In the first episode of season four of Life at ADP the Podcast, Kate and Ingrid interview Sean Gibbons, the Director of Leadership Development at ADP. During the interview, Sean discusses his career journey of 23 years at ADP, his passion for developing and facilitating programs to help leaders become more effective, and ADP's implementation of a strength-based approach, explaining the positive impact it had on the company's associates and culture. To discover your strengths, please visit: https://www.tmbc.com/standout-assessment/
Kate:[00:00:08] Hey, everyone, thank you for joining us for the first episode of season four of Life at ADP the Podcast. Ingrid, how does it feel to be on season four already?
Ingrid:[00:00:21] Hey, Kate. It's it's super amazing. I honestly don't even know how we got here. I mean, I do know, but, yeah, it's it's been a it's been really good just to have this platform but also to be able to, you know, share the amazing stories from our associates. So yep. Super excited with the new season.
Kate:[00:00:41] So, let's kick things right off. We have just a super spectacular guest today with us. And he's actually someone that I had the great pleasure of spending some time with for a training a couple of weeks back. So let's bring Sean Gibbons, who is our Director of leadership development, up to our virtual stage. Sean, welcome to Life at ADP, the podcast.
Sean:[00:01:06] Thanks for having me today, Kate and Ingrid. It's my pleasure to be here.
Ingrid:[00:01:10] Hey, Sean. Welcome. And I know Kate was mentioning that she had the opportunity to attend one of your sessions. I'm actually very excited to hear more about that. Uh, but why don't you tell a little bit to the listeners, you know, who is Sean Gibbons? And tell us a little bit about your role here at ADP.
Sean:[00:01:28] Sure. No problem. Ingrid. So the timing is really exciting because next week or in the next two weeks, I'll hit my 23rd year at ADP. And I know a lot of people aren't with companies that long anymore. So I'm really excited to be here on your program today to talk about that. So one of the reasons I think I've been with ADP for so long is that I had the chance to move around, always in the New Jersey area, but I've had three distinct roles here at ADP. I started off as an HR business partner, supporting our Global Product and Technology teams. So the teams that build a lot of our products, I did that for about ten years, and then I transferred to a similar role supporting our Small Business Services organization, also as an HR business partner, but really got to see a different side of the business and, you know, felt like a different job. So while I was still at ADP, felt like I was doing, significantly different things. And then about six years ago, I was really fortunate to move into my current role with our Global Talent and Development team. And what I do is I develop and facilitate programs to help our leaders be more effective, build trust with their teams, and be better at their jobs. So that's how I met Kate. She was in one of my sessions, and, I just it's really a pleasure to look forward to work every day to come and do that. And when a lot of people say to me, how can you be at one company for 23 years? I'll say, well, number one, it doesn't feel like it's been one company because I've had different roles. And with all the change and in technology and the way we do things, it really it's something different, every day, every year. So that's,that that's my answer. And that's why I've been here and why I'm still excited to come to work every day, even 23 years later.
Kate:[00:03:33] First of all, Sean, congratulations on your upcoming service anniversary. That is absolutely incredible. And, I want to touch upon something that you mentioned is you were very specific in your response about how during your time here at ADP, you've been able to move around and then you specifically said, but always in New Jersey. And, something that we hear repeatedly, you know, through the podcast and through our Associate base in general is not only are people able to move around within the organization, and you can always stay at your home base, if you will, but there's always the opportunity to to relocate. And I've talked about my own personal journey, as has Ingrid, about how we both actually started in Roseland, New Jersey, and we've both found ourselves in Georgia and California, respectively. So I did just want to make that call out because I know that's something important to candidates, you know, flexibility in where they live, where they work, and the different teams that they work within. So, um, thank you for teeing that up, which you didn't even know you were doing. But something that I also want to segue over to is you mentioned that the facilitating and the training, which is so integral in what you do, you said it's something that you genuinely look forward to. Talk to me about how you're supported within ADP, to have a role in a job that supports your strengths and your passions.
