HHH - Alison Bosch
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[00:00:00]
Nicole Hammond (2): All right, everybody. Thank you for joining f- us for another episode of Hiring Happy Hour. Um, today is special because this is someone that I have worked with for a number of years, and her and I are made from the same cloth, as we like to say, the cliché. Um, and so [00:01:00] hopefully this will resonate with a lot of you out there that care about solutioning. So she is an amazing woman, that she has had customer success superstar next to her name, business strategist next to her name, and executive leader next to her name. She has over 18 years of experience, including roles that blend consulting, business process improvement, and customer support. She drives revenue growth by building strong client relationships and improving the customer experience. SVP and Chief of Staff of SmartRecruiters, please join me in welcoming Allison Bosch. Hi, Allison.
Alison Bosch: Hi. Thank you. What an intro
Nicole Hammond (2): I know. It's my favorite part because I think all of you are so amazing, and we never do ourselves justice, and these beautiful scripts that they give me of you and others as individuals just, I love to see the smiles on everyone's faces.
I'm so glad you're here today, and I'm so glad we get to talk about so many [00:02:00] things, um, of the years and years of being with SmartRecruiters and now part of the SAP family. You have had such an impact in this organization, and so I know this question is going to be hard for you to choose just one moment, but I think our audience can learn a lot from you.
And so I would love for you to share with them what one of those moments, what your hiring happy hour is that you feel was truly transformational in your career, but also impactful to the business, to our customers. Uh, so Allison, can you share what your hiring happy hour is with us?
Alison Bosch: I will, I will do my best. This was hard. You know this was a very difficult one for me because we don't take often to reflect and think about what it is for ourself. Uh, I, I'm gonna s- I'm gonna call out what happened, let's say about two and a half years ago. SmartRecruiters leadership team was going through a lot of changes.
There was a lot going on in the market as [00:03:00] well around how are we going to move forward? This is before we had made any decisions around Winston or our AI capabilities, there was a lot of changes within our executive leadership team. I remember specifically picking up the phone. The ask was very simple, "Alison, will you step into this role and take on, um, e- essentially all of the post-sales organization?" And didn't hesitate. I just said, "Yes, let's do it." And I remember it very specifically because I knew the leaders that were in seat were gonna help me move that forward. And I think that's my hiring happy hour, because as much as it is about yourself and about me and moving forward and driving success, it is really about the people around you. It's about lifting up the leaders that are the experts that are driving success within their teams. I felt that to its core when I stepped into that role and I saw the amazing leadership, and I was [00:04:00] just there to amplify it. I was there to help, remove those blockers, and I know that sounds so general, but that truly was when my eyes opened to what it takes to run a team, as an executive leader, And it gave me an amazing perspective on how to support people at all levels within the company
Nicole Hammond (2): And you aren't doing yourself justice because I remember that moment too, and it is quite a leap to step into that role. Even the individual that was leaving was advocating for you in that because she had relied on you so heavily. And so I think that this is a huge moment where you are absolutely right. Not only are you taking on the sure why nots, that we like to call it, of a new role that is larger than life, but you are doing it selflessly, right? Thinking about the people first, thinking about leveraging the leaders that have been successful, um, in that org. And it was successful, right? I mean, I speak to [00:05:00] many people day to day, and this organization knows and loves you, but it's more than just because of who you are, it's because of the trust and the advocation that you have for others.
So yes, proud moment that you should be very proud of, and I'm gonna amplify it for you because I know that, um, we are ones to just keep going.
Alison Bosch: Yes, we do. Yes, we do
Nicole Hammond (2): for our audience that may be in a situation where they have been given a role that they may feel is larger than life, or they are in a new role, can...
advice can you give them around how to be successful, how to not it i- in that moment?
Alison Bosch: I, uh, Nichol, you and I always got down very early on on our consulting background. so, of course, as you know, I started, uh, with Booz Allen Hamilton and was, uh, a strategy organization consultant. And what did that mean coming out of graduate [00:06:00] school? Who knows, right? You're just thrown into projects.
You're supporting clients with whatever it is. Sometimes they felt high level. Sometimes I was organizing files in a file room, right? Like,
Nicole Hammond (2): Lovely remember
Alison Bosch: whatever you're doing at that moment was important for that client,
Nicole Hammond (2): Yes.
Alison Bosch: That now, right?
Nicole Hammond (2): Yes
Alison Bosch: uh, that start at such an early age, like trying to figure out how to navigate organizations, I quickly saw that the, the way to support people within a business, whether it was your peer or your manager, was to understand the system at play.
