205-Natasha Satleikina - 23.02.21_ 17

Christian: Hello, Natasha.

Natasha: Hello, Michael.

Michael: Hello, Christian.

Christian: How are you doing today?

Natasha: Perfect. Sun is shining.

Christian: That's great. Natasha, who are you and what do you do?

Natasha: I'm a very happy mother who works as a chart business partner in Adidas for the last two and a half weeks. And then I'm joining an amazing company that is called Mila.

Christian: Cool. Congratulations to the new job.

Natasha: Thank you. Thank you. Very excited.

Christian: We were talking about remote leadership here in this podcast. How much experience do you have in remote working and remote leadership?

Natasha: I think starting from COVID time, we all are very experienced with the remote leadership and definitely it's not easy. Then we work with team that are located across the world. And to get used to have no social contexts anymore. It's not easy, but nonetheless, I do see benefits in working from home and scheduling your meetings more properly. And then if it were, if we would be in the office.

Christian: You said you work with teams that are scattered all over the world. How did you do this before? And how do you do it? How do you lead them now?

Natasha: Before we at least could meet once or twice per year, nowadays all the team buildings mutual. So, we have a wine virtual sometimes gathering, or I facilitate workshops for the team. And then we split into the groups and we try to still be open and authentic and share what's happening in our life. I think we added more. Private stuff into conversations, because this is what helps us to stay connected.

Michael: Natasha having followed your journey there with Adidas for 10 years, there's probably been quite a development in this whole remote leadership topic. And what would you say, maybe coming out of the last year with the Corona pandemic, what has been the most radical remote leadership thing that has changed that you have seen and observed what's outstandingly interesting.

Natasha: First of all, God bless. I see in teams, it works and, now we can see each other and celebrate success, or achievements with the team. We understood that it is important to meet and we are now appreciating the moment. Then we were working together and we could see each other. I think working from home or from the office, not being in the office can help to be in the focus. Because you don't have time for chats or going up and down and getting some coffee, you're actually focused on the things to be done. And I believe that we became much more efficient working from home compared to the experience working in the office.

Michael: And how do you deal with that? Or how do people in the company that you observe deal with not having the chat over a coffee, not walking by the desk and you know, the social component being so much less than it was. How do you see people dealing successfully with that?

Natasha: We have an agreement that we have a weekly breakfast, so we spend 30 minutes per week and we every week choose a topic. So, for example, one week it could be movies. Everyone share what is their favorite movie. So, make it as a big round on teams or we celebrate birthdays. We share what helps us to stay strong and we even have a sport challenge. So, for example, every week you need to get 50,000 steps. And so competitor, you can't imagine. I would say we have this commitment to support each other and we stay close. I would say I talk with my team much more often now than I was talking with them then I was in the office.

Michael: Back to the thing about last year, what's the one thing or one thing that one year ago you wouldn't have thought is possible to do remotely. And now it's changed.

Natasha: If I'm very honest, I believe that people take responsibility for the results and they don't need to be in the office and to be observed by HR or their leaders working from home. If you have a very clear guidance and regular connect with your leader, you can be very successful.

Michael: Cool. Thank you.

Christian: You said the work is more efficient.

Natasha: Yes.

Christian: So efficient is like getting specific things done in a shorter time. And is it also effective? So, in a sense that you Get the right things done.

Natasha: And here come the questions to the leader. How much do you control? How much do you trust? And I do believe that we became much more efficient because we are not stressed that, you need to be back at home at five because you need to feed kids. or you need to go out with the dog. Now you can manage your agenda properly. I, for example, I'm a single mom. I bring my daughter 7:45 to school. So, I start working at six till seven. I have one hour. Then I bring her to school. Then I do my sport because it's important for me. And then I work. I also have from four to five, I pick her up. I work with her with place. She goes to bed and then I continue working. I think I'm managing my time in a way that is more comfortable for me. And of course, I'm much more efficient cause I have some, breaks in between.

Christian: That sounds like you have more time to work now. How many hours do you spend working?

Natasha: Oh, I cannot say this because my work's council might listen to this.

Christian: Sorry.

Natasha: That's okay. So honestly, I tried to work for eight hours.

