In this week's episode, Nikki de Vet is joined by Covers Head of People and Culture, Meredith Buchanan. Together they explore how leaders can create a rewarding employee experience by leaning into meaningful work..

How can we help our teams to connect their personal drivers to the impact we make as an organisation?

How can we help them see the role they play in creating this impact?

Listen now to hear about the fun, creative ways Meredith and the team have embraced to recognise each other - from values’ awards to a Hall of Fame, and much more!

Learn more about Within People and the work we do here.

All right, shall

we go?

Hello everyone.

Welcome to another episode of Re-Imagining Work From Within.

And today I'm so excited because I'm joined by a very awesome leader

that I've had the pleasure to work with for the last couple of years.

Meredith, I'm the head of people and culture at an organization called Covers.

Hello,

Meredith.

Hi, Nikki.

It's great to be here.

Thank you for being with us.

I will give you a moment to introduce yourself shortly as well, but let's

just say a little bit more about covers.

Covers is an organization that is headquarted in Halifax, Nova Scotia in

Canada, and they're all about fueling thriving sports betting communities.

They are an organization that are natural.

Culture first and values driven, and they really see this as a

differentiator of putting themself out there in the marketplace.

They have an ambition to become the trusted partner to level up every

sports betting experience, and it's been wonderful to work alongside them

to really step into that ambition.

But I will pass to Meredith to share a bit more about herself and about covers.

Sure.

Thanks Nikki.

So I joined covers a couple of years ago and it was an exciting opportunity to grow

a business on the east coast of Canada.

And you know, a great chance to be part of something really exciting in an

industry that is growing exponentially.

And as you said the fact that it is very much culture first and people

driven was a big you know, motivator for me in terms of, you know,

getting a chance to join this team.

In terms of myself, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about the mug that I

am drinking out of right now, Nikki.

Yes, please do So, something that our team did.

Year, which was a bit of a team builder and an opportunity to

kind of recognize each other.

And so we created personalized mugs with ways that we would describe each other.

And so mine says number one.

Aspiring Monk, and that is because I, over Covid connected with a

number of Buddhist monks and actually started meditating with them.

And so they've been a big part of my life over the last couple of years.

And so that's something that's, you know, well known about me within my team.

The next thing is frizzy hair wrangler.

And that's cause I have naturally, naturally curly hair.

And the struggle is real.

The struggle is, is real to be able to keep it in check.

And then the third is cat herder.

Cat herter which is just the fact that we are often drawn in

a bunch of different directions.

And therefore, you know, my role is really to help bring everybody

back to what's grounding us here.

And the last is the positive.

And that's really something that I try to bring to the team in terms

of looking for the future and having an optimistic view and really seeing

the bright side in every situation.

So it's a little bit about me.

Thank you so much and thank you for sharing so personally

as well and giving a real in.

Side incu, I'm not sure if I knew all of that about you.

But the positive one I definitely recognize in you and you, you are, you

are a positive one and always championing.

That in others as well.

And you're so incredible at always looking at it also from the bright

side if it might not be so bright.

So thank you for, for bringing that to our work together.

And I love that idea of like, Hey, let's create a mug like that is

personalized and to recognize each other.

And I think that there's such a brilliant segue into what we're

actually talking about here.

So I really wanna touch in on employee experience and especially

around the kind of meaningful work.

What makes it rewarding, how do we value each other side of employee experience?

So when we were chatting before before we started recording around

what is important to you around the podcast, you mentioned that

you wanted to spark ideas and.

Give inspiration and some clear takeaways.

So I think that is exactly what we're going to try and do today.

So let me just start off with asking you a question.

What does meaningful work mean to you personally?

So for me, I really, it comes back to the fact that we

spend so much of our lives at work and you know, apart from sleeping,

sleeping is a big part of our lives, very important part is very important.

It is work.

And so having an opportunity to really shape that work experience for

people, it absolutely impacts lives.

It makes such a difference in people's personal lives, in their you know,

their work lives and in their own personal professional development.

And so that's what brings me meaning,

Hmm.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I think, and also that answer for me goes right to the heart.

