A Summer Update - with Erica D'Eramo

Exciting Plans at Two Piers!

Join us for this short and sweet episode to hear what we're up to over at Two Piers. 

As the heat of summer peaks and we look ahead to the cooler days of autumn, the Two Piers team, led by Erica D'Eramo, has been busy with a range of exciting activities and future plans. This update provides a glimpse into what we've been up to, the projects we're currently involved in, and what's on the horizon.

Episode Transcript

Erica D'Eramo (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to the Two Piers
podcast. I'm your host, EricaD'Eramo. Today's episode is a
little different than our usualcontent. So normally we have
some guest or expert join us totalk about their field of
expertise and share a bit aboutthe work they do and answer some
of our questions deep offminutes. Today, we are going to

(00:26):
just provide a little update onwhat's going on in the Two Piers
realm and what we've been up toand what's ahead in the future.
Thank you for joining for thisepisode.
So we're in the heat of summerhere, it's just the beginning of

(00:50):
August. And I think everyone, atleast here in Maine is starting
to feel the exhaustion of all ofthe days in the sunshine and the
visitors and all the funactivities. I know folks who
have kids out from school orgetting all the vacations in,
and I'm gonna say it, I'm kindof looking forward to autumn

(01:12):
coming around the corner. Imean, I know that's, that's
something that is a littleheretical to say. But it finally
started to happen, where I'mlooking forward to seeing some
change of color on the trees.
I'm not ready for Halloween yet.
So I don't want to be seeing allthe candy in the stores just
yet. But I can feel that Augustis going to be a very busy
month, lots of activities, lotsof work coming down the

(01:36):
pipeline, which we are superexcited about. And I can start
to feel that natural kind ofreadiness for the days to start
to get a little bit shorter,which will be which is already
happening. So we're alreadyseeing the days here in Maine
get get shorter quite quickly.
So today's episode, I justwanted to, you know, kind of
change the focus a little bitand talk more about what what we

(01:58):
have been up to here at chip,here's what we are, what we're
involved in right now. And whatwe are getting involved in kind
of what's what's coming down thepipeline. So I kind of break our
work down into three facets, notbeing leadership coaching,
leadership, and executivecoaching, really consulting on

(02:18):
the organizational andprofessional development realm,
and on culture, you know,organizational culture realm,
and then workshops. So we do alot of interactive workshops
with industry organizations,with companies, we do open
enrollment workshops, and wefocus on topics that, you know,

(02:39):
disproportionately affect anyonewho is underrepresented in the
workforce. And yet, you know,these workshops are applicable
to all so an example beingnavigating difficult
conversations, right? Clearlysomething that we can all use.
So on that front, on thecoaching front, really, we've

(02:59):
been doing lots with leaders whohave come up through technical
routes, either through craft ortrade routes, and then found
themselves in leadershippositions, or through you know,
engineering or architecture ortechnology, and then, you know,
have been really good at whatthey do, and then find

(03:20):
themselves in leadershippositions, managing teams,
setting strategies and shifting,you know, their focus on or
trying to shift their focus onthe type of work that they do.
So kind of moving from thatindividual contributor realm
where they had to be really goodat what they did, maybe the
expert in their fields, and someof these folks are quite

(03:43):
advanced in their careers andvery senior. But it might be the
first time that they're takingon, say, like a strategy role,
or managing a large team at,say, a director level. And so
that's when really there has tobe a big shift from the doing to
the leading from kind of gettinginto the mechanics of things to

(04:03):
setting the vision, setting thestrategy, and then helping to
remove barriers move, you know,making sure that the resources
are there for the team to toaccomplish the scope, navigating
the tension between what themanagement or leadership above
them wants and what the team isable to deliver. That's a that's

(04:25):
a common theme that comes up ina lot of executive and
leadership coachingconversations. So I would say
that that's been you know, thattheme has been coming through
pretty pretty clearly latelythat I think folks who have
really found a lot of value inleadership coaching, have been
people who've been really youknow, high, a high performance,

(04:47):
high achievement folks who werereally good at what they did in
again, like a technical or craftroom and now are have been, you
know, advanced beyond that. andare are finding, you know, these
new skills and ways to grow intothe roles. So that's, you know,
I'm looking forward to doingmore work with folks who have

(05:09):
maybe traded in their steel toedboots for, for some office
attire, or some work from homeattire, or who have traded in
their coveralls and are used toworking in the fields, perhaps
and now are working more behindthe desk, maybe going out to the
field still as a leader, but arefinding themselves, you know,
navigating office politics in away they maybe haven't had to do

(05:32):
before. And again, shifting thatfocus from being someone who
delivers and gets involved inthe actual activity itself to
someone who is taking that30,000 foot view. And on the
consulting front, I think we'realso seeing some themes come
through with our clients and ourclients kind of, I get asked a
lot, what industry do youspecialize in? And that's a

(05:55):
tough question to answer,especially because every every
business consultant will tellyou to niche down niche down,
you have to find your yournarrow niche. And I think that
we've seen that we've been ableto help companies from a broad
spectrum of industries. And sowe might be niching down in the

(06:16):
future, but right now, kind ofwilling to help whoever is
really, really understands thevalue in making sure that they
are accessing the full suite oftalent that's out there that
they are removing barriers toopportunity, and that they truly
see the value in doing some ofthis work. And so, you know,
what kind of consulting do wedo? What does that look like?

