Workplace Stories by RedThread Research

Workplace Stories by RedThread Research

At RedThread, we love our data, but we know that what you remember is stories. So we spend time listening to thinkers, writers, leaders, and practitioners as they tell their stories about what works in the workplace, what they’ve learned, and what they hope to see in the future. We hope you find it inspirational, motivational, and a touch irreverent.

Episodes

December 6, 2023 56 mins
Jennifer Rogers is the Executive Officer in the Learning Technology Standards Committee at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which has 427,000+ members in over 190 countries. The IEEE is the world’s largest trade organization and the professional home for engineering and technology communities worldwide. Jennifer is an unrelenting advocate for the potential that exists in others, which is why she’s a per...
Mark as Played
According to Yelena Mammadova, Ed.D—the Associate Director of Learning, Skills Transformation Initiative at McKinsey—McKinsey seeks to bring impact to clients and create an organization where they attract, excite, and retain exceptional people. The primary goal of her department is to accelerate talent development. Yelena strives to connect human development and technology in her role. She is one our first guests who’s talked about...
Mark as Played
Transitioning a large company like Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to a skills-based organization could be a daunting task. That’s why focusing on scope and purpose was an important place to start for Vandana Bhagtani and Kaye Slay. In this conversation, Vandana—The Director of Technical Talent Management—and Kaye—The User Experience and Adoption Lead for Talent and Learning Systems—share how they’ve worked together to develop a s...
Mark as Played
Shannon Custard—the Global Competence Development Manager at Ingka Group—is responsible for leading their global learning organization consisting of over 177,000 workers across 30+ countries globally.

As they began the transition from a competence-based to a skills-based organization, Shannon wanted to focus first and foremost on frontline populations. They believe that frontline population learning equity is important and often ne...
Mark as Played
Megan Bickle is the Director of Culture, Employee Engagement and Employee Listening at Western Digital. In Megan’s experience, roles can be viewed as a collection of skills. Viewing roles this way allows organizations to be more responsive to the evolving needs of the business in terms of the skills needed for development and hiring. Megan believes that job architecture is essential to becoming a skills-based organization. Skills w...
Mark as Played
The importance of creating skills-based organizations is no longer a theoretical discussion: it’s now a practical reality. To ensure that businesses reach their desired outcomes, it is necessary to ensure that their workforce has the skills needed to get the job done.

Brian Richardson and Brian Hackett are deeply entrenched in helping business leaders discuss and develop the skills initiatives needed to improve their organizations’ ...
Mark as Played
September 27, 2023 16 mins
The world of skills is evolving rapidly thanks to technology and data which is why we are devoting yet another season to the skills odyssey. In these opening arguments, you’ll hear how we’ll shape the season, why we’re focusing on skills again, who you can expect to listen to, and what we are most looking forward to. Press play to start a new season of Workplace Stories.

Connect With Red Thread Research
Mark as Played
Peter Tulumello is changing the culture at one of Canada’s largest grocery retailers. As a grocery chain, Sobeys has a large segment of frontline workers and with it, their own unique pain points.

To understand the problems that the frontline faces, Peter recognized that he needed to get into the stores to understand frontline workers’ day-to-day roles. Listen to this interview to hear how Peter identified major problems and came up...
Mark as Played
What happens when a mechanical engineer tackles an L&D problem? A completely redesigned learning environment.

On this episode of Workplace Stories, we interview General Mills’ Valerie Digman. Valerie describes how she helped solve a frontline training problem and improved efficiency by 5%.

If you’re interested in improving efficiency and rethinking traditional training methods, you won’t want to miss this interview. Press play to...
Mark as Played
We’re all humans, so the needs of workers are similar across the board. John Brothers has learned this from his time as VP of Talent at Acuity.

On today’s episode of Workplace Stories, John recounts his experience working through Acuity’s cultural and business mindset shift and how that has affected the frontline workforce and beyond.


