Michelle Duval of ‘Fingerprints for Success’ On How To Successfully Navigate The Opportunities & Challenges Of Working Remotely Or From Home
Spontaneous “eureka” moments can be difficult to replicate — There’s something really special about the creative energy that we draw from one another when we’re physically together. Especially those spontaneous moments of popping by each other’s desks to bounce ideas off one another, and then coming up with an amazing solution or innovation. This is something that can be hard to recreate online.
As a part of our series about the things you need to successfully work remotely, I had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle Duval.
Michelle Duval is a business coach with more than 20 years of experience in the field. Her latest project is Fingerprint for Success — a personal coaching tech startup that uses people analytics and AI to maximize the human potential of companies, teams, and individuals.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. What is your “backstory”?
My journey into the coaching industry began when I was on a completely different path in my career, working for 5-star hotels. At the time, I was in charge of coordinating the visits for high-profile guests like Andre Agassi, Richard Branson, and Pavarotti, which gave me a sneak peek into the lives of these high-performing individuals.
The one common thing I noticed was that behind each of these amazing people (who were at the top and elite of their respective fields) was always a coach of some form. They’d travel with their dietitians, psychologists, chefs, personal trainers, and more.
And this got me thinking: How can I make this same level of coaching support accessible to everyone so that we can all fulfill our full potential?
Since then, I’ve been working hard to solve this question through my startup, Fingerprint for Success (F4S) — an accessible online platform that brings personal coaching to everyone.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
A man once came up to me after my first international speaking engagement and said, “You’re wearing glasses to make yourself look intelligent.”
I was taken aback and didn’t really know what to make of the comment. But I managed to calmly explain that I needed my glasses to see. He proceeded to tell me that because I’m blonde, I couldn’t be very smart. So he assumed I was trying to enhance my image of intelligence by wearing glasses.
That was one of my first obvious encounters with physical prejudice. From then on, I became very resolved to break down any stereotypes that people have of me, and to help others do the same for themselves. We need to get better at realizing the potential we all have and figure out the areas we can control and improve such as our skills and emotional intelligence, versus what can’t be changed, like the way we look.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Several years ago, I was invited to give a talk at my old high school about my career successes. And before I took the stage, I went to the bathroom first. As I entered the auditorium again, it puzzled me to see all the students snickering. To my horror, one of the teachers quickly pointed out to me that I had toilet paper tucked into my clothes for everyone to see!
So what exactly did I learn from that? From then on, I realized that the most embarrassing moment in my life had already taken place. And if I could survive that, I should be able to survive pretty much anything else that life throws my way!
What advice would you give to other business leaders to help their employees thrive and avoid burnout?
People need a good balance of several things to thrive in the workplace: sense of purpose in their work, a feeling of belonging, the right amount of challenge for growth, psychological safety within their team, positive professional relationships, and more.
There are many levels at which leaders can implement targeted strategies to cultivate these different areas. But at the heart of it all, I believe that when leaders start caring for their team members as people (and not just someone who’s there to do a job), a lot of these other things fall into place more easily.
Caring for your team members can mean, showing gratitude for the work they do, taking an interest in their personal lives, helping them when you see that they’re struggling, asking them what you can do to help them succeed in their role, and giving a listening ear when they need your time. Small acts like these can do wonders for promoting a culture of care within your team and help set a foundation for growth and resilience in the people that are building your business.
In terms of preventing burnout, addressing practical issues like workload, working arrangements, and collaborative processes can do a lot in preventing this. Recent research commissioned by global visual communications platform, Canva, in collaboration with F4S, surveyed 2,000 adults across the U.S. who worked from home during the pandemic. We discovered that 50 percent of people felt working from home improved their personal productivity, and 75 percent felt more confident in their role and position within a team compared to the beginning of lockdown.
These positives also contributed to how people wish to work in future. Over half (52 percent) said they would prefer a hybrid working arrangement in 2021. So leaders will need to adapt to this changing perception and give more choice and flexibility to employees to manage where they will work and how they will work.
Ok, let’s jump to the core of our interview. Working remotely can be very different than working with a team that is in front of you. This provides great opportunity but it can also create unique challenges. To begin, can you articulate for our readers a few of the main benefits and opportunities of working remotely?
I believe that the biggest plus of remote working is the direct benefits that it brings to employees. Our recent research shows that the majority of people feel more productive with this arrangement, are more confident in their roles, 76 percent said they have stronger relationships with co-workers, and the majority told us they’d like a flexible home-office arrangement in the long run. So it turns out that working from home actually empowers people to do their best work — which translates into benefits to long-term business sustainability and profitability.
Can you articulate for our readers what the five main challenges are regarding working remotely?
- Spontaneous “eureka” moments can be difficult to replicate
There’s something really special about the creative energy that we draw from one another when we’re physically together. Especially those spontaneous moments of popping by each other’s desks to bounce ideas off one another, and then coming up with an amazing solution or innovation. This is something that can be hard to recreate online.
2. Getting new hires familiarized with the culture of an organization can be a longer process.
Team culture is something that’s quite organic that emerges from small, cumulative interactions that take place over time. So if you have new hires coming on board with a team that’s not very present virtually, it can be hard for them to get a sense of the collective identity of the team and where they fit in.
3. Communication breakdown can happen more often
Messages get misinterpreted a lot more easily when communicating online because subtle non-verbal cues (like tone of voice or body language) may not be as visible.
