Bringing Unity to the Workforce

Episode Summary:

As organizations traverse the shifting talent market and assess the challenges they face in getting work done, finding solutions with an experienced partner could become a business imperative. With the Unity Workforce Solution, businesses could increase their competitive edge by developing strategies built from the combined knowledge and experience of Populus Group and Allegis Global Solutions. Executive Director of Client Delivery for Unity Workforce Solution Kathy Clem hosts Populus Group Co-Founder and President Bobby Herrera in this insightful discussion on how collaboration can reshape the future of work.

Transcript:

Allegis Global Solutions presents the Subject to Talent Podcast, a hub for global workforce leaders to unleash the power of the human enterprise. Listen in as we explore the most innovative and transformational topics impacting businesses today.

Kathy Clem: Hello and welcome to the Subject to Talent podcast. My name is Kathy Clem, executive director at Allegis Global Solutions and your host for today's episode. I am truly excited to introduce a friend, a longtime collaborator, to share insights in how inclusive practices can unify today's workforce and bring greater access to talent. He is known as a top 10 trusted CEO, best-selling author, co-founder and president of Populus Group, army veteran, and a proud father. And when I say proud, I mean proud. So please help me in welcoming Bobby Herrera to the podcast. Hi Bobby.

Bobby Herrera: Blessed to be here with you, Kathy. Good to see you.

Kathy Clem: Yeah, it's good to see you as well and delighted to have you here. So, I'm super excited to kick off the conversation today. So, you ready?

Bobby Herrera: I'm ready. Let's do some good.

Kathy Clem: All right, let's jump right in. So first and foremost, at the start of every Subject to Talent podcast, we like to take a little bit of a deep dive and get personal, not too personal. So can you take us on your journey. What called you into the workforce industry and what were those pivotal moments that shaped your path?

Bobby Herrera: Yeah, great question. I think like many, Kathy, it started out as an accidental detour. I didn't even know the industry existed. I'd had a chapter in the military, and then after that I started a couple of professional chapters, and it was in that second chapter of my professional journey after college that I was introduced into the industry. And so, I started at a small recruiting firm and that exposed me to the industry as a whole and the opportunity within. And I was with a recruiting firm in many different cities for, I'd say, about nine years. And then in 2002, as the industry was evolving and expanding and becoming more and more complex like you and I have witnessed over the years, I started my entrepreneurial journey co-founding Populus Group in 2002. So we just turned 23.

Kathy Clem: Oh, congratulations. That's awesome. So, when you think about the journey and the power of bringing people together from all walks of life, and you've been in this industry for quite some time, why do you believe that building an inclusive workforce isn't just the right thing to do, but absolutely essential for business success?

Bobby Herrera: There's so much research on the benefits of it, Kathy, and I often prefer to look at it through a different lens. I always encourage business leaders, whether it be an organization that I serve or within my own organization, to look at it through three questions as it pertains to the inclusive workforce. So, am I doing everything to serve my organization? Am I doing everything that I need to do to serve my customer? And am I doing everything that I need to do to serve my community?

And then when you look at the common thread between those three, to me that common thread is insight. And the more inclusive your workforce is and the more versatile and both unique and varied the voices of your workforce are, the stronger the insight you're going to have into all three of those areas that are very critical and important for an organization to thrive. We all have that internal responsibility, we have that customer responsibility and then we have that desire to serve our community. And the more inclusive of a workforce that you can build to serve all three of those, the more insight you're going to gain as a result.

Kathy Clem: I like that. And I like the fact when you talk about it, it's so succinct in terms of customer and community and service. And when you can bring it all together and underpin that, sometimes it's just priceless. But it's that portrait that we talk about of a masterpiece, which is beautiful. We also describe the ability to impact service and customer and community. You and I talk about it all the time, little hinges swing big doors, right?

Bobby Herrera: That's right.

Kathy Clem: And so, if we can think about an inclusive workforce and how we are in a position to swing open those doors, again, opportunity is endless. We have been on this journey around Unity Workforce Solution and that partnership between Allegis Global Solutions as well as Populus Group. And you're thinking about inclusive workforce and workforce strategy, community, service, and kind of this total talent. Can you paint a picture from your lens of what the Unity Workforce partnership truly is and how did it come to life?

Bobby Herrera: Well, it's interesting, Kathy, that you and I and the team – we've been working on this behind the scenes for quite some time and over the last seven to 10 years. We've become more public with it as demand and curiosity from our customer base has grown. But the real simple definition, let's start there and then let's unpack it a little bit. So the very simple definition is Unity is a purpose-built MSP, managed service provider, solution in collaboration with Populus Group and Allegis Global Solutions. Or as my teams would say, a collab.

