a special guest who happens to be a Skyllful customer, Gary Brown, EAM Manager at Denbury, Inc. Gary has a wealth of experience being on the frontline and now is on the operations side. Listen to Part 1 of the conversation here.   Quote: "What's the most important asset at Denbury? I just wait for somebody to talk about that one big plant we got, or that highest-producing well and I'm just chomping at the bit - hoping they're going to say it. So, I can answer "the people." That's the bottom line."   Key Takeaways: ➖ Allow the frontline to learn without the consequences ➖ The end goal is for users to become proficient in the enterprise tech ➖ There's a big difference between using and adopting technology ➖ Communicate early and often about what changes are happening ➖ Don't roll out tech without a support infrastructure   LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-brown-860384a4/ Company Website:  https://www.denbury.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music -  https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast -  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify -  https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher -  https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play -  https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/LkLuFGYs79c   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com

This week on the Frontline Innovators we have a special guest who happens to be a Skyllful customer, Gary Brown, EAM Manager at Denbury, Inc. Gary has a wealth of experience being on the frontline and now is on the operations side. Listen to Part 1 of the conversation and stay tuned for Part 2 next week.   Quote: "Any way you can reduce the frontline's risk of feeling like they're going to get a bad grade, bad performance review, whatever you want to call it. When you reduce that risk, it empowers them to be a little more confident and be a little more adaptable to change."   Key Takeaways: ➖ Your training should take away the excuses ➖ Your frontline leaders may be the ones that oppose the change most ➖ Frontline tech is drastically different than regular tech - far more stress-inducing ➖ Reduce the risk of fear and your frontline will feel empowered ➖ Giving your frontline a place to practice without fear is understated   LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-brown-860384a4/ Company Website:  https://www.denbury.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music -  https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast -  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify -  https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher -  https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play -  https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube -  https://youtu.be/iRj2pOgA3k4   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com

Today's guest is a retired military pilot of 20 years turned change management professional - Sean McCarthy, Director, Change Management Lead at Takeda.  Sean has realized that there are so many parallels between the change that happens in the military world versus the civilian world and thinks there is much more we can do to help the deskless workforce adopt the changes.    Quote: "You can have the best technology in the world. If you can't use it as a community, as a business, let's face it, the military and that team together are using that technology to not just use it as one person, it's the whole community that's using it together to leverage and make everyone better. So, if you've got a frontline worker who's using the best technology but doesn't get how it's connected and everything else, then they're lost. They're not adding any additional value."   Here are a few key takeaways from the episode: ➖ Ask yourself: how can I use these technologies to be more productive, not just to gather more data? ➖ Usage is just getting people to log in, but adoption is actually integrating it into their workflows ➖ User Acceptance Testing is so valuable ➖ Understanding the gap between success and failure   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-mccarthy-9515b53b/ Company Website: https://www.takeda.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/IJdSRmWM11w   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com

Today's guest has a passion for leading people, change management, and driving and evangelizing programs. Welcome Kayla Thorpe, Senior Manager of Professional Services at Softchoice. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated excellence in program and project management, technology implementations, employee experience, and end-user productivity.   Quote: "What I find when you're meeting with people is humans are humans, people are people. I can throw those numbers at people and sometimes they stick. Sometimes it resonates with folks. So I actually, instead of even bothering trying to quantify with data the value that adoption or change projects bring to any implementation or any change, whether it's technical or otherwise, rather than trying to give numbers and give data, I usually approach it from the human and the people perspective and I start to ask creative questions."   Here are a few nuggets of wisdom from her episode

This week's guest is Dave Rozelle, Senior Manager Learning Development at Take 5 Oil Change.  Dave brings many years of management and supervisory experience supported by decades of computer and communications technology experience. Dave has developed new software products and is a strategic thinker and team builder.    Quote: "It's a primary goal of what I'm doing with like our employee feedback surveys, is not to make the frontline feel better or to solve every possible complaint, but establish a level of comfort that you're willing to speak up. If you don't speak up and express a concern, it will never be resolved and without that level of confidence in the company from the frontline, you're just shooting in the dark."   Key Takeaways: ➖ Give clarity to your frontline above all else ➖ Culture is not what you want it to be but, the sum of people that exist in the organization today ➖ Even though everything you're saying/doing from the top is in line, your reality at the front line is not the same ➖ You've got to be able to close the feedback loop and come full circle ➖ You need to be able to establish a level of comfort that your frontline is willing to speak up   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daverozelle/ Company Website: https://www.take5.com/oil-change/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/LZWm_hd6m8w   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at https://www.frontlineinnovators.com

This week's guest is Gail Norris, US Lead, SITRAIN Digital Industries Learning, Digital Industries Division at Siemens Industry Gail is experienced in all aspects of customer and employee learning, performance management and optimizing organizational growth. She has extensive experience with tech support, consulting for contact centers, field service management, and meeting the needs of the frontline worker.   Quote: "I think if you focus on what does work, the biggest one to your point is communication. Making sure you've got that dialogue, making sure you've got the stakeholders engaged, and having an understanding of what the end goal is so that everybody can kind of revolve around the same thing."   Key Takeaways: ➖ Improve the employee experience and connect your people - and you'll retain and motivate them accordingly ➖ Appreciate and respect how different generations need support ➖ Make sure you have the stakeholders engaged and understanding the end goal ➖ We can't lose the human connection    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gailnorris/ Company Website: https://www.siemens.com/us/en.html   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/qRePunV31ns   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at www.frontlineinovators.com

