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Welcome to the Wired to Lead podcast with Julia LeFevre!
Julia LeFevre (00:02)
Hi everyone, welcome to Wired Today. I'm Julia Lefevre and around here we talk about leading with clarity, rewiring our mindset and growing from the inside out. So let me ask you something. What if the real engine of organizational success isn't strategy, but it's people? Today's guest, Laura Golem Bieske, I probably said that wrong. We practiced,
Sometimes you just have to fail on camera and then you just help people know that it's okay. So, Laura.
Laura A Golembieski (00:36)
And
it wouldn't be the first time somebody pronounced it not correctly. I'm sorry, we're all good.
Julia LeFevre (00:41)
That's right. So Laura has spent more than 20 years proving just that. As a seasoned HR professional, she's partnered with senior leaders to align human resources with corporate strategy. She's transformed culture, strengthened morale, and elevated performance from the inside out. Laura brings a powerful blend of strategic insight and operational empathy from conflict resolution and change management.
to DEI and legal compliance, she's navigated the most complex challenges leaders face, but always with people at the center. So if you are leading people or trying to understand them better, Laura's story is a playbook in transformational leadership through human connection. So Laura, I am so happy to have you here. Welcome to Wired to Lead. Awesome. Well, just...
Laura A Golembieski (01:33)
Thank you. I'm happy to be here.
Julia LeFevre (01:37)
Tell us a little bit about, well, I'm gonna back up. Tell us what, of all of the things I just introduced you as, what has been the hardest part of being an HR professional in your leadership journey?
Laura A Golembieski (01:57)
I honestly think it's getting other leaders to understand the importance of the connection with the people that report into them. I think sometimes they take it for granted that it's there and it depends on where you're at in your career and your life and who you are that sometimes you need a little bit more warm and fuzzy and a little bit more interaction and other people say if I talk to you once every two months we're all good.
We're finding out more and more is that people do want to have that connection with their manager. They want to understand how they can contribute to an organization and what my career path is. And it's really not that difficult to do, but you have to have intention and spend the time with your team.
Julia LeFevre (02:45)
I'm just gonna pause there because is that the crux of the matter that everyone is so busy and running that spending time with your team is just so challenging?
Laura A Golembieski (03:02)
think you have to make the time. ⁓ I'm a firm believer that everybody that reports in to me, I have a one-to-one with them every week, standing every week, an hour time, just so that we can catch up, whether it's personally, professionally, but it's individual. If I have a team of five that report in to me, I take the time to do it. I find more value in that than having to read something or sign something or do something else.
Julia LeFevre (03:22)
Hmm.
Laura A Golembieski (03:30)
because I know if I can give them the time.
They'll feel more connected to the job and the organization and knows that somebody has their back and wants to see them succeed too.
Julia LeFevre (03:39)
You know, I usually wait till later in the show to bring out my brain, my blue brain that people, and I realized, ⁓ this is a podcast and not everyone is watching it. So some of you have no idea that I have this blue plastic brain from Amazon that I pull out and it has a diagram of the inside. So bear with me. I'll try and explain it more ⁓ than I have in the past, but
The thing that I love so much about what you said is you really have put an underline under what the one thing that neuroscience is telling us about people and that is that they need to have their relational tank filled before their thinking tank, their thinking brain can take off. And if we as leaders and managers aren't spending time
That doesn't mean you have to be their therapist. It doesn't mean you have to be their counselor or their best friend. It just means they need to know they matter to you beyond the job they're doing. And what happens in our brains neurologically is that the subconscious piece of us, the part of our brain that holds experiential memories,
is in the middle and it looks like a gas tank. So I've been calling it a brain tank. And if you don't fill up your brain tank, then your thinking brain, which is at the top, the prefrontal cortex, it doesn't have the energy, the fuel to work at its best. It can still work, but taking a few minutes to check in with your team and connect, you won't receive a
a huge return on that investment of time because they will become more clear, they will become more confident, and they will have more impact as they enter into their job for the day.
Laura A Golembieski (05:45)
Totally agree. I've never, I've never heard of it through the brain, but I can agree with that.