I think why we enjoy working with you and why we enjoyed working with the

team at covers, because you hold also that as a fundamental belief and

the, that, that it's so important.

So what does it mean at covers then meaningful work?

Would you add anything else to that?

Well, it's interesting because when we started

kind of diving into this, we had a new leadership team in place and we

wanted to kind of align around the broader purpose of our business.

And so we went through an exercise to really, you know, question

and probe, you know, what impact are we bringing to the community?

And that's where we got to that place of saying, it's.

Creating a thriving sports betting community, bringing it out of a stigma

that once existed and making sure that people have great insight and tools and

education around both how to bet and also where they can do and do that you

know, go and bet with reputable partners.

And so that became something that we really felt was important and meaningful.

But at the end of the day, that's not necessarily going to

be every individual's purpose.

It's not necessarily going to bring everyone meaning to their work.

And we recognize that it's not a one size fits all.

You know, and when it comes to meeting at work.

And so, you know, one of the things that I noticed when I joined this business

and started talking to people was.

So many people actually said they were doing their dream jobs.

And when I asked why, the themes were twofold.

One was, I get to work in sports.

You know, I have loved sports my entire life.

This has been a dream.

This is what I get to work in.

And the other was, This is an incredible team.

I love the people that I work with.

We really enjoy working together.

You know, there's such great talent here and that means everything to me.

And so those two kind of themes have been really strong throughout.

And so when we started to grow our team, you know, one of the things

that we brought right up to the front in terms of our recruitment efforts

was to talk both about the vision of the organization, but also the.

And how important the team is here and how important you know, that

desire to be part of an all-star team.

That desire to build your game needs to be if you're gonna find

meaning you know, in working here.

And so that's helped us to really bake that into the team as we've gotten bigger

and to make our culture stronger and more aligned around you know, those, those

bits that are so fundamental and have been what has kind of set us apart up until.

Thank

you for, for sharing that.

Meredith and I love that, that there were two clear things

that stood out for you, right?

It's one is about the industry.

Like I get to work in sports, right?

And that is what makes it meaningful.

And the other is around I get to work with an awesome team.

And that's the other thing that makes it, makes it meaningful because

you're right, like people join your organization and they might not.

Force, but they still very much love working at covers and find

a lot of meaning in their work.

And you have captured the essence of that, like the essence of how

you work together in your values.

So I'm not sure if you wanna say a little bit more about that or the importance

of the role of the values in your

organiz.

Sure.

I think, you know, as we were growing, what we wanted to make sure that we

were doing was building a diverse team.

And so we didn't want to just attract people who were fanatical about sports.

We wanted to make sure that we were bringing on people who had different

perspectives and different voices.

And therefore you know, we really highlighted the fact that this is an

organization where you can grow your.

You know, that really you can build your game essentially, and that we're

gonna give you those opportunities.

We're small enough that we're not too siloed, and therefore you can get exposure

to different parts of the business.

You can learn in different ways.

You can have access to anyone in the business, and they encourage that.

So that was a big part of, as we were kind of building out our team, was that

that notion of growth and that being something that was really important.

The other is around, you know, Caring about making things better, elevating

the experience, whether we're, you know, serving up our internal

customers or serving up the community externally, we are constantly trying

to improve and trying to make things better and listening to feedback.

And so that was something that we made sure that we were emphasizing and was

important to people when they came in.

And that has nothing necessarily to.

Although if you're really good at sports, you know, you're building a muscle,

you're training, you're practicing.

And so there's a little bit of that that's, that's kind of baked

into into how we work here for sure.

Mm-hmm.

The other is around playing with passion, and so we would ask people,

What, what did you learn during covid?

What new hobby did you take up?

What's the, you know, kind of latest thing that you've gotten involved

with, where you've gotten energy or you've learned something and,

and you know, taken on a new hobby.

And so that really helped to emphasize for people that that's something we encourage.

It's not just about what you're doing at work.

It's about your personal life and making sure that you make a priority to have, you

know, that kind of balance or work life integration and wellness and focus on

wellbeing that we really emphasize here.

