From Office Spaces to Open Roads: Thriving in Remote Work Environments (ft. Wendy Hoffman)
Aug 07, 2023
Divurgent
Ever thought about the true impact of nonverbal communication in a remote work setup? Our conversation with Wendy Hoffman, Chief People Officer at Divurgent, reveals why the little camera on your device isn't just hardware, but a crucial tool for building transparent, authentic relationships in a remote work environment. Wendy shines a light on the Divurgent's unique work culture and the exciting activities they undertake to keep the team spirit alive - from fun song guessing games to casual coffee hours.
Changing gears, imagine combining work with the joy of exploring new places, all from the comfort of your RV. This episode gives you an intimate glimpse of the joys and challenges of full-time RV living while keeping up with professional commitments. If you've ever considered embracing this adventurous lifestyle, you'll want to hear my tips on purchasing a used RV, starting small, and leveraging resources like YouTube to streamline your journey. So, buckle up as we take you on an inspiring journey about thriving in a remote work environment and living life on the road.
Thanks for listening! Like what you hear? Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and be sure to subscribe to The Vurge for the latest episodes and more!
Interested in being a guest on the show? Click here to learn more.
Ever thought about the true impact of nonverbal communication in a remote work setup? Our conversation with Wendy Hoffman, Chief People Officer at Divurgent, reveals why the little camera on your device isn't just hardware, but a crucial tool for building transparent, authentic relationships in a remote work environment. Wendy shines a light on the Divurgent's unique work culture and the exciting activities they undertake to keep the team spirit alive - from fun song guessing games to casual coffee hours.
Changing gears, imagine combining work with the joy of exploring new places, all from the comfort of your RV. This episode gives you an intimate glimpse of the joys and challenges of full-time RV living while keeping up with professional commitments. If you've ever considered embracing this adventurous lifestyle, you'll want to hear my tips on purchasing a used RV, starting small, and leveraging resources like YouTube to streamline your journey. So, buckle up as we take you on an inspiring journey about thriving in a remote work environment and living life on the road.
Thanks for listening! Like what you hear? Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and be sure to subscribe to The Vurge for the latest episodes and more!
Interested in being a guest on the show? Click here to learn more.
Speaker 1:
Hi everyone and welcome to the Verge in another episode. This time around we have Wendy Hoffman, our Chief Human Resource Officer at Divergent, and thank you, wendy, for coming.
Speaker 2:
Thank you, rebecca. I'm delighted to be here.
Speaker 1:
I can't wait to talk about all the various topics that we have today, but can you first start with give us your background and how you ended up in the role that you're in today?
Speaker 2:
Sure. So my background has been in healthcare since I graduated college, worked in a hospital environment, had an interest in human behavior, so my education is more in business management and minors in psychology and human behavior. So I've been in the recruiting, human resources, organizational design, development and really healthcare consulting most of my career. So I really have a passion for that human component, that human centric people element, and have worked with a variety of consulting firms. So I was with DARCA, Alumin CTG healthcare solutions, I was with Vitalize Consulting Solutions, CSC and now have been here at Divergent over the last six years.
Speaker 1:
Awesome. I find your background interesting. I want to pick your brain on how. How do you feel about all of this remote work and either the cameras on or off? So for me, I love watching people's nonverbals. It tells me so much about the person or how the conversations going, and so I love that. At Divergent we try to ask people to turn their cameras on if it's, you know, not their lunch hour. And how do you feel about? Do you feel about the nonverbal communication with the camera on versus being in person and so on?
Speaker 2:
No, absolutely. I think we have evolved as a remote employer post pandemic. So before cameras weren't always utilized by resource. It was kind of one or two might be on camera but the majority were not. And I like the culture at Divergent that we have an opportunity to be and utilize those cameras and encourage that participation and be able to have that nonverbal interaction, that face-to-face component on the screen. So I've been virtual and remote for over 25 years. Some of that included some travel but the camera component wasn't an element at that time. But over the last two to three years it's become more present. Even with my outside vendors that I work with, instead of being an audio voice call, they are on camera too and have the opportunity to engage. So I love the camera being a component of the remote work today.
Speaker 1:
Same same. I in the same way. I've been remote off and on for a long time when I worked for Dell and always thought, man, if we had cameras one day I'd have to I like, really get dressed, you know, yeah, but I think having them on just brings so much dynamic to the conversation. So I value, I value that.