Michael: I imagine with this; it sounds like there's more freedom to choose when to work and get stuff done. And I'm hearing from you that people are taking responsibility to make things happen. So that, that sounds wonderful. How are the managers and leaders in your organization reacting to the question of are they really doing what they should be doing other results okay? And so how are people dealing with that?

Natasha: That's a very good question, Michael, because I think it was the biggest concern from our CEO and from the leaders. And it has only one-word trust, trust or not. And then trust should be built from both sides. It's not only the employee, it's also the leader. And then if you openly have a discussion about this. Then you let personal work. And then if within I know, one month there is no result, then the leadership style should be changed. But then if there is a result the trust is built forever.

Michael: One thing I'm always curious about is, different people and different personality types and how they are dealing with the remote situation. It appears to me that for some people it's quite easy now to work remotely and for others, not, how can we look at the different people that are out there and the different types using whatever model, Myers, brix introvert, extrovert insights, just generally, what are your observations as to who is this easy for and who is it more challenging for and how can we help everybody to have a good experience?

Natasha: This year we were lucky to go for the diversity and inclusion training and we talked a lot about biases, about microaggression that can come through words about different cultures that can consider tasks or, the tone of the voice or the way we work differently. And we made a decision that we have no judgment. We create the safe environment where people can openly share how they feel about working. And also think being authentic, something that potentially was missed. Because when you're in the office, you don't have time. And now we don't understand that everyone has challenged with a family situation. This while leaders became much more authentic, much more sensitive and vulnerable, they also share, Oh, you know what? Yes, I'm senior vice president, but I have a crying child. I didn't sleep the whole night and I'm done. And it helps people who report to him to come down and say, Oh, he's a human being. He also can be tired. So, I also have the right to say, you know what, I'm tired. I can't work today. We just need to accept people, but also be very honest if something is not working, we shouldn't wait. We need to say it immediately. And then it helps.

Michael: I'm just wondering, companies that you mentioned that you've been working for, like Adidas and then Mila and big corporations like this. There's a lot of people in these companies, now I'm starting to imagine, what is it like leading all these people working remotely from home or from sitting in a cafe somewhere. Not that they're open at the moment, but soon there will be, working from somewhere, which is not the office and what element is there about setting a standard. Like, via the hours that I'm working. Via the clothes I wear when I show up on video. Via at the background that I showed, I've seen everything right from presidential backgrounds to people sitting in their messy kitchen food still on the counter. How are you observing that? And where are we going with this? If this remote situation will sustain, which kind of seems like it will for a while.

Natasha: I think it's also kind of rules of the game. As soon as we understood that working from home will stay for quite a long time. We agreed. Okay. No videos in pajamas. I'm not joking.

Michael: Not even at 6:00 AM.

Natasha: You wouldn't believe so. Sometimes I switch off the camera, then I need to run. But this is also one of the agreements that we have. We always switch on the camera. So, we want to look into each other's eyes and, coming back to your previous question, how do we manage different personalities? At least we can read by the face and the body language, what our employee are feeling in this moment. What else are we doing? In Germany, we're not allowed to work from any other locations except Germany. Everyone has their own office at home. And it's respect. I don't think if I would be in my pajamas with you, I will show my respect. I think people are adults and they take it seriously.

Michael: Is that a legal requirement? I have to be in the country, working remotely for those companies.

Natasha: Yes.

Michael: I'm in trouble.

Natasha: At least the explanation from my deduction is because of the taxes. You need to be located in the country where you have a contract.

Michael: Oh, okay. [ ININTELIGIBLE]

Christian: When we talked to her before the recording of the podcast, we talked about compliments and saying nice things to each other and, that sometimes it feels a little more difficult to do that remotely then, or that it feels more easily. But when you meet in person, so...