Julia LeFevre (05:50)
you've experienced the reality of that. And it's something that I just want more and more leaders to understand that it's not a waste of time, it's not a soft thing, it's not that people are more needy, it's a scientific fact. And if you want to know what will give your team the leading edge over every other team, spend time, 10 minutes.
even 15 minutes a week. I mean, it doesn't even take much. It's just know them, value them, and make sure that's getting communicated.
now we're like gonna go way back because I'm guessing that you haven't always known this, ⁓ that you've probably learned this through your own experiences. And so tell us just a little bit about your leadership journey. Where did Laura start to get her to this place?
Laura A Golembieski (06:43)
Gosh, way, way, back. I've always have been an athlete. So I think that has something to do with it. Played volleyball in college, ran track, blah, blah, blah. But I've always felt like there has to be some sort of connection with others in order to help people grow. Came out, I mean, a long time ago, came out of college managing retail stores. Here I am, this young woman.
Julia LeFevre (06:44)
Hahaha!
Hmm.
Laura A Golembieski (07:06)
managing people that are probably 30 years older than I am and trying to work my way through it. ⁓ Fast forward, got into HR later on in my life because I was always hiring people. Got into it for hiring salespeople and kind of transformed myself and saw what a good manager looked like and what one didn't. And I kept saying, this is what I want to do, this is what I want to do and how can I learn and how can I grow?
Julia LeFevre (07:10)
Wow.
Mm.
Laura A Golembieski (07:36)
support people. In HR, you are a manager, not to just your team, but to everybody within the organization, because you're the founding board, whether it's through the executive team, whether it's through a junior manager that's just starting. People want affirmation of what am I doing? Am I doing it right? Am I saying the right things? Because always in the back of everybody's mind is there's the legal thing and I got to make sure I'm doing it right. I think it's just
Julia LeFevre (07:44)
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Laura A Golembieski (08:03)
I don't know, it's kind of a nurturing thing. ⁓ I don't have kids, I have dogs, ⁓ but I am probably one of the best dog moms out there that I think I know. And I think that has something to do with it too, is just having the compassion to be able to And not to give them all the answers, let them figure out their answers for themselves. I'm very good with my team about, what do you want to do? What do you think?
Julia LeFevre (08:06)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Laura A Golembieski (08:32)
and they come to me with a problem. And then that way we walk through it and everybody grows. Not everybody's meant to be a leader. I think you find that out as you, especially on HR, everybody wants to promote somebody that's the best performer. Not always the best manager. Not always the best manager. And sometimes it's totally out of their skill set, out of their comfort zone. Everybody thinks it's a great thing to be a manager, but there's other things you can do.
Julia LeFevre (08:38)
Yeah.
Hmm.
Absolutely.
Yeah. So I would love to just kind of hover over the topic of management. And a little bit ago, you just said, you know, I started recognizing what it looks like to be a good manager or who the people would be that would be good managers. And so break that down for us. What have you learned about when you're a leader who's looking to promote someone into that space? Because I see this
Laura A Golembieski (09:01)
to grow your career.
Julia LeFevre (09:30)
struggle everywhere. All of my clients that I work with, it's at this manager level that they're not exactly sure what they're looking for. And like you said, a lot of times it's skill-based in the original skill or task, but then you move people into the people world and it just isn't, it doesn't always work. So ⁓ tell us about what you have found to look for.
Laura A Golembieski (10:00)
I think it's how people interact with others and are they in a meeting. can work with, you you can work with your VPs, your directors to find out who are those people that are actually acting like a leader, leading the team, leading the project and how they interact with others. It's all transferable. It's all transferable, but it's finding the right people or the people that want to and want to learn. You can, you can teach some of it. There's no doubt about it, but a lot of it has to come from within.
about what's important to you and how you feel about people. ⁓ I think you can always look it back like who is your worst manager ever and say I never ever want to be like that. And I've had a couple throughout my career, well name names here, ⁓ half and I'm like never again. And I think it's trying to get them to understand what does good look like? What does good look like? What can we do to help? We just did a
Julia LeFevre (10:34)
Hmm.
Yeah, absolutely.