4. Those that thrive on social interaction can feel isolated
A solo workspace can actually improve peoples’ productivity, as 42 percent of Americans told us in our survey. While others need the company of others to feel engaged in a task. Working remotely can definitely lead the latter group to feel isolated and create a desire to feel more belonging to a group.
5. Technological breakdowns are sometimes unavoidable and can impact productivity
Remote teams are heavily reliant on technology. And despite amazing advancements over the past decades, things can’t always work 100 percent of the time. So even small issues like poor internet connections or glitchy programs can become big disruptions that affect efficiency for remote teams.
Working as a team is no longer defined by being in the same physical space, but by the way people can communicate and share ideas virtually through online tools and platforms. And as our recent research has shown, these new remote workflow models have shown to be successful in terms of building productive, confident, and connected teams in a virtual environment.
Based on your experience, what can one do to address or redress each of those challenges? Can you give a story or example for each?
Using chat messaging platforms that create a relaxed and informal environment is a great way to recreate spontaneous moments of “dropping by someone’s desk”. I also believe immersive virtual workspaces are an exciting area of development that will really bring us to new levels of virtual togetherness.
Feeling part of a virtual group and getting a sense of the culture can happen very quickly if everyone is participative in online chats and team activities. So leaders should lead the way in encouraging interaction in virtual workspaces by being present themselves, and also encourage experienced teammates to look out for new hires.
When I’m on video calls, I make an effort to be more conscious of my own body language and tune in more with the other person’s non-verbal cues. And to be sure that we’re all on the same page, I try rephrasing what the other person has said or clarifying messages more often.
While technological issues are never 100 percent avoidable, leaders can minimize this by ensuring that team members have the right hardware and software that’s updated.
Do you have any suggestions specifically for people who work at home? What are a few ways to be most productive when you work at home?
Working from home means that we’re bombarded with more messages, emails, and notices flying around. And this can be extremely distracting and divert me from things that I’m supposed to be working on at the moment. So I try not to look at notifications when I need to focus on an important task and batch reply emails or messages at a designated time.
I personally find that prioritizing self-care is also really important. When I’m not in the right headspace, I may be doing things, but am not actually being productive. I’m a big proponent of HeartMath and find that short sessions help me to recharge and feel more leveled.
How and where you work can also boost productivity. Our research told us that many people need a solo workspace, with no one around them, in order to get their work done. While others (39 percent) said they are productive with people and activity around them, such as in a shared working space or lounge room. So identifying the best environment for your work style and sticking to that is important for productivity.
Can you share any suggestions for teams who are used to working together on location but are forced to work remotely due to the pandemic? Are there potential obstacles one should avoid with a team that is just getting used to working remotely?
Teething issues are likely to happen in any transition and the same goes for moving your team to remote work. Being transparent and communicative about what’s going on is the key to managing the process. When people are left in the dark, it breeds distrust and disengagement.
But when leaders are able to provide team members with ongoing updates about what’s going well and what isn’t, it signals your respect for them and desire for honesty. And that even though the process may not always look perfect, you’re always looking to improve things together.
Being transparent about expectations and giving staff flexibility with where or how they work to achieve their goals has its benefits too. As discovered in our research with Canva, those staff that had the support of their boss or employer appear to have responded positively to the time working from home, ultimately feeling more confident about their role in the future.
What do you suggest can be done to create an empowering work culture and team culture with a team that is remote and not physically together?
I believe empowerment is about building up your team’s confidence in their own capabilities. On a practical level, they need the right tools to be empowered in their work — this can be the right frameworks, technology, resources, funding, and opportunities.
And on the more human side of things, teams are more likely to feel confident when leaders show their trust and appreciation. The knee-jerk reaction for many leaders moving to remote work is to start monitoring their team more frequently or be more directive.
This is understandable in a time when you’re trying to gain control of an unpredictable situation. But don’t forget to balance this out with the needs of your team. Empowering your team sometimes means letting go, entrusting them to make their own decisions, and recognizing their capabilities.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
My top priority has always been about making coaching accessible to everyone, and F4S has been my vehicle to accomplish this.
Another great passion of mine is actually health-related. When I was 23 years old, I was diagnosed with several autoimmune diseases and was only given a few months to live. I was very fortunate because I not only managed to live past those few months, but even bring my health to a state where I have very minimal symptoms.
It was only through sheer perseverance and experimenting with different therapies that I managed to “cure” myself. So I’ve made it my personal mission to create more awareness about these unseen conditions, provide support to others with the disease, and be involved with the advancement of treatment research.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I’ve always been fascinated with the power of the mind. So the saying “if you can change your mind, you can change your life” is highly relevant to the work I do as a coach to others.
One of my earliest experiences with the power of the mind was when I was 17 years old. I’d scored poorly on a trial exam, and knew that something drastic needed to change if I wanted better grades for the actual exam. I tried listening to a hypnosis recording that was about study plans and created the most in-depth schedule for myself. I mapped out everything — when I would eat, when I would study, how much rest I would get. Surprisingly, I managed to improve my scores by 40 percent for the final exam. And that was my first-hand experience with the power of the mind.
Since then, I’ve seen similar amazing transformations happen with people I’ve coached. All because they managed to see their situations in a different way and used their minds to shape their realities.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Links to our website and social channels can be found below. I would highly recommend anyone to try our FREE F4S assessment (on our website) which provides insights into your strengths and blind spots on 48 key areas that are closely linked to personal and professional success.
Website: www.fingerprintforsuccess.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fingerprintapp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fingerprintapp
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fingerprint-for-success/
Thank you for these great insights! We wish you continued success!
