In this episode of "Talent Strategy Nerd," Dr. Jim sits down with Rachel Kleban, VP of People at OpenPhone, live from HR Transform at the Wynn resort in Las Vegas. Rachel steps into the spotlight, carrying forward her mission to debunk longstanding myths within HR and leadership circles. This conversation plunges into the nitty-gritty of effective employee communication, transparent decision-making, and the underestimated capacity of the workforce to handle truthfulness.
Throughout the episode, Rachel unfolds her experiences since joining OpenPhone, the passion that resonates with its vision, and the diligent work she has embarked upon to fortify the company's people operations. Rachel brings forward the conviction that employees deserve full transparency, which in turn fosters trust and boosts morale.
Key Takeaways:
* Employees appreciate and benefit from transparent and honest communication, particularly regarding decisions impacting them directly.
* Treating employees like the intelligent adults they are is a foundation for building trust within an organization.
* Thoughtful and well-explained compensation systems can significantly enhance employee satisfaction.
* Before disseminating any information, it's important to ask if the decision-making process behind it is sound and justifiable.
* HR leaders should focus on direct messaging and involve employees in the understanding of the decision-making process behind changes that affect them.
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Transcripts
Dr. Jim: [:
Rachel Kleban: Absolutely. My name is Rachel Kleban. I am the VP of people at a company called open phone, and we are a voice over IP collaborative phone system for small businesses, helping them connect with their customers. And I joined as the VP of people about six months ago, and I've been really focused on.
ompanies like Airbnb and the [:
Dr. Jim: The voiceover IP space is pretty crowded. And you're still fairly a new employee at open phone. What was it about the company that drew you in .
Rachel Kleban: Good question. In the, on the business side, I really love what open phone is doing to connect with really not just small businesses, but like micro SMBs, mom and pop shops.
And really the difference between catching a phone call. And missing a phone call could be that month's business. And so I really love what we're doing to help those small businesses really stay connected with their customers and build their businesses.
Dr. Jim: Thanks for sharing that. All right. You're ready to bust some myths.
Rachel Kleban: Sure.
All right. All week we've been interviewing senior and executive leaders and talking to them about. The leadership and HR myths that they wish would just die. So what's yours?
I think sometimes there's a myth that employees can't understand our message or they can't take in the information when it's provided transparently that we need to massage.
o do important jobs. And are [:
Dr. Jim: That's an interesting point that you're bringing up.
And the way that I translate it in my head is treat your people like adults. I guess if the myth is that you need to over engineer a message to make sure that it's received. What are some best practices or steps that people leaders in general can take to be more effective in their messaging?
Rachel Kleban: Honestly, it starts with making good decisions,. I had a boss who said, would you put it on a billboard? And that has stuck with me because if you can't honestly and transparently explain why a decision was made, maybe I need to go back and look at that decision and say, was that the right decision?
But I think that really being direct in your messaging, again, treating people like adults, making assumptions and bringing them along in that process. Why starting with why did we make that decision? How are we gonna, implement this change? What does it really mean for you? Yes, that is Simon.
ate it. I've gotten feedback [:
Dr. Jim: Great stuff, Rachel. I appreciate you sharing that. And if I were to put everything that you just talked about on a bumper sticker, I would say, tell the truth and don't be afraid. That's usually a good policy. So thanks for hanging out with us. If people want to continue the conversation, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?
Rachel Kleban: Yeah. Find me on LinkedIn. You'll see that I'm both the VP of people and founder of a small company called level up. And I'm, I've Try to post my ideas there as much as I can.
