How Employee Voices Are Shaping the Future at Hagerty

"Your voice, our future." That value statement encapsulates the commitment to its employees and the growth mindset that have characterized Hagerty, an automotive company specializing in insurance for classic cars. Exhibit 1 of Hagerty's commitment to its employees: The company recently won the Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award for its people-centered business strategy and workplace culture. Learn more about Hagerty's success in engaging its employees and helping them apply their CliftonStrengths as Kate Hogan, Hagerty's Vice President of Training and Team Readiness, joins the webcast.

Gallup Called to Coach Webcast Series -- Season 9, Episode 47.

Below is a full transcript of the conversation, including time stamps. Full audio and video are posted above.

The founders of Hagerty really early on understood that if you wanted to do exceptional things in business, you had to do exceptional things for your people.

Kate Hogan, 02:55

Creating a culture of engagement is not extra work; it is the work.

Angela James, 12:26

We talk about our culture['s] ... growth mindset. And the concept that we are always continuously learning, growing, evolving, making mistakes, and that's part of this journey.

Kate Hogan, 36:29

Jim Collison 0:00
I am Jim Collison, and this is Gallup's Called to Coach, recorded on September 23, 2021.

Jim Collison 0:18
Called to Coach is a resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. We have Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches share tactics, insights and strategies to help coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams and organizations around the world. If you're listening live, love to have you join us in our chat room on our live page. There's a link above us there that will take you to that. Sign in with chat -- we will be, we will be taking your questions live, and we appreciate those. If you have questions after the fact, you can always send us an email -- maybe you're listening to the recorded or the podcast version -- you can send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast app, "Called to Coach" -- that'll get you there as well. And then on YouTube there, you can search "CliftonStrengths" and subscribe to that page as well. Angela James is our host today. She works as a Senior Market Workplace Consultant at Gallup. And Angela, I've been working for a long time to get you on Called to Coach. Welcome! Good to have you.

Angela James 1:11
Thank you. It's wonderful to be here.

Meet Our Guest on This Episode

Jim Collison 1:13
We have a fabulous guest. And it's been, it's been my privilege to get to know her just in the precalls. And I'm excited for this interview. Angela, take a second to introduce our guest today.

Angela James 1:22
Absolutely. I am, I can't even tell you, so incredibly delighted to introduce Kate Hogan from Hagerty. She's the Vice President of Training and Team Readiness. Our relationship goes back 6, 6 1/2 years now. When I get the opportunity to work with clients globally over the last decade here at Gallup, you know, when I think about some of those top 5 or 10 clients that really come to mind that's such a pleasure to work with, Kate and her organization is at that top of that list. So, welcome, Kate! So excited you're here.

Kate Hogan 1:56
Thanks, Angela. It's my pleasure.

Angela James 1:59
When I think a little bit about your role within Hagerty and, you know, when I look at some of the background for you, specifically -- 17 years working internally in the organization and developing leadership training and initiatives and strategies to drive your business -- what I really want to begin with is understanding a little bit about what drove you to Gallup?

Kate Hogan 2:25
Yeah, well, we've been working with Gallup for a period of time now. But, and as you mentioned, I've been with the organization Hagerty really early on, in its, in its inception, and we had the fortune in which to really create a really unique culture early on in the company, and one that was very much people-focused. And I can say the, the founders of Hagerty really early on understood that if you wanted to do exceptional things in business, you had to do exceptional things for your people. And I think that that mindset really influenced the culture early on. And so we were beginning to use some of StrengthsFinder with some of our leadership teams in, for development. And we also were increasing our, our understanding and, and acumen around what engagement meant to our team members in the organization. And so, of course, we started to learn more about the Q12 question methodology.

Kate Hogan 3:38
Around this time, we were also on the cusp of some pretty exponential growth for the business. We were diversifying our products; we were diversifying our clientele. And we were bringing on team members globally. And we knew that it was going to be more important than ever to be listening to our people. And so that was really initially what led me to Gallup and to my first initial conversation with you. We wanted to find a partner to help us grow and to help us ensure that our people had what they needed to be motivated and excited to be a part of what we had going on. And so, so that's really when we when we first reached out.

Angela James 4:25
You know, when we first chatted, it was interesting for me, because I didn't realize, from an industry standpoint, exactly what Hagerty does. Would you take a little bit of time and talk a little bit about how that fits into the people strategy as we go forward?