Laura A Golembieski (10:58)
company-wide training for all of our director level and up managers, ⁓ and things on the employee lifestyle, on financial literacy, on growth mindset. You've got to give them the tools. You've got to give them the tools. We are also very big on using outside business coaches, because sometimes when they hear from somebody from without of the organization, there's a different mindset for them about, okay.
This is a fresh mindset. This is somebody that really doesn't know me that well or only can see me for who I am of what I've told them. And it works. It works. It works.
Julia LeFevre (11:32)
Yeah, there's a
sense of safety. I've recognized that as somebody who goes into different corporations and organizations when yeah, there's somebody new saying it and we're there to support you and champion you. And so there is kind of an added safety to that process.
Laura A Golembieski (11:54)
Yeah. Yeah. I always laugh
at when it comes to be review time and like right now we're going through mid-years check-ins and then we do an annual review and it's sometimes it's like pulling teeth, but you can always tell who the good managers are because they get them done. I get them done quickly because they know it's important to their employees. And it's not that difficult. It's just conversation, you know, and there should be no surprises in a review. Everything should be about
Julia LeFevre (12:16)
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (12:23)
Okay, we accomplished this. What are we looking for next time? What are we going to focus on now? Needless to say, goals can change throughout the year based upon what the current environment is or what the expectations are.
Julia LeFevre (12:34)
Absolutely, you know some of my clients have had the same struggle and part of it is because what's so interesting is that they weren't ever trained for how to do a review and then some of them were trained but one of the things that I'm finding is that just because people know what to do they don't necessarily have the capacity to do it.
And that's where it really comes back to the leaders, really the privilege that a leader has, because when we start talking about knowing what to do, here on my brain, I'm gonna point to the smart part of your brain, right? Like that's information that you can get and you can learn it. But when we're talking about capacity,
the ability to do it, maybe somebody is conflict avoidant, so they don't want to have a hard conversation and tell their direct report, hey, I need more from you. And what's happening is that they can have all the information in the world, but there's something in their subconscious, in their brain tank that has taught them through experience that they're going to be rejected.
or they're going to experience relational pain if they have a hard conversation. And it doesn't matter how much they learn. It doesn't matter how much accountability they have. It will be like pulling teeth to get them to do what you want them to do. And so that's the, I think that's one of the things that so many organizations run into is like, we've given you the information. Why can't you do this?
And that's why I love what I get to do because I get to come in and help people build the capacity. We get to help rewire some of those ⁓ abilities to be able to do the things that people want to do.
Laura A Golembieski (14:38)
mean, we spend a lot of time doing sessions on how to give feedback. ⁓ We do different assessments to try to figure out how teams to relate to people, what's important to them, how do you talk to them. And the conflict, I think, is the hardest part for people. And you're right. They're afraid of what's going to happen. But I always say, what's going to happen if you don't have that conversation?
Julia LeFevre (14:42)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
I don't.
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (15:04)
You're not doing anybody any justice and you're allowing bad behavior or somebody to fail. When if you have that conversation and you can turn it around, there's nothing more joyful than that and getting good pleasure to say, wow, why didn't I do this before? If I would have addressed it sooner, we would be in a whole different mindset right now.
Julia LeFevre (15:22)
Yes.
Yeah.
And one of the things that I found is that it's because of their past experiences with giving feedback that it felt really terrible. And so the beautiful thing is that our brains are made to be rewired so that if they have the support and you you said earlier, I don't always just fix it for them. I am helping them and I'm empowering them to do it. And
what you're doing is you're filling their brain tank with support, with having someone with them so that they can step into the experience and in a sense rewrite the story that they've been living out of. So maybe the story and the experiences in the past were terrible and their brain said, I don't like terrible, so let's not ever do that again.
But then when people can make a safe connection and have a leader or a manager who's with them and saying, you know what, I'm gonna be with you and we're gonna do this together. I mean, I'm not gonna talk, but I am relationally with you. Then it starts to help fill that brain tank so that they can try it again, take a risk. And then the action of
doing it, the experience turns out differently. And then your brain gets a literal update and it starts to be rewired. It's a beautiful process.