This week's guest is Steve Mason, General Manager - Field Service Management at GPS Insight. Steve has extensive experience with tech support, consulting for contact centers, field service management, and meeting the needs of the frontline worker.   Quote: "You can't achieve a good outcome unless you're creating a great positive environment for your employees because otherwise their frustration that 'they can't deliver good service' is picked up by the customer."   Key Takeaways: ➖ Dark data is an invaluable asset for field service management ➖ Community-based approach to aggregating knowledge from other workers is key to passing the knowledge to other technicians ➖ You can't achieve a good outcome unless you're creating a great positive environment ➖ You need to fix systemic problems faster to go out to site less   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevemason3/ Company Website: https://www.gpsinsight.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/UMTC8VHVctA   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at www.frontlineinovators.com

This week's guest is Cori Chang, Organizational Change Management Sr. Manager at Unisys | Global OCM Team. Cori has over 18 years of experience in helping organizations align strategy and improve performance, and she has expertise in developing and implementing effective Organizational Change Management strategies. She is skilled at working with all levels of management and staff to create innovative and sustainable solutions for the frontline.   Quote: "I think sometimes too, people don't feel like the automation's going to replace them and they'll lose their job. Sometimes that does happen, but I think the greater fear is that the automation is going to be so different that they won't have this capability to learn the new job well and that they'll just opt out and quit or they will, their fears, they'll get fired right, they won't be able to do the job."   Key Takeaways: ➖ Communicating to the frontline is not a cookie-cutter or one size fits all ➖ Leaders should empathize with the frontline worker's fears of automation ➖ Feedback loops are vital in communicating with the frontline ➖ OCM should not be brought in after a project fails - it should be included at the very beginning   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cori-chang-80579233/ Company Website: https://www.unisys.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/Z3MfOubLES8   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at www.frontlineinovators.com

We're excited to be back from our hiatus! This week's guest is Gyner Ozgul, President & Chief Operating Officer @ Smart Care Equipment Solutions.    Gyner has a passion for building successful teams and creating positive experiences, He has achieved significant success and growth in my career over the past 25 years by empowering teams to succeed. He oversees a commercial kitchen services business with exceptional technicians and a support team that serves customers nationwide.   Quote: "Don't wait for a stable process to fail. Step back from it and say, 'Hey, what could that be? If I kind of injected some thought into it, how could I make that better? How could I improve the experience for a frontline worker if I just took that and maybe did it totally differently or it just improved that process?' because if you run the failure, now you're kind of picking up the pieces and it's already too late."   Key Takeaways: ➖ Don't assume that all frontline workforces want to engage tech positively ➖ Knowledge is a currency in the organization ➖ As you get further up in the organization - you must stay accessible to the frontline ➖ Put your team in an environment where they can grow financially and professionally ➖ Don't wait for failure to start something new   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gynerozgul/ Company Website: https://smartcaresolutions.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyXOpIQ6qmg   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at www.frontlineinovators.com

We're excited for this weeks guest - Carl Hefele, the Director of Field Services East @ Idemia.    Carl has extensive experience with field service operations and leads a large team for oversight and leadership for the Eastern half of the United States Service Operations Division.   Quote: "When I work with these people, I'm trying to use all of the experiences and all the headaches of everything I had and all the frustrations, you know? And it's just that all the life experiences, you know, we got to figure out a better way to do this."   Key Takeaways: ➖ Use all of your experiences to help the frontline in a situation ➖ Let the field techs know why you're asking for the data ➖ Learn how to scale knowledge to the frontline ➖ Don't put in garbage data or you'll get garbage reporting   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlhefele/ Company Website: https://www.idemia.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/x9rxny7SbNo   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at www.frontlineinovators.com

Join us for our newest episode with Marie Elliston, Sr. Manager Commercial Sales Learning and Development @ WestRock Company. Marie is a learning and development strategist with 15 years of experience delivering enterprise-wide change and talent management initiatives within the performance and product fields.   Quote: "I'm a big proponent of giving people a play space, whether it's a sandbox, if it's ai, let the people get used to it in a safe environment, rather than just throwing 'em into production and being like, 'Hey, good luck.'"   Key Takeaways: ➖ Kinesthetic learners need time to fail and figure it out themselves ➖ Encourage a continuous improvement loop ➖ You need to pinpoint the issues and assign them ➖ Having a sandbox for them to fail in is invaluable   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-e-4539bb186/ Company Website: https://www.westrock.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/HoMT0G3isNk   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at www.frontlineinovators.com

Join us for a new episode of Frontline Innovators as we talk with Andrew Lorraine, CEO @ Resco. Andrew leads Resco's mission to help mobile workers reach their full potential with technology. His focus is on developing business solutions for the key challenges of our era through authenticity and relationships.   Quote: "So I think the biggest challenge that is impacting mobile workers or frontline workers today is making sure that technology that's dreamt up in the clouds, works on the ground, works in the real world."   A few key takeaways: ➖ You've got to anticipate the challenges and requirements for a project ➖ One size fits all doesn't always work with technology ➖ You need to get a champion from the mobile workforce involved in the design process ➖ Make sure their voice is heard and the change is quick   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewlorraine/ Company Website: https://www.resco.net/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/K7NUzbcDp8I   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at www.frontlineinovators.com