Sean:[00:05:04] Yeah, Kate, that's a great question. And I think it all comes back to the fact that ADP is a strength based organization. We started this journey probably about six years ago. I think we we always did it a little bit, but we're a little bit we're now more intentional about it. And and the way we define strengths at ADP. It's a simple concept. It's it's more difficult to put into practice, but we define strengths is not just things that you're good at but things that you're passionate about that you like doing, that you love doing. And when I think about that, when I look back to my prior roles at ADP in Human Resources, I was always really passionate about leadership development, and I would get to do, I get to do that here and there. But it was never really my my primary focus. And that's when I feel like I'm alive is when I'm in front of a class, whether it's virtual, whether it's in person, that's when I'm in my zone, and that's when I'm really feeling like I'm contributing. And that ties it all back to the strength based approach. If we could find ways for people to spend more of their time not just doing things that they're good at, right? So that's the ability, but spending time doing things that are good at that they love.
Sean:[00:06:27] That's where that passion comes in. And there's data that shows that people who are using their strengths every day, not necessarily all day, but people who can strongly agree that they're using their strengths every day, they have higher productivity, they have higher client satisfaction scores. They're more likely to stay with your organization. They're less likely to to be absent. So there's there's a personal and a business benefit of being a strength based organization. And for me, you were in one of the classes where we train every one of our leaders these concepts. So our leaders are specifically both for the for themselves and their teams, helping people identify, you know, what are those activities that you're good at that you love doing, your strengths. And how can we find ways for you to do them more, hopefully every day. So when you ask the question about, you know, how do I feel supported? You know, I've seen that through several managers, through my time here. And as you just experienced yourself, that's the the approach that we train all of our leaders in.
Kate:[00:07:36] And I want to give a little bit of a shout out to that course that you were just, referencing that that I was part of one of the key facets that you had trained, the class during that time was, you know, with your with your people who, who you lead, if they try something new, you know, ask them how they felt afterwards. Did it energize them, or did they feel like they needed a nap? You know, did they need a little bit of a break? And, Ingrid, this very much relates to you, actually. So, I have a fantastic blog writer, uh, on, on my team. And right now she's supporting Ingrid in some video work. And so we had our one on one yesterday, and we were just going through it, and she did a fabulous job. And Ingrid did a fabulous job upscaling her, if you will. She she had some, um, very general concepts of what we were looking for, but it really took Ingrid some time to go through and and share with her, you know, some of the techniques, the software skills, all of that.
Kate:[00:08:44] And so, I had asked her, I said, you know, Amy, after this project, I could hear the smile in her face, first of all, when she was showing me the work that they had worked on, I said, how did you feel after this? Because I wanted a litmus test. This is a this is a stretch for her. You know, it's an opportunity for her to reach, you know, new, new heights, within visibility, within what we're doing and all of that. And she was like, Kate, I felt like I could, you know, go for a run afterwards, she said. I was just so energized and I felt so good about it. I was nervous beforehand, but I felt really great afterwards. And I had you in mind when I had asked that question, and when I had framed it that way, because it wasn't about, you know, did you like doing this? It was how did you feel doing this? And that was something that I had gotten from the class that you had taught, uh, a couple of weeks ago. So thank you for that. And kudos.
Ingrid:[00:09:42] Wow. That is you know, it's always impressive, um, to hear that someone really, really love what they do. Right. Um, and I think it's it's another good, testament of why, the strength base is it's something really important for ADP. I personally, you know, when I'm working on any creative project, I feel like I'm in that, you know, zone of genius, and it definitely goes into my StandOut, right? So I, I go into my love and, you know, put all those creative projects that I work on. And you know, why they made me feel good? Why they made me feel energized. So it's fantastic just to have such an approach like this. And, uh, Sean, do you mind sharing with the listeners a little bit about StandOut? You know, just to give us a general overview of what StandOut is?
Sean:[00:10:30] Yes, I'd love to. In fact, I talk about this to anyone who listens. So the fact you're giving me an avenue on this podcast is, is really a good outlet for me, because I know my family's tired of hearing about it, so I need to find other people to talk to about it. So as I said before, the strength based approach, it's a simple concept, but it's harder to put into practice. And I'll give you some more data. And we talked about the fact that, you know, people who say they use their strengths every day have, you know, better results. We have another, uh, piece of data that says less than 20% of the population actually strongly agrees with that statement that they use their strengths every day. And I think a lot of that is due to the way that most of us are raised or educated, you know, and we we usually go back to a report card example, for this, I've got three children right now, so I could definitely relate to this, you know, or even think back to when you were, you know, in school, if you come home with a report card that has, you know, four A's on it and one C, typically we ask parents, you know, which grade gets the most attention.
