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Excellent Executive Coaching: Growing Your Business and Enhancing Your Craft.
EEC 366: Avoid Demotivating People in the Workplace, with Dr. Karen Hills Pruden
00:19:31
Dr. Karen Hills Pruden is an award-winning, global speaker, corporate consultant, confidential coach and the Founder/CEO of Pruden Global Business Solutions Consulting an executive professional development and training company. Can you share the...
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- [00:05]
A
Are you shy and don't share your value or expertise? The consequences might be you are overlooked for the next promotion or you are unaware of the matrix by which you are evaluated. Let's ask Dr. Karen Hills Pruden how to amplify your value. Welcome to the excellent executive coaching Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Katrina Burious. And today we have the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Karen Hill Pruden. Karen, welcome.
- [00:40]
B
Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited about the conversation.
- [00:44]
A
Yes. So I wanted to ask you first to explain your method of amplify your value framework and what are the different steps?
- [00:55]
B
Absolutely. So amplify your value has five steps. It's a five step framework that anyone can actually employ, whether you're an entrepreneur, whether you're in corporate America, or whether you just Joe Blow, who's at home trying to figure out how to articulate the value of what you're doing, the activity that you're doing. And so the five steps are first, you have to look at your background, you examine your experience and your expertise to do whatever it is that you are trying to do. In other words, what is your education? What type of training have you had to do, what it is that you're trying to do? If you have had proper training, what experience have you had? Is this something new? Is this a new competency that you are embarking on? Or have you did this over and over again as part of your job, as part of entrepreneurship? So, so what background knowledge do you have to lend on to do what it is that you say you're going to do? And then the second is to just determine what is your next level. So what is your next step that you are trying to achieve in certain situations? For people who, a lot of the people that I work with, they are indirect revenue generating departments, meaning that they are not sales. And so they are looking for metrics to create to show the value of their work towards organizational goals. And so you determine what is my goal, what is my very next step task towards that. So that's step number two. Determine what your goal is, determine your next level. And then step number three is now that you know what you've had experience in doing, you know where you're trying to go, what is the gap in knowledge or the gap in your area expertise to get there. So do you have the talent, do you have the people to achieve the goal that you're trying to achieve? Do you have the right people with the right skills at the right time to achieve? Do you have the right processes in place to even facilitate what it is that you are trying to do. And are they written? Do everybody understand them? Are they doing the processes the same way to achieve the same goal? And so you look at where the gap is, and then you build a blueprint based on to close that gap. For instance, if there is a deficit in terms of talent, you need a certain level of talent to achieve a product or service. You do not have anyone on staff with that talent. Then how are you going to bring that talent in? Are you going to hire that talent through contract work? Are you going to borrow that talent from another organization, another business, get volunteers? Are you going to hire somebody on call? How are you going to get that talent to close that gap so that you can move towards getting that goal? And then you determine what the last phase is to plan your pivot. And so plan your pivot has to do with, well, what is your ultimate goal? And for my clients and my consulting business, they have two ultimate goals. They either want to elevate up throughout the hierarchy of their business if they work for someone else, or they want to elevate out. They want to convert their professional reputation into the lane of entrepreneurship. And so you plan your pivot in terms of when you want to get there, you put a date on it, how much money is it going to cost to get there? And then you work according to that blueprint. So you examine your expertise, you determine your next level, you close your gaps, you build your blueprint, and then you plan. Plan your pivot. And those are the five steps of it. Amplify your value. And you can use that in business, you can use that in your personal life. But most of my clients use it either in corporate America to elevate their career or an entrepreneurship to show their value and uniqueness in the market. When the market is saturated with like, people.
- [04:57]
A
Well, great, that's clearly expressed. So tell us, what are the, some of the most frequent barriers people have?
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B
The number one barrier that I deal with is that people don't collect analytics. And so in order to amplify your value, you have to be able to assign some type of metrics to it, whether it is in percentages of increase and decrease. I mean, but you have to be able to collect the information to determine where you're going and where you need to be. What are your benchmarks that you're trying to work towards it. And so I would say the number one thing is the data. Not understanding the data. Analytical power in business, not collecting the data, not Using the data when you're speaking, not assessing the data when you're making business decisions, such as bringing in new vendors, increasing the price of your products or services, finding out whether or not your prices are competitive. And so my two loves are data and analytics. And so data is the number one. Data has no emotion to it. At least quantitative data doesn't. You know, qualitative data has emotion to it, but data.
- [06:09]
A
Okay, very clear. So collect as much information. Also to track what you're doing, how you're doing, what's valued, or what's the KPIs.