Speaker 2:
And we don't have as much face-to-face time and so we don't get that chance to come together like we had previously. Maybe it was a conference or client meetings or even a social gathering in a particular geographical area. So I feel like the camera for new people. Allow them to have a name, a face where you're from, and start building a relationship in a new capacity. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:
I can tell you, though, I'm a hugger, so when everyone gets the vibe, they're all getting a hug because we see each other. But I still miss that aspect of connecting with people.
Speaker 2:
I enjoy that face-to-face time and value conferences like Vive and Chime and others where we get to be face-to-face. Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and him's as well. Yeah, absolutely. Can you speak maybe more to the culture at Divergent, and I can start out by this is why I came to Divergent is the culture and the people and all that you have to offer. But do you wanna maybe talk and give us your viewpoint?
Speaker 2:
No, absolutely. I think, first and foremost, the culture at Divergent is to be authentic and transparent and open. So all levels of the organization, any of us, is leadership and, through our key roles and positions, that we have direct access to pick up the phone and have a conversation. We don't need to have a scheduled meeting we can call, we can text, we can message. So I think that access and availability is very important, and we have a culture club, so we have representation of all of our departments in a committee that meets on a monthly basis to be able to talk about how can we engage better, how can we communicate what is working, what's not working, and we create learning platforms May it be technology tools or may it be just something about the industry, so that we can share an exchange.
Speaker 2:
So I feel, even in a remote environment, we're able to make relationships and go deeper in that, and many of us start the calls with our elite values and be able to have an opportunity to recognize our team members that we're working with and engaging. And then in our departmental meetings, oftentimes leaders are asking questions to start a conversation what's your favorite movie, what's your favorite color, what you know? If you weren't working today. What would you be doing Just again to create that non-work environment to get to know one another and go to the next level of that connection and that relationship? So I find the culture platform at Divergent to be one growing, evolving, being available, accessible, authentic, transparent, but willing to listen, willing to hear and be able to adapt and create. So each year we put a survey together in the fall and the culture club takes that and builds out a plan and says we heard these responses, we heard this feedback, how can we implement and engage appropriately?
Speaker 1:
I love it.
Speaker 1:
I can't wait to fill it out this fall, although I've already participated in so much fun with the daily February guess that song, which I know I sucked at, but I tried. And then there was the coffee hours that we do, you know, throughout the month, and it's been nice to. We're kind of in some of our own pods, but then when you branch out and join those meetings you can meet other people that you might not normally work with every day and it's been nice to get to know the company a lot quicker than you might normally get to know people.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So the coffee breaks, the happy hours, the March Madness, the name, that tune, you know, those are just ways that we can come together and we've done like some escape rooms where a committee or a group came together and did an event, and we've done like a happy hour mixer type situation where we, if somebody was on the call and led it, to be able to share. We've done how to make sushi, you know, again, bringing different groups, different dynamics, together to be able to share and engage and have fun and get to know one another so that when we're working through those business dynamics we have some depth to who and what we share as colleagues.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, absolutely. I think I'd love to get your feedback on. You know we all have our career paths and come up through leadership and you know I never would have thought that so much of human resources is part of my roles that I've had and my role now, you know, at Divergent and those dynamics I almost think that you know like in high school they should teach taxes to everybody that you know in college or something. There should be a mandatory human resource people course, and so how do you feel about, you know, coaching people coming up the ladder on human resources and how can we help grow those skills as leaders today?
Speaker 2:
Absolutely so. I mean this is an area that's very important to me, it's an area I'm passionate about. I thoroughly enjoy helping others coach, mentor, learn the human dynamic, especially in the workplace and one of my mentors early in my career, who is a vice president of human resources, said to me Wendy, if you put yourself in the shoes of the other person that's receiving the message that you're delivering, you have a foundation to relate to, adapt to have a response to, and I have held that strong throughout my whole career. So any message that I need to deliver, any message that I, you know, need to help someone else deliver, I always put myself in that and how would I want that situation handled, where and what is important to me in the outcome of that situation and what questions would I have in that dynamic? So I feel, you know, being able to foster growth and development, learning, not making the assumption everybody has the same level of skill and the same experiences or exposure to those elements.