Sean:[00:11:43] It's not one of the A's. It's the C. Right? And you know we're a lot of us are raised that, hey, you know what? You're you're already doing good in those classes that have A's. We need you to focus on this class, that's a C, right. So the strength based approach, it's not that we're going to ignore the C or where someone is not strong. But we're not going to prioritize that over where someone is strong, right. So the strength based approach is all about how do we find ways to shift our focus from what's wrong to what's right, what's working well, and how can we do more of that? So Ingrid, to your comment about StandOut, which is the platform, the tool that we use at ADP to help operationalize what really is a mindset shift, you know, shifting to a strength based approach and then with StandOut, we have this process called check ins, where, every Associate has the opportunity every week to answer six quick questions that helps inform a different kind of conversation between team members and team leaders. And you just referenced, it gets into how you feel about your work, right? Because most of us are pretty, used to talking to our leaders about what we're doing.
Sean:[00:13:05] We're less used to talking about how we feel about what we're doing. So to to Ingrid, your point, will every every week, everyone at ADP has a chance to say, first of all, did you get a chance to use your strengths last week? You rate that from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Did you add outstanding value? And then there's some really interesting questions. What did you love? What did you love this week? And what did you loathe? Right? What didn't you like? Because both are important, remember? Because we define strengths as things you're good at that you like doing. So we want to have more conversations about not just what you're doing, but how you feel about that. You know, we also ask what our top priorities are for the week and how our leader can help. So it's six quick questions and it sets the stage for a truly, at least for me, a different conversation than I ever had with any leader, right? And and to me, one of the goals of this strength based approach, and we use this Stand Out platform to get there, is how can we have more honest conversations between team leaders and team members?
Kate:[00:14:15] Sean, I have no doubt that right now people who are listening to the podcast are like, wait a second, ADP is a place where you work and they genuinely want to know how you feel about what you're working on and not like in a quarterly basis or bi annual, but like every week. And you know, I agree with what you had, shared regarding the overall tool of StandOut. But the the sentiment is, you know, strengths based approach, right? But when we talk about the tool StandOut, it's incredible the open conversation that I can have with my people leader in regards to what I put in the loves and then what I put in the loathes. And I don't always have something for loathes. You don't have to pull a rabbit out of a hat to make sure that you're crossing off that box, because some weeks you just don't have those pain points, you know? Then there's some weeks that you do, and it lends itself to such a safe space to give that feedback so that if something like that comes across your desk again, your people leader is in the know in regards to how they might be able to support you during that or what to expect from your workload that week. So it's it's really just fantastic overall from an Associate standpoint, and also as a people leader standpoint too. So, those were really great points, points that you brought out out of curiosity for everyone, what's everyone standout traits. So so I am a teacher connector, which is very exactly how it sounds. I love to, you know, conduct trainings. I do new hire trainings. I also love to, you know, connect the dots within the organization, introduce people to new people who might be able to help them out with something that they're looking to problem solve or conquer. So those are my two standout roles. And everyone gets to by the way, whoever's listening, we each have two that we most identify with. You know, Ingrid what what are your two roles?
Ingrid:[00:16:18] Ohh okay, so my first one is advisor and the second one, it's equalizer. So some of the things that I could share quickly with the listeners and, and with Sean and you Kate, is that, um, the first time that I got my roles, I was like, I don't know if this is really applicable to me. But throughout the time I realized that they were so on point, they were they were perfect. Right? So with the advisor role, I always seek to understand and, you know, what are those problems that are happening? Why are they're happening? Can I listen to, you know, team A, team B, and, you know, come up with some type of advice, come up with a solution. And I thrive when I do those, um, uh, those interactions, so super, super on point again and equalizer and this is actually translated from my personal life, right? I always try to lead as a fair person. And, that's, that's a skill or a trade that actually it's very important as an equalizer. And, Sean, what about you? Yeah.