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B
Yeah.
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A
From which you'll be evaluated.
- [06:25]
B
Yeah. Key performance indicators.
- [06:27]
A
Absolutely. You also work with teams and in organization to help them each team member contribute more. Can you comment on that?
- [06:38]
B
Yeah. So if you have a diverse team, and usually if you have more than a two or three people on a team, you have diverse personalities, diverse leadership styles and work styles, then you may have someone who is brilliant but very quiet, don't know how to articulate and formulate and communicate their ideas, their successes that they've had in the past. And so in terms of teens, the biggest thing is to ensure. Well, you have to create a safe space, a safe space for people to be able to communicate their wins without other people getting uncomfortable. You also have to have a safe space for people to. I used to have a boss that say fail fast, but really what fail fast means is to try new things. To try new things. And of course we want it to succeed, but if it doesn't succeed, then we look at it and figure out what are the opportunities to change different things to make it succeed. So in terms of teams, it is the environment that determines whether or not people feel like they can bring forth new opportunities, take risks, communicate their wins so that we can feed off of each other's plus and minuses in terms of our weaknesses and strengths. In terms of the team dynamics, can.
- [07:59]
A
You give us an example of how some of your clients, you help them through this process?
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B
Absolutely. First, I come in. Well, before I even come in and talk to the team, I do an assessment meeting with whoever is bringing me in to determine what are the team dynamics. I am also trying to determine the culture based off of the information that I am given. In other words, is it a culture that encourages people to communicate and take risks? Is it a culture that wants people to stay in their lane as opposed to being creative in their thought process? Because those businesses that are at the front of their industry are those that they have blurred lines between you bringing Things and ideas to the table. Those businesses that require you to stay in your lane, then you don't have the opportunity to make suggestions about things that you see can be done different if it's out of your per year, if it's out of your area of expertise. And so when I talk to them, I find out what type of environment it is first, and then what problems are they having and what have they tried in the past? And then based off of that information, I go in. Usually they're hiring me for a workshop. I incorporate, without saying directly what some of the things that they went through, case scenarios and situations that were similar to the ones that they've went through. And we talk through a more productive and collaborative way of addressing those situations. And that usually encourages individuals to talk about ways that they would have interacted in that particular situation. Maybe they didn't in reality, but with the scenario that I bring through the way of the workshop, they are able to talk. And then we also do the whole, this is a safe space. There is no repercussions about anything that you bring here. Kind of like Vegas, what is said in here, what is said in here, stay in here, you know, and then I also have a little caveat that says, as long as there's not anything that's against the law. Da da da da da da. And so it allows them to understand it is an open environment to be able to talk through, you know, things that they are going through, things that I've been informed that they may be going through, because sometimes I am brought in on the front end of it. And how you feel about it, what resources do you have on deck to address it? And what resources do I have that you may be unaware of that can assist you?
- [10:27]
A
Right. What is very clever, too, is to really get the core issue of the team and create a customized scenario that they have to resolve, but openly. And so they can vent, they can share, they can get it out of the system and find more positive ways of dealing with the situation. Very good.
- [10:50]
B
Yes, absolutely. Because I do believe that as a facilitator, when you're going on site, it's important to know what people are going through because that impacts them mentally and emotionally. And if you can kind of like set the stage for similar things on how they can address it, if they haven't had the opportunity to address it, or if you've gotten feedback that they're. The tone of the organization is not a positive one because of the change, then you allow people to get out and have that discussion so that you can kind of troubleshoot among the group, healthy ways to address their situation. And everyone has a need to be heard.
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A
Yes, Be heard too. How does this help inclusion and diversity, this process?
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B
Oh, so when I talk about everyone has a need to be heard, I mean, that is what inclusion is. Not only just having a seat at the table, and not necessarily literally and figuratively at the table. It means someone pulling you in when you should be pulled in or when they think you should be pulled in. Someone valuing your opinion and valuing your input and considering what it is that you have to say and in many cases acting on that. And so we all have a need to be at the table for those things that impact us, for those things that we're going to impact. And what at the table means is the opportunity to weigh in, the opportunity to be knowledgeable on a situation that's going to happen in a proactive way as opposed to in a reactive way where things are happening to us because we didn't have knowledge of it. And so people having conversations on the front end. And so as you hear people talk about having a seat at the table, having a seat at the table is just a figure of speech to me in terms of just saying that people have a need to be weighed in as to how they feel about things that they are impacting and things that are going to impact them. And those things should legitimately be considered for any type of action that may take place that can help facilitate whatever it is that they're dealing with.