Again, kind of like sports important to, you know, be at the top of your game.

Yeah.

And continually conditioning.

You know, and so that's something that, that we've,

we've emphasized with people for.

Yeah.

Lovely.

And it's been great to follow your journey with your values as well, like

from the very moment that we, we supported you with shaping those to

like the evolution of it as well more recently and how you really hone in on

the things that are really important, like really matter and sharpen up

the behaviors that sits with that.

And I also know that you're making certain promises around

what meaningful work is as covers.

So what are you saying in that space?

What are you promising as part of your employee experience?

Well, and, and some of it I guess we've already

touched on, but that being part of an All-Star team is part of our

promise to the group, and so much goes into that from who we're attracting

to, who's choosing to stay with us.

You know, that's what makes us an all-star team and making sure that we're all

bringing as much as we can to the team.

You know, that's, that's been a big promise and one that.

Continuously, you know, really, really care about.

The other one is around taking care of each other and.

I can't tell you the number of times we've actually said,

you know, we have to do this.

We have to look after each other.

This is really important, you know, when people have had things that

have come up in their personal lives, everyone rallies together.

It is a real kind of family first sort of orientation within the team that says you.

When your family needs you, when your personal life needs you, we

need to support you in making sure that you can make that a priority so

that we take care of each other.

Promise is one that I think definitely sticks out for people.

I've had lots of people come to me and say, that's everything.

That's everything.

Knowing yeah, that I have the support of my team, you know, that just allows

me to be so much better at work.

So that's, that's one that personally I've, I've, you know, really, really stood

behind and seen it in action so much.

The other is When you grow, we grow.

Which again, comes back to some of what we were talking about around you know,

building your game and giving people the opportunity to own their growth.

Yes.

You know, it's so in, it's so personalized, it's so individual you

know, and it's, you know, lots of talk now about, it's not a ladder, right?

It's, you know, your, your career growth.

Is is meant to go in lots of different directions and what can

we do to help you steer it in the way that's gonna be meaningful

and gonna be motivating for you?

So those are, those are some of the core promises.

And then the last one is around getting an opportunity to do work that matters.

And as we know coming out of the pandemic, there was so much

self-reflection around purpose.

And, you know, that's what led a lot of people to make decisions around changing

careers or changing you know, businesses.

And so being able to really hone in on what matters at an individual

level and then giving people opportunity to work on that has

been something that that has been.

Really important.

You know, one example of that is having hackathons where people can

stand up a team, they can form a team.

Anyone e everyone is encouraged to participate.

I joined a team even and, you know, realized that you know,

there's a lot that goes into development and engineering and.

Taking a product from the very beginning to, you know, that stage where you

can actually demo it for the team.

It was an incredible experience, a great way to get to learn the business, get

people an opportunity to work on something that they would otherwise never work on.

And through that, you know, we've actually been able to put

things into production, right?

That have been just these sort of passion projects for individuals on our team.

So things like that where people can really do something

that is exciting to them.

Is aligns with their interests that makes it, that makes it so meaningful for them.

The other is connecting you know, everyone's work to broader business

goals and aspirations and just coming back to that on a regular basis has.

Been you know, really, really something that we've tried to build a discipline

around with the team so that they understand how important their work is

and how it's connected to, you know, where we're trying to, where we're

trying to head as a, as a broader team.

Hmm.

Amazing.

I could go on and on, Nick.

Yeah, I could go on.

I know, I know.

Cause what I, what I love about what you're sharing is that those

are not empty promises that you're making.

Like those promises are being left through some of the examples

as you've just shared with us.

Right.

And they are really come, come to life in that way.

So there is a lot of kind of.

In the sis in your system as an organization that really shows that

you're practicing those promises in action, which is so wonderful to hear.

And I love how you actually sort of start to paint a picture of

like, okay, our values is how we, how we work together as a team.

Like we have our employee experience that's very much rooted in, in,

you know, being there for each other, caring for each other, doing

like work that matters and all of.

Comes together in how you are living your purpose around fueling thriving

sports betting communities, and you can see all these component pieces really

playing a, a role in your culture.