Like, understand the system that was ultimately going to produce the result that you were looking for. And, uh, I know there's this whole thing around systems thinking and investing time there, but I think like more simply, if you have the opportunity to step into a bigger role, understanding all of the dynamics and the people and all that is really critical, [00:07:00] but just take a moment and think about the systems that are, uh, that are really controlling the organization, down to like the, the smallest meeting that happens.
I think that we underestimate how our days are organized and how our files are organized, and just how someone sits down and starts their day, right? And what that does for them in their role and within the broader scope of their team. So I think it's important to just take a moment, be curious about what you're stepping into.
Ask a lot of questions of those leaders. Try to establish that trust right away, and do it by understanding what is the system that's driving everything. And don't come in and bulldoze and say, "Nope, we're gonna change everything immediately," unc- unless of course there's something glaring, right? But otherwise, take a moment and think about how that's impacting the way that they operate, and then maybe provide some recommendations.
Or even better, build it with them. So building it... We talked [00:08:00] about this really briefly, right? So the idea of actually building a process or a system with the team versus for them.
Nicole Hammond (2): Yes.
Alison Bosch: that so well, you know that so well with enablement, right?
Nicole Hammond (2): Yeah
Alison Bosch: you're only gonna get people to kind of jump on, jump on the train with you if they feel like they're part of that process. And don't just do it just because it's like out there in the world that, you know, you need to get buy-in, and you need to have that. Truthfully do it so that you can learn from them,
Nicole Hammond (2): It's true
Alison Bosch: help drive what is-- what success looks like. You can't just push a process on, on the team and expect to get the result you're looking for.
Nicole Hammond (2): Yes. And at our core, I have to go back to consulting worlds. I have this image that someone once showed me of consultants on their laptops stacked in a bathroom, like on top of each other and is an image everyone I want you to think about as you think about the consulting lifestyle. You do things from high-level strategy down to the nitty-gritty, as Allison mentioned.
But it, it is [00:09:00] like a framework that you take with you forever, and you are absolutely right. What I heard from you is trust, organization, and solutioning, and I think this is at the core as we think about people, process, technology.
Um, I love where you talk about the people, and you focus on leveraging them to be the SMEs to build what they are experts on. Um, share with us an example during your career where this was something that you almost needed to lead that horse to water with, right? You knew their capabilities, you knew what they could do, but they almost needed that belief, um, in themselves. And so share a time where this wasn't as easy as it has been in other moments where you could just say, "Hey, you go do you, you go do you," and you had to truly coach and mentor to bring that out of it someone.
Alison Bosch: I think actually I wanna, I wanna sit in the past [00:10:00] year the process that we're, that we're a part of right now with the acquisition with SAP and the post-merger integration and all of the activities that's hap- that are happening right now. Um, we just had our extended leadership team offsite, what, like two weeks ago, right?
And one of the topics that we sat in for a little bit was thinking about how, uh, I supported so many people along the way. not even just direct reports. This is people throughout the whole entire organization coming and looking for a little bit of advice on how to navigate a situation that they haven't seen before.
Because we were used to being a standalone company. We were used to driving our own goals and our big mission and our big ideas and going to market with it, and not that we don't still have those with SAP, of course we do. They're even bigger with SAP. But the idea is we had to quickly figure out how to work with all of these new colleagues. We need to q- like figure out how to work with Microsoft Teams versus Slack. We need to [00:11:00] figure out all of these different things, right? So I would say the past year I have been deeply rooted in not only just practicing a lot of active listening, really sitting, listening, trying to understand and hear people out.
Sometimes they just need to speak to someone. But
then also providing a little bit of guidance on, "Hey, why don't you go about it this way?" Or, "Let's just think about this at like a human level." We are all trying to do best for something. We are all trying to do that together, so look that person in the eye, call them on Teams, get their phone number.
Like, figure out how we can work together, because ultimately we're trying to do the same thing. But we gotta raise ourself up out of an email that maybe didn't land correctly, or we gotta raise ourself up out of, like, a meeting that, like, we felt like the tone wasn't correct. most often we're gonna find that it was just because we didn't understand each other yet.
We didn't understand that we were trying to, like, get to the same goals. [00:12:00] that has been a, like a demanding, a stressful, but also amazingly rewarding, like, piece to see, if you think... Right? I mean, you've been there too. Yeah really acting as that person for a lot of people, um, has almost been the most, like, poignant part of my career in thinking about how to navigate this and, and quickly kinda change your mindset so that you were still helping yourself and helping the business.
