44. Don't Just Say, 'Good Job' - Lori-Ann Duguay

Lori-Ann Duguay, CEO of People-Powered Solutions, shares a number of tips she has learned from her experience working in government and consulting and from her upcoming book.

Brought to you by the LearningBridge Team.

Check out the free Q&A videos that we have produced with tips to help you receive feedback graciously and act on it visibly at www.learningbridge.com/tips.

Episode Transcript

Lori-Ann Duguay (00:00):
Yeah, absolutely. Uh, well, the first
step I'm gonna say is if you'regonna give feedback, don't just
say, good job, because thatreally doesn't tell me what
behavior to repeat. Be specificand make sure that you're
providing feedback that tellsthem precisely what behavior to
repeat and or what behavior toavoid. Next time.

Troy Blaser (00:23):
Hello and welcome to Simply Feedback, the podcast
brought to you byLearningBridge. I'm your host,
Troy Blazer. I'm excited foranother episode of our podcast
today. Our guest is LoriDuguay. Lori is the founder and
CEO of People-PoweredSolutions. And in that
position, Lori helpsorganizations with a growth

(00:43):
mindset ignite organizationaltransformation by helping them
assess and optimize theirend-to-end employee journey and
talent management strategy. Shemeets you where you are and
helps you create the in-housecapacity infrastructure and
leadership required to attract,engage, and retain talent by
combining skills as a certifieddispute resolution practitioner

(01:06):
and expertise accumulated. Overyears of working in government,
as an HR strategist withpowerful Everything DISC
Psychometric tools, Loriprovides organizations with the
training tools and resourcesrequired to unleash their
team's full potential. LoriDuguay, welcome to Simply
Feedback. It's great to haveyou with us today.

Lori-Ann Duguay (01:25):
Thanks for having me on the show.

Troy Blaser (01:27):
I'm excited. I'm really looking forward to our
conversation today. You know,maybe just as a way to sort of
get to know you just a littlebit and , and , um, kind of
hear about you, I wonder if youcould tell us about a time that
maybe somebody gave you somefeedback that was pivotal for
you, that maybe marked aturning point or, or had an
impact on your life, whetherthat's personal or
professional. Um, is there astory you could share with us?

Lori-Ann Duguay (01:49):
I'm sure there's actually quite a few.
I've had a few of those pivotalmoments, but , uh, you're
right. I find that that themost valuable feedback I've
received in my life has spurredsome level of evolution or
growth, right? So, yeah,there's definitely a story. For
21 years I worked in government, uh, and for I would say, oh,
a good 10 of those 21 years, Iwasn't the happiest. I was

(02:12):
essentially a tenant of theworkplace. You know, I was
there, yeah, I was doing whatwas required, but really I
wasn't feeling all that excitedabout going to work every
Monday morning. That being saidabout , um, in 2014, decided to
go back to school and completemy postgraduate in HR
management, labor relations. Sothen I started consulting on
the side and I, I kept waitingto, you know, I knew that

(02:34):
eventually my, my idea was to,you know, not retire from
government. I wanted to make anexit. The plan was in place. I
was building the credentialsmm-hmm. , and I
spoke to a professional coachand , um, I was having a
conversation with her and I wassaying, you know, I'd love to
do what you do 'cause it reallyfascinates me that you're able
to help people kind of grow andevolve on a daily basis. And

(02:58):
she was also a facilitator forEverything DISC. And I said,
how do I get to do what, whatyou do? And she said, well,
tell me about what your planis. So I told her about, you
know, what I was doing, theconsulting piece and, and how
I'd been building some of thetools that I would use
eventually in the consultingbusiness , uh, if and when I'm
able to do it on a morefull-time basis. And I only had
one client at that time and Isaid, you know, I've got this

(03:19):
one client, but he's kind of myGuinea pig and mm-hmm .
, I'm just , I'mdoing it all pro bono. And I
said, you know, and she says ,why are you waiting to have all
your pieces in place? How doyou know that those pieces
you're gonna build are exactlywhat your clients actually
want? You're kind ofpresupposing that they want all
that. She said, you just takethe leap, just jump, you know,
go out, put yourself out there,get a couple more contracts,