Join us for a new episode of Frontline Innovators as we talk with Chris Bond, CEO @ Bluewater Learning. He has been transforming the Learning and Talent Management field for over 20 years through his leadership, articles, speaking engagements, and consulting services.   If you missed Part 1 with Chris listen here - https://www.frontlineinnovators.com/e/meeting-the-underserved-episode-103-chris-bond-part-1/   This is Part 2 of 2 with Chris Bond as he discusses:   ➖ What is Bluewater Learning & who they serve ➖ The right way to implement tech ➖ Transforming the learning experience & delivery for deskless workers ➖ Picking the right vendor that solves your problems ➖ Getting great measurements to justify your investment   Chris's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophermbond/ Company Website: https://www.bluewaterlearning.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/b32wmO45A20   Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at www.frontlineinovators.com

We're excited to be back with a new episode of Frontline Innovators as we talk with Chris Bond, CEO @ Bluewater Learning. He has been transforming the Learning and Talent Management field for over 20 years through his leadership, articles, speaking engagements, and consulting services.   This is Part 1 of 2 with Chris Bond as he discusses:   ➖ The biggest challenge facing the deskless workforce ➖ Solving the People, Process & Technology issue ➖ Why the frontline has been underserved ➖ The 4 segments of training in L&D ➖ Short term versus long term employee experience - investing in the frontline   Chris's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophermbond/ Company Website: https://www.bluewaterlearning.com/   Here's other ways you can listen: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw Youtube - https://youtu.be/Awcd-2K98CM Find more episodes of Frontline Innovators at www.frontlineinovators.com  

In this episode, we talk with Adam Roesner, Learning and Development Technology Manager @ Pactiv Evergreen Inc. He has extensive experience in the healthcare field and medical device training. Adam delves into giving the frontline access to the right learning and understanding the nature of the learning itself.     Takeaways  

In this episode, we talk with Maria Feay, Director, Learning and Quality Coaching @ Quantum Health. She gives great insight into Learning and Development asking the right questions and solving for the problem.    Takeaways  

This episode has Summer Valdez, Learning and Development Program Manager at Rehrig Pacific Company, chatting about how to truly value your frontline with all of the impending tech changes being thrown their way and the feedback loop.   Takeaways  

This weeks episode host Justin Lake talks with Amanda Fullbright, Senior Vice President, Learning and Performance Development at BlueSprig Pediatrics. Amanda has many years of experience finding technology solutions in the healthcare field and speaks on the various challenges of developing training for the frontline.      Takeaways

This weeks episode host Justin Lake talks with Meg Vrabel Chief Revenue Officer & SVP Innovation @ Capital Factory - the Center of Gravity for Entrepreneurs in Texas. Meg has extensive experience helping and leading frontline workers and delves into some great advice for frontline leaders.   Takeaways