And we did it together with one sole mission. And that is to transform how organizations both guide and transform their workforce as it changes. But I think to truly understand it, we have to zoom out and look at how the industry has changed over the last 15 to 20 years. At the origin of our organization's partnership, we were starting to see the trend in the industry of how back then it was taboo for most organizations to work together. It was very intensely competitive. And then as the workforce started getting more complex, we started seeing that, "Hey, if we figure out how to work together and complement one another in the same space with the same customer, we can actually serve a broader problem platform for our customers."

And we started it slowly behind the scenes, very quietly pre-2010. And then you fast-forward to 2017 after we'd been engaged in several engagements and then we started getting more intentional and public about branding it and building it with your organization's global expertise and our ability to be nimble and serve those peripheral workforce problems that most organizations within an MSP environment also have. And we've been building on it ever since. So, I think in order to be able to understand the benefits of getting two-for-one levels of expertise, you have to understand not only where the industry's been, but where it's going to continue to evolve over the next 15 to 20 years because that complexity curve is only going to get steeper.

Kathy Clem: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. You talk about the complexity curve. You talk about a forever evolving landscape. But also, being in a position to bring two organizations together to look at the agility of what the industry needs and being able to solve for that for such a time as this. So, I do appreciate the look back on ‘how did it evolve’ and ‘how did it get started’ to fast forward to where we are today. And so, when you start to think about the workforce solution and being in a position to come up with this unique offering, if you would, from your vantage point, what would you describe or say that makes it work so well? Not to give away the secret sauce if you would, but what are some of those key things over time that you've realized that you said, "Hey, you know what, this is what makes it really work well?”

Bobby Herrera: Well, I think it can be posed in a very simple question that our customers have responded to very positively, Kathy. "Is a collaborative trusted solution important to you as you manage your program and continue to evolve with the complexities of the workforce?” And we can confidently share that –because we've been working on this for 15 years and over the 15-year span that we've been working on it – the depth of trust that we have. Having engaged in multifaceted-type programs together, we have a body of work that even if we do reveal the secret sauce, we're 15 years ahead. And I'm very confident in what we'll continue to build 15 years from now on that foundation that we've established through many different customer bases across different industries.

Kathy Clem: Yeah. And you talk about the 15 years behind in front of us. Take us behind that scene. How does the partnership really impact the people in the industry? So, there is absolutely the talent piece. There's the socioeconomic piece as well too, but are there any insights relative to the people that's a part of this particular workforce solution that you've seen over time?

Bobby Herrera: The lens that I use around the inclusive workforce, I think we could use those similar three lenses as we looked at the overall impact that this collaborative solution can make. So one, through the lens of the internal organization, both of our organizations have been exposed to so much more as a result of working together. And that extends to our customer. Our customer has the ability to see so much more as a result of us working together. They see the more nimble peripheral problems that we solve and then they get tremendous insight into your data-driven subject matter expertise on both the domestic and global level.

And then we celebrate the fact that this partnership works because we share community values. Economic and socioeconomic impact is what matters the most for us. And that not only is in the communities we serve, but with the supplier communities that we serve. Philosophically, I often like to reference a Greek proverb and that is that, "A society grows when we plant trees in whose shade we may never sit." And we've been planting trees together across those three areas for quite some time, Kathy. And I think it gives us a lot of mutual joy in the programs that we work together and our customers can feel that energy in our collaboration. It is represented in the satisfaction scores that we've seen over the years.

Kathy Clem: Yeah, and when you talk about the voice of the customer, we often hear that and see it show up in those net promoter scores. But I want to go back to the proverb and the gem that you spoke about. Let me make sure that I captured it correctly, is that we plant seeds in shadows where we never sit. Is that right?

Bobby Herrera: "A society grows when we plant trees in whose shade we may never sit." And a tangible example of that is we get the opportunity to impact suppliers within our programs of all shapes and sizes. Some could be a small woman-owned firm of six people. It could be a veteran-owned supplier of 100 people, just hypothetically. And day in and day out, as we work with these suppliers, I believe we share a value of generosity in coaching them to be better organizations within our programs and that extends to the work that they want to do outside of us. And so we share that value of generosity. And to me, I think that's what the essence of that proverb represents. We may never see the benefits of that impact, but they will. And that's what matters.

