You’ve set the goals, but are you on track? The first step to achieving your target is understanding which metrics you need to measure and what you ought to look out for.
We caught up with Melissa Krut, Sogolytics’s VP of Success, over conversations that encompass everything from the nuanced nature of success to company culture that fuels growth for both clients and employees.
To start off, how would you describe success?
Success is multifaceted. As an educator and within this field, I’ve noticed that everyone has different success measures and it’s really important to acknowledge that up front.
Ultimately, success is about moving towards your goals and finding satisfaction in the things that are meaningful to you.
Since you head both client and employee success at Sogolytics, how do you relate the two?
There are two pieces to everything. One which people see externally, which is often used to describe success, such as being on the stock market and seeing the graphs go up – those are all very tangible. However, it’s the other piece that drives it all – the factors on the inside.
You can sustain your organization for some time, but if your employees are dissatisfied or uncertain of their jobs, your organization isn’t going to last. You’re going to have churn and your clients are going to suffer because of it.
In yoga we focus on that strong core strength. It’s not about how well you practice specific asanas, but about the core strength that keeps you going through it all. That’s what employee success is to an organization.
What are some of the trends we’re seeing in employee and customer experience?
The expectations that people have from both the employee and customer side of things are astonishing.
To start off on the employee side, the pandemic has led to people wanting more flexible work schedules. At a time when it’s important to stay safe and keep others safe, attention to both mental and physical health is gaining center stage, and employers need to keep this in mind.
On the client side of things, the expectation is that the product or service should work the way they imagine. It should also integrate with the tools and systems that they already have in place as organizations strive to optimize and automate their internal processes and build more connections in their workflows.
We get it. Everything should be as easy as possible to free up humans to grow relationships, learn from results, and make important decisions. Sogolytics implements powerful AI, automation, and integration to help organizations beyond just getting feedback. We ensure that technology works for our clients so they don’t have to, making it easier to spot trends, set benchmarks, and make data-driven decisions to improve both employee and customer experience.
Going back to employee success, how would you set employee expectations to drive happiness?
It’s important to set expectations as a team and have an organizational conversation about culture, allowing people to better understand what matters most to us and to use that understanding to build better and stronger.
For example, at Sogolytics, service is one of our core values. Once we realize this, it gives rise to the next question: What are people doing internally to achieve this?
Our core values become our guiding principles and what connects us. We set up goals, check-ins, and pulse checks to continue reinforcing these priorities. However, happiness isn’t the same for everyone and we all need to prioritize a more personalized approach to engage those around us.
Speaking about pulse checks and employees, what is an incident that comes to mind?
We’ve done almost 70 pulse checks so far, and we’ve learned a lot of interesting things from them. When remote working began we noticed a lot of people had trouble adjusting. Concerns ranged from having too much work to having trouble switching off from work.
At the time, one of my favorite pulse checks was based on which remote working concerns people were experiencing — and which of a list of suggested strategies they were using to stay balanced. It became important to not only acknowledge that this was happening, but to show people that they weren’t alone, and to work together to identify solutions that might work for us.
This helped inspire and nudge people to find solutions. We spoke about this in a recent webinar as well, because even though we’re all working across different teams, we’re all in this together.
You touched upon the core cultural values of our organization. How did we decide that these will be the values our organization is built on?
We charted out this journey in what I referred to as a Culture Quest, because I love projects with great names! The process involved doing interviews with the founders of this company and the key leaders. We also took a look at our competitors to gain a better perspective of our stand and differentiators, and had internal focus groups to better understand what mattered most to our people.
And of course, we did a survey (surprising, right?)!
All of this helped us to get clarity about our core values.
Security. Quality. Creativity. Service.
These core values are a part of our performance evaluations, and it’s something we are looking to understand better across the board.
I think what works is that our core values aren’t dictated top-down, but are a consensus reached by everyone, allowing us to move forward together.
From the perspective of a new candidate, we often hear this question: What does it take to be successful at Sogolytics?
Sogolytics offers an environment focused on growth and learning. I would love to welcome people who demonstrate the following traits.
Ownership. This is really important to us, especially as a smaller organization. We have a culture of see something, say something. But not just that — It’s also important that people are invested in doing something about it. If you see something that needs to be addressed, you work towards that or ensure that it gets conveyed to the right people.
Hard work is also a big part of working at Sogolytics. Our team is very hardworking and it’s wonderful because we don’t just work hard for our clients, but for each other as well. Some of the hardest work I do in this organization is because I want to be there for my team. I never want to slow down a process or disappoint someone at any time.
And finally, people with a sense of humor. You don’t have to be hilarious, but you have to be able to take unexpected situations in your stride, because unexpected situations will arise. We’re human. We don’t live in a vacuum. I believe in leading with empathy and part of that is being able to connect personally. When we understand each other better, we can move forward together, and humor is a highly valued opportunity to connect.
Melissa Krut in the hot seat
As the team at Sogolytics continues to grow, here’s a closer look at the woman who sets the company culture up for success!
Of the four core Sogolytics values, which is your favorite?
Creativity! But service is what drives me. So creativity is more aspirational and service is more actual.
Which animal would be your mascot and why?
The giraffe. A giraffe is flexible and can see far off into the distance, with head in the clouds and feet on the ground…. I like to think that this is how we work – with imagination, foresight, and flexibility.
Fully stocked cabinet or bottomless coffee?
Bottomless coffee, easily. When you’re working hard, coffee is vital.
Organized chaos or pristine organization?
Organized chaos! Who wants pristine?
An all-time recommendation – book, movie, tv series, or anything at all!
Amelie. That movie is a classic! It’s wonderfully imaginative and connects to my love for creativity.
Powered by people
Sogolytics offers a wonderful platform for people to connect on passion, curiosity, and hard work. As 2022 gains momentum, here’s a look back at CEO Hamid Farooqui’s take on tackling the new year with excitement.
About Sogolytics
If you’re just getting to know Sogolytics…
Founded in 2013 and headquartered in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area, Sogolytics is an award-winning experience management and survey technology provider. Organizations like Uber, Walmart, UNICEF, 3M, and Citibank as well as hospital systems, financial services companies, and government institutions use Sogolytics to securely gather business intelligence and create exceptional experiences for their customers and employees.
Want to know more about what we do? Connect with our team today!
