JB: Our first guest in the series is Cheryl Tyler, President of Cheryl Tyler & Associates. Cheryl is a very successful business owner who focuses on helping organizations maximize their talent through personal development, executive coaching and training. She has many state-of-the-art tools coupled with 25+ years of experience to assist companies solve their business issues through employee improvement. She is an expert at organizational development, has consulted with dozens of organizations on talent management, has trained thousands of people and has worked as a VP of Human Resources & Training. Additionally, Cheryl holds multiple highly respected HR and training certifications.

Cheryl, welcome to Everest Business Coaching’s “The Important Five”.

CT: Thank you, it’s a pleasure to be with you today.

JB: What types of clients does Cheryl Tyler & Associates serve?

CT: We really serve a broad spectrum of clients. We have been fortunate to work across industries with firms from retail, automotive, transportation, technology, insurance and hospitality, to name a few.  And we believe that this breadth of experience strengthens our practice and improves on what we provide our clients!

JB: What keeps your client’s up at night these days?

CT: Talent! CEOs are awake at night because they don’t know if they have the talent to take their organizations to the next level. Attracting, retaining and especially, engaging talent is a huge worry for them. They wonder how to grow the talent they have in order to meet the needs of the organization tomorrow. Many firms are investing heavily in developing their people and in succession planning.

JB: How has the role of talent management in business changed in your mind over the last 25 years?

CT: Millennials have really changed how we look at talent management. Leaders who are Baby Boomers haven’t been able to crack the code to engaging Millennials. This generation has massively different expectations from their parents and their attitudes about work, authority and balance are very different from the ‘Boomers’. Additionally, many organizations are creating a cross generational Culture of Disengagement because their change management strategies are ignoring the impact of change on people and teams. An ineffective change management strategy can have devastating effects on an organization.

JB: Are there any troubling trends emerging now that business leaders should start thinking about today?

CT: The tastes and needs of consumers are changing and have been for some time. Today, consumers want it now and they want it their way – they want to buy their goods on-line, in brick & mortar stores or from discount auction sites on-line.  Consumers are less tolerant today on brand ‘annoyances’ because they have so many varied choices. This creates pressure for companies to engage clients in more meaningful ways to build brand loyalty and to insure the brand does not become irrelevant or obsolete. It means that brands need to be more adaptable than ever. Also, what used to be word of mouth is now ‘word of Facebook’ or ‘word of Instagram’ or ‘word of Snapchat’ or Yelp. If a consumer doesn’t like something about your brand and their experience, you will know about it immediately and so will thousands of others.  It is critical that the Organization’s talent strategies are just as progressive as their consumer strategies if the business is going to evolve.

JB: What advice do you have for executives or business owners whose teams are performing at less than an optimum level?

CT: It’s important for leaders to understand what is out of alignment. They must understand the gap between expected and actual performance. Leaders need to invest the time to diagnose and discover the root cause of the performance issue. Often times they engage organizations like ours to facilitate one-on-one Executive Coaching to ensure the Leader is personally aligned, as well as leader workshops that get at the root cause and address the issues in a non-biased, non-threatening way that creates buy-in from all the stakeholders. This tends to be more effective than a ‘top down’ program that employees see as lacking associate participation and therefore, complete engagement by all.

JB: Cheryl, thank you for introducing us to Cheryl Tyler & Associates and for sharing your thoughtful and insightful ideas.

CT: Thanks to you and Everest Business Coaching for giving me the opportunity!