(06:39):
There's kind of a range in whatwe do. But usually, we go in and
help. First of all, we set avision and a goal that's aligned
with what the company wants todo. So you know, to peers
doesn't come in and say, youneed 10x growth, or you need XYZ
changes in your talentacquisition, we come in and ask

(07:00):
what how do you want thiscompany to look different, at
the end of this work at the endof this effort than it does
today. And then we map the pathto get there, we make sure it's
resourced. We do a gap analysisto see where we're at versus
where we want to be. And then wehelp set the strategy. And then
we implement strategy.

(07:24):
So one of the realms that I findus working in quite a bit right
now with clients is aroundemployee engagement. So making
sure that, you know, companiesare setting the right tone with
the with the workforce, for interms of culture that that the
leaders are displaying thosebehaviors that they've learned
how to develop healthy, thrivingcultures within the

(07:48):
organization. And then also thatthey're, they're fully accessing
the talent pipeline. So whenthey talk about employee
engagement, that means like fromthe point that somebody
encounters that entity, as apotential employer all the way
through to their exit from thecompany or their retirement, you
know, hopefully they're stayingwith the company until

(08:10):
retirement. But that engagementand building of trust can really
allow companies to, to makegreat strides in terms of the
mission. So I think we're seeingcompanies start to understand
that just focusing on the termslike diversity, equity and
inclusion, it's probably notgoing to give them the true

(08:34):
results that they want.
Unfortunately, I think, and I'vebeen very vocal about this. We
saw a lot of talk arounddiversity, equity and inclusion,
particularly after the murder ofGeorge Floyd and 2020, we saw a
lot of commitments fromorganizations that felt rightly
felt some pressure to addresssome of the gaps in their

(08:56):
lagging indicators to addresssome of the inequalities and
lack of representation in theirorganizations, which is both a
ethical and kind of moral issue,but also just chose a huge
vulnerability from a businessperspective. And organizations,
you know, whether wellintentioned or not, we're

(09:19):
working to close those gapsquickly in a way that was
perhaps not sustainable. And itled to a lot of talk without,
without necessarily theunderpinning action investment
and the the organic growth thatneeds to happen over time that's
rooted in culture for theorganization that's rooted in

(09:39):
the systems and processes andhow those are embedded and how
people understand them withinthe companies and and what the
trust looks like. So I on theone hand, I don't want people to
ever be scared of the termsdiversity, equity and inclusion
or for that to be used as like,you know, this terminology
around dei hires as if it's somesort of insult. Fundamentally,

(10:02):
if you don't have arepresentative workforce, that
means that there's a bottlenecksomewhere in your system. So
your demographics should notdetermine the amount of success
that you will have in a company.
And I think now we're startingto see companies that understand
that this is really more aboutbuilding the right culture,

(10:24):
looking at leading indicators,looking at the trust within the
organization, looking at thevalues of the organization, and
then understanding that it willtake time to embed these
processes and see a return andgetting clear about what the
short term wins will be in thelong term wins. So I'm hopeful

(10:44):
in that realm. And we have somereally great clients that are
investing, they're investingsure the money and the resources
there, but the most importantpart is investing the time. So
investing the time withleadership, investing the time
to do interviews, with keystakeholders, interviews across
the seniority spectrum, and thenlearn from what the organization

(11:06):
is telling them. And on theworkshop front, we have some
exciting workshops that we'verecently done and that are
coming up. So we do quarterlyworkshops with one of our
longest term clients in Texas,which is a large industrial
construction company, commercialconstruction company called

(11:27):
Gutier, and we deliver Spanishlanguage leadership workshops
for their craft employees. Sothat's been very popular, well
received. And Dr. AnthonyLuevanos, knows who is one of
our coaches with Two Piers. Hedelivers those workshops fully
in Spanish. He also doesleadership coaching and

(11:50):
executive coaching in Spanish aswell. So we're really grateful
to have him on the team to helpmake some of our workshops more
accessible to a broaderaudience. And we also do a
quarterly workshop with theGutier Women's Network, which is
always great, always fun tospeak with those ladies. And
recently did an all handsworkshop to focus on safety

(12:12):
culture for Construction SafetyWeek. So that was in 2Q. And
those will continue. We lovethat collaboration. And then
we've also got coming up rightdown the pipeline with the Women
Offshore Foundation, theInclusion Summit in September.
So we'll be collaborating withanother another facilitator and
consultant Tanya Tarr ofCultivated Insights. She and I

(12:36):
will be facilitating a workshopon inclusive leadership that
will also cover topics aroundpositive psychology tactics that
will boost objectivity andcooperation and aspects of
adaptive leadership that, youknow, help promote those
inclusive work environments andinclusive leadership styles.