Kate Hogan 4:40
Yeah, so Hagerty is an -- it's, we're an automotive company. We got our start in this industry with our insurance products. So it's a really specialized insurance product for collectible vehicles. And over the years, as I mentioned, we've really expanded the ways and our reach in our community to include all different types of automotive experiences, different products -- everything from a magazine to a product that we have called DriveShare, which is a platform in which collector-car owners can lease their collected cars to individuals for a day or a week. We also have products in motor sports and, and a variety of different specialized programs -- one in which we call Hagerty Drivers Club, which is a membership organization and provides all different kinds of products and services for people who just love cars.

Focus on Employee Engagement

Angela James 5:44
I love it. So when we think a little bit about the beginning of our partnership, and thinking a little bit about the need, as it relates to your culture and the employees, and knowing that growth was going to happen, how, what were some of those initial things that you did in the beginning around our partnership?

Kate Hogan 6:08
So when we decided to incorporate initially the Q12 engagement survey, we, we immediately had, I think, buy-in from our executives and stakeholders in the business, at a very senior level. But we knew that if this was going to be received and embraced the way we wanted it to be, we were going to have to start with our leaders, our frontline leaders. And so we spent quite a bit of time working alongside them, and really educating them on the background behind the methodology of the Q12 -- the things that they did every single day that contributed to some of those most important engagement drivers. And, and really the intent of the survey, to use the feedback to help the organization grow. And so we really brought them into the process and gave them the tools and the knowledge that they needed to be able to explain it to their teams in a really credible, impactful way.

Angela James 7:20
You're on our Gallup Access technology platform. And so when I think about that original baseline survey, you know, it was very exciting for me to see that you already had an amazing culture. And one of the things that we talk about here at Gallup is, it can be just as hard to sustain as it is to increase. So let's talk a little bit about, How did you really make it your own strategy? How'd it really become something that was part of your organization, and not just a one-time event?

Kate Hogan 7:54
So we, again, we knew we wanted to be listening to our employees on a consistent basis. And so, and we knew that we needed to hear from all voices. And so we initially started a campaign, an internal campaign, that was, we termed, "Your voice, our future." And, and so that campaign was really the rally cry to really engage all team members around what our future was going to look like. And so we're really transparent about our strategy and about company outcomes. And so, our team members, I think, were all in, right? They all knew that the work that they were doing every single day was contributing to the future of the organization, and that if they cared deeply about the culture that they had created, we wanted them to be a part of what that culture was going to look like in the future. And so we shared that this tool was a way for which -- them to provide that feedback and insight.

Kate Hogan 9:03
And so, so we focused more on, you know, the engaging them in creating this strategy for our culture for the future. And, and I think that that really helped build just deeper understanding about the involvement that we were looking for from each team member and being a part of this and also translated -- I remember the first survey that we did, we immediately started looking at each of the questions and translating them into real-world work that people were doing every single day that were, you know, reflected in those questions.

Kate Hogan 9:46
And so, and so, and we also told stories -- real-time stories that teams were doing that were impacting overall kind of engagement for their team and the organization and were maybe leading the way and creating best practices internally, so that other areas of the business could learn from them. So just illuminating those success stories, taking those questions right back to what, what was happening on a day-to-day basis within the organization, and engaging people in helping us create the future for the company.

Jim Collison 10:23
Kate, you mentioned -- Angela, one sec -- you mentioned -- I can't, I can't skip this, because this is really good. You talked about translating those questions into your own speaker. Can, I'm sure our coaches are gonna ask for an example. Can you think of, like, what was the best example you had of that, where that really kind of helped fit your culture?

Kate Hogan 10:42
Yeah, I mean, I think one of the questions that always stand out to us is "I know what's expected of me at work." Right? And I always say, That's, it's a really complex and deep question, because at the surface, we think, "Oh, well, yeah, of course, I know what's expected of me at work." But there are a lot of things that are happening when an organization is changing at a rapid pace that can influence how people are perceiving their work or the work that's happening around them. And so it's not just about, Do I have a job description, right? But it's more so of, Here's this new thing that's being brought to my team that I'm going to be responsible for making come alive for the organization, or I'm going to be responsible for communicating this out to our clientele. And so what are the new things that are going to be required of me to be able to do that?