Nicole Hammond (2): Yes. I, I equate acquisitions to childbirth, and I know you're gonna laugh at that. But, like, there is not one that is the same, and you don't know what that adventure looks like. And I appreciate all the consulting groups that help with M&A and take you on this journey, but you are absolutely right.
Sometimes it's coming back to basics of focus, right? Even us have had moments where, uh, you know, you lose your eye on the prize or you lose that focus and you get in your own head of, [00:13:00] "Oh my gosh," like, "What is this going to look like?" Et cetera, et cetera, when there's gray, 'cause you and I, we don't like gray, we like to solution.
And it's having to practice patience, having to be okay with gray, and just continue to make an impact and communicate, et cetera. And so I think that you are spot on with being able to do that for the people, but also reminding them and empathizing that you're going through this as well.
Um, and it, it is core. It is core.
Alison Bosch: Yes
Nicole Hammond (2): So we've talked about kind of the navigation of taking on a new role, working with the SMEs, advocating, leveraging them. We've talked about, like, gray area, the acquisition, and kind of going through this and just focusing. What does the future look like? What are you excited about? Um, it's different, right?
Like two years ago, did we know that it would look like this? No. And so now that there's been a [00:14:00] year of reflection, are you excited about?
Alison Bosch: I, gosh, it's like all of those reels that you see pop up that's like, "AI here, AI there." It's like constantly in your head and you feel like it needs to be ingrained and more a part of your day, and I think we've got- we've gotten over that a little bit, and now we do see it, it like intertwined in how we work. Uh, I think that, of course, AI and technology, continue to make execution faster and cleaner and simpler at kind of that administrative and core level. But what is going to remain, what will always remain, is the ability to connect people. Connect people so that they can help each other, and that human judgment layer always has to exist.
We know that. We know that in, in how we talk to our customers too, right? Like, customers wanna have automation. They wanna use all of these new, innovative products, but the [00:15:00] idea is there has to be the component where we are connecting people. What was-- What's the tagline? It's like connecting people to jobs at scale.
That's what SmartRecruiters was. All, and we still, we still say that, of
right? As a standalone company, it was connecting people. And Yes you can say that about an applicant tracking system, but don't you feel that way as like a leader? And, and about, and, and maybe not even your direct reports, but just in general, it is about connecting the dots, and pretend the dots are the people.
And you are really trying to put the right people in the right place, because then they will do amazing things together.
Nicole Hammond (2): Yes
Alison Bosch: their judgment, the system that they put in place, and all of those things will help them to the next level. So I, I feel pretty grounded in that. I try to stay as up-to-date as I can with like the latest and greatest on, what's moving, not only in leadership, but in what's driving the success of some of the most innovative companies right now. And it still comes down to [00:16:00] understanding how people are connected and moving things forward together, and you're not going to lose that. You're not gonna lose that with the advancement of AI and technology
Nicole Hammond (2): I love this because it is a theme that I've heard from probably almost everyone on this show, and it brings validation, right? And I think to your point, here is the vision of SmartRecruiters back in 2015, still relevant with all the technology changing around us, and I don't think it's gonna go away.
You're absolutely right. This is the core. And then the irony is it's also the way that we get there, right? Like you even said it yourself, connecting the people even internally as we think about the next chapters of this beautiful future is continuing to advocate for those SMEs to be the ones that take us to that next level.
And they get excited about it. They are motivated about it. Their performance improves, right? And so I think huge opportunity ahead of us, not only within the SAP [00:17:00] ecosystem, but out there as a world. So listen up. You are still connecting people. so
Alison Bosch: You are still connecting people. And you know what else I would call out? Um, as part of our company kickoff this year, I did one of the, one of the learning breakout sessions, and it was based off of a topic about making work visible.
Nicole Hammond (2): Hmm.
Alison Bosch: And, uh, there's a book on this one, so go look
Nicole Hammond (2): Oh,
Alison Bosch: up,
Nicole Hammond (2): you know I love my books.
Alison Bosch: Visible.
It's, it's a great book on this topic, and it... Now, it is very con- much connected to how an engineering organization would operate and how to rise that up so it's not caught within whether it's a Jira ticket or something of that nature. But the idea is that making your work visible not only amplifies you, but it shows other people around you how you are supporting the overall mission, the overall success.
