Mike Sipple Jr's guest on this episode of the Talent Magnet Leadership Podcast is Dave Ulrich, ‘The Father of Modern HR’. Dave is a university professor at The Ross School of Business and the co-founder of The RBL Group. A renowned author and speaker, he is also a Thought Partner on Leadership and Organization. In this episode, he and Mike talk about becoming great leaders by embracing change.

To create an environment that allows people to bring their whole selves to the workplace, we have to focus on relationships. [1:40]

People want three things at work: to belong, to become, and to believe. Employees want to feel a sense of purpose and fulfillment, they want to learn and grow, and they want to be connected to a community. These three elements are the foundation of a positive employee experience. When we connect the metrics of belief, belonging, and becoming we create an environment where people can thrive. [5:20]

The nature of becoming is change. "To become is to learn to experiment, to get out of my comfort zone, to not be afraid of failure, to relish the opportunity to fail, to continuously improve,” Dave shares with Mike. [9:01]

Dave gives valuable insights about incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into the workplace in phases. The first phase is through affirmative action; phase two is incorporating diversity and inclusion into HR programs which would include unconscious bias training, and phase three is succession planning with diversity. The strategy is to innovate through diversity. [14:24]

Leaders must look at leadership as a way to empower others. The job of a leader is not to exercise power but to share the power that they have and empower employees to reach their fullest potential. [16:34]

Creating an open environment means learning and growing from each other. “One of the most powerful opportunities is to start conversations and to share and create safe spaces,” Dave says. It is a journey and not an event: this is a heart change and a heart change takes a long time. [21:00]

Personalized leadership is how we show care, and the more we do this, the more we help unlock our employees’ full potential. This is the type of leadership that changes organizations, hearts, and behaviors. [24:17]

HR leaders should be asking employees how they feel, what their experience that day was like, and what they did that day that helped a customer have a better experience. [27:49]

ResourcesDave Ulrich | LinkedIn | TwitterThe RBL Group