Laura A Golembieski (17:05)
I would agree. And I also would say that maybe they were on the receiving end of some feedback that wasn't delivered in the most proper way, or maybe the intent impact there was not correct. And then they get that in their mind that, I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this.
Julia LeFevre (17:10)
Mmm.
you
Yeah, and I don't want to do that to someone else. I don't want to hurt someone. I hear that a lot. I don't want to hurt them. And then they're missing opportunities to help. But I'm so glad you said that because yeah, we learn from our past experiences, both as a giver and a receiver.
Laura A Golembieski (17:43)
That's totally great.
Julia LeFevre (17:45)
Yeah, man. So as you ⁓ have walked through your journey, ⁓ we briefly have kind of started talking about just trust, really. Is there still going to be trust when there is a hard situation? And I'm just curious, how have you worked to build
a culture of trust so that some of these hard conversations can happen.
Laura A Golembieski (18:16)
Well, we do do engagement surveys. We've divided them up. We use the feedback from there to bring back to our managers and to our employees. And a lot of times it's the lack of communication within, with, between their managers, not spending enough time. And if you can take raw data to explain to them that this is actual things that people are looking for, it might not be in your group, but
probably a good portion maybe, I think it's just a constant reinforcement of that this needs to happen. It needs to happen. And you give them the success stories of when you've had those tough times and then you realize that, wow, you've actually made my job easier and you've helped me grow as a person and in my career, then you're thankful. Then you're thankful.
But you gotta, I mean, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, unfortunately, but you gotta give it a try. You're everybody a disservice if you don't.
Julia LeFevre (19:17)
have to try.
Yeah, and you know, I wonder if it just circles back to our core need is to know that we belong, that we are accepted, right? And so before our thinking brain can get smart, we're really, our brain is saying, am I okay? Do I belong? Are you going to move toward me or away from me relationally? And so just the simple practice of checking in and moving toward them,
with time, even if it's five minutes, I just, think that sets the stage for that tank to be full so that we can have more rational conversations and they don't feel quite as emotional.
Laura A Golembieski (20:07)
And I think as employees start into a new organization, that bond needs to be built quickly. I think you need to be a partner with them on getting them through the onboarding, the expectations of the job, introducing them to the team and other people to collaborate with. So they do feel part of something. Not sitting in an island. As much as, I mean, even if somebody's remote, you can do the same thing, but it's intentionally making sure they're being introduced to people.
Julia LeFevre (20:08)
Yes.
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (20:35)
So it starts there and you start building that relationship from day one.
Julia LeFevre (20:39)
My next question was going to be, you know, the remote and the hybrid world is just exploding. And so you already kind of started answering that, but have you, yeah, have you found some things that beyond introducing people that really could help close the gap with those who aren't present in person?
Laura A Golembieski (21:05)
I think as an organization, do a good, lots of different activities where we get people on. We'll have lunch and learns, guest speakers, things of that nature that everybody can join. So it's not just strictly in an office. We try to make it easy for people to do different interactive activities. We're an ESOP, we're employee owned. So there's a lot of celebration of
you know, who we are, what we do and have a vested interest in making sure we all add value to the organization. I think the remote's hard. You know, I think we all went through COVID and know what that was like. I'm a people person, so I've got to, I like the interaction, but it's hard. It's hard for some people and other people understand it. ⁓ And you try to do things that get people in, even with like my team in our meeting, I do have one person that's remote.
Julia LeFevre (21:46)
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (22:01)
and making sure that we do things to be able to interact. Whether it's games we play, just trying to make people feel like they're part of something.
Julia LeFevre (22:04)
Mm.
Yeah.
It's interesting, really, kind of is circling back to one of the first things you said today, which is one of the biggest things that leaders struggle with is ⁓ understanding the people that they lead and understanding their differences, their preferences, and how to connect to different people in different spaces. And again, that just takes a little bit of intentionality to figure that out.
it is interesting. You said, you know, we've all been through COVID and everyone hated that. And yet now people are advocating for remote. ⁓ What do you think is behind that? And how can't, you know, COVID we were forced into it and maybe we didn't have the infrastructure to support it. ⁓ But what do you think is different today that's driving people to really desire that?