So it's not to come out and, like, have an ego about your work,
Nicole Hammond (2): No
Alison Bosch: that if you are burning yourself [00:18:00] out, if you're burning yourself out and No one is understanding how or why you're doing that, something's off. So take a moment, list out your tasks, be curious about your own work. Is the... Do I have the right system in place? And if I do, how do I make that more visible so the people around me can benefit from it? And that is still going to remain, and maybe these amazing AI tools can help you do it faster. They can, like, Claude can come in and help you surface this information or whatever your favorite tool is, right? like, that tool can help you then make your work visible, and I think that's an important part that as we move forward, people are still gonna be important
Nicole Hammond (2): Here's a nice little, uh, insider for you. We have a gratitude channel, and I use this to praise my team, but also to provide that visibility of how hard they are working and what they're doing. And you're right, AI, transparency, visibility to what people are doing. [00:19:00] Hey, she just gave you an exercise. Write down everything you do.
Could some of it be, like, put into the AI bucket? But the other piece I think too is making sure you're not duplicating efforts, right? Like, we are in a world right now where SAP has individuals that do a lot of the things that one person at SmartRecruiters might do 10 of, right? And we need to make sure that we are understanding who that is, working together for, as you said earlier, the same goal, right?
Like, to elevate to the next level, the next chapter. And so it is exciting times. I love your advice for the future. We're gonna switch gears because people are wondering who this amazing woman is and what makes her tick outside of work. So let's talk about it, Allison. As you think about your personal life, as you think about the time that you're not working, and yes, you better have this time, um, what's your personal happy hour?
What brings you joy?
Alison Bosch: Oh my gosh. So, uh, I was, I was actually kind of hoping [00:20:00] that my youngest son would make an appearance, like through that door over there, because then I, I think that would probably tell the story a little bit more. But for, for the audience, I'll say I have three boys, uh, 14, 12, and 8, uh, all very, very active in their...
Whatever they like to do, whatever their flavor of the day happens to be. Um, Nichol and I bond over the world of youth sports and how it has taken over our life. Uh, I have two dogs that I love very much. Sometimes I feel like I may love them more than my family. Uh, but
Nicole Hammond (2): listen
Alison Bosch: keep it here. And then, of course, my husband Tyler helps keep the wheels, the wheels on.
So my personal happy hour is that, um, none of this really matters if it doesn't support the family and the foundation that you're trying to build. So if the work that I'm doing during the day, at night, whenever we're working, doesn't help fulfill what my family needs, whether that is [00:21:00] food, whether that's driving them to soccer practice, whether that is planning a vacation that we all can enjoy, none of that matters.
Like, for me, that's always been the foundation. I started a family very early on in my professional journey, so I have always managed that. I've always been a working mom. Uh, and maybe it's not a working mom. Maybe it's just we're parents that work, right? Like, this is,
Nicole Hammond (2): Yeah. Yeah
Alison Bosch: how we need to operate. But for me, if, uh, the work I was doing was not gonna be productive and focused, then why was I spending that time doing it? You know, you know what I mean? Especially when they were little. When
Nicole Hammond (2): Yeah
Alison Bosch: are little and you're coming to work or I'm getting on a plane and going who knows where, that better be extremely productive so that I can come back and be like, "There is a reason why I left you,"
Nicole Hammond (2): Yep
Alison Bosch: Uh, that still remains true even when they-- as they get older. So it's, uh, if for me, it is very much about, [00:22:00] uh, continuing to build myself, be curious, learn a lot along the way, and use all of that, all of that I get out of that to help my family
Nicole Hammond (2): Yeah, I love it. And while it may seem so simple, it is, it is core, and the red is, is showing through with the hearts. We need
Alison Bosch: Yeah, here you go. Yeah
Nicole Hammond (2): emojis to come through on the screens here. Okay, we're gonna switch gears to This or That, a game that we love to play. Um, you're familiar. You can diverge, right? Like you can go both.
You can say why. You can mic drop, say nothing. We'll go all over. Okay. we're gonna start with the basics. Resume or LinkedIn profile?
Alison Bosch: Resume
Nicole Hammond (2): Um, find me or find you
Alison Bosch: Find Me
Nicole Hammond (2): Okay. Um, mentor or coach?
Alison Bosch: Coach
Nicole Hammond (2): Okay. Um, in the world of process and technology, [00:23:00] speed or perfection? Innovation or proven solution
Alison Bosch: Innovation
Nicole Hammond (2): Customer experience or cost optimization
Alison Bosch: Ooh, that one's hard
Nicole Hammond (2): They're not supposed to be easy, but everyone love hates me for that.
Alison Bosch: I'm gonna s- am a customer success leader. gonna go with cost
Nicole Hammond (2): Okay. Simplicity or feature-rich solution
Alison Bosch: Simplicity
Nicole Hammond (2): Preventative action or reactive action?