Kate Hogan 11:42
And then understanding the different areas of the business that we work closely with that help us execute on some of those things. And so, so we really would relate that question back to maybe a specific product launch, or maybe new roles within a team that was emerging that impact other people's roles within that team. And, and so I think those were the ways that we really started to make some of those questions come to life and create a deeper context to what they meant in the world of Hagerty.

Angela James 12:20
I love that. Thank you. It, you know, it's interesting -- we've always shared with clients in our partnerships that creating a culture of engagement is not extra work; it is the work. And so identifying those actions and behaviors that you're already doing, and correlating them to the questions that were being asked. You know, when I think a little bit about your adoption of, this is an entire company initiative; it's not an HR initiative, it's not a manager's responsibilities. You really pulling in the entire company, all employees, and really outlining everything that this means to them, that transparency piece that was so important for you early on, and I remember some of our early conversations on how that was important for you, and the leadership truly led by example. I'd love to hear an example of that from you, in the very beginning.

Kate Hogan 13:15
Yeah, well, I think one of the things, when I think about transparency in the process, is we, once we did our initial survey and began disseminating specific results to team members, or to departments, we then helped coach our leaders to share those results with their teams, and also have conversations around those results with their team members. And so -- real conversations. And so there's a lot of resources from Gallup that help -- I like to say that are like second-layer questions to the Q12 -- that really help create deeper understanding and the perception of, of what our team members are thinking about.

Kate Hogan 14:14
And so one of the things we did is just how we share these results at a team level; how do we have additional conversations with our leaders that help kind of unearth the things that are happening within their teams that contribute to those scores? And then just having really genuine conversations about what people need to, to make things better. And so I think we took, I don't know, the, I guess the fear out of sharing the results with teams out of it early on. And I think our leaders felt empowered, and they felt a deeper level of connection to their teams in the practice of doing that. So, so I think that was really important early on.

Employee Feedback: Key to Handling Growth Challenges

Angela James 14:59
When we fast-forward a little bit in our partnership, and as we really started to see continued sustainability and growth, not only in your engagement scores, but obviously you had just incredible growth internally, any challenges along the way that come to mind that you quickly were able to overcome or saw them as learning lessons, and let's do this differently the next time?

Kate Hogan 15:30
Yeah. I, I say all the time that engagement is very fluid. And it's something that we're working on, as you said, Angela, every single day. So it's, it's, the journey's continuous. And so I can, there was a period in our high growth in which a segment of our business was really being challenged -- whether it was from a tools and resources standpoint was an element of it; it was also from a workforce resource standpoint. And we knew it was impacting people in different ways. But it wasn't until we did the survey and got really candid feedback from people around the impact of some of that, that we were able to take action.

Kate Hogan 16:24
And so we knew our people, our people in that segment of business were feeling the growth, and we knew that they, we needed to plan better to help them feel successful in roles and give them what they needed to, to grow and succeed. And so the survey really gave us some, some really tangible -- and really some of was some quick-win stuff that we were able to implement to make a difference.

Kate Hogan 16:52
One story I have that is -- some of it was more complex, obviously; some of it was staffing; some of it was platform enhancements that we needed to make to make their jobs easier. But one of the things that we learned was that they didn't like the chairs, right? It was like a really, it was a, it's a simple thing for us. We're like, "Oh my gosh, look at like three-quarters of this team has referenced or they're bringing forward, like, chairs. And so one of the things that we did as an organization is we pulled up a, several truckloads from our furniture designer at the time, and we staged ribbons on all of the chairs. And the leaders of that team came down, and they hand-delivered each of the new chairs to the team members with the bow on it.

Kate Hogan 17:58
It was an investment of the organization to purchase the chairs. But it was the act of saying, you know, "We heard you and, and you're important. And this is one thing that we can do that's a really quick win." And, and so I remember it to this day; it was several years ago, but it was a, was a really cool act. And, you know, we told them that, "We heard you," right? And this survey helped us learn this information. And so we took action on it. So --

Angela James 18:25
That is such an amazing example of "Your voice, our future." Right? So when you hear specific stories like that, sometimes -- and we hear this often at Gallup -- is it's, sometimes it's the most simplistic of things. Yes, it might require an investment -- in some cases it doesn't -- that will have the biggest impact. I love that story.