(12:57):
Also talking about why managersshould spark conversations about
innovation and well being in away to create, you know, a
psychologically safe workplace.
So really excited about aboutthat upcoming workshop. And
we'll also be highlighting someofferings that we are
collaborating on in terms ofwellbeing for operational
readiness. So for some of theseteams that rotate are on a

(13:20):
rotational basis, whetherworking offshore on any type of
deployment that could look thatcan be in the mining industry,
it could be in the forestryindustry, there are quite a lot
of industries where people willleave kind of live on site and
work for a rotational period,and then they have their days
off afterwards. And so thatreally changes how people manage

(13:43):
their health, their well beingand how you handle those
transitions of kind of showingup to work and then demobilizing
can impact how you're able torespond to emergency situations
when they arise, and how you'reable to manage your own well
being when you return to shore.
So I'm super excited about thatoffering, I think it's going to

(14:08):
make a big impact for a lot ofpeople. And just talking to
leaders who have either workedin a rotational type of
environment or who have ledteams that work in those types
of environments. They seemreally excited about it, too. So
I know, we're definitely on theright track there. And I think
we can really impact people'ssafety and just their overall

(14:30):
health and well being if we cangive some tools for, for what to
look out for, how to know whenyou know, when we're approaching
burnout, how to know whenmembers of our team are maybe
maybe in the red zone and wetalked about you know, there's
not really there's not a rolethat is similar to a chaplain in
many of these instances. So inthe military, there's usually or

(14:54):
you know, on on a lot ofshipping vessels, there is some
form of a chaplain who is kindof of watching out for the
emotional, spiritual well beingof the crew. And in the case of
offshore workers, there isn'treally an equivalent. So that
falls to the first level leaderthat falls to the people who are

(15:16):
out there day to day watchingout for the health and safety of
the team. And so obviously, wedon't want anybody to kind of
try to be a therapist out there.
But we do want people to beequipped with the skills to
recognize when support isneeded, when to call in for EAP
support when to you know, maybecheck in with our team and see
if everything's Okay. Or ifthere there are issues that are

(15:37):
bubbling under the surface. Soyeah, I'm really excited about
that offering. And we're gettingreally good feedback so far from
the folks in industry that we'vebeen talking to you about that.
And if that sounds interestingto you at all, please let us
know, because we'll be rollingthat out, you know, coming up in
3Q and 4Q. And then on kind ofthe communication front here at
Two Piers, we're going tocontinue with the podcast

(15:59):
episodes, we've had some amazingguests, so far this year for
season five, and we have quite afew exciting guests in the
lineup for the rest of the year.
We've sort of filled up thecalendar for podcast guests,
which I love this is, you know,we've gone on gone several years

(16:20):
now just straight without takinga break in between seasons. So I
think we'll probably, you know,forge right into 2025 with
continued episodes. But thatbeing said, if there's a topic
that you feel like you reallywant to know about that you
want to you want to find anexpert, and you think it would
fit with the Two Piers podcast,please let me know. Because I

(16:42):
would love to go out and findthat expert and have them on the
podcast and share that content.
And then we'll also be revivingour newsletters. So I'm not sure
when that's going to happen. Andit will look quite different
than it has in the past. I thinkin the past, we've had a lot of
content in there was a reallybig lift to get that newsletter
out, and probably justoverwhelming in terms of how

(17:03):
much information was in there.
So we'll be slimming it down andmaking sure that it's just
applicable to you know, justbite sized pieces of
information, which is always thegoal. But man, I'm
neurodivergent. And I get reallyinterested in a lot of things.
And I want to tell people allabout it. So it takes on a life
of its own, but we will be willbe revamping the newsletter and

(17:27):
in reinstituting that becauseI've been having people sign up
for the newsletter and showinterest in it and ask about it.
And we have clients reach outand say somebody forwarded this
to me so. So I'm reaching out.
And I do really want to get thatgoing, again, just so many
things, so many things, we wantto do so many exciting things.
So that's just a little bitabout what we've been up to here

(17:48):
at Two Piers and what we've gotin the pipeline. And I really
appreciate you turn tuning intothe podcast and staying with us
and, and listening to theseepisodes. Please, if you have
any thoughts on an episode, letus know. I mean, we I see the
numbers come through about whichepisodes get downloaded the most
and which ones get shared themost. But I'm always so curious

(18:11):
about you know what, what peopleare thinking and, and if
something resonated or maybedidn't, you know, if something
just really didn't land? Well,I'd love to hear that too, and
maybe bring a new perspective.
So with that, I look forward tocatching you next episode we
have, like I said, we have somegreat guests in the pipeline,

(18:32):
we'll be talking about thingslike cultural competency and
awareness. Cultural humility,actually is kind of is the
terminology we use. And we willbe talking about financial
freedom. So how to establishthat how to understand some of
your beliefs around finances andmoney, because that keeps so
many people in jobs that they'reeither unhappy in or in work

(18:57):
environments that are reallydeteriorating their well being.
So we'll have an expert on totalk about, you know, financial
freedom and financial mindset.
And a couple other great gueststhat I'm looking forward to
having conversations with as wego. And yeah, we'll catch you
next episode. Thanks for joining