Kathy Clem: And they will absolutely see it and we'll see the bloom or the harvest for that seed, future state. So we talk about bloom where you're planted in life, but being able to see it from afar and how that impact then now transitions into the supplier community. Because sometimes that's often look. Sometimes it is about the initial transaction and deliverables, which is great, that's why we're here. But it's the collaboration and making sure that that community is front and center for us. When I think about from a veteran's lens, in your personal experience, your journey, can you share with us and those that are listening or watching, what is it about when you think about veteran and veteran owned organization that not only makes it and others a remarkable source of talent? (I) would love to continue to get your perspective on that.

Bobby Herrera: Oh, I'd love to. Well, I proudly served the US Army, the best branch for eight years.

Kathy Clem: Thank you for your service.

Bobby Herrera:All hail the volunteer. Salute all those brave men and women who have also served. But I've taken so many lessons from that experience, Kathy, that I've been able to implement and make part of the behavioral and common language in my organization, Populus Group. But when it comes to looking at the value that veterans bring, one of the questions that I often ask business leaders is, “What's the single most important asset that your organization will ever own?”

And over the years I've received some creative answers. And I'll often take them to what I believe the answer to that question is. And that is trust. We've talked about it a little bit as the fabric of our partnership, but when you really look at that trust that we try to build day in and day out as an asset and intentionally build it because the more trust you have, the faster things move and the less things cost and what organization doesn't want that?

But embedded in that question, Kathy, is a very important role that veterans play in the workforce. And I'll often ask a follow-up question like what do veterans do better than anyone? They build trust. So, it's an exaggerated metaphor because when I was in the military, that's all that we focus on because our lives depended on it. However, in the workplace, that should be the ultimate goal, to build more trust with the customers we serve and those we work with. And veterans do that by design in their DNA. And so, I'll often encourage organizations to reflect on the fact that if you want someone in your workforce that is very intuitive and great at building trust, hire a veteran. And it helps us think about it differently. So, I walked us through those steps metaphorically because I often think that value that veterans bring to the workforce is understated in terms of how important it is to business leaders.

Kathy Clem: Yeah. And it's the trust that you talked about as well. And if I had to pull that all the way through, I think about trust underpinning the word unity and the solution and the trust that we're also asking our customers to continue to go on this journey when you have two organizations coming together. And I guess my question back to you is just around not only the trust piece, but how do you believe – or what are your thoughts about – the culture's capabilities and how the two organizations complement each other in this model? (I would) love your perspective on that. And have there been any surprises on this journey of a Unity Workforce Solution that you've seen or there's some challenges or surprises or just even lessons learned? There's always a moment for a retrospective somewhere over a decade.

Bobby Herrera: 1000%. I'm a firm believer that we need tension to grow. Without that tension, there is no growth. There is no progress. We don't like pain. But without pain, there's no progress. And that's metaphorically a principle of life. And so when I look at the journey of our partnership, we have had so much tension and learning lessons along the way, and that is the way that we have grown.

And so organizations that we collaborate with together, we're very open about talking about the history and the journey and the fact that you're getting a partnership that has already been through those life cycles of tension that those that may be trying to duplicate it now have yet to go through. So you decide do you want an organization who can tell you the stories of where we've already walked through minefields with clown shoes on or do you want to experience it? I think that we've been able to tell a very open story about how we've learned these lessons along the way and our customers have seen our trust grow as a result, just like any good friendship in our lives.

Kathy Clem: And the ability to preserve each organization's strength while ensuring the client experiences immunity is a bit of a seamless ecosystem. Because it's different dynamics all coming together as well. We know that the workforce is evolving fast. You got contingent, you have freelance, direct sourcing, all the things and those that are listening probably have some level of talent solution in their mind. And I appreciate you walking the audience through that. The Unity Workforce Solution could absolutely help solve some of those key things when you think about community, service, talent, a total talent from MSP as well as Populus (Group) coming together and joining forces and being that bridge into the gap of workforce strategies as well as business strategies.

For those just listening and they are just curious not only about the total talent, how we do it, the way that we do it, best practices and success as well as how are we shifting in today's marketplace, things that we need to be thinking about, they should be thinking about this whole total talent, where should they start? What is the best way to learn more and to get involved from your vantage point?

Bobby Herrera: In terms of the Unity Solution as a whole?

Kathy Clem: That's right.

Bobby Herrera: Anyone's welcome to reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'll make sure that I get everybody connected in the right direction. But I think even just more broader than that, I think there's a lot of speculation and unknown right now with regards to the workforce in terms of how are all these talent demographics with the changes that our workforce is going to experience in the next 10 years going to affect how organizations have to change when you layer all of the things that are happening with technology?