Kate Hogan 18:50
Absolutely. Another real simple implementation that we made that we learned during some of our high growth -- and this relates back to, back to "I know what's expected of me" is just the ways in which the tools that we were using to communicate teams' strategies, or team goals. And so we created a document that was adapted by each team, and a way in which they could, you know, document their team's, you know, quarterly or biannual or annual strategy and that team's milestones and, and the goals, the quarterly goals that would roll it up to that. And not only -- each team would fill this out, and then we would put it in a, you know, a document repository where anybody could access them across the organization, and used a way in which to share them pretty fluidly.

Kate Hogan 19:48
Again, it didn't require a deep investment; it just required understanding what people needed. And it was a really cool, easy template that was adapted and really helped improve people's awareness of what was happening across the organization, what was happening within their teams, especially those that they worked most closely with. So that's another easy example that didn't take necessarily a big investment; just a little bit of creativity, ingenuity and consistency across the company.

Angela James 20:21
You've got many champions internally, and I've heard that from you along the years. But you know, when I think about some of the biggest impact you've made, I want to talk about your Top 5 strengths. You have Empathy, Achiever, Arranger, Activator, Strategic. When we think about your role, and truly what you get paid to do, tell me how those top talents over the last 17 years has really helped to drive this initiative.

Kate Hogan 20:50
Oh, I, I always say, I'm always thankful I have the balance of Empathy and Achiever. And Empathy is my No. 1. And so I continuously try to put myself in the shoes of each and every employee that works here and try to see how they experience the organization and the work that we're doing through their lens. And so I think that that has helped me share the experience and the voice of our employees to our key executives and stakeholders that are creating the strategy for the organization. I am an Activator as well, which means I don't like to sit on much for long. And so it also, that strength helps give me a voice.

Kate Hogan 21:49
And so, you know, I think also to making sure that whatever we're learning through these surveys, that I am incorporating them into the organization's bigger people strategies and sharing that story across the organization, whenever I get a chance. So being in learning and being in training, we get a lot of opportunity to be in front of people. And so whenever I can, I'm, I'm listening, and I'm making those connections and, and correlations back to the work that I do every single day.

Angela James 22:31
When we think about some of your leadership and development strategies you had mentioned earlier, you know, we, we definitely have spent the last 5 decades studying what the best organizations and best managers do differently. And I've seen your organization take advantage a lot of, of many of those resources, among, you know, really, every single month. I love it when you reach out to me in your emails: Do you have information on this? And ironically, we do. And so, tell me a little bit about how you've engaged leadership in this ongoing strategy in utilizing the tools and resources as part of our partnership?

Kate Hogan 23:14
Yes, well, I think with Gallup Access, it gave access to all of those resources and materials to every leader across the organization. And so when we disseminate our engagement results at a team level, we use Gallup Access to do that, and so immediately gets our leaders within that platform. And then they are able to see all of the different videos, you know, specific white papers or research or best practices that can help them with their team's unique needs.

Kate Hogan 23:57
And so each, each time we do the survey, we spend some time up front, you know, doing some quick tutorials of the platform itself, and sharing out any new materials or information that we think might be relevant and timely for them. So it's, it's, you know, reinforcing the habit of leaders getting into that platform, using it on a daily basis, whether they're looking at their team's strengths, or they're, you know, reflecting back on their most recent engagement results. And, and so, and really encouraging them to use that tool and those resources in their planning and in their daily leadership.

Business Impact of Engagement, Strengths

Angela James 24:42
So tell me about how all of this -- when we think about the last 5 years -- has truly impacted your business.

Kate Hogan 24:51
Boy, I think that, I think that this, these tools, these resources, this survey, and the consistency in which we execute it on, has really just allowed us to listen to our employees at some of the most important times of the growth of the business. I remember reaching out to you, Angela, when the pandemic hit and we all went work from home. Our organization put almost 1400 people working from home in a matter of 3 days. And, and that was an amazing feat, and I think really exemplifies the people who work for us and our culture as a whole. But during that time, we, we were trying to decide, Was it appropriate to do a complete engagement survey? Or was it more appropriate at that time to ask some really specific questions around what people needed in these unprecedented times.