(03:41):
and use those contracts as ameans of figuring out what the
actual needs are. And lo andbehold, when I got out there
and I started doing thosecontracts, I never touched the
tools I was building. 'causeshe was a hundred percent
correct that I didn't, that'snot what the clients wanted. I
was coming in with my verygovernment compliance-driven
brain. Mm-hmm . And I wasthinking of imposing that on

(04:02):
these private sector employers.
And that's not at all how theyroll . Right. So it was super
interesting to take that adviceand kind of see it manifest a
hundred percent. She , she knewwhat she was talking about. So
that was a pivotal moment.
'cause that's where I startedto take on more clients. And
that, you know, two, two tothree years later, I was able
to leave my government job andmake it a permanent set kind of

(04:23):
severed situation and be ableto do what I love. I didn't, I
haven't worked since,essentially. I know it's
cheesy, but I feel like Ihaven't . So that's my advice,
that's my feedback. That wasreally pivotal for me.

Troy Blaser (04:35):
You found something you're passionate
about so it doesn't feel likework. Right?

Lori-Ann Duguay (04:38):
Yes, exactly.

Troy Blaser (04:40):
You know, I , I really like that sort of, that
feedback of a bias to action ofstop fiddling around and, and ,
and go out and find that work.
You know, in my own experience,I found there's not, there's ,
there's not much else that isas motivating as the stress of
a deadline or filling acontract that you have. It's
like, okay, we'll get itfigured out by such and such a

(05:01):
date because we have thiscontract rather than playing
around where it's safe . Right.
Where you don't have to Exactly. Yeah.

Lori-Ann Duguay (05:07):
Yeah . It forces that creative juice
flow. Like things just start,you need to figure it out. You
need to build what needs to bebuilt, and it gives you that
focus area. And I, I as wellwork really well with that,
that timeline of I've committedto delivering this to this
client by this date . So.
Right. I bet you're I it onthat. Right. Yeah.

Troy Blaser (05:26):
Well, plus it's nice to have the revenue that
comes with an actual contractas well if you're trying to
build a business

Lori-Ann Duguay (05:31):
Or Yeah. Or the security to be able to
eventually step away from, youknow, the golden handcuffs of ,
uh, government pension andbenefits .

Troy Blaser (05:39):
Yes . Yeah .

Lori-Ann Duguay (05:40):
That was helpful as well, .
Exactly.

Troy Blaser (05:42):
I know , um, I know that you're writing a
book. Uh , tell, tell us whatit's about. Um, why would it be
interesting to our listeners?

Lori-Ann Duguay (05:50):
What I'm writing about is something that
I had yet to find. Um, Iprimarily delve in the
workplace culture kind of, ofrealm. I , I work a lot with
organizations that helping thembuild that highly sought after
employee experience. And where,you know, there's a lot of
literature out there andarticles talking about, you
know, what motivates people atwork, what, what increases
engagement, what makes peoplewanna show up and, and really

(06:12):
work and, and work to a levelthat they're that to their full
potential. Right? And sothere's tons of literature on
there, but then as an HRperson, I'd read that and I'd
be like, okay, now what? Mm-hmm. How do you actually marry
that and, and operationalizethis? I know this is what makes
people wanna show up, but , buthow, what's the methodology to
put, take this information andthen operationalize it? So I

(06:35):
decided to just, I couldn'tfind the book. So I , I , I
wrote the book on , uh, how doyou take that and then map out
your current state, map outyour existing employee
experience. And when I talkabout mapping out that employee
experience, we talk about thesekey touch points , which seem
to be where people either leavethe organization or they
become, you know, checked outand disengaged, which is just

(06:57):
as costly, right? And we'reseeing increases in
absenteeism. So I talk aboutrecruitment attraction,
onboarding orientation. So whenyou're bringing the people in
and mm-hmm . ,helping them acclimatize to
their surroundings, how do youset them up for success? And,
and the importance of notmaking it a half day or a one
week exercise, that it shouldbe a 90 day supported , um,
experience. And that thereshould be training plans to

(07:20):
accompany that, that you shouldbe facilitating connection with
peers. And I talk about how todo that. And then once they're
fully trained, you're not doneright, because people wanna
know that there's room to grow.
So then the book also covershow to map out, you know, the
way that you're training anddeveloping your people and, and
what kind of opportunities thatyou need to be providing to
them, and what might that looklike, and what are some
solutions you can implement theminute you're done reading that