Laura A Golembieski (23:05)
to be remote. I think it's the fact they have maybe a little bit more freedom. They can throw a load of laundry in, they can let their dog out, they don't have to worry about doggy daycare, they don't have to worry about maybe running and picking their kids up from school. There's a little bit more of that. I honestly find when I am at home and I'm working, I get more done, to be honest. I also work longer hours.
Julia LeFevre (23:06)
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (23:29)
So is there good or bad with that? So work-life balance, where does that fall into place? So I think everybody's different. We encourage a hybrid within the organization, but we do have a lot of people that are out in the field and then calling on clients throughout the country. they're remote to a certain extent. But I just think everybody's different. I couldn't work 100 % remote again. Couldn't do it.
Julia LeFevre (23:50)
Sure.
Yeah,
me either.
Laura A Golembieski (23:58)
The
pulse isn't there. The pulse is not there on the team, on interacting with people. I think you get more done sometimes on things that need to be fit. You know, I need something and I have to go to the CEO's office. I'll walk in there as opposed to texting them. Call me when you get a chance. You know, I can watch his door from my office and see when I need to go in. It's easier.
Julia LeFevre (24:18)
Right. Yeah, I, yeah, I think as with all changes, you know, there's both positive and negative. But I think the thing that is going to be really key is to understand people's why understand people, which will help you understand their why and then meet people where they are and just figure out, don't let the connection piece go away. There are ways to continue.
⁓ to make that happen for sure.
Laura A Golembieski (24:50)
Yeah, I agree. And everybody's different. I mean, we've had some people recently needed to go move out of the state of Colorado to go back to be with their family to help take care of a parent. We're going to let do it. We're let them do it because we know they're still going to perform and their mindset would be horrible if we forced them to stay. There's no sense in that, or they're going to quit.
Julia LeFevre (25:00)
Absolutely.
Yeah,
absolutely. Well, it's a way to care for your people, right? And care is one of the ways that this tank gets filled. So you did mention that often when we work from home, we work longer hours. I was so guilty of that during COVID. And even now that I have more of a home office, ⁓ I work, you know, the temptation is that I could work any time.
and so that just made me wonder as an HR professional, how are you watching out for your people in the whole wellbeing area? All the reports are coming out that are saying the loneliness epidemic is at the highest it's ever been, mental health issues are skyrocketing in the workplace.
Talk to us a little bit about what concerns you and just how you're attempting to think about it and possibly take some steps to care for your people.
Laura A Golembieski (26:15)
Well, we have what's
called Wellness Wednesday, where we have a yoga instructor spend 15 to 30 minutes. That'll just do a midday break. So that helps a little. ⁓ But further than that, mean, making sure that mental health treatment is available to them and it's affordable. EAPs are available. Virtual visits through your different insurance plans.
Julia LeFevre (26:34)
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (26:41)
Some of them have a class, some of them don't have a class. It's trying to get people to use what works for them. And the only thing, sometimes with an EAP, you get on and you talk to somebody, you don't get the same therapist again. You want to be able to build it. And with our insurance program, you actually can get the same therapist over and over again and have regular visits. They need to be licensed in your state ⁓ trying to do that. I think it's also watching that when you see somebody getting burned out,
Julia LeFevre (26:47)
Yeah.
and
Sure.
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (27:13)
I try very hard not to send my team anything after hours. I am known for being up at four o'clock in the morning and going through emails, but I do have a team in the UK, so I want to be able to respond in a timely manner. But you can also put things on delay and when you're going to send them. You don't want to have everybody do those things.
Julia LeFevre (27:36)
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (27:40)
and have to interrupt their life. When people go on vacation, I want them to go on vacation. I don't want to worry about things.
Julia LeFevre (27:46)
there's two things in that. think just being attuned to your people watching for burnout, seeing the signs and that comes, you know, it's a lot easier to do when you're checking in with them, when you're present, when you are connecting with them on a regular basis.