For us, part of meaningful work is, is all about feeling valued.

And you, you already touched on that briefly around the

impact that people make in.

In the business and how that's how that is showing up or how

they are able to make an impact.

What are other ways that you celebrate the impact that people make or the

value that they bring to the team?

So I have to tell you about one of my first experiences, okay.

In joining the Please Do Team, and it was in the heart of the pandemic and therefore

everything was virtual, which is, you know, challenging when you're coming in as

the head of people and culture to really get to know people and to get a sense of

how things work and how people connect.

And they had organized a holiday year end celebration and.

This, I was, you know, brand new into the organization.

And so this was sort of my first real observation of how this team, you

know, gelled and really connected.

And so part of that celebration, first of all, was a ton of banter.

So much banter within this group that, and it was hilarious.

Like they were just feeding off each other in the chat and poking fun at each other.

And you could see there was such a.

Built that just made for a really, really fun vibe, even

in this kind of virtual world.

And then there was a ceremony around inducting two of our longer standing

employees into the Hall of Fame.

And so with that, I know it's it's quite, it's quite a significant milestone.

It's for people who have been with the business for around 15 years

which pretty amazing that we had.

Yes, a couple of people who were being inducted into the

Hall of Fame at that time.

And it was so heartfelt.

Someone was identified who had a personal connection with them, who

had worked with them for a period of time to do the speech and.

Teared up.

They told stories, they celebrated achievements.

And then the people who received you know, their induction you know,

also said a few words about what the experience has been like for them

and how meaningful it has been and how much the team means to them.

And I cried.

It was so real.

It was so authentic.

It was no.

There wasn't, there wasn't a monetary value attached to it.

It was all about just the heart of this team.

Yes.

And recognizing that, and it was, it was an incredible

moment for me going, okay, this.

Culture is special, you know, to see that kind of ceremony and see

that kind of reaction and just everyone celebrating together.

And so we've tr we've really made an intentional effort to incorporate

that into all of our team connect.

So we do what we call a monthly opening pitch which is just

to set us up for the month.

Oh yeah.

It's to do a check-in on how we're doing against our goals.

To you know, bring people together for a bit of fun, a bit of camaraderie.

We now have introduced something we call home runs.

And so as part of it, we're recognizing people against our values.

So anyone can nominate someone on the team for a home run for that month.

And then they get highlighted.

They get their own sort of special kind of recognition in the meeting, and we did

it this past month and the person who was recognized was so blown away Aw, and so

grateful, and it meant the world to them.

And it's just, there's.

You can't, you can't it's hard to describe unless you're part of it.

Yeah.

The value that people receive from that kind of recognition, and it's just their

peers, you know, who are putting their name forward and saying why, you know,

the, the work that they've done or the contributions they've made has mattered

and how it connects to the values and the things that we really care about here.

And so it has gone a long way in terms of, you know, just highlighting people also,

Sometimes maybe fly under the radar, even though their work is really important.

It may not have the same profile as, you know, some of the other team members.

And so it's a great chance to to really profile different

people across the business.

We also are so fortunate in that this year we're gonna be having our second all-Star

Week, which involves bringing our entire team together from across the country.

Yes.

For about three days we're, we're taking over a resort here

in, in outside of Halifax.

And at that event, we're going to be actually giving out awards.

And so we have awards for each of our values.

And we also have an MVP award for someone who really has demonstrated all of

the values throughout the prior year.

And so this is again, nominated you know, for, for work that has happened,

you know, contributions that have been made over the prior year.

And they get to have a very personalized caricature created Oh, that has.

All kinds of creative.

Just reference, yeah.

Just references to their favorite sports team, their favorite food, something

funny that has happened you know, where they're from, things they care about.

And so it's, you know, the amount of detail that goes into that.

That just shows again how much we know.

Each other and how much we value.

Yes.

Yeah.

Not just the role that you bring in the business, but who you are and you

know who you are in your personal life and we know that all of that matters

in terms of what you bring to the team.

We also have participation awards, which are meant to be purely.

Really funny awards.