(07:42):
chapter. Right? And thenthrough to exit and understand
, oh , sorry, I forgot theperformance management. Oh
yeah. And how to use thatexercise to continuously
measure, engage, how you'reshowing up on all these, at all
these other touch points . Andto continuously measure, engage
the level of engagement , uh,throughout the organization,
but also to equip yourleadership to be able to coach

(08:03):
and empower people into mappingout a plan, mapping out some
stretch goals , uh, with thattool. And then finally at exit,
a lot of organizations fallshort of using that exit , uh,
of an employee to continue togather the data that you then
use to improve your overallemployee experience. So the
book is about, of course, deepdiving into what are the 10

(08:26):
things that drive motivation,but then here's what you can do
about it. We talk about mythree M approach. So map , um,
map, measure and mobilizemm-hmm . , and
then how to implement that. Andat the end, there's an action
plan. So as you're finishingeach of those, those, those ,
uh, touch points , you canstart to note where you think,
what are some, you know , quickwins, low-hanging fruit that

(08:48):
you guys could actually changewithin the week after . What is
some medium and longer terminitiatives you can implement ?
And then you've got , got aplan to effectively increase
the level of engagement andimprove that end-to-end
employee experience.

Troy Blaser (09:00):
I, I really liked the, the spot that you found
there to say, to bridge thatgap, right? To really
operationalize, to come out of, of reading a book with an
action plan. Things that I cantake to the office and put into
place rather than just readingabout the academics of it, you
know.

Lori-Ann Duguay (09:17):
Now I know, but now what? Right? Yes. I
feel like we were all stuck onthe now whats, and, and in
short of understanding how you,you marry it with your existing
talent management process ,right ? How are you currently
talent , you know, managingyour talent, how are you
helping them grow and develop?
Well, you marry this newinformation by figuring out

(09:37):
where there's room to tweakwithin that existing process,
right? Yeah. Also, I'm wantingto give people a voice. So the
next thing you're gonna seelaunch, I believe it should
launch within the next week, isan opportunity. I've got 10 to
12 questions that people canweigh in on and answer for
their, from their experience.

(09:58):
Uh, you know, what they believeis the top reason that people ,
uh, leave an organization. And,you know, what are some of the,
and I use my 10 drivers to kindof measure, and then I'm gonna
showcase the responses, right?
According, we, we, and I'mgonna take a hundred people, so
that'll be my sample size. Andaccording to a hundred , uh,
individuals, you know, surveyedfor this, these are the top
three reasons. So , uh, look,and then we'll showcase their

(10:21):
name at the end of the book asa thank you. So their name will
appear print . Uh , yeah. Sothat's my next initiative. And
then , uh, basically I amapparently set to launch by
late summer, early fall. So I'mpretty

Troy Blaser (10:34):
Excited. That's when we can watch for the book
to hit the shelves is latesummer, early fall.

Lori-Ann Duguay (10:38):
Exactly.

Troy Blaser (10:39):
So we'll be on the edge of our seats to find out
what the title is when youlaunch and, and be ready to go
out and pick it up. That soundsreally exciting . I love how
you're incorporating feedbackinto the writing process and ,
uh, even then acknowledgingsome of the folks that give you
that feedback in the book.
That's really cool.

Lori-Ann Duguay (10:56):
Exactly. It's, it's about, I , you know, I
recognize that my experience isunique but also not unique. So
I wanna try and figure outwhere are there some, some
trends happening mm-hmm.
, uh, and also beable to identify, kind of vary
that perspective, right?
Identify where there might besome, some different thoughts
that I could integrate as well.

(11:16):
So I'm excited about being ableto gather that variety of
feedback, that variety ofperspective, and then integrate
it for sure.

Troy Blaser (11:23):
That's cool . You talked, as you were explaining
the different touch points ,um, you talked about onboarding
, um, and, and some of theother touch points all the way
through to exit interviewing.
And I appreciated the tips andthe thoughts you have around
onboarding and, and trying tomake that be a little bit more
of a process than I thinksometimes happens when you come
on at a new company . But Ialso wanted to ask you about

(11:47):
quiet quitting . Can you talk alittle bit about , about those
thoughts around quiet ,quitting, you know, it's a
trend that we're seeing todayin a lot of companies. What
role does feedback play inquiet quitting, whether that's
the employees receivingfeedback or the employees
giving feedback back to theemployer? What are your
thoughts about that?