Laura A Golembieski (28:03)
And it's just trying to figure out where they're at and where you can help. And sometimes it's just listening to them that they've got things going on at home and you know, where are you at checking in a couple of times a week? Is everything better? Are we getting through it? Do you need to get out for a while? Go, you know, just go do what you need to do and having the flexibility with people when they need it.
Julia LeFevre (28:25)
Man, listening, ⁓ such a big topic out there right now, know, the whole idea, you've gotta be an active listener. I appreciate that you said sometimes that's all they need. And what we're seeing is that that's another example of I just need somewhere to like get all of this out. I just need someone to hear me and still be okay with me.
And I think a lot of times people are fearful that if they start talking, especially to a supervisor, that they're going to be penalized for it. And yet as managers and leaders can understand what's happening is that life is hard and all of our stress creates an actual energy that needs to go somewhere. And so I often use the example of being a fire ring or a campfire.
that our emotions, they create this energy kind of like fire. And if I were to go and ⁓ go out into the grass, the prairie, close to where I am, or in California to ⁓ the forest, and I just flick my fire, my match out, and it just goes, then it causes huge destruction. So we don't want that.
But before that happens, if the same thing, the same match, a fire, when put into a fire ring that is protected, ⁓ it can create the same type of fire, but this time it's contained. And you can even feed it. It can get big, and eventually the energy will run out, die down into something really beautiful that you can get.
close to will warm you, can cook your food. And so that's what we're wanting for it. That's the role managers and leaders can be the campfire ring. It doesn't mean you have to do anything with it. Just because they come and blah, a lot of times you just hold it for them and that's it. And then it uses the energy up so that it
fills the tank so that they can get back to thinking and doing their job. So, absolutely.
The other thing you said was, I'm having to be careful that I'm modeling the thing I want for them. And I think a lot of leaders are high performers. But if they're sending emails at two in the morning, then that's the message that's sent that, ⁓ that's what I'm supposed to do. And then boundaries really get messed up.
Laura A Golembieski (31:21)
You want people to be able to disconnect at the end of the day, enjoy whatever you want to do in the evening, grab a book, watch a movie, play with your kids, go for a walk, whatever it may be, and not have to feel like you got to worry about work. Work can wait till tomorrow.
Julia LeFevre (31:30)
Yeah.
Yeah, work is work, it's not life. Like there's a lot more to life. as you are ⁓ just kind of thinking back over your ⁓ growth into this space, what has been your biggest challenge in just your own leadership journey?
Laura A Golembieski (32:00)
I think it's transformed several times over and over and over again. And I think it's learning to have the confidence that you're doing the right thing. I think that's where it started at. Like, okay, I was a young leader. Am I doing the right thing? How can I learn? How can I be better? But I think it's trying to figure out things change. Life has changed. People have changed.
Julia LeFevre (32:27)
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (32:27)
And
it's being able to adjust in whoever you're dealing with at whatever time to be able to figure out how do I have to pivot? Who do I need to talk to? What do I need to do? Making sure I'm in the right mindset when I'm having those conversations. Who knows? I could have just got out of something that was really bad or very stressful. I can't act like it. So it's learning to go ahead and drop that and focus on the
Julia LeFevre (32:50)
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (32:55)
and who I need to focus on, one I need to focus on. They need my full support. Kind of what you're there for. You really are. Back in the long day ago, both my parents were teachers, but I wanted to be a teacher. And I'm like, got into the school and I'm like, no, this isn't for me. But honestly, what am I doing now? I'm really a teacher of adults. I really am.
Julia LeFevre (32:58)
Yeah.
You're teaching. Yeah, absolutely.
You know, I'm interested. I have a ⁓ LinkedIn connection, Joe Burrell, and she is an advocate for the health and well-being of HR. And as I hear you talk, you're like, want I need to be able to be present for what's in front of me. While at the same time, I'm holding some heart like there's some stuff that, you know, I just had a hard
meeting or I'm just struggling with my own stuff and yet your job is to be there for others. And what Joe has been finding through her research is just the incredible strain that can sometimes happen on the HR community when they're the ones that are expected to constantly be caring for others and who's caring for them. And so I'm just curious, ⁓
How have you experienced that and do you see that as ⁓ an issue that's relevant ⁓ in the workplace today or how does that play out for you?
