Giving Employees Tools—And Trust—To Succeed Remotely. The Experience Matters.

What is your role as a leader? Rizing CEO Mike Maiolo and Teri Hamann, Global Head of Partner Experience at SAP, joined Bonnie Graham’s SAP Game Changers podcast: Changing the Game with Next Generation Partnering to discuss that and many other topics.

“If you believe that the employees exist in the company so that you can be the CEO, you’re off to a bad start,” asserted Maiolo. “I believe that as a CEO, and by extension my executive team, we exist solely for the reason of providing an experience for our employees, and tools for our employees, to position them to deliver great experiences to our customers.”

Part of building that positive experience and toolset at Rizing has been giving employees the ability to work remotely. These tools and processes had been in place before the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions, so Rizing has been able to transition to fully remote work effectively.

Keys to Remote Work: Tools and Trust

As a consultancy, travel has been part of the norm for many employees at Rizing. Now, they’ve adapted to the digital meetings with customers and fellow employees. The right tools enable that, as does a culture of trust. Rizing’s employees are spread out around the globe, and a company culture of trust is necessary. People need to feel good about working from home, Maiolo says, and if done well, it can be more efficient.

SAP’s Hamann agreed. She says her own team was accustomed to large groups in an office setting, so there was more adjustment necessary to the remote work environment, and more infrastructure to establish. However, they discovered with the team separated physically, there was no decrease in productivity. In fact, there was an increase.

“They don’t need somebody watching,” said Teri. “If you trust your workers, and you know they have your trust, they will come through for you.”

Does this mean face-to-face interaction is gone forever? Not so fast. Maiolo still believes that customer and employee relationships can be made more meaningful with quality in-person interaction. But the right company culture and technology nurture and sustain productive partnering for business success.

Be sure to listen to the whole show, available on VoiceAmerica or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Graham, Maiolo, and Henman go deeper into the importance of technology and establishing human connections while working remotely.