Kate Hogan 26:04
And the, and, and the questions that we asked were really grounded in wellness; they were grounded in communication; and, and also people's focus and prioritization. And so we, we executed it in more so of a pulse survey. But the information and the timing that we got back from that survey was critical in understanding what our people needed over the next, the few months that were in front of us to stay connected and engaged in, in what we were still trying to move the business forward with. And so, so I, you know, that is a, that is an example of different ways in which we've used it to help, to help the organization at really pivotal times.

Angela James 26:57
So let's talk about broader impact on your business. You've had such amazing growth. You were able to retain your employees. And, you know, we will always say it's a best practice never to, to delay to listen to your employees or gather feedback, especially in times of change. And nobody could have ever predicted the workplace, workplace disruption we had. So overall, when you think about some of the biggest business outcome metrics in having the people strategy, having "Your voice, our future," you know, we are, we are definitely the partner in helping you get the right questions and utilize the right questions and take action around specifics. You had obviously some things internally as a, as it relates that was directly impacted. Tell us a little bit about that.

Kate Hogan 27:49
Yeah, well, I think from a bottom-line standpoint from the business, there's several different metrics that this kind of correlates back to. First is we use Net Promoter Score as a tool in which to measure the level of loyalty of our client base or our member base, as we reference them. And so we know there's correlation between our employee engagement and our Net Promoter Score. And so we have one of the highest Net Promoter Scores within our industry. And so we, you know, spend a lot of time tracking the correlation between those two metrics within the business.

Kate Hogan 28:32
Also, you know, in the past couple years, we've really have grown from a workforce standpoint, and, and our engagement results have really helped us attract and retain some, some key talent. The war for talent is real. And, and so, you know, when, when we're recruiting, and we're talking to potential new team members, and, and they're asking, they're asking about, What is it like to work at Hagerty? And many of them are asking, you know, What is the engagement like to work at Hagerty? And so when we're able to share the story and real specific results that are reflected on our company's one-page plan and our KPIs, that's, that's, that's an important selling point for us when we, when we are, when we are recruiting. So those are two really key bigger outcome metrics that I think have, have, you know, where this engagement overall has really impacted.

Angela James 29:49
You talk about strengths early on, and obviously, from a Gallup perspective, the awareness around us and then we engaged in the engagement partnership with Gallup Access. And then I can remember us distinctly -- I had talked to you for many years with the hopes to get you certified. And so we had that happen, and you've been able to incorporate that even more in your organization. What impact has happened there?

Kate Hogan 30:18
Strengths is -- StrengthsFinder has been an important tool for new, new team members joining the organization. Our workforce is relatively young. And so oftentimes, these new team members, when they join Hagerty, this might be their first or maybe second professional experience that they've ever had. And so, and many of them join the organization for the opportunity to grow. They see the opportunity with the, with the growth of the organization. And so, they're joining at they, they want to grow their career within Hagerty. And so StrengthsFinder gives them a language in which to talk about, in which to talk about their strengths. And it also gives them a path for, for development and for career trajectory.

Kate Hogan 31:19
And so, we say at Hagerty, you know, If you, if you bring your talents here, we will help you develop your best self, right. And that's your whole self. And so, we use StrengthsFinder as a way in which to help people grow and develop and, and celebrate different people's strengths and uniqueness, and leverage them in maybe new ways that they never thought about.

Angela James 31:48
Thank you for that. It's, you know, when I think a little bit about some of the conversations we've had over the years, you've had challenges along the way. But one of the things that I remember most about our partnership is that very quickly, it was easy for you to identify what that challenge was and immediately get into action. And I know that's your Activator immediately taking off, but you also have Strategic. And I think that when, in some of the conversations that we've had, we've really thought through, What does that look like, even from a Futuristic standpoint? You've had the opportunity to really embed much of the language around engagement and strengths and culture within your organization, where this is a Hagerty strategy. And I talk about this often with clients: This isn't a Gallup program; this is a Hagerty program. That's why I love how you made it your own going back to "Your voice, our future." So if we think a little bit about the very beginning, and if you, if you had the opportunity to go back and change any of the ways you might have done anything, any, anything come to mind?

Kate Hogan 33:09
Yes. I think one of the things that I immediately noticed when we started using the engagement survey on a consistent basis is that leaders especially really wanted to focus in on score, and would often, you know, really just the score itself was, you know, this, the indicator that they needed to know if their team was doing well or if there were opportunities to make, make changes. And so I, I learned that, you know, it's, it's not necessarily the score that matters, but it's the conversation that happens around the results. And so good happens and change happens when we, when we really start to talk about what these scores mean on a day-to-day basis with our teams. Or, you know, What does a best friend at work really sound and look like in our team? And really, why is that important?