Abby Fordham is the Director of Learning and Development at Pactiv Evergreen Inc. Abby is passionate about making sure that frontline employees are taken care of and that they are given every chance to succeed. Abby joins the host Justin Lake to talk about some of the biggest challenges frontline employees face and how we can overcome them.   Takeaways:  The biggest challenge facing the frontline workforce today is the ability to access technology while being away from a desk. We have all the technology in the world but it is a struggle to get it to work when away from a desk or a spot without service.  Frontline workers should be allowed to use their phones while away from the desk as a source for finding the answers to any questions they might have. The more you can help the frontline workers get their job the better their lives will be. Consider motivating and giving them access to the technology they might need to complete everything.  Often when frontline workers are promoted and become their peers' boss, it is overlooked that they aren't given leadership training and it is assumed that they will take the role. It's important to provide them with the leadership skills and knowledge needed to succeed.  Just because there is an issue when trying to implement technology doesn't mean you stop what you are doing. A roadblock is an obstacle to overcome, not an excuse.  You have to follow a procedure and see how things have been done, but it's ok to have it customized slightly as long as all the proper steps are being followed. Let the technology do the hard work for you and the deskless workforce and then tailor the learning and development to them.  Quote of the show 31:47  “I never let no be a roadblock or a stop.”   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abby-fordham-8061343a/ Company Website: https://pactivevergreen.com/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/BwIDcwL9UxU Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Casey Jensen is the Learning and Development Lead at Medtronic. Casey is passionate about making sure the employees on the frontline are able to ask questions and achieve their ultimate goals. Casey joins the host Justin Lake to talk about some of the biggest challenges facing frontline workers and how to help them better use the technology surrounding them.   Takeaways  The deskless workforce is underrepresented in the amount of time it takes to learn a new task or technology. The change is often thrust upon them without enough training to make it viable.  There is a lack of buy-in from management that allows enough time for learning new technology to happen.  Feedback is an important part of communication with the frontline workforce. It's essential to offer them a place to provide feedback so they feel heard and then you can see how you might be able to solve any of their issues. Learning and development miss the most important thing to link the training back to business development and business strategy.  If somebody is on the floor but you are training them then you are losing productivity but at the same time, the training is essential to the frontline workers being able to do their job effectively. Different learning styles and different concepts come to people in different ways. It might take longer for some people to learn new technology and techniques than it would for others.  You always want to make sure people are using training time wisely and appropriately and not dropping on the computer and going to Facebook or wasting the time.    Quote of the show 24:27 “The number one thing that I see that learning and development misses is linking it to the business objective and business strategy.”   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseywjensen/ Company LinkedIn: https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/index.html   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/9JfQN_jYdtM Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Molly Fields is the Senior Director of Learning and Development at TCC & Wireless Zone, a Verizon Authorized Retailer. Molly is passionate about making sure that leaders are emotionally invested in their teams and care for them. Molly joins the host Justin Lake to talk about the importance of being a good team leader and how that can motivate and make a difference to those working on the frontline.   Takeaways  The biggest problem facing deskless workers today is that they aren't able to balance things as well as they used to be able to because they have more on their plate than they are used to.  The emotional aspect is where a direct leader can have the most impact on other members of their team. As a leader, it is your responsibility to lead your people and treat them with respect like the people they are, and then looking at them as workers comes second. Change doesn't start from the top down. The best way to make change stick and work is by having the middle management people get the frontline workers to switch over and then the change will stick.  When it comes to bringing in new technology a new strategy, you want to try and sell it to the frontline workers with the mindset that they won't like it and then get them to see the benefits of it. Think about the “stars” of your company and get them on camera to try and sell some change. The message will be more impactful coming from them rather than from someone in upper management. If you are not actively pursuing some kind of skill development then you are falling behind. You have to look at it what you can you do to be better at your job.   Quote of the show 5:51 “As the leader, you do have to lead your people emotionally first as people, not as performers.”    Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-fields-5bb54385/ Company Website: https://www.tccrocks.com/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/_Q0ntyaYFAw Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Jason Aurora is the Senior Director of Learning and Development at Hilti North America. Jason has a passion for helping deskless workers to be more knowledgeable about the current technology that surrounds them but also sees the value of human interaction and communication. Jason joins the host Justin Lake to talk about some of the biggest struggles facing frontline workers and we can overcome them.      Takeaways  It's important to be really effective from a learning perspective because in a diskless environment it is hard for those employees to find free time in their day. Communication has become more complicated as the world becomes more digital. The digital aspect creates a lot of distractions with all the different apps to communicate with. There is a model of “70 - 20 - 10” where 70% of the skills you need for the job you will learn from being trained, 20% is the informal learning of being added to projects and 10% is being certified in a certain subject.  The human interaction and the bonding that takes place during in-person training and other programs is something that can not be replaced by using zoom or other video call platforms. Everyone at a company learns differently and has different needs. To make sure you are meeting everyone in the best way possible, it's important to have a good company culture and to support each other. An office isn't just a place where you work, it's also a place where you create, celebrate, and collaborate with others.  Employees need to feel valued and appreciated in an organization so that they will bring in their best work, be dedicated to the company and want to stay at the company long term.   Quote of the show 13:56  “70% of your learning is really based on experiential.” Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-aurora/ Company Website: https://www.hilti.com/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw   Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Sumair Dutta is the Vice President, Product Marketing at ServiceMax. He is an experienced product marketer and industry analyst. Sumair has deep familiarity with field service, workforce management, and frontline worker needs. Sumair joins the host Eugene Signorini to talk about the changing role of frontline workers.   Takeaways  The biggest problem facing the frontline workforce today is the disruption that new technology has brought. While some jobs can be automated frontline workers can be interacting with customers and spend less time on unnecessary paperwork. A true test of automation is to see if it still works after taking some fields away from it, rather than just adding more work to it and hoping that it works out well. The technicians and those on the frontline are the ones who represent your company to your customers, so you want to make sure they are fully capable and able to do any work they need to do in the field.  The people who take on the role of a field service technician or someone else working the frontlines are people who want to help solve problems that customers are having a get over any potential hurdles. The work that frontline employees are doing is becoming more complex, requiring multiple steps for a single task to be completed.  Organizations are going to want to tap more into the customer success part of the frontline workforce. Companies will be able to use that as a source of revenue and lead generation for themselves.  It's important to understand the needs of technicians and frontline workers and see where any of the pain points are and try to solve that for them.    