Natasha: It's so true, Christian, of course we dress up to the office, of course we hug each other. It was more than one year ago. Then I was hugging my colleagues. But at least I was doing it. And of course, we were sharing how was the weekend and how you look. Now with the remote work, we don't have time for this. We usually jump into the topic. Sometimes we don't have time for the lunch. That's why with my team every week I check that they spend enough time for going out that they took the time for the lunch, because I think it impacts the efficiency. It impacts their health and nothing is more important for me than health of my employees. That's why yes, I'm missing compliments. And because we're in Germany and in different cultures, different people don't so often share openly, like in Russia you can say, Oh, nice to try it. I like how you look. Nice. I know a nice hairstyle. Yep. I still they're reserved. So, they keep the distance

Michael: Let's do this right away. Natasha, you look wonderful. And, for everybody listening imagine this because, Natasha is actually here in a professional blazer, with the hair nicely done, you look very, very professional. This looks like you were in the office in the full attire and everything is the way exactly how I would imagine it in a professional workspace and you have a professional background, you know what I see in the back, there's probably a mirror it's not giving too much away from your private home and all of that. So, just to describe everybody's listening, what I'm seeing now, is exactly that resemblance of professionalism.

Natasha: Thank you so much. Fortunately, my daughter is at school right now, so you can't see her. Otherwise, usually she jumps into my meetings and say hi to people. And I recently had a call with a vice presidents finance from imagine markets. So, can you imagine a lot of people were talking about sail around for the company and then my daughter Johnson say, Hey, hi, how are you? And honestly, I think this is also nice about remote work because people understand, Oh, Family is also important. Oh, and I do think it's great that now we reconnected with this value.

Michael: Can I share something? We know when this whole remote thing became so ambiguous? I work 100% remote now. Every day, that's all I do. And the first workshops and meetings, when kids and babies would show up. At first, I was asking myself the question, Oh, well, is this right? And where's this going to go? So now, Oh, and I'm very happy with how my thinking has evolved to it's actually nice to see the kids in there for a little bit. As long as it doesn't disturb the process and there is no noise. And I do think there are some limits and it kind of reminds me how in companies we have these take your kids to work days. And then, daddy gets to bring the kids and show them what the office is like, which then takes the whole day. Or at least hours of the day and this way now it's actually happening, I feel it's much nicer. It's much more authentic. It's much more homogenic in the flow of what's going on. Where do you see that develop? That it's all home and work. How many boundaries will we have in the future or do we need, and I mentioned for some people showing the home, showing the family is something that I could be uncomfortable with.

Natasha: Unfortunately, through technology allows us to blur everything wants to see how the fleet looks like, but I think if we can't meet each other, At least this is the connection that we can have for our families and see, I have a normal life also as you have and, I did ask has a parent-child office, several parent-child office. So, I moved to Germany. Then my daughter was two and a half years old. I was constantly bringing her to the office and she was playing with the toys and I was working in a separate room and I could see her from the window and it was amazing. And she got used to be part of my meetings, just in another room, but seeing her mother, I do believe that we're moving into that direction where yes, work is very, very important but we can manage it, even having kids around because we are focused on what we need to achieve.

Michael: Can I ask you, what's better? The situation that you described in the past, which is wonderful, if you can bring kids to work and there's a way, and you can even see her from work that sounds phenomenal. And now compare to, obviously there are people with kids at home and looking after them in the home. What's from your personal opinion, what's preferable?

Natasha: My God, I'm an extrovert I need people, my daughter is not enough for me. And of course, it's stressful. Of course, it's stressful to do the homework cook clean and all this stuff, and everyone is doing this. And I have a huge respect in all that. My leader also respects me for managing it and committing and doing all the all the tasks that I need to do in time, even having a child at home, I wish I could be back to the office. I miss my people. I need all those smiles and then touching conversations. But I'm also, very thankful for the time where my daughter could see me is a. As a super mommy super leader, super woman who can manage everything at the same time.

Michael: Cool.

Christian: That sounds like a new balance. It's important to be professional even from home and it's okay to be a private person from home. What will be different in three years? I mean two years. When hopefully Corona is done.

Natasha: It should be done. Christian, what am I thinking? We didn't have this habit to work from home. We used to go to the office five days per week. I did that suppose allowed us to work one day per week from home. And we were looking for this day. Cause you don't have to wake up, at six and wake up at eight or 15 minutes.

Michael: And now you do.

