Fierce Is The Word: President’s 5 Predictions for 2020 Workplaces
Stacey Engle, president of Fierce Conversations.
Stacey Engle, president of Fierce Conversations, understands perfectly the double meaning of the word.
“@staceyengle, president of Fierce Conversations (@fierce_inc), understands perfectly the double meaning of the word. #Leadership”
“Fierce to me is what you think of when someone is fiercely loyal, passionate, caring, courageous and getting to the heart of something.” She adds, “Someone can also interpret fierce as aggressive or too intense.”
The two interpretations offer the opportunity to address what it means to be effective.
At Fierce for a decade, Engle moved up from a part time position to executive vice president to president in 2018, for the “training company that teaches you how to have effective conversations that improve business results and build strong cultures.”
In 18 years since its founding by Susan Scott, Engle says the 10 years she has been with Fierce the company has grown from five employees to 40 employees based in Seattle, plus remote workers, 1,500 trainers and more than 700,000 employees trained worldwide.
Growing up the daughter of a U.S. navy admiral, Engle was born in Guam, then moved every two years.
“There’s a joke that I did change management and leadership development at a young age because I was constantly needing to ask myself, who do I want to be because no one knows me here,” Engle says.
Graduating from the University of Washington in 2008, after studying business, marketing and interpersonal communication, Engle went to work for the university as director of their study abroad program in Greece, which she attended as an undergrad.
“I got out of my comfort zone and moved to Greece and fell in love with the concept of transformational experiences,” Engle says. She also got burned out in about a year.
Engle received the Outstanding Alumni Mentor Award from her alma mater for founding a professional development board that connects students with transformational experiences from workshops to global opportunities.
Engle became a freelance marketing consultant based in Seattle for a year, with clients including Microsoft. In 2010, a recruiter told her about a part time job at Fierce Conversations. She reluctantly signed on. And she has never left.
Her top two lessons on rising to the top so quickly at the same company?
“First is the power of speaking the truth. You have to be able to share without blame. That is a core lesson and a giant gift.”
“@StaceyEngle has a top lesson on rising to the top so quickly at the same company: “First is the power of speaking the truth. You have to be able to share without blame.””
Secondly, Engle says, “I learned to do leadership differently. I use everyone as my mentor. There is a certain openness when you feel you can learn from every person.”
Her third main lesson is that “everything starts with an inside job.” What Engle means is that “it takes one drop, one piece in a kaleidoscope to shift the entire picture. It’s now up to everyone else to create certain conditions for change.”
Moving into 2020, Engle has five key predictions for the workplace.
The first is that remote work is a necessity to retain employees.
“Moving into 2020, @staceyengle has five key predictions for the #workplace. The first is that #remotework is a necessity to retain employees.”
“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, not only has remote work increased by 115 percent since 2005 with no signs of slowing down, more than 16 percent of the entire American workforce now say they work remotely at least part of the time. These rising numbers have turned this perk into a vital benefit for organizations in which remote work is possible, hoping to attract and maintain their top employees,” according to Engle.
Perhaps the trend that will impact women in leadership the most, Engle says, is the notion of effective diversity and inclusion, with emphasis on inclusion.
“Perhaps the trend that will impact #women in #leadership the most, @staceyengles says, is the notion of effective diversity and #inclusion, with emphasis on inclusion. ”
When she began her presidency at Fierce Conversations, Engle says she did a listening tour of organizations in 10 different markets, having roundtable discussions on trends, challenges and predictions.
“The idea of D & I came up everywhere,” Engle says. “They would say they were building processes to come in the door, but the difference is can they make people in the company feel at home?”
One of the bigger and more important focuses in the workplace is to create a culture with high engagement and retention.
“One of the bigger and more important focuses in the workplace is to create a culture with high #engagement and #retention. ”
According to Engle, “In the New Year, creating an inclusive company culture that empowers employees to feel that they can show up to work and be themselves will become more vital as the line between work and life continues to blend together. Fostering inclusion creates a strong and healthy culture that reduces hostility, not to mention lawsuits. Organizations will work to ensure every employee — regardless of sex, gender identity, religion and beliefs — feel welcome and respected during these divisive times.”
How to practice inclusion, Engle says, is that “As a leader, depending on the scope of your team, can you get a clear idea on how people feel in your organization? Can they show up as themselves? Engagement ties to top and bottom line results.” She adds, “Companies need to be more intentional about inclusion and less us vs. them.”
Engle explains the model for inclusion as a beach ball. “You train and support people with different stripes and colors. No one person owns the whole truth about an organization. Each person owns their own truth.”
“@Staceyengle explains the model for #inclusion as a beach ball. “You train and support people with different stripes and colors. No one person owns the whole truth about an organization.”
She continues, “You learn from different stripes. It’s about diverse perspectives. This tool is empowering. In conversations you make sure everyone is heard.”
A third key prediction, Engle says, is that leaders need to be able to manage during a time of rapid change.
“A third key prediction, @staceyengle says, is that leaders need to be able to manage during a time of rapid change. #CompanyCulture”
This is where she says her upbringing of constantly moving to new cities and new schools is helpful.
“According to the International Data Corporation, organizations will spend $1.7 trillion on digital transformation over the next two years. With this rapid growth comes change, and if leaders want their organizations to keep up within their industries, they must fully understand and excel at change management,” according to Engle.
“In 2020, leaders will focus on training their employees of all levels to embrace the benefits of change and how to properly tackle it using a mix of change management technology, frameworks and team building. A key aspect of this will be to focus on conversation skills and optimizing performance management. In order for change to be successful, it must first and foremost be people-led versus technology-led,” Engle advises.
The final two workplace trends deal with technology, according to Engle.
Predictive analytics and artificial intelligence will be used to improve HR outcomes. “In the New Year, human resource departments will hire more data analysts than ever. These teams will increasingly take advantage of predictive technology to determine key data points such as top talent most at risk of attrition, best-fit application candidates, when to invest in employee career paths and areas of HR process improvement,” according to Engle.
And virtual reality will be a key part of leadership training programs. “Most leadership and development trainings fail because they are unable to tap into emotions and personal experience for employees to successfully absorb what they learn,” according to Engle.
With her first year as president of Fierce Conversations, Engle says, “I feel extremely privileged to have this opportunity. I will use this platform to help people have these skills.”
She adds, “Our work now is even more relevant, as more technology is pulling at us. We have to know how do we get real with what matters?”
For Engle, who says she aligns with the mission of Take The Lead that is to reach gender parity in leadership across all sectors by 2025, “I’m going to use this work for good. I am constantly working on my own leadership.”
“For @staceyengle, who says she aligns with the mission of @takeleadwomen that is to reach #GenderParity in #leadership across all sectors by 2025, “I’m going to use this work for good.”
To that end, Engle has started looking to the wisdom of poetry to help her be a better leader. She says Montana poet Tyler Knott Gregson expresses that perfectly in this poem:
If I do not follow you/out of this zone of comfort
I’ve lived safely inside,/Push me, pull me, or
throw me from that circle. If my wander loses
its lust, if the soles of my feet/begin to rust, if I forget
the way to adventure,/force it upon me until I
remember; demand a/life five thousand shades from ordinary.