Quote of the show: 12:22 “The folks who take on these jobs are inherently folks who want to solve problems.” Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumairdutta/ Company Website: https://www.servicemax.com/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/f-swOhgPqcg   Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Today's guest has a passion for people and is all about empowering employees. Christopher Shryock is the Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer from Sam's Club. He sees the heavy weight that is being put on frontline employees and wants to make their lives easier and their work more efficient. Christopher joins the host Justin Lake to talk about the role technology plays with frontline employees.   Takeaways:  The current rate of inflation has become one of the biggest problems for frontline workers. It creates an issue for them to make enough money to provide for their families. When it comes to communicating with frontline workers, sometimes the best ways to reach them are the “old school” methods rather than through email or app notifications. When you are creating a process for frontline workers, you want to make sure that the process is simple and designed with their needs and wants in mind. When you are designing a flywheel for your company, you want the main point to be that your company is obsessed with membership. If you have the right people in the right places, that can lead to an increase in profits for your company. You want to make sure that your employees have access to the right tools that they need to get the job done in the most efficient way, and that could be a handheld device. You can simplify the work life for frontline employees by not having them do everything, but allowing for some automation to make their life easier. At the end of the day, if you have someone at the company who doesn't meet the standard then that will bring down everyone else.    Quote of the show 17:51 “We made sure that associates had access to the right tools. So that is access to the right handheld devices.”   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-shryock-b322743/ Company Website: https://www.samsclub.com/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/0L5AXFYG_1E   Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Today's guest is Daniel Angelo, The Director of Technical Services of North America and the Global Product Manager of Services for Bosch Automotive Aftermarket. Daniel joins the host Justin Lake to talk about the problems that are facing the automotive industry and frontline workers as a whole.   Takeaways  One of the problems facing frontline workers today is that there is a constant influx of more complex data and big volumes of information. In the automotive industry, it is hard to find people who are ready to work with their hands and work on a more technical level. Most modern electric cars actually have more technology in them than the standard commercial airplane. You can use the latest technology to help make diagnosing car issues easier. For example, you can use VR to draw lines around what might need to be fixed so the mechanic can look at the same headset and see what needs to be done. It's ok to fail when you try something new, but you don't want to fail at the same thing twice. You want to learn from your previous mistakes. There are a lot of different models for electric cars like Teslas but now a lot of brands will use similar software and hardware so they end up using the same pieces for repair. If you are a leader at an organization, it's ok to admit that you might need help from other people in the organization to make sure that everyone is properly trained and ready to work.   Quote of the show 31: 26 “We accept failures, but we have to learn from them.”   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-angelo-03b79523/?locale=en_US Company Website: https://www.bosch.us/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/BMin-SP7ktY Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Today's guest has over 15 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. She has held roles ranging from field engineer to change management professional. Akanksha Mathur is the Director of Business Operations at Wallbox Chargers. Akanksha joins the host Justin Lake to talk about some of the biggest challenges facing frontline workers today.   Takeaways  The biggest challenge facing the frontline workers today is the lack of understanding from the corporate side. Often time they are given new technology to use and even those in corporate don't fully understand how to use it and how it will affect them. When it comes to training frontline employees on new technologies, it's not about what's in it for them today but it can also help advance them in their careers. It is your responsibility to be the “bridge” between the IT experts and the workers in the field. You need to make sure that they understand each other and are supporting each other. When it comes to solving issues within your team, take the time to scope out the priorities are, and the key issues and understand the end-to-end process. You can connect new users of your system to existing users and have them talk over a virtual conversation about what they like about the system and what they don't. When talking with your end users, you want to find out what the pain points are for them and solve those and fill in any gaps you encounter along the way. Let the frontline workers get used to a system by going in and seeing how it works. That way they can familiarize themselves with it and also find out where they might get stuck.   Quote of the show 14:11 “Be the bridge between and the translator between the IT experts and those working in the field.”   Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akanksha-mathur-34856310/ Company Website: https://wallbox.com/en_us/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/P2n2qw0n4uY   Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Today's guest is a computer science graduate, but she quickly discovered that it wasn't the technology that got her pumped about her job but how people use that technology to make their work and personal lives easier and more creative. Debbie Jackson is the Director of Learning and Development at Ciena. Debbie joins host Justin Lake to talk about how the advancement in technology can help to make the lives of frontline workers easier and better.   Takeaways    The biggest challenge facing frontline workers today is the issue of fatigue. In the last few years, frontline workers have gone through a lot of changes in guidelines and rules. A lot of frontline workers haven't been given the luxury of time and during the pandemic, they were putting their lives on the line to show up to work. Learning needs to be about enabling individuals to do something in a better fashion. Learning should not be treated like a checkbox item.  It's important to enable frontline workers so that they can be successful. A mentorship is a good idea as people want to connect with others at a new company but don't know how. Many projects look at just the start date and the go-live date but there's more that goes on in between those phases that needs equal attention. You want to have communication between different departments at a company in order to make everything run smoothly. Implementation teams should not disappear after a product or service has gone live. They can still be of use by providing a helpful service to fix any issues with the product.   Quote of the show 2:54 “So when I look at our frontline workers, I have to wonder how much fatigue are they carrying? It's that emotional, physiological, mental fatigue of the change, the weight that they've been carrying while showing up every day to do their job.”   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debleejackson/ Company Website: https://www.ciena.com/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRpEOGnt14c&ab_channel=FrontlineInnovators Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Today's guest has over 20 years of experience with retail L&D and HR. Stephen Vellecca is the Director of Learning and Development at Bloomingdale's. He sees some of the biggest challenges facing frontline workers in this day and age and wants to make their lives easier. Stephen joins host Justin Lake to talk about how technology adoption can be one of the ways to help them out.   Takeaways  Being a frontline worker right now has become more difficult because of how demanding of a society we have become. A lot of retail stores closed during the pandemic because they weren't able to adapt to some of the changes. Frontline workers don't have the time and ability to be trained during work hours and then they don't have the time to be trained during off hours. You want to leverage your team leaders and people in higher positions to inspire frontline workers to accept change. eLearning is a great resource that can help people to learn from an interactive service, but the struggle is finding out how to bring it to life.  The role of the people leader is to be more empathetic and to make sure that the team feels safe and can do their work. Skill vs Will is the ability to do a task but also want to complete the task to its full ability.   Quote of the show 13:55 “My whole platform is always about the people leader and how do we leverage our people leaders to provide the inspiration and the education to the hourly colleague.”    Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenvellecca/ Company Website: https://www.bloomingdales.com/ Company LinkedIn:    Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/KI5aTJGVvkM Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Today's guest uses his experience with his psychology background to help frontline employees make it through a successful change program. Matt Pita is the Manager, Enterprise Change Management at one of the largest communications companies. Matt joins host Justin Lake to talk about ways to properly introduce change to those on the frontline.    Takeaways  The biggest challenge that frontline workers face is that they are experiencing a lot of change and have little to no input on what the change actually will be. The reason why change happens is so crucial. Change should start from the bottom and work its way up with it making sense along the way. Stressors tend to come up for people when there isn't a clear plan in place. The best way to avoid stress for employees is to lay out a clear path of change. Put yourself in the frontline workers shoes. You should think about the everyday parts of their job and try to find ways to make their lives easier. Synchronous training is like calling a timeout on your team. It helps to sit down and talk through objectives and goals for change. It's the job of those working in change management to identify if there are any holes in a change process and to fill them. You want to inform frontline employees ahead of time for any change that is coming down the road. This will allow them to best prepare for what is coming down the road.   Quote of the show 1:00 “[There's] largely too much change all at once with no input on what the change would be. I would say that's number one.”   Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattpita/detail/recent-activity/ Company Website: https://www.cox.com/residential/home.html   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/Lg53tWei304   Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Today's episode features two special guests. Charlie Jones is the Senior Manager - Customer Education - Change and Adoption Management at Esri, and Lyndal Brookhart is the Principal Adoption Strategy Consultant at Esri. They both join host Eugene Signorini to talk about some of the challenges facing frontline workers and how digital adoption can help them in their work lives.      Takeaways: The biggest barrier to digital adoption is change. It is critical to adopt new technologies so it's important to build in the appropriate amount of time for that.  You need to connect the dots for the frontline workers as to why it's so important for them to adopt new technologies. Frontline workers are more likely to listen to what a direct manager has to say than someone from corporate that they've never met before.  You need to have recognized value in terms of change, so you need to have complete buy-in for a change to be successful. You want to help your end users and workers in your company make the world a better place. Sometimes the phrase change management can be scary to frontline employees and they might be resistant to change from past bad experiences. When you are putting out a very technical message with change, it needs to apply to everyone in the organization.  Quote of the show   1:22 “When I talk with organizations, this is what comes up for everybody is often the biggest barrier to adoption, and that's time” Links: Lyndal's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndalbrookhart/ Charles' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-jones-8a1b611/ Company Website: https://www.esri.com/en-us/home Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/lRpqSx6gS9U Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Today's guest is a strong team leader, an excellent problem solver and organizer. Joe O'Connor is currently an Independent Retail Consultant, previously working as the Supply Chain Process Manager for Kroeger. Joe focuses on cost modeling and operational strategy. He sits down with host Justin Lake to talk about some of the biggest challenges facing frontline workers.   Takeaways : It's easier than ever to look for alternate jobs now and other positions and they can find a different job that might not give them as much frustration. Many processes have become extremely optimized so that there isn't time for training or comfort with a process, which can lead to frustration amongst the frontline employees. There is an uptick in frontline employees switching industries because of the stress of their everyday jobs. Executives and middle management don't speak the same language as frontline employees so you need someone who can bridge that gap. You can't always build a day in and day out process in every industry with frontline workers. Look at the operating model of a business and make sure that it makes sense to the way the business works.  Frontline employees need to care about the change in order to actually participate in it. It is the job of the change manager to show them the benefits of the change.   Quote of the show   1:49 “Frontline deals with their processes changing very rapidly and they're being automated and highly optimized very quickly. And the frontline has to keep the pace with that with a rapidly changing workforce that rarely has time for true training.”   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-o-connor-a31a3b9/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/uh25NL0tiuk   Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Bob Mosher is the CEO/Chief Learning Evangelist at APPLY Synergies. He helps learning organizations, design, develop and measure effective learning. He is also a columnist for Chief Learning Officer Magazine. Bob joins host Eugene Signorini to talk about the rapid rate of change and other challenges that deskless workers are facing.      Takeaways:  The rapid rate of change is one the biggest challenges facing frontline workers today. The day of learning having a shelf life is in the past.  Covid really brought out the elephant in the room, especially in terms of L&D about how training and learning hasn't been taught or kept up with in the best manner. In L&D, there is a process of apply, change and solve. You apply a new solution to a problem, change it if that doesn't work and try to solve the issue for deskless workers. When you are going to introduce change, you want to make sure the methodology of the message makes sense and it reaches home to the frontline employees. Failure isn't critical. Letting know that failure isn't the absolute worst outcome is something that can ease the burden on workers.  You want to enable frontline workers to be self confident and have self efficacy, so you need to train them on those so they don't fall into the negative or between the cracks. Onboarding a new employee shouldn't be more than 15 - 30 days because they won't be able to retain all the information. Quote of the show   2:43 “I think what [covid] has done for us is show us things that we've gotta be more attentive to in this space. And change has been a constant for too long. I think it's fallen on the shoulders of the frontline workers who've done their best, often in spite of our efforts frankly, to keep up and perform effectively.”  Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bmosher/ Company Website: https://www.applysynergies.com/ Blog: www.5momentsofneed.com Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/f0WSSo7EP_k    Frontline Innovators is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Jonathan Maldonado is the Learning and Development Manager at PGA TOUR Superstore. He has a vast experience with deskless workers with his experience from Cingular. Jonathan was a former frontline employee himself and he is passionate about making sure they have everything they need to succeed. Jonathan joins host Justin Lake to talk about some of the biggest challenges facing frontline workers and how we can overcome them.    Takeaways  The biggest challenge facing frontline workers today is trying to increase engagement and adoption when it comes to learning materials. Learning and Development is an investment as it costs time and money to train someone properly.  Change can vary from being a daily experience to being something that doesn't happen often, but either way you want to prepare employees for. You have to look at the gaps and see if you can get people over to a new system and change their behaviors around it. There needs to be an appropriate amount of time to get change to go out and make sure it rolled out properly. Take the pressure off of retail by partnering with the department heads so that they can help plan out a proper lay out for any change coming down the line. Getting boots on the ground is a great method to help upper level managers understand what is really going on and see where they need to help out.   Quote of the show 3:19 “When it comes to learning and development and training, there's an investment. That time costs money, the money it takes to develop content as well as the money and time that it takes for people to absorb that particular content.” Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-maldonado-475536110/ Company Website: https://www.pgatoursuperstore.com/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/HLOx5Lbbvg0