Natasha: Yes. So, you need to run. You need to keep in mind. I need to pick up child. Do you have enough time tracing the gym? If someone needs to come to your flat. And now I think it's amazing. You decide if you have important meetings or conferences, a team activity, you go to the office and you do it. And if you need to concentrate and create a new product or finished performance discussion or anything, you can do it at home. I do believe that the remote control showed us that we can work even from home. Very, very efficient.

Michael: What's the utopia of this. If we go even further out, in five years, 10 years, 20 years, what’s going to be the future of working. How remote are we going to are we ever, I think everybody's assuming we will never fully go back how it was in the past? But what's the new equilibrium. What will be the long-term utopia where this can get and what processes and what behaviors will that take to make that successful for an organizations, we even have companies, then how's that going to evolve?

Natasha: Sorry to say, when, if I believe we have one of the most beautiful office in the world. We have six and a half thousand people here. You can imagine it's several kindergartens on the office. Huge gym, several buildings. It's unbelievable beautiful. But I don't think we will need it in the future. And other companies won't need offices in the future. I think we're all will have our small home office causes. Was he a nice, and we will meet somewhere in the rented places for the meetings where at no more than 10 people should be in for brainstorm or for other discussions. And I think people actually evolved in their responsibility. Cause I think I became much more responsible than I was before. I'm managing so many in multitasking because you need to manage so many things at the same time and you need to understand how to use this time properly. If you want to get everything done. And this remote life allows us to do this.

Michael: In an organization with hundreds and in UK is where you are now. Thousands of people. What tools and processes, HR tools and processes will we need to be successful with all this so that it's not going to become one big, super remote chaos.

Natasha: We're focusing on diversity and inclusion, because I think this is something, inclusion starts with. I. I should start doing something differently to make sure that everyone feels inclusive. And I think it's a change of the mindset. This is where we're working on. We will develop a leadership capability like culture. Engagement, working with different types of people and personalities. I do think that also secret is in the feedback. We need to make sure that we give the correct feedback to people in the right way.

Michael: You mentioned culture there, it's just such a big, important word, culture, eats strategy for breakfast and all of that. What does it mean for culture in the future? When we have still a large part of work taking place remote. They're still going to be so much of a value in a coherent culture to be successful for an organization, or will organizations be able to be a lot more diverse beyond having one shared culture.

Natasha: From one side, I believe that now finally, we became much more diverse, because we have no choice from another side. The success is in networking. And I think networking in the office, it's much more easy and obvious networking through teams or Skype is a little bit different, but we might need to develop this capability and learn how to do this.

Michael: Can I make an observation on that and test what you think?

Natasha: Yes, please.

Michael: I think what I'm observing is that the people that were good in networking in the office, are not necessarily the people that are now good in networking in the remote world or is it, I'm not sure. Because of the technology, for some, it's really easy to walk up to somebody over a coffee and say, Hey, how's it going? What are you working on now? Some people naturally feel comfortable with that. And if I'm shyer than I probably didn't feel comfortable with that in the office. I can think of people who feel a lot more comfortable over technology and having a different distance and approaching people over that channel, where I do not have to face the person standing a meter away from me, but it's somewhere on a small box on the screen. Like you're on the zoom.

Natasha: I agree with you. It actually depends on the personality. And that's interesting consideration because the moment I noticed that I'm leaving guided us, a lot of people start scheduling with me Firewall coaching session. They want to have a quick coaching session from me. I would never do this with anyone and some people I even don't know closely. They are brave enough just to schedule a call with me and talk with me. So, you're right, it will have an impact on networking to work remotely.

Christian: If you got the chance to send one message via, let's say WhatsApp, or as a text message to all the leaders in the world, what would it be?

Natasha: I don't know why in my head; I constantly have that be authentic. I think this is the best leadership style or the best human being that people authentic. Because everyone can learn knowledge, but show the authenticity in this time is much more important than sharing the knowledge or giving the tasks.

Christian: Thank you.

Natasha: Thank you.

Michael: Thanks, so much Natasha. Great to see you and to hear you.

Natasha: Oh, it was very interesting to meeting you, thank you very much for having me.

Christian: Thank you very much for your insights. All right, bye. Good night.