Connect with John Brothers
Connect With Red Thread Research
Mark as Played
Improving the employee experience starts with data. Rotana’s Andrew Wolhunter understands that and uses Rotana’s qualitative data to retain frontline workers in a competitive market.

Andrew has an enthusiasm and infectious energy that he not only shares with his coworkers at Rotana, but he also shares this excitement with us on today’s episode. Listen in to learn how Andrew is using data to lead the change in the employee experience...
Mark as Played
Frontline workers face unique challenges so organizations are making changes to empower them. On this season of Workplace Stories, we’re exploring the unique challenges and positive situations happening on the frontline.

On this episode, we chat with Tabatha Cronin to learn how Cargill is supporting its massive frontline labor force. Listen in to learn how Cargill dug in to understand the motivations driving their employees. You wo...
Mark as Played
June 14, 2023 17 mins
Welcome back to our ninth season! We are excited about these upcoming episodes. In this season, Stacia and I focus on the frontline by discussing frontline workers with thought leaders from many organizations across various industries.

Frontline workers have typically been a part of the workforce that has been swept under the rug, but during the pandemic, they were thrust to the forefront of people’s minds.

In this season, we’ll disc...
Mark as Played
Frontline workers can have an outsized influence on the success of an organization. They are often the only interface our customers have with a brand. At RedThread Research, we have been diving into how to support frontline workers more holistically which is why this season we are focusing on the unique challenges that frontline workers face. We’ll also explore the changes organizations are making to empower them, as well as the go...
Mark as Played
A lot has changed for managers and organizations over the last three years. So, what can be done to successfully navigate those changes so that managers can be successful and organizations can continue to thrive?

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is designing a new framework for their managers to help them better understand what they can be doing to intentionally lead their staff.

This inspiring conversation with Paula...
Mark as Played
In this episode of Workplace Stories we talked to Moderna’s Noah Rabinowitz and Nkiruka Ogbuchiekwe. We explore ways that managers and other leaders can question conventionality by recognizing and thinking through false dichotomies. Listen in to hear how Moderna is building its systems by putting its company culture first and by constantly questioning traditional ways of doing things.


Learn more


End-of-Season Webinar

Don't miss our s...
Mark as Played
On this episode of Workplace Stories, Affirm’s Feedback and Development Lead, Kaitlyn Mathews, describes how her organization uses its data to drive changes within the company. Kaitlyn also touches on their delivery systems, the HR relationship with managers, using tech to strategize, and how she uses her role to help others realize their capabilities.

Learn more

End-of-Season Webinar

Don't miss our season recap, where we will summar...
Mark as Played
In this conversation, we speak to Sara Reed, Vice President of People and Talent at Western Governors University. We discuss what struck her about what senior leadership is doing to support managers within her organization, how building connections and community actually helps to support accountability, and why it is important to analyze the reasons that people choose to lead.

Learn more

End-of-Season Webinar

Don't miss our season rec...
Mark as Played
Mary brings years of experience to Morningstar and on this episode of Workplace Stories, she explains how the manager and employee experiences are tied together. As you listen, you’ll be fascinated by the way that Morningstar conducted research to identify and define concrete sentiments that would improve the employee experience.

Learn More

End-of-Season Webinar

Don't miss our season recap, where we will summarize key themes, share c...
Mark as Played
A scene-setter for our latest set of Workplace Stories—listen as we focus on what it actually means to be a manager in 2023.

Learn more

End-of-Season Webinar

Don't miss our season recap, where we will summarize key themes, share critical insights and anecdotes, and identify our questions on how to make managing more manageable.

Register today

Resources & People Mentioned

Conn...
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.

    Crime Junkie

    If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.

    The Dan Bongino Show

    He’s a former Secret Service Agent, former NYPD officer, and New York Times best-selling author. Join Dan Bongino each weekday as he tackles the hottest political issues, debunking both liberal and Republican establishment rhetoric.

    Stuff You Should Know

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    The Bobby Bones Show

    Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2023 iHeartMedia, Inc.