Matthew Candito is the Vice President of Training & Operations Services at One Table Restaurant Brands. Matthew moved out to LA in 2004 and worked in many different positions within the restaurant space, eventually finding his passion for the restaurant industry and working with people. Matthew joins host Justin Lake to talk about some of the challenges facing frontline workers and how we can overcome them.      Takeaways  One of the biggest challenges facing frontline workers is that the corporate side doesn't fully understand the aptitude level of deskless workers in terms of technology. You have to be as efficient as possible to deploy training and to get people up to speed to produce the desired outcome. A lot of restaurant organizations don't invest the proper funds into training and give it the proper due. When bringing on a different management system, most people can adapt really well to using it like an app on their phones. A modular viewpoint for training can be very useful. Using a video system to train people allows them to see the training in action. Giving people the tools they need to succeed and have it in one place is a great solution. You can have all the information on one ipad and train everyone on how to use it. The rising cost of labor across the nation has forced restaurants to be more careful where they spend their money, and that comes at the cost of technology. Quote of the show   0:59 “One of the biggest challenges facing dustless workers right now is the corporate side of the business typically does not understand the aptitude level of a lot of its team members as it relates to technology.”   Links   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-candito-a598b75a/ Ways to Tune In:   Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/xQWkkIZaTJw

Phoenix Cavalier is the Senior Program Manager, Learning and Development Technology at T-Mobile. He has over 20 years of experience in learning and development. He wants to create strategic harmony between people, systems and tech. Phoenix joins host Justin Lake to talk about how the lack of speed of information is something that negatively impacts deskless workers and how we can use other tools to empower them.      Takeaways : The biggest challenge facing deskless workers is trying to reach them and get them information at the same speed as they get it outside of work. It's a matter of will to optimize frontline tools in the same way that everyone gets to use devices outside of work. We should expect the same performance and speed for devices for personal use and deskless workers.  You want to make sure that all the tools given to frontline workers are intuitive and make it so that they don't want to quit to avoid using the technology.  Frontline workers are often underappreciated and undervalued at a company, it's better to show your appreciation and keep people around rather than constantly hiring new people. Deskless workers are the face of your brand and they are the ones that are the most client facing, so you want them to be a contributor to the business and keep them on. Training is observable, measurable, coachable and it has a clear metric for success. It is something that is a linear event that can be completed and demonstrated.  Google will be faster than any of the training or having a frontline employee go through multiple different links to get an answer.  Quote of the show   2:15 “How are we helping people in frontline if it takes longer than it does in real life, so to speak outside of work. So I think that's the challenge. It cannot be this slow.”  Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phoenixcavalier/ Company Website: https://www.t-mobile.com/ Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/nnKAEtNN-NI 