Kate Hogan 34:25
And so, I think if I was to go back, I would have really put more emphasis on more around the conversations and, and what we're learning along the way than the actual, the actual score, the result itself. The score will come when we do the work, you know. And so, and so I think that was, that was something that we learned, we learned early on.

Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award Winner

Angela James 34:54
Speaking of the score, I was so very excited -- you were right on the cusp a couple years in a row. And then, ironically, and just absolutely amazing, 2020 is one of the worst years that just about every organization could have experienced. And some, some organizations do an incredible job at really maintaining engagement and transparency and communication. And like you said, within 3 days, 1400 remote. We had some similar, similarity there here at Gallup.

Angela James 35:31
Now, I was so very excited for your organization to have been nominated, as well as won the Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award in 2020. And just to throw out a few of the numbers, you know, you were so close a few years in a row. And you started a really great baseline to begin with. But we finally achieved that, and you got the award. 75% of your employees engaged -- 75%! You were up at that 77th percentile. We know it takes time. We know it takes everyone's involvement. And so if there was, if you could think of 3 to 4 key strategies that really helped you to get there, what would they be?

Kate Hogan 36:23
Well, I think one of the things that we've incorporated into our experience or the way we talk about our culture is, is this, is a growth mindset, right. And the concept that we are always continuously learning, growing, evolving, making mistakes, and that's part of this journey. And so, I think using growth mindset as a foundation to, to our approach towards our culture and engagement has been important. And, and that, again, I keep going back, but the work is never done. Right. And so, so I think that is, has been important for us.

Kate Hogan 37:11
I also think our strategies around communication and transparency. You know, we, we share our results broadly; we talk very authentically about the challenges that are happening across the business. And, and we also talk about it, not just in terms of like the business outcomes of engagement, because those are important, but also to just people's overall wellbeing and the experience that they get every day in showing up for this organization. And so I think, I think, you know, those two elements have also been important in our success over the years, right? We care about you as people. And we spend more time at work than we do with our loved ones sometimes. And so we want to ensure that this is the best experience it can be for you. And a consistent message and backing it up with action around that I think has been important.

Kate Hogan 38:23
And then also just taking action on people's feedback, and drawing connection and correlation to, you know, "This is what we heard from you. And here's what we're doing about it." We can't solve it all. You know, sometimes there are longer-term themes and opportunities that we are continuously working at. But what we can do is we can say, "We heard you, and we know this is important and why. And here's our first steps in, in making this better." I think -- I was just gonna say, I think also, too, is we've really, we talk about engagement as everyone's, everyone's role. So we, we talk about how the impact that we can have as individuals on our overall team's engagement. And it's really a partnership between the organization, between your manager, and you.

Kate Hogan 39:29
And so when we are talking about, whether it's our core values, or we're talking about, you know, just people's strengths and overall development, we often tie into, you know, how you can help contribute to how people are feeling about their work and their experience every day, and give our individual team members resources and tools as well in which to take action and make that better.

Employees Just as Important as Customers

Angela James 40:00
You know, when I, when I, when I look at your website, but more specifically early on in our partnership, one of the things that I saw is that your brand focuses on passion and trust and expertise and community. And I think one of the biggest messages that you shared with me early on as part of the strategy was that you really wanted that message out there that the employees are just as important as the customer. And I truly believe you've lived that. I'd love to hear just really quick, Jim, you have something? I've got one more thing.

Jim Collison 40:34
No, go ahead. Do that. And then we'll do some, some questions from the audience.

Angela James 40:38
Yeah. So Kate, I just, you know, this is one of those things that I always love to ask my clients: If you could think about the last 2 or 3 weeks of amazing engagement and action, you have one or two examples you could share?

Kate Hogan 40:54
That's a good question. Two engagement --

Angela James 41:00
Even you, specifically; not necessarily another leader or team.