Because now we're adding a complexity of AI. Now we're adding the complexity of how roles are going to change with this technology on top of the talent demographics that we've been helping organizations manage in the last 10 to 15 years. And so that's where that complexity curve is going to get even steeper. And so obviously the conversations that we're having with our mutual customers now, we're zooming out. We're looking at that the best we can as they speculate directionally where they're going internally. So that's where the benefit of having two organizations that can cast a broader lens on these problems that we're solving.

Because one of the things that we've done really well together with the trust within our two united but different cultures is we bring problems we're seeing in the marketplace and you bring problems you're seeing in the marketplace, and we talk about it in a very collaborative manner so that we can then say, "Hey, I haven't seen that one at our customer before." And we're able to do that in a way that is pretty unique to the industry.

Kathy Clem: Yeah. So, looking ahead and thank you for walking our listeners through. Thinking ahead, a couple of just rapid fire questions here. If you had to summarize Unity's north star in the next 18 months around this solution in one sentence, what would it be?

Bobby Herrera: I would actually extend it further than 18 months because I think it'll stay constant. Our community and social impact will be the north star and all the great things that we do together with our expertise, that's permission to play for us. We are going to continue to look at that in a way that says, "Hey, how can we be a higher quality solution six months from now than we are today? And are we doing things today that makes us a higher quality partnership than we were six months ago?" But the north star is what's going to keep us aligned, that societal and community impact that we want to make together.

Kathy Clem: Never stray away from that ethos or the north star. When you think about (the) next generation workforce, what does next gen workforce partnership kind of mean to you, and how do you believe Unity will continue to lead in that evolution?

Bobby Herrera: You know what I'm real vocal about, Kathy? I am very vocal about how the current and future generation of talent, I applaud how they're making all organizations be more purpose-driven. And the world needs more of that. That's where that Greek proverb comes into play. "A society grows when we plant trees in whose shade we may never sit." And I actually give a lot of credit to the most recent generations in our workforce for making organizations reflect more on that. So, I applaud them. Please keep holding us accountable to do that. I think that's going to continue to shape how businesses look at what they do to utilize business for good. Maybe that's a little bit idealistic in my mind, but I'm going to stay on that.

Kathy Clem: Yeah, stay on it. Stay on it, brother, because I want to stay alongside with you on that. And speaking about alongside, how can clients and suppliers and talent partners co-create that future alongside you? So, what should listeners do if they want to learn more about Populus (Group) and Unity and how they can benefit from this partnership?

Bobby Herrera: Well, I know one of the things I'm real proud of, Kathy, is that we have mutual customers that we've invited to be more involved in some of our community-facing mentorship programs. So first and foremost, accept our invitation for the customers that we will serve together in the future. We want you to accept our invitation to cast a broader reach with your impact. So that's one. And then two, I want to encourage listeners to get really curious about how these collaborative partnerships in the industry are going to better serve them going forward. Because you and I have been in this industry long enough to know that there is no one-stop shop no matter how much a customer wants that. We can play a critical role in expanding that desire that they have with a one-stop partnership, per se.

Kathy Clem: So, what I'm hearing is get curious and also really double down on the collaboration component of that. But there's also the bit of continuing to get curious, have those exploratory conversations, accept the invite. Because we welcome that open dialogue, but also perspective from a customer's lens because we want to be right there alongside them helping to solution their main pain point. So, get curious and accept the invitation.

Well, as always, I truly appreciate the open dialogue. I thank you for not only your own personal gift in this journey and what you have contributed to this industry over the many years. We won't list the date, but we know it's been a long time. And thank you for your leadership and more importantly partnership. You and others have been very instrumental in the genesis of the beginning of Unity Workforce Solution many, many, many years ago. And so, to see it manifest and come full circle, at the end of the day, we're still helping our customers solve a unique talent problem that they have identified in the workplace and we have proof of concept. There are case studies. But the ability, more importantly, to continue to get curious with them and collaborate to design a model that's fit for purpose for where they are and where they're going. So, thank you so much for joining me today. Let's keep building and connecting together one story at a time. So, thank you, Bobby.

Bobby Herrera: You're welcome, Kathy. We echo the same sentiments for our partners over at Allegis Global Solutions. Appreciate you having me.

Kathy Clem: Thank you.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you have questions, send them to SubjectToTalent@AllegisGlobalSolutions.com. Follow us on LinkedIn with the #SubjectToTalent and learn more about AGS at AllegisGlobalSolutions.com, where you can find additional workforce insights and past episodes. Until next time, cheers.