Sean:[00:17:25] The StandOut assessment that that's a part of the StandOut platform that's actually really the introduction to the standout platform. So before people even start, you know, checking in and answering those questions every week, we have people take the StandOut assessment, which takes about 20 minutes, and we have nine general StandOut roles. So after you take this assessment, you'll you'll get a report about a 14 page report that shares what your top two StandOut roles are, and StandOut roles are you're recurring patterns of thoughts, feelings and behavior. So me, I'm a connector provider. So for me how that shows up, I like to connect people with ideas and concepts to help them be more effective. So that shows up for me in my classes, right? And as a provider, I want to give everyone a voice, right? So I'm very excited today that we have both Kate and Ingrid joining me in this conversation, I always like to have everyone involved. So that's how, my provider shows up. I think it's interesting, Kate, you mentioned you're a teacher connector. So a lot of people think, oh, I'm a teacher. That means I need to be in front of a room in a class, and it's not really the case. Teachers tend to be, you know, focusing on helping people raise, you know, reach their potential, right? So that can be done through a class. But that could also be done in other ways. That could be done through writing, that could be done through mentoring, that could be done through any number of ways. And and, Ingrid, you have a very interesting combination because you tell me if this fits for you. A lot of, advisors typically are asking the question, what's the best thing to do? And for the equalizers, they're they're usually asking, what's the right thing to do? And, and sometimes those things can be in conflict. So sometimes advisors equalizers could have some, you know, internal struggle they're going through beneath the surface that we're not all aware of. But if that fits for you, I totally I totally get it.
Ingrid:[00:19:32] Wow, Sean, that's so impressive. I, I can honestly tell you that that's how I see what I do every day, right? Like, what is the best thing to do? But also, you know, what's fair and you know, what is a, you know, a better way to do things. And having a tool like StandOut, it's it's it's awesome. I mean it's it's so great. And Kate mentioned something that I would like to, highlight, but you know, having this tool of stand out, it definitely allows you to have that safe space, right, with, hey, these are the things that I would like to do a little bit more. These are the things that, you know, maybe I don't like too much or approach them in another way and just be able to have that open conversation that, you know, communication with your leader. It's just great. It's it's it's really good. And thank you, Sean, for, you know, sharing a little bit more about, StandOut and how we use it here at ADP.
Sean:[00:20:28] Yes, one thing I want to call out for any of our listeners today, if they are curious and would like to know what their top two StandOut roles are, you can find out for free by going to TMBC.com, and you can go ahead and take the assessment for yourself. And as I said, you'll get a 14 page report, help you understand what you're recurring patterns or thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are. And that's the first step to, you know, adopting a strength based approach for yourself.
Kate:[00:20:59] Hey, Sean, I have a question for you. How has working for a strengths based approach organization enriched your career?
Sean:[00:21:10] That is a great question. I don't know if we have enough time to talk about this. I will try to make this concise, but, yeah, they're definitely a strength based organization, really has helped, increase my opportunities at ADP. As I said, I've been here a long time and I've been passionate about leadership development. I actually applied for a role just like the one I'm in today about three times, at ADP and was unsuccessful. But I kept at it and it was it was over a period of time. It wasn't like I kept on applying every three weeks. It was over a number of years, but each time I applied, there was a reason why I was not, successful. One, one time, one of the reasons was I didn't have the right educational background, you know, I didn't have any formal training in instructional design. So that was, a strike against me. Another time, actually, the last time I applied for this job, the reason I didn't get it, and they said, listen, we know you can do this job, and we know you'd be really good at it, but I didn't meet the requirement of having experience managing large teams, and at the time, the thought was they'd like their, facilitators to have that experience so that they would have credibility with the teams. Now, we talked a little bit about loves and loathes. I can tell you, I think I'd be really good at managing people, but I would loathe it. I don't desire it. I don't want to do it.
Sean:[00:22:51] And it would not be a very engaging job for me. So, when when ADP became a strength based organization. I had looked for ways as an HR business partner to say, listen, there's ways for me to do leadership development type stuff in the job I'm in today. And once I stopped trying so hard to move into another role to change my title and just looked at, well, what can I do in my current role to help develop leaders? And that led to creating a leadership development program within the group I was in at that point, it it got some visibility. It got noticed. I was asked to talk about it at other, other groups within ADP, and ultimately the group I'm in today came to me and said, listen, we hear about the stuff you're doing. How would you like to do some of that with us? Nothing had changed in my background. I didn't get a degree in instructional design. I didn't go manage a bunch of people. But I'll be honest with you, the the leadership in the group that I'm in today, the the strengths were more important than some of those, things that, you know, didn't make me check all the boxes initially. So I think a strength based approach is helping our leaders look at their teams differently, look at the roles on their teams differently. And I, I benefited from that in terms of getting into a role that where I do get to use my strengths, every day.