You know, anybody can nominate anyone you know, based on something funny

that's happened based on maybe a quirk that they have that they're known for.

And so that I think might have been you know, one of the, one of the highlights

from last year's All, all-Star Week for sure, because there were so many laughs.

And again, it's all about, you know, just the fact that people really

know each other and celebrate.

You know, a lot of the things that we do that, that make us unique and the the

funny moments that happen throughout the year that people can never live down,

oftentimes that's, you know, that's gonna be surfacing up in the, in the

participation awards this year as well.

That sounds so fun.

And like, I'm, I love, love everything that.

Shared, like a few things really stand out for me.

First of all, the passion on your face when you speak to

this Meredith, like it's just so inspiring and I, I love seeing that.

Obviously our listeners won't be able to see your face, but in that way.

But I, I can truly see that you're speaking from the heart.

You know that.

I think that brings me to the next kind of thing that really stands

out to me is that humanity that you all bring to your workplace.

It really is super authentic.

You really are so, Like in it together, I'd say, and like how you back each

other and how you celebrate each other, like from working with you.

I, I know that I know that to be true and know that to be very

authentic and that humanity is yeah.

Is so important and I'm really in awe.

How you, you do that as an organization, because I think this

exact thing is where, where many, where many organizations sometimes

struggle, how do we bring this about?

Especially if it's maybe more hybrid workforce and there's

some remote work in there.

How do we, how do we do that?

So thank you for, for sharing that.

The other thing that stands out is the creativity that you bring to it, right?

Like as an organization, you have fun with it and you bring creativity.

Like obviously you're in the world of sports, so sports references are quite

easy for you to hook things on, but how you bring that to life with things like

a personalized mug like you were sharing earlier, or the kind of character.

Caricatures and the awards, that's just, you know, you can have fun with

it, like, you know, so it doesn't have to become this thing that is like, oh,

we need to do this as an organization.

How are we going to organize awards or like a celebration around our values?

No, for you, for you all by, from what I can tell is that it's just a natural way

of doing it to bring you creativity to it.

Which is yeah.

So wonderful, and I think there is a clear takeaway here from me around how

you bake this into your organization.

And I, I wonder if you have any other thoughts around that, like the

importance of being intentional about it?

Hmm.

Yeah.

I, I think the, the discipline around having these touchpoints with the

business in terms of the monthly opening pitch, for example, We

started it and we stayed consistent so that everyone could expect it.

They knew it was coming, they could look forward to it.

They knew there was going to be an opportunity to connect with each other.

There would be an opportunity to be highlighted or You know, to be profiled

a little bit for the rest of the team.

And we also give different voices.

So we have various people present in those sessions too, to give just again, to

give others opportunity to kind of share their own stories and talk about the work

that they're doing that matters to them.

So I do think the discipline and the muscle of, of creating those rituals

or those practices that you just.

Over and over again.

We also, another one is we do a weekly bottom of the ninth.

Oh yes.

Social with you know, that people, I, I think they'd be up in arms

if we didn't have it one week.

Like it is, we have the same people show up every week.

They play games, they make fun of each other in a very kindhearted

way, and they just have a blast.

And it's that, you know, again, it's just that.

To, you know, have some fun together, decompress.

You know, we are in a very fast-paced industry.

You know, everyone will say, sports never stops.

Right.

There's always something happening.

Yeah.

And so equally important for us to make space for people to, you know, recharge

and you know, and to, and to have a.

Like there is, there is so much value in that.

Something else that we do is we have a monthly newsletter and one thing that we

did is we recognized that we needed to increase the comfort levels with talking

about mental wellbeing across our team.

We had done a survey and that was probably one of our lower.

And when you think about, you know, again, what I had just said about it being fast

paced and there's so much happening, you know, we have to get to a place where you

know it's okay to say, Hey, you know what?

I need to take a break.

I need to go and recharge, or I'm struggling right now and you

know, I need someone to talk to.

And so one thing that we did in our newsletter that also served the purpose of

creating connection within the team is we asked people to share their mental health.

And it was so powerful.

We really weren't sure who would be comfortable.