Lori-Ann Duguay (12:07):
Great question. If a lot of your
listeners are , uh, in the HRrealm, I would, I would , uh,
suspect that there's some eyerolling happening. The minute
we say quiet quitting. Okay.
Because it's not a new trend.
They found a new word,

Troy Blaser (12:21):
Ahh

Lori-Ann Duguay (12:21):
A new word for an existing phenomenon, right?
That's been challengingorganizations for tens of
years, like tons of years, not10 years .

Troy Blaser (12:29):
Yes . Decades.
Easy .

Lori-Ann Duguay (12:31):
Thank you. My French coming out there,
. Uh , essentially it's,it's disengagement. It's active
disengagement. It's someoneotherwise checking out from
that workplace culture, right?
And, and one of the things, oneof my drivers is communication.
And part of that communicationincludes feedback and creating
and, and , and normalizingfeedback. When I talk about

(12:53):
feedback, I'm not just talkingthat it's all on the manager's
soldiers, either the leader'sshoulders . It should really be
about building the system thatfacilitates and fuels the flow
of feedback in a 360 loop,right? You wanna make sure that
that feedback is flowing topdown . Obviously through town
halls, people are saying,what's going on? 'cause people
wanna be in the know, theywanna understand where's this

(13:14):
organized , uh, organizationworking towards? What is it
they're working towards? Sorry.
And how does the work I doconnect to that, right? Yeah.
How do you actually communicatethat by providing that
feedback, giving them that,that perspective top down town
halls and letting them know,and then peer-to-peer, that's
the best feedback in myopinion. Because if my boss
tells me, you know, the waythat you presented to that
client was really impactful, Ithat visual really helped them

(13:37):
see what was happening then.
That's, that's cool. Thank you.
I know to repeat that behavior,'cause that's the purpose of
feedback, right? Yeah . But ifas valuable to then my
colleague that says, oh my God,if you hadn't been there with
the way that you presented thevisual, it seemed like they
were getting lost on that andyou saved the day by providing
me, you know, that, thatproviding that visual, that was
so helpful and I'm soappreciative of that, that

(13:59):
that's worth a lot more to me,right? Because I spend 8, 10,
12 hours with these people aday. Yeah. Your peer , that's
the, that's one of the mostvaluable sources of feedback.
But a lot of organizations fallshort in facilitating the flow
of that feedback. And then ofcourse, bottom up , right?
Enabling people to send theirfeedback through the exit
interviews to tell them howthey can show up better, how

(14:21):
they can better support usingthat performance development
exercise to again, gatheradditional feedback and to help
you understand how peopleprefer, what's the preference
for receiving feedback? Arethey okay for you to call out
and give them feedback in apublic kind of arena? So a , a
team meeting, or would theyprefer a more private
one-on-one , uh, conversation?

(14:42):
So , um, definitely thefeedback is one of the number
one complaints or lack thereofwhen it comes to , uh, employee
disengagement or quietquitting. So people just
decide, you know what? I don'tknow if I'm doing well. So yeah
, I'm , I'm done trying , I'mjust gonna check out. And
that's what they end up doing.
Right? Um, so definitely one ofthe drivers I talked about in

(15:05):
the book is that communication,the feedback that's slow , and
even presenting ideas on how,what kind of things they can
implement that would facilitatethat flow of information.

Troy Blaser (15:15):
Do you have any tips for someone who's, who's
sitting in their companysaying, oh, I realize that, you
know, we have a challengearound feedback in all those
multiple directions that youtalked about. Is there
something that, that would beuseful to them just to take
that first step?

Lori-Ann Duguay (15:31):
Yeah, absolutely. Uh, well, the first
step I'm gonna say is if you'regonna give feedback, don't just
say good job. Okay. Becausethat really doesn't tell me
what behavior to repeat. Bespecific mm-hmm.
and make sure that you'reproviding feedback that tells
them precisely what behavior torepeat and or what behavior to
avoid next time, right? Yeah.
So try and be as specific aspossible. So just gonna add

(15:52):
that little tidbit in terms ofa tip. But when you talk about
the systems, you know, atmeetings, encourage, ask your,
ask your your employees forfeedback. Okay guys, I'm
thinking about going thisdirection with this file. What
do you guys think about it? Andthen round table that make it
normal for people to chime in,also address the fear. A lot of
people will fear providingfeedback because they think