Speaker 2:
And, as a consulting firm, our people is what our client buys their knowledge, their experience, their expertise. We don't have a tangible product that is, you know, a widget or an item. It is the people, and so helping others be able to facilitate. How do we interact? What is important, how do we manage through those confrontational circumstances and then providing outside resources, tools and capabilities and learning to assist I find very important, and Divergent has made that investment and we're, you know, have the ability to continue to grow. Our leaders in the organization and we are human, so we're going to have mistakes, we're going to have situations that we will learn from and for me, it's what do we take from that and how do we go forward. That's most important when we run into those challenging circumstances and that makes us stronger and it makes us able to facilitate difficult situations in the future. So that's an area very passionate for me and it's an area that I enjoy working with the folks at Divergent when they encounter those situations and circumstances and giving them tools and resources to be successful.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, awesome. Yeah, thank you. You touched on you know mentoring, so I've had you know mentors on and off throughout. You know my career. I have my nonprofit. We have a really big mentor program going on there, but what Divergent has is an amazing mentor program as well, and within my first you know two months, I'm mentoring two employees and I also have a mentor myself, and so to see that so quickly put in place as a new employee, I just find that absolutely amazing. Do you want to elaborate more on the program and the steps and how you all put that together?
Speaker 2:
Absolutely so. We let individuals kind of get their feet on the ground their first 30, 40 days, you know, because there's so much information coming at them. But our mentor program is designed in a voluntary opt-in situation. But we have tools and resources, a presentation that describes what the program is and what it means, and you have the opportunity to say, yes, I want a mentor and yes, I would like to be a mentor. But either answer is totally fine, whatever is best and works well, and through that we then set up some guiding principles, we share some best practices, we share some elements of questions that you might be able to ask of your mentor or you as a mentee, of asking back and forth between the relationships.
Speaker 2:
And we have a committee that meets that talks about who is now eligible and who would be a good fit for that mentor, and looking at how we might broaden their skill and exposure, how we might align with their end delivery or their end sales or their end of a support function. Where would they best fit and who has the capacity Because we try to make sure that nobody has more than three, maybe four tops so that it's not overwhelming that it's something you can really foster in that capacity. So, yeah, so we all levels from manager and above, can be mentors and it's really designed for full time souring resources in the organization and wanting to foster that growth and capability. And then we have a few outside resources that may make sense for different reasons, from an executive coaching perspective or executive leadership or somebody needing a key element in sales, and we don't have that ability because everybody's full and their mentor. So we have some outside resources that can be available to be mentors for our divergent team members as well.
Speaker 1:
Awesome, thank you. We were just talking before we started recording about how you have a fascinating remote working setup.
Speaker 1:
I guess I would say and so you've been traveling in your RV or travel home for years now and most people wouldn't. I don't think I knew that until a few weeks ago, so been a couple months in and talked to you a lot and would have never known. And so do you wanna speak about all your travels and how you get to tour all the states in the national parks while also working. Just find it super envy.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely. I am exceptionally blessed, I have to say. I have always had a passion for travel and exploration and adventure. Micaela, my daughter, and I traveled a lot to different places, either through my companies that had events that they hosted as part of their activities for team members, or just my love for travel. And so when I was kind of done with that parent line and she was stepping out as a young adult, it opened up doors for me to say where, what, why or how, and certainly the remote work provides that option. So I do.
Speaker 2:
I have for six years traveled full time in an RV with me and my pups and have had an opportunity to explore the United States, a little bit of Mexico, and went to Canada and Alaska, and through that I have a full setup with internet through technology of the PepWave router and data plans, and then I also have the Starlink satellite and so that gives me complete connectivity wherever I am, and I typically am traveling on weekends to new locations and planning where, what, why. I have many friends that also do this, and so we can either caravan or be in similar locations to have that community and kind of connection while I'm out on the road, and then I'm able to see friends, family, my daughter and son-in-law be able to organize where, what, why and, of course, work related as well. So if there's an industry conference or a meeting or a gathering, I can bring my home with me and I have the flexibility to take my home and detach and just have my vehicle, or I can be all inclusive in a unit as I move or travel. So I have a lot of flexibility. I'm able to go where the weather and the climate is nice. I'm in the Southwest currently and it's just super fun. I can get out and hike, I can get on my kayak or my stand-up board. I love water, I love mountains and be able to explore and experience. So it provides a nice balance.