Alison Bosch: Preventative if, uh, at all possible.
Nicole Hammond (2): On-site or virtual consulting?
Alison Bosch: Ooh, gosh. There's gonna have to be a mix of both. On-site is so valuable, but given how we work, it's gotta be both
Nicole Hammond (2): Okay. Process improvement or digital transformation
Alison Bosch: Hmm. I gotta go with both again. I'm sorry
Nicole Hammond (2): No, you are [00:24:00] allowed.
Alison Bosch: Great.
Nicole Hammond (2): Structured framework or creative thinking
Alison Bosch: structured framework
Nicole Hammond (2): Okay. All right, now we're gonna get into the fun ones. Um, beach or mountains?
Alison Bosch: beach
Nicole Hammond (2): and this one back to your comment about sports. Soccer or hockey?
Alison Bosch: Nichol, I got both.
Nicole Hammond (2): Look it,
Alison Bosch: on.
Nicole Hammond (2): I don't know
Alison Bosch: the
Nicole Hammond (2): if you can see
Alison Bosch: the World Cup is so important right now, we're going with soccer.
Nicole Hammond (2): And I got my US shirt on today.
Alison Bosch: yeah.
Nicole Hammond (2): Look at that.
Alison Bosch: The way tonight. There we go
Nicole Hammond (2): Um, vacation or staycation?
Alison Bosch: Vacation
Nicole Hammond (2): Uh, dog or cat?
Alison Bosch: Dogs.
Nicole Hammond (2): Yes. And then, um, wine or beer?
Alison Bosch: beer?
Nicole Hammond (2): It is called Hiring Happy Hour, and I will tell you, I don't do enough of this at happy hour time,
Alison Bosch: it's
nice and early today. We should have at least had a nice little cup of coffee. There we
Nicole Hammond (2): Here, cheers.
Alison Bosch: Cheers.
Nicole Hammond (2): Oh. Um, tell our audience where they can connect with you. Where can they learn more about the beautiful Alison Bosch?
Alison Bosch: [00:25:00] gosh. You know, I am not the best at networking, Nichol. I'm not. actually, I get a little, um, my introverted little part of myself comes out in those moments, and it's w- an area I'd love to stretch. I'd love to figure out that muscle. So I would say, uh, you know, there's... I, I would love opportunities to connect.
Uh, of course, LinkedIn is an eas- easy place to start, and then maybe it develops somewhere else. I also, working remotely, I'm sure you feel this too, sometimes I wish I had a little bit of a network, um, close. So I live in
Nicole Hammond (2): Totally
Alison Bosch: uh, and sometimes I wish I had a little network here. And about a year and a half ago, I started to meet with another chief of staff to, um, a company that we're familiar with, and she was also based in the Buffalo area.
And we had this idea of like, let's start a little like chief of staff, like networking group in Buffalo. And it didn't really pan out, but [00:26:00] maybe something like that could be cool in the future. So if you're in the Buffalo area, let's do it. Um, but I would say in
Nicole Hammond (2): Okay
Alison Bosch: uh, LinkedIn is, is always a good place to start
Nicole Hammond (2): I heard two things. One, I'm gonna hold you accountable to network more, and you know I'll, I'll help you with that. And two, if you are in the Buffalo area or you wanna take an adventure to Buffalo, how about a networking group, right? Like connect.
Alison Bosch: Could be. There we
Nicole Hammond (2): Okay. All right. Um, well, thank you. This has been so fun, and I'm so glad we did this, and I'm so glad it was on the day of a USA game 'cause you and I will be texting later about that.
Alison Bosch: Yes, we will. I'm a little nervous all day. You're amazing. Thank you for lifting all of us up and, and just giving us this, uh, like a stage to do this
Nicole Hammond (2): always. Um, audience, you heard some amazing things today, and one, don't be afraid to take on those new challenges. Alison is a great resource and advocate to help coach through these experiences, so please take advantage of that. But if you didn't learn anything today, I [00:27:00] want you to take away one thing, and that is to trust. Trust the people around you, trust the people that, um, are in your organization to do amazing things and, um, help bring them up, right? Connect with them, make them better, and they will continue to rise together. The cliches are all true. Uh, this has been another episode of Hiring Happy Hour. Uh, I hope you guys are enjoying.
Sh- tell your friends, tell your neighbors, connect with someone new, possibly in the Buffalo area, uh, and we will see you again soon. Thanks everyone.
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