You know, it's, it's obviously a very sensitive topic for many and one that,

you know, there's so much work being done to, to kind of get over, you know,

that sense of stigma that may have been part of it in the past and the raw.

Personal stories that came through that, that then created

opportunities for conversation and opportunities for connection.

We had someone share, you know, a story about a personal loss and how that so

profoundly impacted them, and someone else on our team had gone through a

very similar loss and suddenly they knew that they both had something

in common and could connect on a completely different level together.

And so that was something that, you know, I really felt proud of for our team

because it just, you could see that it, it started to normalize the fact that

it's okay to not be okay and to share that with the team and to talk about that.

And then through that you get real connections.

Right when you aren't pretending anymore and when you feel safe to share that, and

then you also, you know, are more likely to get the help and support you need.

And so that's been a big focus for us as well in terms of, you

know, connection building and just creating that safe space for people.

Yeah, absolutely.

And through that, like again, the humanity.

Shines through, right?

Mm-hmm.

How, how do we connect people by being humans and allowing like ourselves to,

to be humans in a way where we don't have to be perfect the whole time.

And, you know, recognize the importance of speaking to, to our mental

health and the things we might be struggling with, and that's actually

forming connection with each other.

So thank you for sharing that example.

And also thank you for being such a fan of ritual.

And championing the power of rituals alongside us like we at within.

That is, that is so important to our own culture as well, and we are on a

mission to help other organizations also see the power of it and what

it can unlock in your organization.

So thank you for championing that alongside us.

Like many businesses covers is also a growing business, whatever growth might

mean to you as in your organization.

And I, I wonder like, what, how do you keep this alive?

How do you keep some of this going as you develop, as an organization

and as you skill the business?

How do you keep it Yeah.

This culture alive?

Mm.

And I think your point, the point you just made around ritual is something

that that is scalable, right?

So if you're already in a practice, it doesn't feel overwhelming, it

doesn't feel like something new.

And so as you add additional people into the team, it feels natural.

To be able to continue some of those practices.

So I do think that that is a, is really, really helpful when

you're, when you're scaling.

The other thing I had mentioned was around, you know, baking this into

the recruitment process so that people know when they're joining.

That this is something that we believe in, in terms of, you know, recognition

and the strength of the team and the values that we care about.

So putting that right up in front, as we were doing a lot of hiring over the

last couple of years, you know, the feedback has been, you know, the way that

we incorporated the values and the, and the Emphasis that we placed on that.

It wasn't just a checking the box at the end of the recruitment cycle, you know,

it was very much a, this is who we are.

This is just as important as, you know, the expert, the technical expertise that

you might be bringing to the business.

And so at the outset, for any business that is scaling, being really rock

solid, On what matters to the business.

Mm-hmm.

And making sure that you are transparent with people who are coming in so that

they know what they're signing up for.

You know, at the end of the day that's in the best interest of the business and also

in the best interest of the individual.

And so that has been really helpful for us.

The greatest feedback that I got last year at our conference.

You know, someone who'd been in the business for quite some time and

they said, you know, I was worried when we were going through this

significant growth that maybe we would lose some of what has made us Yeah.

So special.

Of course.

And made us such a great place to work.

Yeah.

And they said it, we've only gotten stronger.

You know, the people that we've brought on are so amazing and they've just added

more yes to the team that we had in place before, which is the goal, right?

Mm-hmm.

That's the goal is to, is to, as you grow, just add and strengthen and not

dilute, which was of course my fear as we were starting on that path to scaling.

Yeah.

And that's, that's a wonderful example of how, like, you've

actually been through this, right?

Like you've, you've experienced a period of quite significant

growth and you as a result, you are stronger and you're, you're getting,

you're getting that feedback.

So there's some firsthand experience of how to do that right there.

Some great examples already or some great takeaways already given to everyone

listening and hopefully people can really take some inspiration from this

and try to implement some of this also in their, in their own organizations.

What kind final piece of advice do you, do you have for people or for

leaders in similar spaces as yourself?