(16:12):
there'll be repercussion. Somake sure that you make it a
safe place. Hey guys, really Ineed your most candid responses
here. I just finished a focusgroup this morning, and that's
how we started it. We framedthe conversation saying, Hey,
the conversation is that we canonly fix what we're aware of.
Yeah. So please, please, pleasebe as candid and honest as
possible. Nothing is off limitsas long as it's delivered

(16:34):
respectfully. Uh, and, and youknow, it's not gonna go any
further than here. This is justgonna inform our build and
design of an academy that we'reactually putting together for ,
um, for leadership. So we needto know where we're falling
short. We need to know what aresome of the behaviors that
you've noticed, encourage that,that feedback. And then of
course, surveys, they're,they're your easy one, but it's

(16:55):
a way of gathering additionalfeedback. Sure . Exit interview
, definitely. It's a , it'sreally a pivotal , uh, I've got
a client right now that we'vedeveloped , uh, feedback at one
week at the end of one week, 30days, 60 and 90 days as they're
, they're orienting to theirnew role. So you're able to
pick up and right away you'retelling them, we wanna hear
from you, and this is the normhere. This is how we roll. We

(17:16):
are a culture of feedback. Yeah. And we value it and we wanna
do something about it. Sohere's your chance to send it
up. So just a few tips and, and, and I appreciate that , how
to implement it.

Troy Blaser (17:28):
Yeah, that's, that's fantastic. I, I'm
reminded of a , one of the, oneof the best things that , uh, I
ever had a manager say to me,and I was part of a meeting,
and it was a number of peoplekind of coming from different
parts of the organization. And,and to a certain extent you
could come to that meeting andfeel like, I'm not really
needed here . You know , mypart's very minor . And , and

(17:48):
the , the manager started themeeting by just saying, Hey, I
recognize that you allrepresent different parts of
the organization, but now thatwe're all here together, we
need everybody's, you , you allhave a mind, you all have a
brain, and we need everybody'sopinion to, to be spoken here
in the meeting . And it reallyset the tone, like you were
saying, just by calling thatout. It's like, oh, okay, well

(18:10):
now I'm gonna pay a little bitmore attention. And even, you
know, I'm, it says that I'mallowed to have an opinion
about something that maybedoesn't necessarily concern my
part of the organization,right?

Lori-Ann Duguay (18:20):
Correct . But they want my, they want my
opinion regardless. I love thatexample because think about
that, right. In that meeting,how it made you feel. Yeah. You
got that much more engaged andyou suddenly wanted to
contribute. Yeah. Youremployees want the same thing
on a daily basis.

Troy Blaser (18:35):
Yeah, exactly.
Everywhere. The other questionI was gonna ask you, and , and
we'll see if there's anythinghere, but you talked about
being in government for, formany years, 2020 years. Um, but
that it wasn't necessarilyyour, your passion. Was there
some level of disengagementthat happened for you in that
job ? I know you said I wasstill showing up . I was doing

(18:56):
the job , but there just wasn'tquite the emotion.

Lori-Ann Duguay (19:00):
A hundred percent. Yeah . Oh, yeah.
Because , and , and now, andthat's, that's my next book,
. No,seriously. I realize like now
that I've, I know what I know.
And now that I've done thisresearch and I'm, you know, I
know what I can tell youexactly why I got disengaged. I
was in a remote location. Thisis pre covid where virtual

(19:22):
wasn't a big thing. Yeah . So Iwas part of a main office, but
I was a satellite. They'd oftenhave meetings and forget to
call me. Mm-hmm . They'd belike, oh , we talked about this
at the meeting last week. AndI'd be like, meeting. And
they'd be like, oh, that'sright. We forgot to , to loop
you in against , sorry aboutthat. And it's not no fault,
nobody's fault, but Right. Itmade me feel excluded. It made

(19:43):
me feel outside the loop. And Ifelt like I was always an
afterthought. Uh, I was also ina , um, in a, like
geographically, I couldn'tapply to any jobs 'cause I had
to be within 125 kilometers ofa location. Mm-hmm .
. So I felt likewhat you see here is the most
you're gonna get. This is allwhat you're doing today is what
you're gonna be doing in 30years when you retire. Are you