Laura A Golembieski (34:30)
I think as you grow in your career, it tends to not encompass you and pull you in as hard. You learn to separate, things happen. And I can't control everything, but how I react to it, I can control. And I also am very lucky that I've been married over 36 years next year, 36 years next week.
Julia LeFevre (34:54)
Yay!
Laura A Golembieski (34:56)
that I have a husband that's a great sounding board. ⁓ There's times I just come home and like, and there's other times that I don't say anything and he knows it was a rough day. I don't say anything, it was a rough day. And it's like, you you've got to find your inner circle and how you deal with it because there's certain people you can talk to and there's certain people you can't. and a lot of, mean, 99 % of what I deal with is all confidential. So, you've got to be confident, you know, that you're not.
Julia LeFevre (34:59)
Mm.
Yeah.
Right.
Laura A Golembieski (35:26)
sharing information you shouldn't.
Julia LeFevre (35:28)
Yeah, you know, the thing I love so much about what you just said is that there's a separation between work and home and my circle outside of work can really ground me and that can be the place where my brain tank is filled so that I'm full and ready to pour into others. ⁓ But I think the problem comes when
we aren't intentional about having a circle outside or somewhere that can really keep us anchored and filled up. And so I see that happening in, yeah, just your example.
So this is kind of related, but maybe not really. in the business world, we need measurables, right? We need metrics to be able to judge where are we in this whole thing. And how have you gotten a hand on just the idea of morale in a company? ⁓
Why should that matter and how do you even ⁓ measure that in your experience?
Laura A Golembieski (36:43)
I mentioned before about the engagement surveys. I think they're important. ⁓ More importantly though is that you react on what you've learned and make others know about it. ⁓ Give you an example. You're trying to keep a good positive thing. People were looking for mentors, a formal mentor program. We implemented that two years ago. This is the second cycle of it this year and the feedback has been phenomenal.
Julia LeFevre (36:46)
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (37:11)
And to take people when we very intentionally have a group that interviews everybody that wants to be a mentee. We figure out who the mentors need to be. We talk to them. We pair them up. And there are certain things that they need to keep, it's those types of things providing them what they're looking for. Communication, trying to make sure that we have those touch points a couple of times a year, at least formal touch points that, you know, if not, we're going to circle cats and
keep pulling them in to make sure we get the reviews done. ⁓ Turnover, less turnover shows that people are happy.
Julia LeFevre (37:43)
Right.
Laura A Golembieski (37:48)
That's probably your biggest metrics you have, be able to look at that. We do exit interviews on everybody that leaves to find out is there a common theme?
Julia LeFevre (37:51)
Right.
Laura A Golembieski (37:59)
I mean, we even do a 30 day and a 90 day review with everybody that comes in. My team works with the new hires to find out what's going on, what's not. It's keeping the pulse and it's listening.
Julia LeFevre (38:11)
Yeah,
taking the time to connect with people. mean, it really that that's such a foundational piece that really can drive so many positive interactions in an organization. And one of the things I just heard you say is that, you we listen and then we take action. We follow up. We're not just listening to just, okay.
you're listening because you really do want to make this a place where people love to be, where it's a healthy place to be. And so being able to take those actions can be really, I mean, it can be something that builds trust because they know if I'm going to say it, it will be heard.
Laura A Golembieski (38:57)
I had an old CEO say, or former CEO, not an old CEO, but a former CEO say, I want everybody to feel like it's Christmas Eve on Sunday night so that they're excited about coming into work and not having the Sunday scaries and looking forward to what's their list for that whole week. What are they going to do? And I think we spend way too many hours, waking hours at work.
that we should be happy.
Julia LeFevre (39:29)
Wouldn't that be amazing to feel like it's Christmas Eve every Sunday night? Wow, what a great vision. ⁓
Laura A Golembieski (39:37)
Very, very brilliant CEO. Very good.
Julia LeFevre (39:40)
I
agree and I don't even know who it is.
Laura A Golembieski (39:45)
I'll give him the kudos. was Steve Hewitt when I was at Gymshark. He is now running a consulting firm that actually got Gymshark to where they were at. Brilliant, brilliant man, brilliant man.
