Frontline Innovators

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

Tiffany Caswell is the Change Management Specialist Commercial Data & Analytics at Alcon. She’s also a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and a prosci certified change practitioner. Tiffany joins host Justin Lake to talk about change management and how we can better support frontline workers. 
 
 
Takeaways 
 
Understanding the true problem that frontline workers face and getting to the root of the problem are the biggest challenges facing deskless workers today.
You want to make sure that everyone is getting the same level of training so that everyone is on the same page.
Not all technology is intuitive, so it can’t be treated as if it is easy for everyone to understand as everyone has a different background.
One of the biggest pieces of communication is making sure that everyone clearly understands what is happening. You can never communicate too many times. 
When it comes to change, you want to start small and work your way up to bigger change. 
Practice changes internally and making sure that everyone understands it before they bring it to the customers or end users. 
It’s normal for people to be hesitant to change. That’s why it’s important to make sure that the change process is smooth so they remember that and not a bad process that didn’t work.
Quote of the show
 
16:42 “Sometimes something that seems so easy and so intuitive may or may not in fact be. So we always try to, whether it's myself or someone directly going to be impacted by the change, to go in and kind of play with it… and I think that's a really important thing to always do.”
Links
 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-caswell-377404104/
Company Website: https://www.alcon.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/6o8Pb6getgk

Maria Fung is the Program Change Manager in the IT organization at W.L Gore & Associates. She knows how much strain is being put on the frontline workers not just in terms of workload, but also by how they are physically separated from everyone else at an organization. Maria joins host Justin Lake to talk about that and other challenges facing frontline workers. 
 
 
Takeaways 
 
The biggest challenge facing frontline workers is the physical distance between them and the associates in the office because of COVID restrictions.
Because of the distance between workers, it has created a ripple effect that creates a lack of trust and a lack of the sense of community amongst workers. 
You want to make sure the stakeholders are also engaged in the change, so mapping out the direction of change is a good idea. 
You have to wear the “lens of empathy” for different stakeholders and really understand where they are coming from in order to get them to buy into change.
Frontline workers have their own community and you need to be able to speak their language to get them to be interested in change.
You want to make a solid foundation for change and make the reason it is done very clear and how it affects them, so that everyone is on the same page.
To create a desire for change, you need to show frontline workers the future and the value of change. 
Quote of the show
 
15:37 “I had the chance to really see what change management actually means. And it really covers human centric solutions… how to really wear the lens of empathy for different stakeholders.”
Links
 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-fung-4590a689/
Company Website: https://www.gore.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/z_9jknRZh-Q