(20:05):
good with that? Right. And Iwasn't, I'm a go-getter. I
needed room to grow and Icouldn't see that growth
trajectory. Um, they investedin my development that I will
not, you know, take away fromthem. But I always felt like it
was in vain because I feltlike, what am I gonna do with
it? They won't lemme apply toany other jobs because I'm too
far away. And virtual wasn't athing. Right. Yeah. So
definitely I got to , you knowwhat, this allows me to be

(20:28):
present in my family. I know myjob inside and out. I was an
expert at my job and I was, youknow, never got any performance
complaints by all means. But Iwas otherwise checked-out. Yeah
. I believe at the end of theday, had you asked me to take
on a meeting in the evening, Iwould've been like, no, thank
you. I'll go home now. Yeah .
Because I , I was otherwisechecked- out, so a hundred
percent I was disengaged.

Troy Blaser (20:49):
And, and maybe some of that, some of the
lessons or some of what youobserved or experienced there
now plays a role in some of thework that you're doing to move
things in the oppositedirection. Right. To increase
engagement.

Lori-Ann Duguay (21:00):
It's not a maybe there. It's a hundred
percent inspired and fueled mypassion to help organizations
create , uh, you know, systemsthat will avoid employees
feeling like that.

Troy Blaser (21:13):
That's amazing.
That's really cool. Well, youknow, we started our
conversation and I asked youabout a story when feedback
impacted your own life. As youthink about the work that you
do, I imagine you've had theopportunity to see feedback
impact someone else's life aswell. You know, in your role as
a consultant, as a coach. Um,is there maybe a story or an

(21:35):
anecdote you can share with uswhen you've, you've sort of
observed feedback impactsomeone's life, whether it was
for good or for bad? Thatfeedback?

Lori-Ann Duguay (21:44):
Absolutely.
Um, well, for, for bad, I givemy daughter feedback all the
time, yet I don't , Istill seem to, you know,
stumble over her , her backpackin the entrance. So that's the,
that doesn't seem

Troy Blaser (21:55):
The negative feedback .

Lori-Ann Duguay (21:57):
I was very specific with it too,
at the entrance , it needs tobe in the closet, but
apparently it's falling short.


Troy Blaser (22:06):
There's something , nobody , we haven't quite
cracked that parent childrelationship in quite the same
way, that the manager , uh, youknow , the supervisor and
direct report relationship ,

Lori-Ann Duguay (22:17):
I hundred percent agree . But , uh, when
I started my business, I, Istarted working well, a number
of people, you know, reachedout and said, you know, Lori ,
I'm willing to pay you, but Iknow I'm not happy and I know
that my current position willnever allow me to get to where
I need to get to get thathappiness. So I need to, you

(22:38):
know, plan what that nextchapter might look like. So of
course, I feel like that wholepay it forward rule, I was so
blessed to be able to do thisfull time . So I, I took on
about six people that I waslike coaching and providing
feedback in terms of what thatnext step might look like. And
to , and , and as of today,four of those six people are

(23:03):
now self-employed and have lefttheir jobs. So it's, it's
exciting to see that they,they, I was able to take away
that intimidation factor thatthey had and , and help talk
them through some of the fearsthat might be preventing them
from taking the leap. Right.
And from moving away from thesecurity of that job and, and
understanding that it's, it'snot as complicated as we might,

(23:24):
you know, think at first,there's, there's pieces of the
business management side thatI'm not a fan of, and I know I
don't that right . Like thatwhole numbers piece. But the
beauty of it is you canencourage someone else to step
away from their position whoare unhappy. And, and that's
exactly what happened in mycase. It's a, you know, someone
who's unhappy that decided toleave, leave and started doing

(23:45):
bookkeeping. I'm like, well ,beautiful. I hate bookkeeping.
Yeah . So I could be one ofyour clients and that, that
might add to your security tonot have to go back someone
else who wanted to step awayand provided me with some
support administratively andfiguring out some of the
logistics. And I'm like, I'mwilling to do this long term if
you are. And she's like, wow,if I'd have one secure client,

(24:07):
I think that'd be enough tohelp me make my decision. I'm
like, okay, let's do that. Sowe're able to kind of support
each other, provide each otherfeedback, and then elevate so
that we can all step into, youknow, a more passion fueled ,
um, career.