Yeah, I would say, you know, it's really easy to focus on

the numbers and focus on the metrics and focus on the harder you know, firmer

aspects of business and making the space and prioritizing those personal

connections is so, The investment and yet you need to be intentional about

it or it won't happen, particularly in hybrid and virtual environments where

meetings start on time, they end on time.

There isn't that lingering afterwards where people chat.

Right.

Does not happen.

I mean, sadly, no, I miss that.

Exactly.

And so, you know, if you're not intentional, if you don't incorporate

it, one thing that we've done in meetings is start every meeting with

a personal and a professional win.

And so, you know, that just a, it's, it's, it's bringing some positive

psychology into, you know, into the meeting right out of the gate.

But it also just opens.

You know, the whole team to seeing deeper into what's happening in people's lives.

And it's quick.

Doesn't take a lot of time, but that's, that's a really simple practice

that has worked well for us and, you know, is so easy to implement for,

you know, especially for virtual teams who just don't have that casual

chi chat that we used to have when we were all in office together.

The other advice I'd say is again, creating space for

appreciation and recognition.

You know, just having those shout outs.

You don't have to have, you know, the, the tools or the systems necessarily

for, you know, to have everyone being able to contribute to a praise board.

You know, we do have that, which is wonderful, but you don't need that.

Right?

Just baking it into regular meeting.

All hands sentence with the team.

People know that they have an opportunity to nominate their peers.

That is the best investment you can really make in terms of making sure

that people are getting meaning out of their work because they're feeling

recognized, they're feeling appreciated.

And I guess the last would be, you know, we talked a lot about purpose and the

fact that it is just, A one size fits all.

And so, you know, the advice I would give is just, you know, beware of the

cult and culture in that, you know, you can't expect everyone to come

into the business and necessarily relate directly to the mission of the

business as being their be all and end all in terms of meaning and purpose.

We are all unique.

We all bring different motivations to the table and you know,

businesses, we just need to.

That and kind of lean into that and encourage that and find out

what matters, you know, for, for people at an individual.

Great advice.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

There's two, two things in particular that I love.

It's, it's that idea of like, let's share personal and professional wins, right?

Like, let's make space for that in terms of human connection.

And it's something actually I've recently implemented as well in our, in our.

Kind of UK team here around let's make sure that in our, when we

get together on our team calls, we open with some celebrations.

And I, I really find that that sets the, the tone for the, for the call and really,

you know, making space for it as you, as you're saying, is super important.

The other thing is around purpose, because you're right, right.

People what.

Purposeful to one person might not be purposeful to another, but I think

it's kind of how do you help your, your people in your organization to,

to find their own connection to the purpose of the organization, right?

And people do that in different ways and allow space for that.

As you're saying around that, people might need to fill in for it, to

it a little bit of like what, what this means, what this means to them.

And yeah, being okay with that as an organization is very important.

I'd love to ask some rapid fire questions to close us out, if that's okay with you.

Are you up for that?

Yeah, I, I am.

All right.

So what three words would you use to describe the workplace

culture you'd like to lead?

So that's a tough one.

That's hard to get down to three words.

Nikki, we've, sorry.

We've said so many of them throughout this last conversation, but you know, the ones

that kind of surface to the top are open.

You know, just that openness I think is really important.

Caring, we've talked a lot about that and definitely fun.

Okay.

Open, caring, and fun.

And yes.

Your, your fun is such a big part of, of the world.

That covers, I feel we've had many conversations around

that throughout the years.

What three words would you use to define the future of work?

So I'd love to start with unknown but I guess that's, you

know, that about the future of work.

For sure.

I would say purposeful.

You know, certainly on the theme of our conversation today, elevated

you know, when you think about the influence of technology and ai, it

just means we're all going to be going to a new level and connected.

I think also with the introduction and, and true adoption of some of

these technologies, that importance of connection is actually not gonna go away.

It's gonna become.

So much, so much more important.

Yeah,

absolutely.

And how can we use some of that elevation in, in the AI space to

make us more connected, right.

And not less so.

Love, love that you're bringing that.

Which one quality is your

superpower?

It has to be the one on my coffee mug.

It has to be.

