coLeague

One of our goals heading into 2024 was for coLeague to reach 2.0 operationally. In year one, we relied heavily on Google Sheets and Post-its. That year, we got our financials in order—a huge milestone. Let me just say, sleeping soundly without worrying about whether we could pay our coLeaguers was such a welcomed relief. We also built systems to quickly identify the right coLeaguer for the right project. The work to get coLeague to 1.0 was significant. That accomplishment made us even more ambitious for 2024. This year, we developed an easy-to-use system for coLeaguers to share their availability. We continued refining our selection model to better understand what makes a great coLeaguer and how to identify those strengths. We built out our invoicing system, created a marketing plan, and increased profitability to ensure coLeague can remain a sustainable force for organizations in need of people experts. Thank you 10,000 Small Businesses at Tri-C for setting us on the path to 2.0 - teaching me how to read my financials, start leveraging linkedin, and connecting me to outstanding entrepreneurs in Cleveland. Big shoutout to Howard Kass, CPA (Inactive), Barbara Radis, Tammi Olle and Lindsay Sims McKee And huge shout out to Sarah Braver for making our behind the scenes seamless. Now we start planning out coLeague 3.0!

At coLeague, we’re taking stock of 2024 and have so much to celebrate. One achievement we’re particularly proud of this year is that 52% of our coLeague matches were BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)—up from 26% in our first year. When I started coLeague a little over two years ago, I had many measures of success in mind. One of the most important was creating opportunities for talented people experts to do what they do best and add real value to organizations and the people within them. I also aimed to do this in an intentional way that supports both the experts and the communities they serve. I’m especially proud that so many incredible individuals want to be part of coLeague. I couldn’t be more thrilled to see the work we’ve done (a huge thank-you to Ron R. for your help, as well as to the many coLeaguer recommenders) resulting in such a significant increase in opportunities for people of color. What are you most proud of from 2024 that’s fueling your plans for 2025?

I love stepping back to review the year and plan for the next one. There’s such satisfaction in looking at a year in review and reflecting on where you were just 12 months ago. It’s also a time to think about what we’re proud of. As I reflect on what I’m most proud of at coLeague this year, it’s the work we’ve done to increase wealth and opportunities for our people experts and to lighten the burden on senior leaders. Our North Star reminds us that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity in the workplace, and we’re proud of the role we’ve played in making that happen. Happy reflecting!

Over the last few months, I've gotten to work with clients to launch coLeague's new Talent Diagnostic. It's been such an incredible experience to get to take something from a spark of an idea to actually making an impact with client teams. Most importantly, it continues to fuel coLeague's mission to support leaders as they support their organization. A few of my biggest insights so far: 1. If your employees don't know about your talent systems or how they work, they might as well not exist! The rubric on our diagnostic doesn't measure the quality or efficacy of your systems; it asks about whether things exists/folks know about them, how often/widely they are used, and whether or not they are integrated with other systems. This gives us the starting place for digging deeper into what's missing or broken. *Takeaway:* What's missing might actually be transparency or system cohesion! 2. You can have a world-class employee wellness program and employees still might report believing the company doesn't prioritize a healthy work/life balance. *Two Takeaways:* wellness perks aren't a substitute for the basics like psychological safety or a reasonable workload AND you can't control how folks feel despite doing your best to make them feel good. 3. Our Talent Diagnostic can bring many new things to light, but what it seems to really do for clients is validate their feelings and suspicions about the underlying cause of what they're seeing day-to-day. *Takeaway:* Validating feelings with data is empowering and can be just the thing a leader needs to get started tackling the biggest people challenges. Finally, my biggest personal takeaway is that there *is* an answer to the question, "we've got a million things to do - where do we even begin??" We've already learned so much doing this work for our partner clients and I hope we get to help many, many more organizations get to the bottom of (and solve!) their biggest people problems. Want to learn more about what the Talent Diagnostic is and how it is the first step to relieving stress across your organization? Link in the comments!

From Politics to the Workplace: The Power of Hope and Engagement I'm still thinking about last week's Democratic National Convention, and the importance of hope. Not "hope" as a slogan, but hope as the opposite of hopeless. I've heard many Democrats say, "I didn't realize how down I was until I felt this current energy." While I don't have some deep understanding of politics, it has me thinking about what this can look like in the workplace. It might be the best way to understand engagement. Gallup's 12 questions are meant to understand productivity. [Learn more](https://loom.ly/0rrT1dA) "Productivity" feels fairly cold. We often think about engagement from an employee's perspective - how the culture makes them feel. But at the end of the day, when we are feeling hopeless and unengaged, we also aren't getting much done. So what can we learn from politics? ## 1. Pay attention to the signs By the point of disengagement, your people are probably not saying a whole lot. They have given up on the hope that something might change. Look for these indicators: - Declining attendance - Reduced activity in your Slack channels - If you're in person, whether people are socializing or just always have their heads down ## 2. Leaders matter Your energy as a leader is contagious: - If you are tired or not fully in, your people will take their cues from you - If they see you joyful and running towards the challenge, they'll take a cue from you too - This is easier said than done, and it can't come from a place of "playing the part" - As the flight attendants remind us, you have to put your mask on first ## 3. Stop and celebrate This was always one of my greatest challenges leading teams. I didn't want to take our foot off the gas by going for a round of drinks because I was: - assuming people just knew how proud I was of the work - assuming there wasn't enough time But for your own good and for your people, stopping to review what you have accomplished and really celebrating actually puts the foot on the gas, not takes it off. So let's bring the energy and the joy to our work too (balloons optional). Have you experienced the impact of hope (or hopelessness) in your work environment? Are there other lessons that you are learning in this presidetial campaign? #WorkplaceEngagement #LeadershipLessons #EmployeeMotivation

Talent leadership is key to thriving Jewish organizations. That’s why we’re proud to announce the inaugural cohort of the Culture Accelerator, Leading Edge's development program for talent professionals driving the “people work” at their organizations. https://lnkd.in/gWpQswD2