Troy Blaser (24:21):
I love that. I, I, that is something that I , I
think it seems like it could bedifficult to keep in mind
contemplating from a , therecan be a whole network of
individuals doing their ownthing, supporting one another.

(24:45):
Um, that's another as you , asyou take the time to go out and
find them .

Lori-Ann Duguay (24:48):
Exactly.
That's another piece offeedback that was pivotal for
me. Oh my God, you justreminded me. Uh, and I believe
he was the partner of the otherperson who actually prompted
me. And I was talking, I'mlike, so any piece of advice is
like, don't ever say no. I'mlike, pardon me? And he's like,
don't ever say no, even if youcan't do it yourself, I know
you, you're resourceful. Youcan find someone who can do it,

(25:10):
and then you can just, youknow, source them. And I'm like
mm-hmm . , Idon't have to do it all.
. Right. I'm like, okay. And even as you grow, you
realize, just because I candoesn't mean I should. Mm-hmm .
But I can still source peoplewho can. Right. Yeah . And
that's how you , you scale itup. Yeah.

Troy Blaser (25:27):
That's fantastic.

Lori-Ann Duguay (25:31):
That other , I'm like , oh yeah . I remember
him saying , you know, justnever say no. And I'm like,
really?

Troy Blaser (25:38):
Figure it out. It sounds it's , it reminds me of,
of an actor gonna a , a , youknow, a , a tryout to , to , to
try to get a part and youalways say yes , right? They
say , can you ride a horse ?
Yes , I can . Right . Eveninside you're like , I've gotta
learn how to ride a horse inorder to get this . Yeah .

Lori-Ann Duguay (25:55):
For sure.

Troy Blaser (25:55):
But you never say no. You just say yes and then
you figure it out. Right.

Lori-Ann Duguay (25:59):
Exactly.

Troy Blaser (25:59):
Yes. Well, Lori, you've given us really a ton
of, of advice and , and ideas.
Um, as , as we've had ourconversation here for a little
while , um, you know, as youthink about our audience , um,
and you don't have to give awayyour secret sauce necessarily,
but is , is there anyadditional advice that you
could offer to our listenersthat you would share with us?

Lori-Ann Duguay (26:20):
It's funny, just as you were, we were
signing off, I was thinking, oh, in light of the audience, in
light of, you know, everythingwe've talked about , uh, and,
and , and the fact that yougave the example that you
hadn't, you didn't feel heardsometimes and you didn't wanna
put your opinion. 'cause you'relike, yeah , I don't really,
feedback is about helping theother individual feel heard.

(26:41):
And when people, people leavejobs where they don't feel they
have a voice. Right. So fuelingand enabling, facilitating, I
mean, and enabling thatfeedback to flow will have that
byproduct of helping peoplefeel seen and heard, which will
make them stick around. Right.
Yeah. Yeah.

Troy Blaser (27:00):
I love that. Well, if people want to know more, if
they wanna continue theconversation with you, I
imagine that's something you'dbe open to, but what, what
should they do? How, how shouldthey continue the conversation?

Lori-Ann Duguay (27:12):
They can continue the conversation by
connecting on LinkedIn. I am, Ido have a page , uh,
People-Powered Solutions , uh,on LinkedIn as well as my own
private LinkedIn, Lori- AnnDuguay. Uh, they can also, you
know, check out my website at ,uh, bepeoplepower .com and
there is a Contact Us , uh,link on there as well. And when

(27:33):
the book finally comes out ,you know, I can share it with ,
uh, I'll , I'll let you knowand you can share your , your
audience.

Troy Blaser (27:39):
Absolutely. I'll be, I'll be keeping a close
watch on bepeoplepower .comand, and the LinkedIn page. Yep
. We'll see what the title ofthe book turns out to be. But
it sounds exciting. It soundslike it would be really
interesting and, and , um,super helpful in terms of
putting those ideas andthoughts into action.
Absolutely. For , for people.
Lori, thank you so much forthis conversation today. I've

(28:00):
really enjoyed it. It's been apleasure to get to know you a
little bit and to hear some ofyour ideas and, and to feel the
passion that you have for thework that you're doing. It's
been wonderful.

Lori-Ann Duguay (28:08):
It's been awesome chatting with you as
well. And thank you for sharingand , and giving me this
opportunity and allowing me toshare with your audience.