So I'm gonna have to go with positivity, Vicky.

For sure.

For sure.

And which one quality would you say is your area of development?

That I would say is patience.

Okay.

Patience is definitely an area that I am always working on.

And just taking a breath and really, you know, slowing down and being aware

of just what's right here, right now and being patient with getting to the.

Yes.

I very much relate to that.

It's an, it's an ongoing journey to work on my patience.

What is your most treasured spot outside of work?

The beach, being by the ocean every chance I can get.

Okay.

Any,

any particular.

Well close to here is a beach called Bayswater that I absolutely

love and go there and go swimming.

There's one in New Brunswick called Parley Beach that I grew up actually going to

every summer and walked the beach and actually met my husband there, so I, oh, I

probably shoulda have said that one first.

I should have said that one first.

Okay.

Parley Beach, that's the first one.

Oh, that is lovely.

Thank you for sharing.

I know it was supposed to be rapid fire.

Sorry, I'm going off script here myself.

Is there a person or a brand you'd like to shine a light on today?

Hmm.

Yeah.

I'd love to mention Janice Morano.

She's the founder of the Institute for Mindful Leadership.

Okay.

And several years back I went to one of her retreats on Mindful Leadership.

It was a five day retreat and it was.

Absolutely life changing.

She has such an interesting story in that she was a VP with General Mills and just.

You know, incredible career, incredible contribution to that business, and just

worked to a place where she was really on the verge of burnout and discovered

mindfulness and actually brought it to Gen General Mills as an entire program,

and it got so much traction and did so much good that she actually spun it.

Into this institute that has brought this practice to businesses

and individuals around the world.

When I was there, there were people from absolutely everywhere

that had come to this retreat.

You know, with that shared kind of, you know, desire to understand mindfulness

and to incorporate it into their lives.

And I would recommend for anyone to be able to attend one of these

retreats if they're able to in.

Okay.

Amazing.

Thank you for sharing that.

Like, as a group of people, that's also very much in the

space of leadership development.

This is a great one I think for us to check out and see.

Yeah, what is so special about it.

Thank you.

If you had to pick one song that represented who you are

as a leader, what would it.

It's gonna be a bit of a throwback.

It's gonna be a bit of a throwback to like the early two thousands.

Oh, yes.

But beautiful day.

Beautiful day by you too.

Yeah.

Do you know that one, Nick?

Yes, I know that one.

It's, you know, it's still on my playlist.

Beautiful.

I still.

Yes,

Emily gonna cut that

out.

It's, don't cut it out, Emily.

It's perfect.

It's perfect.

Bono, are you listening?

Nikki's here for backup.

Let's meet her.

Yeah, so that, I mean, it's just a song about being in the moment and

appreciating what's what's there.

So I love that song.

Yeah.

Lovely.

Thank you.

And knowing that you went to the Institute for Mindful Leadership,

that's a very beautiful connection there with that song too.

Okay, well I think we've come to the end of our recording.

Meredith, thank you so much for being with us here on the podcast

today and for sharing your wisdom.

It's been an absolute pleasure to be in conversation with.

Thank you so much Nikki, and I always

enjoy spending time with you.

It has been so wonderful working with you over the last couple of

years and we'll definitely be working together into the future for sure.

Yeah.

Thanks so much for this conversation.

It was a ton of fun.

Yes.

So much

fun and yeah, great insights into you and your leadership

and yeah, the great team that.

Continue to build at covers.

And thank you for listening everyone.

We hope you enjoyed learning about meaningful work and how to really

bring that to life in your organization and make, make people feel really

rewarded for the work that they do and the impact that they have.

Beyond what usually is called reward in the more monetary sense of that word.

Word.

So take the learnings from Meredith and the team at covers and use

it as, as inspiration to maybe implement it in your organization.

I wanna do a big shout out to our podcast producer Emily.

She is behind the scenes, but you never get to hear her, but she's very much here.

So thank you Emily, for being with us today.

And if you wanna find out more about covers the organizations that we've

been speaking about today, you can go to covers.com and we will also link

Meredith Meredith LinkedIn to the podcast.

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