Kate:[00:24:27] That's incredible, Sean, and I'm so glad that that path worked in its way that it did for you. And Ingrid and I are both very much huge believers of, you know, if something doesn't work out now, it's because there's something greater waiting for you. You just have to be patient for it. So, so thank you for sharing that with us. And I think something to for candidates to think about, you know, yeah, of course you want to work for an organization that wants to lean into your strengths. That's amazing, right? But when you're looking at careers at ADP, quick little plug for jobs.ADP.com and tech.ADP.com, you know, check out the jobs, and if there's something there that maybe you're not 100% proficient on but you're 70%, you're 80%, or you're willing to put in the work to learn, and you have the other requirements, you know, give it a shot. Because as you heard from what Sean was saying, we definitely have an appetite to give room for growth and also to be able to ebb and flow with change. So, you know, I want people who are considering a career at ADP to, to think about that as they look at what we have available right now for candidates.
Sean:[00:25:45] Yeah, so I think at this point I'd like to, you know, have some truth in advertising and make sure people, get the right idea. So I don't want people to think that at ADP, people spend all day doing what they love, and they never do anything that they don't like, because that's not realistic. But the goal is to find those activities that are strengths, things you're good at, that you love doing, and finding ways to do those every day. Honestly, um, most of our days are a balance of doing things that are strengths and doing things that are not. So the key for us is how can we create opportunities to, have those strengths every day we want. And Kate, you asked before, well, it sounds strange that people are having these conversations every week, right? The frequency, I mean, do people really do that? So the answer is yes. That's our best practice. We encourage all leaders to have these check in conversations every week because things move pretty fast. You know what makes this a good week? Could be different and probably will be different than what could make next week a good week. And this is this all starts with self-reflection, right? Again, we said as human beings, we can tell what people are good at, but we can't tell how they feel about what they're working on. So that's where, um, we put so much attention in to creating these conversations. So it all starts with the team member. It starts with you. It starts with me. You know, let me just take five minutes and look back at what happened this week. What was the best part of my week? What was the worst part of my week? Why was that? And the details are really important.
Sean:[00:27:17] We want team members and team leaders to talk about the details of what made it a good week or a bad week, because we'd like to create more good weeks by design, not by accident, right? We don't want you to have a good week and say, well, why was that a good week? I don't know, I hope I have another one someday. We want to say, hey, I know why this was a good week. My manager knows why this is a good week and we're both proactively trying to create more of those, right? So that's that's I think how you get to a place where people are excited to come to work. So if you ask me for a call to action for anyone listening today, whether you apply for a job at ADP, whether you already work at ADP or whether, you know, you're going to stay where you're working for 23 years where you are. That's that's good for you. I would suggest, um, certainly check out the StandOut assessment, but if you want to take it to the next level, start checking in with yourself. Take five minutes at the end of this week and look back and just ask yourself, what was the best part of my week? Why was it the best part? What was the worst part? Why was it the worst part? And then importantly, share that with your manager. Because guess what? They know what you're doing, but they don't necessarily know how you feel about what you're doing. So that would be my advice to anyone listening. If you want to, if you want to take this to the next level, start, take five minutes each week to reflect about your week and articulate that with your manager.
Kate:[00:28:50] Sean, thank you so much for joining Ingrid and I today. Ingrid, I don't know about you, but this was, this is going to go in my love list this week.
Ingrid:[00:29:03] For sure, and I feel that this is such a valuable conversation, not only for us but for our listeners. So hopefully, yeah, you all go to the link that we're going to be providing for you, so it's TMBC.com where you could actually, do the StandOut assessment.
Kate:[00:29:20] Awesome, well, Sean, thank you so much for joining us today. It was a pleasure having you on the podcast.
Sean:[00:29:25] Well, I had a great time, Kate and Ingrid, thank you so much for inviting me. This was great and I wish you both a great season four. I hope that, lives up to expectations.
Kate:[00:29:36] Thanks, Sean.
Ingrid:[00:29:37] Thank you.
Kate:[00:29:39] To everyone else make sure to share Life at ADP, the podcast with your friend’s family. Check out jobs.ADP.com and tech.ADP.com and we'll see you on the next episode.