Speaker 2:
It provides an opportunity to see places and many people ask me what's your favorite place or where this? And quite honestly, it's the places. You have no idea that exists. I mean it's fun to go to the Grand Canyon, don't get me wrong. Or you know key national parks and that's wonderful, but it's the towns and the communities you didn't know existed that you run across or stumble into and then get to stay a few days and experience it, and that there are districts or whatever it is that they're known for and their attractions, and that's what I've enjoyed is I've found some wonderful town cities, communities, locations, recreational forest service areas that I didn't even know exist if I wasn't doing this.
Speaker 1:
And so, being out in like state parks and everything, have you had any run-in with animals? Buffalo bear, come up and maybe create a door.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, from the free range cattle that are out in the West, that are in different places. When I was in Canada and Alaska they were bear, they were moose, they were oh shoot, what are that? Caribou that you can just run through where you are. And one of the features of my unit is it's off grid, so I have solar, I have lithium batteries, so I don't have to be plugged in somewhere. So it gives me a lot of flexibility and freedom to be in the natural habitat versus being in RV parks in a community or town.
Speaker 1:
That's awesome. I have this obsession of watching, like the tiny homes and RVs on YouTube. I love it.
Speaker 2:
Some of my friends- are the YouTube channels, and I love the tiny home movement, which is what led me to this. I thought I might have three tiny homes in two or three different locations and I would be able to go where I wanted to go, and it was a friend that said to me why don't you try an RV? They're meant to move and see if you really like it, and that's how I started out six years ago.
Speaker 1:
If somebody was just starting out, like tomorrow, what would be the advice you know in either them purchasing an RV or like, do this but not that. Like what would be one or two things that you would suggest to them?
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So if you're just starting out, I would say don't buy new, Buy something used, take it out, see if you like it. Because I have been in three different models of RV in my six years and it's because you figure things out of what you like, how you want to travel, what matters, that kind of thing. So I would say buy something used, try it out, see what you like, learn, look at YouTube. You know there's so many videos out there on how to, what to, where to. But that would be my first thing is just go small, go used, get out there and then you can go up or down based on what you decide you like, on how you travel.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and what would be the one thing that, like you get to somebody's house and you're staying maybe there for the week and you're like, oh, I have, like I missed this, having XYZ when I'm actually in a house. Compared to your last six years, is there anything that stands out?
Speaker 2:
The long hot unlimited shower, because you know, with an RV you have a certain tank size, so you're always working with the size of that and and so yeah, just a long unlimited hot shower in a house or hotel is a all time favorite. Or bath.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah or bath yeah.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I could see that definitely standing out.
Speaker 1:
Well, is there anything else that you'd like to share with us before I ask my my last question, anything new that's happening with Divergent that you want to tell us about, or?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, no, I think our excitement in our pivot growth from taking the strength of our staffing and go live environment and moving into the management advisory consulting components and the people that we've been able to bring in have really grown. Who and what Divergent is? So I'm excited about what we're able to do today, not only through our consulting resources but our client relationships and individuals like yourself and others that have been able to join the team. Just the growth and the quality and the capability is exciting to watch and experience. So I'm excited to where we go next.
Speaker 1:
And how we're really focusing on strategy and not just putting a person in a warm seat. That's really what drove me to you know, taking this role and really helping organizations in their roadmaps and strategy and really being a partner with them Super exciting. Yeah, our talent is a key strategy.
Speaker 2:
You know our talent we don't take lightly. It's a key strategy, not only in the hiring and the recruiting that we bring into the organization but how we foster that life cycle and that experience of our team member throughout their time at Divergent and we have flexibility if it's short term or if it's full time but we want to be able to adapt and secure and assist that team member through their life cycle and it's exciting to see and experience and some of the programming through our performance management or skill development and our mentor program. The resources that are present and available are making that happen and it's fun to watch.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, absolutely so. The last question I want to end with is I want to know what your superpower is that you bring to the table and offer to the world.
Speaker 2:
So my superpower, I think, is the ability to see the detail but manage to the big picture. So being able to bring both perspectives to a conversation is one of the areas that I think is a plus or a strength of mine.
Speaker 1:
Awesome. Thank you, Wendy. Thanks for joining the verge.
Speaker 2:
No, thank you for having me. I'm so appreciative and enjoyed the conversation.
Speaker 3:
Thanks for tuning into the Verge podcast brought to you by Divergent, a leading healthcare IT consulting firm. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to hit the follow button to stay up to date with the latest IT developments and the exciting ways tech is transforming healthcare today.