Kate Hogan 41:06
Yeah, I think right now, we're continuously evolving the ways that we connect to our teams, as we are still pretty dispersed. And so I think some things that we've done recently is thinking of new ways in which we can collaborate across the company -- in particular, bringing leaders together who maybe have not met each other because they have joined the organization, for the most part, virtually. And so recently creating opportunities to bring cross-functional leaders together to talk about best practices and challenges with leading dispersed teams. And so I think that is something we've done over the last couple of weeks and are being more intentional and purposeful about, but I think it's, will be something that we'll continue to hone and, and create some best practices around. But I think that would be something.

Angela James 42:05
That's great. Thank you.

Jim Collison 42:08
I will let listeners know, if you're listening live, we'll take your questions live, if you want to throw them in. Marina had asked one here a few minutes ago around the Q12. And around especially Q10, right -- the question, "Do I have a best friend at work?" is that. I want to add a little commentary to it, you know, both Question 3, "I get the opportunity to do what I do best every day" and, I think, Q10 is our strengths-related questions. In other words, we know strengths works really well in the context of teams, right? And this "best friend" question is often is, Do I have somebody I can trust on the team or someone close to me or with where I work? So to Marina's question, what do you guys, especially during the pandemic, and maybe even coming out of it, How are you helping those teams gel, or at least encourage great relationships on those teams?

Kate Hogan 43:00
We say, "Relationships matter." They're very, very, very important. And I go back, I think I mentioned earlier, you know, we spend more time with our colleagues at work than we do with our families. And so it's important that we build strong relationships within our teams and across the organization. And so I also too, you know, we always get questions around that question. And I often have people reflect on, you know, the characteristics of strong teams. And so characteristics of strong teams are ones that communicate well, are ones that problem-solve well, are ones that celebrate together, are ones that share challenges.

Kate Hogan 43:49
And so, so then I, you know, then create correlation to that -- those are the same types of actions that we might see in strong relationships or best-friend relationships. And so I try to bring connection back to where we see those demonstrated within a team and the importance of them in, in our fulfillment in our job and our ability to, to work well together.

Jim Collison 44:18
And Maika likes to say on Theme Thursday, you know, "Strong teams are a talent magnet," right? They bring, they start attracting others to be, "Hey, I want to, I want to, like it's cool over there. I want I want more of that team. How do we get more of that kind of work done?" So that's exciting to, to see. Mark asks an interesting question. He says, What are the top "Aha!" moments for your new employees, when they first see and learn their strengths results? So kind of as a coach and thinking about, as they're coming in and seeing this, I'm assuming you're onboarding them with it. What are some of the reactions from some of the new employees, even during this time of COVID?

Kate Hogan 44:58
Yeah, I've seen, I personally love the "Aha!" moments when someone said, "I knew I was good at this. But I never knew if someone would really call it out as a strength." And then there's the "Aha!" moment. Lots of times we do team-building sessions around strengths. When a colleague points out to that team member, when they've seen them use that strength in their work and how powerful it is, and you see the light bulbs go off for that team member and like, Wow, one, I didn't really realize I was using that strength at that moment. And two, I didn't realize I was having that impact. And so I love those moments. I think that that happens a lot.

Kate Hogan 45:46
I think also, too, when I hear and see people using their language of strengths in the ways in communicating the things that they do really, really well, or asking for more work around the things that they do really, really well. So and, and we try to prepare them and tool them up to be able to ask for that work and create the jobs that they want, by using their strengths as a language to talk about it. So --

Jim Collison 46:18
It's great to hear. I do this job now because I saw a need. And I said, "Hey, we could do this." And over the -- you know, it's taken a long time to get us there. But it's taken -- exciting to hear that you're listening for those clues to talent, and then kind of thinking, "Hey, wait a minute, I know we hired him to do this. But maybe we could get more out," you know, "or we could get higher productivity or greater engagement" in that. Angela, I want to put you on the spot for just a second and ask you -- You've been working with them for a long time as, as a consultant and as a guide and as a best friend at work to them as well. What are you most proud of? As you, you're on the outside looking in in their organization. And you've seen, you get to see their scores and a lot of the things that they do. What -- because there's great pride in what we do, right? We just don't work with our customers; we take ownership in it. What are you most proud of?