Julia LeFevre (39:58)
that yeah, because at the end of the day, we want our people to love being where they are, because that means that their thinking brain is getting all the energy. It's getting all of the attention. It has full use of brain power. And that's what drives production, what makes us creative, what innovates, and it's beautiful.
Laura A Golembieski (40:00)
Thank you.
You take care of your people, your people
take care of your customers.
Julia LeFevre (40:28)
Yeah, wow. Well, man, our time is already almost up, but I just want to ask, I want to squeeze in one more question just because I know you have led a lot of different teams. And so just give us some insight on what does it take to lead teams that are of all different sizes and how can that really
be sustainable for people.
Laura A Golembieski (40:56)
think again, it comes back to making sure you take the time to get to know your people. Take the time to help them in their career to get them to the next level to what they want to do. Not what you think they should do, but what they want to do. Get them to feel like they've got a say. I always tell my team, you guys are all way smarter than I am. I just know how to pull it all together. And I honestly believe that. I honestly believe it.
They are all brilliant and they are all very good at certain things. And together we look really, really good and we work well together. And I think the more you go through life and the more teams you have, you learn to fine tune it and you figure out what people's strengths are at and try to encourage them to use that. ⁓ It's great to be able to build somebody to do something that they don't know how to do.
Julia LeFevre (41:31)
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (41:51)
But do they want to do it? You're better off using strengths than you are on the things that they're not as good at. Pull those out and pull them into the team. Let them be creative. And I think we've got a younger staff, our HR manager that just got, our HR generalist that just got promoted. And she thinks differently than somebody that's more senior in their career. And we want to be able to meet people where they're at in their career.
Julia LeFevre (41:51)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Laura A Golembieski (42:20)
and to pull different people in and different ideas. You're not the smartest person in the room to never act like it should be. Use those ideas. Use those ideas to get people to do things differently.
Julia LeFevre (42:32)
You know, as we've had this conversation, Laura, one of the things that just sticks out is your security in who you are and what your role is, and you know your strengths. There's a confidence there, and there's not a need to prove anything. And I do think some of that comes with experience and
you growing into that, I remember when I was starting out and I did feel more like I needed to prove things and, and yet, so I just want to kind of speak to the leaders out there who are hearing you talk and thinking, I wish I could be like that because I wish, I wish I could be secure with my team and not feel threatened by all these people who have amazing skills and
I imagine it comes again through experience, but part of what we're learning about the brain is that you can build your capacity for, we call it your capacity for definition, defining who you are, being really clear about that so that you're free to then empower others to help them along. And it's one of the things that I've heard you talk about multiple times now, just in our conversation.
about this isn't about me, this is about us. And really it's more about them contributing to the us. And so I just want to thank you for sharing your experience with us and just wondering if you have any final parting shots for leaders who are out there and the.
the piece of wisdom that you're like, I wish I would have known this when I was starting out.
Laura A Golembieski (44:30)
Well, I think it has to do with realizing that you're only as strong as the weakest link on your team. I mean, it's no different than any sport team. You know, you're better together and that it's not about you. Sometimes though, I've always been the least one to promote how I felt about myself and promote myself and ask for things. ⁓ I just felt like somebody will recognize that I have it. So maybe...
Maybe in hindsight, do you need to ask for that? Maybe, but I've just felt like throughout my career, I've always felt more empowered with my team than I do with myself sometimes.
Julia LeFevre (45:10)
Yeah, and makes sense because really our brains are wired to do better when they're connected with others. So you're just living out what science is showing us to be true. You were.
Laura A Golembieski (45:25)
I realize there was a specimen there though.
Julia LeFevre (45:28)
⁓ well, Laura, thank you so much for being here. And is there anything that ⁓ if our listeners are interested in learning more about you and ⁓ or need to get in touch, is there anything any way they could do so?
Laura A Golembieski (45:47)
Best thing is through LinkedIn. As long as you can see my last name, you'll be okay.
Julia LeFevre (45:49)
Okay,
you'll be okay. right. All right, everyone. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next time.