- [13:05]
A
So what advice do you give to young professionals that are emerging leaders and how to leverage the skill set?
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B
Speak up. And not only speak up, learn how to speak up. You know, sometimes silence is a way to communicate, is not always. It's timing is everything in business. So it's not only what you say, it's when you say it. And what information, corresponding information do you have in addition to what you are about to say? And for young people, they are full of fresh eyes, is what I like to say, if they're new to the workforce and new to a particular business. And so there's a lot of value in what everyone has to say, but particularly for young people, their perspective is valued. And so speak up. Don't be scared to speak up, but also know and learn the timing of your environment as to when you should speak up.
- [14:06]
A
So that's pretty hard to determine.
- [14:10]
B
You learn it on the job. You know, you might get a couple of bumps and bruises the first couple of times, but you Learn from that. And you do it slightly different the next time.
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A
So you debrief with them their attempts to speak up and what works and what didn't. That's very good.
- [14:26]
B
Absolutely. You have to, because otherwise what will happen is if they spoke up the first time and the timing was wrong and they didn't understand that the timing was wrong, they, they may never speak up again because they think they shouldn't speak up. When you can explain to them, well, this is what impacted their ability to be able to hear you, because these things were going on. If you have the foresight to be able to explain to them why they should consider speaking up again, because these things may have been barriers to people hearing what they had to say.
- [14:57]
A
You're also a speaker.
- [14:59]
B
I am, yeah.
- [15:00]
A
And tell me, what subjects do you speak on?
- [15:04]
B
Oh, so obviously I speak on amplify your value. But I also speak on professional equity, how to leverage your reputation, the power of your relationships in business and ancillary to business, and then the power of your expertise. For professional equity is just like any equity of things like your house. You tap into it when you need it. The same things happen with your career. You. So you have your relationships, your reputation and your specialty. You can leverage those things depending on what's going on in your organization and going on in the market. For instance, if you are an IT guru and everybody knows that you solve problems associated with IT software and hardware. Well, if your organization is having a problem with IT issues, you will be the go to person. And, and so being able to leverage your professional equity has a lot to do with are people aware of the problem that you solve and the skills that you have to do those? Do you have receipts? In other words, do you have a positive track record of solving those problems and are people aware of it? And then what type of relationships do you have with the different sets of people? You have people up and down the chain, but you have all these ancillary people that happen in a lateral way with the chain. You have customers and you have potential customers. You have vendors. Some organizations have volunteers. You have family members of employees that you may interact with in a community. You have community leaders. And so you, as a, if you're in leadership, have relationships and interaction with all of these people. They also can be the difference between you being what is called a successful leader and a marginal leader based on your relationship with those people, because they all have impact. I tell organizations the most vulnerable position that you can be is one of a leader, because we don't do the work. It's everybody up under us that does the work. And so you have to have communication, real time communication with everybody, all of those different demographics. And so it's not just down the chain. It's not just your direct reports. It is everybody who interacts within your business. You need real time feedback.
- [17:24]
A
Very, very insightful because you're right, leaders don't do the work. They're not the experts. So what their job is to see the overview and how everything's connected and to help them take away the barriers, basically. So wonderful insight you have. Tell us, where can the listeners get a hold of you?
- [17:47]
B
Oh, absolutely. I kind of. My playground is LinkedIn so you can find me under my name, Dr. Karen Hills Pruden. I also have a website that is my namesake, it's Dr. Karenhillspruden.com where you can get in contact with me and you can find out about everything that I am doing globally because I am a global individual. And I also have a community. I have a female leadership community that has a free Facebook group called Sister Leaders Community and that is a community of individuals who are committed to increasing the number of women in senior leadership. And that's whether it's a free Facebook group. We give out a lot of information, free information. And that Facebook group kind of grew out of a pain point that I had early in my career when I couldn't find a mentor. And so I created a community, multilevel mentors, now that people have access too, so that they won't have the same struggle that I had very early in my career.
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A
Well, good for you. You're a resourceful person. So thank you for all your insights and we'll hear you on the Excellent Executive Podcast soon.
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B
Thank you for having me. This is fine.
- [19:02]
C
Thank you for listening to the Excellent Executive Coaching podcast. You can subscribe to all future podcasts at Excellent Executive Coach. Join us each Wednesday to learn more about the latest trends in leadership techniques and bring your coaching to the next level. To learn more about Dr. Burris CEO mastermind, use the contact form@excellentexecutivecoaching.com.