Angela James 47:09
You know, for me personally, in the conversations through the years -- and Kate, we've had so many -- I am one of those individuals that likes to put questions out there to help get to self-discovery. And I also will, one of the biggest things, especially with, with Hagerty that we thought through, is it's, it's not about working on everything at once; it's about, it's about picking one or two items to focus in on. And so I think for me personally, it's helping them think through, I can give best practices and I can share some of the expertise and knowledge that I have around engagement. But how do they internally then socialize that and implement it? And I think what I, the biggest thing I'm most proud of is they've done it in a way that has just been absolutely sustainable. And I, Kate has shared moments through the years of all of that in action. Proud mama moment.

Jim Collison 48:20
No, it's fun, I think, best part of my job is to sit and hear these stories. And then to be able to reflect, and I'm like, Yeah, I get to work with a company that encourages other companies to be great. Like, you know, that is, Kate, you were just mentioning, you know that with the new employees, when they come in, they get an opportunity, you've come to an organization where you get an opportunity to be great at what you're doing. And I, I don't know if that just happens at, at every organization. We're trying to change that, right, in what we do, but fantastic. Kate, anything else that we might have missed or it's something that you were thinking about like we didn't, we didn't mention? Any kind of last thoughts before I have Angela thank you for coming on? Any, any final things we might have missed?

Kate Hogan 49:08
No, I don't, I don't think so. I think we've covered a lot. I think, I think, as you mentioned, Jim, it's about giving a place, creating a place where people want to come and they want to grow and they want to reach their highest levels of performance and feel like they're contributing to something bigger than themselves. And so that's what we're continuously working towards at Hagerty. And, and so I think, I, yeah, thank Angela for her partnership. And it's been really fun to do this this afternoon. And to reflect back on all of the great work and intention that's gone into, you know, what's gotten us to where we are today.

Jim Collison 49:54
For sure. Angela, let's take a second and thank Kate for coming on.

Angela James 49:58
Yeah. You know, not always, we don't always get an individual with inside an organization that has the dedication and passion to drive these kinds of initiatives. And so absolutely been a pleasure to work with you over the last 6 years. And I just want to thank you again so much for participating in our session today.

Kate Hogan 50:18
Thank you. My pleasure!

Jim Collison 50:20
Kate, it's been, from my side, I've just gotten to know you over the last couple of weeks that we've been putting this together. And I was really looking forward to this time with you today. First of all, you guys have a super cool company. Like just what you do is -- we didn't even talk about that.

Kate Hogan 50:36
I know!

Jim Collison 50:37
It's, you mentioned it earlier; it is super cool. If folks wanted to interact with your organization, what's, is the website the best way to do that? What's the, what's the right way for them to see on the outside what you guys are doing on the inside?

Kate Hogan 50:50
Yeah, definitely, you can go to our website. And also we have, we're on Instagram as well. So, and we showcase maybe different programs or the life of a team member at Hagerty. So those are two different platforms that we use to kind of share what's happening internally.

Jim Collison 51:11
I think we put a link in the invite. But that's just hagerty.com, right?

Kate Hogan 51:14
Correct.

Jim Collison 51:15
OK, perfect. So they can do that. Well, Kate, thanks for coming on. And thanks for being a part of this. With that, I'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources -- and Kate did a great job of talking about Gallup Access -- you can have, you know, you can see that too. Head out to gallup.com/cliftonstrengths, and that'll drop you right into your strengths dashboard. Lots -- we've got lots of resources available that's out there for you. For our organizations that are on our Access platform using engagement, we have even more. So if you have, if you're listening to this from an organizational standpoint, and you're like, "Oh, wait a minute, more?!" Contact us; send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. We'll get you to the right person. Could even be Angela; that would be awesome if you, if you were talking to her, and we'll get you set up with the right person to talk about that. For coaching, master coaching or to become a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, you can always contact us again: coaching@gallup.com; easy email address to remember. If you want to join us for more of these, and you're thinking, "Oh, I like this!" First, we have plenty of them on our website. You can go to gallup.com/cliftonstrengths and click on "Resources." But you can also join us live: gallup.eventbrite.com. Sign up, follow us there and you'll get notifications whenever we do a new one of those. Follow us on all social platforms just by searching "CliftonStrengths," and we do want to thank you for joining us live today. Quite a few of you out there, and appreciate you doing that. We'll see you back here with the next one of these. With that, we'll say, Goodbye everybody.

Angela James' Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Restorative, Developer, Belief, Includer and Harmony.

Kate Hogan's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Empathy, Achiever, Arranger, Activator and Strategic.