Tony Fatouros is the Director of IT - OCM and Change Enablement at Mattel. He is passionate about helping organizations adopt digital technologies to achieve benefits faster. Tony joins host Justin Lake to talk about the significant challenges that frontline workers are facing and how we can overcome them.      Takeaways  The biggest challenge facing the deskless workforce today is the capacity of change. Not only do they have more on their plate, but guidelines are constantly changing. The men and women on the frontline don't have the same luxury as the workers who are working remotely, so their challenges are more unique. You have to manage expectations for those experiencing change, they need to understand it is a long process. Set goals along the way during the change process, so that there are measurables that can be used to determine the success of change, Help people to understand what they are really accountable for. This will help them understand what they need to do on their end. It's important to have continuity in the experience of change. If you keep the message and the tone consistent, people will be more likely to absorb it. Providing updates throughout the process takes away the uncertainty of the change. Being transparent will allow them to trust you and be more willing to accept the change. Quote of the show   24:05 ​​”We're bringing you up to date throughout the process, this is our current plan. We'll provide you with updates. So what we're actually doing is kind of peeling off some of the uncertainty, which actually does create some of that capacity for people.”   Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tfatouros/ Company Website: https://corporate.mattel.com/en-us Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/YrDSzTg6K54

Erica Keener is the Learning Performance Designer for Skyllful. She sees how important communication is and how to change a “us vs them” mentality to a team oriented one. Originally, Erica was in the clinical medicine industry but switched over to an administrative side and found that she really loved onboarding employees and teaching others to be excited about their work. Eric joins host Justin Lake to talk about some of the challenges facing frontline workers and how we can empower them.     Takeaways  The biggest challenge facing deskless workers today is balancing the need for autonomy with a potential lack of communication. Frontline workers have to be able to make decisions without a lot of guidance and that causes a rift between frontline workers and those in the office.  Learning and development helps employees to understand their goals and find the best and most efficient ways to achieve them. When managing a project, you want to mitigate risks as that will bring a better result and yield a hiring return. Lack of communication and accountability are big factors when trying to implement new technology for deskless workers.  You need to have a unified concept and message at all levels when trying to implement change or new technology. If they are all different messages or concepts it gets muddied and makes it confusing.  It's easier to abandon the change and what it's supposed to be rather than unifying the team, but that doesn't make it right. It's better to do the harder right and get everyone on the same page than the easier wrong. Quote of the show   31:26 “Essential workers need essential leaders.” Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica123/ Company Website: https://www.skyllful.com/ Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/fOAifdeyoOo

Danyele Harris-Thompson is the Change & Transformation Senior Manager at Kao Corporation. She sees how overloaded deskless workers are and aims to fix that, as well as some of the other issues that plague frontline employees. Danyele joins host Justin Lake to talk about how new technology and change management tools can help to serve those deskless employees.     Takeaways  The biggest challenge facing frontline workers today is that they are cognitively overloaded. That overload makes things more complicated in various different ways.  Most projects across an organization require employees to change for it to be successful, and sometimes they can be hesitant to change. If a change process fails, then you have to rebuild trust and that is difficult. You want to make sure that change is smooth and doesn't hit roadblocks. The people side of change is one of the most difficult things but is important to making change successful. As an internal employee, you are more connected to the work going on at the organization which allows you to measure the success of a project. An internal survey about change management is a good way to see how employees feel about changes and how to improve the process. If you don't have the resources to do a project, then you are setting up the organization, and all those involved with the project, to fail.  Quote of the show 5:01 “If people don't use this tool, if they are not understanding what this tool is about or this new process change, all the costs that we're putting into this, financial, people's time, people's attention, it's all for not, what's the point?”  Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dharristhompson/ Company Website: https://www.kao.com/americas/en/ Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/SpUc0eETHJs

Ed Kless is the Senior Director of Sage Accountants Solutions. Ed is also the host of the Sage Advice podcast, and the talk show co-host for the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio. He joins host Justin Lake to sit down and talk about some of the biggest challenges facing frontline workers and how to overcome these issues.     Takeaways  Bringing their humanity is one of the biggest challenges for frontline workers. They have many different tasks throughout the day and they are measured by the quality of their work, not the quality of their work. When you are documenting a workflow, don't make changes while documenting it because you could mess up the process. Automation isn't something to be feared and it won't take your job away. The whole point is that it makes your job easier and more efficient, freeing you up to focus on other tasks. If someone is asking you how to do something over and over again, it is because they don't want to do the task.  People can't be trained, they can be educated. Training can have a negative connotation with it and educating relies on drawing out the knowledge that people already have. The system of technology should support the people, not people supporting the system. “How” based questions are oftentimes a roadblock to change, whether it's done consciously or unconsciously. Quote of the show 6:13 “My brief definition of understanding knowledge workers is that knowledge workers, instead of having to bring their coffee to the office, can bring their office to the coffee.” Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edkless/ Company Website: https://www.sage.com/en-us/ VoiceAmerica: ​​https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/ Blog: https://www.edkless.com/blog/2021/3/on-empathy-vs-compassion Book: https://www.amazon.com/Answer-How-Yes-Acting-Matters/dp/1576752712 Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - ​​https://youtu.be/m4sjwvMRMfA

Casi Morris is the Change Enablement Lead at MTX Group. She notices that not only is the speed of change an issue for deskless workers, but also the changing priorities that come with the breakneck speed of change. Casi joins host Justin Lake to talk about some of the biggest challenges facing deskless workers today.    Takeaways  The shifting priorities are one of the biggest challenges facing frontline workers today. With so much going on, they aren't sure what they should really focus on. Sometimes you have to give up a certain amount of productivity to help move change along so it is a smooth experience. There's been so much change within the last couple of years that people aren't as excited or enthusiastic about change, even when it's incredibly beneficial. Finding out what the change brings for the person delivering change and those receiving it will help to resonate with everyone on each level. You want people to understand that the change is what is best for the company, which can be difficult to do so timing is important.  When it comes to incentivizing employees, focus on the less tangible benefits such as saving them time on their day.  Communication is important when it comes to incorporating change. You want to cause the least amount of disruption of their daily job and be crystal clear about what they can expect.   Quote of the show 10:27 “You got to give people snacks on a go live day.”   Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/casimorris/ Company Website: https://www.mtxb2b.com/s/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS  Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw YouTube - https://youtu.be/B0JPUvX-URY