Be a producer of talent: Leadership at Hootsuite with Gloria Roheim McRae
From growing a business, authoring a book, and appearing on the TEDx stage, Gloria shares her unexpected journey to Hootsuite and the challenges she overcame in the process.
What is your role at Hootsuite?
I manage a team of solutions consultants within enterprise sales here in North America. Every day, I have the privilege of working with wonderful and talented people across the sales organisation; we collaborate on career growth, training, development, and we broker key learning between the field and various stakeholders across our business. Together we focus on bringing tailored recommendations to and from our customers which makes us a linchpin between the sales team, prospects, and product development. As my team grows, so do I. And as our business grows, everybody wins.
Tell us about your career journey leading up to Hootsuite.
You wouldn’t predict that I would end up at Hootsuite, but it makes perfect sense that I did. My career has spanned various cities in North America and Europe — from public policy work in the provincial government, to market research consulting, to six years in my own business alongside my husband. While I used Hootsuite software to market and grow the audience for our consulting business since 2011, I never imagined that Hootsuite would open a Toronto office where this entrepreneur would become an intrapreneur within.
I spent the six years prior to joining Hootsuite expanding a social, brand strategy, and training business of my own. I authored a bestselling book, wrote for and appeared on a few major media channels, and presented on a TEDx stage. We had great wins across many industries which prepared me for becoming the first senior solutions consultant hired for Hootsuite’s Toronto office in 2016. One year into this role, I was promoted from an individual contributor to manager of a growing team of now five. After two years at this company, I knew I made the right move. It’s clear the best is yet to come as I continue my work here in ‘The Nest’.
“I used to believe I was what I do at work. Today I believe that I am so much more than the many different identities that I hold and have held on to in the past. It’s liberating really.”
Why did you join Hootsuite? What excited you about the opportunity?
Earlier the same year Hootsuite Toronto opened, we welcomed our son into the family. With this new leadership opportunity in my personal life, I also noticed an appetite to lead more broadly within a larger team.
Around the same time, a growing interest in financial services led both my husband and I to complete our licenses as insurance agents. As perfect timing and alignment would have it, I joined Hootsuite with a focus on expanding our footprint within financial services, and he began his next career adventure building a financial services agency.
Two years later, my time at Hootsuite has been better than expected. We started off as 20 people in Toronto and have since scaled to around 100. I’ve never witnessed such a quick expansion before. I’ve watched this expansion with a similar admiration to watching our growing son. Perhaps you could say that the Toronto office feels like a second child. ;)
What has been a unique challenge you’ve faced and how did you overcome it?
General identity and behavior-shifting have been unique challenges that I’ve juggled since transitioning from being self-employed to part of a global team. I used to believe I was what I do at work. Today I believe that I am so much more than the many different identities that I hold and have held on to in the past. It’s liberating really.
Imagine spending six years doing things on your own terms. I was my own boss. There’s both a thrill and a challenge to running your own small business and playing the role of sales, marketing, business development, bookkeeper, and project manager. You can see why I thought that who I was was what I did professionally. It consumed my life in a great way. That is, until I was ready for the next adventure.
Hootsuite’s commitment to lifelong learning also supports my capabilities as a leader. I’m part of a leadership forum that meets once every few months for an in-depth session that will improve our team results. Occasionally, I still find it challenging to coach or facilitate my team versus jumping in and doing something all by myself. This is a challenge I’ve been overcoming in stages. I now know the long-term benefit of going the journey together instead of doing things fast by myself. It’s not just a concept to me. My team has helped me integrate this challenge into a great and fulfilling opportunity.
What Hootsuite Leadership Principle resonates with you?
“You are a producer of talent, not a consumer.”
I don’t have enough words or colorful metaphors to explain how much this principle resonates with me. Both because I’ve experienced its benefits and because I’m committed to doing this with my own team. This principle is about working in service of your team and each unique person on it. Personalization is a popular trend in marketing right now and is just as relevant to what I believe makes a great leader. In fact, being a manager is not what inspires me to cultivate the best in my team — standing in the shoes of a leader does.
This is a cultural norm at Hootsuite, not an exception, and it’s why I see myself continuing to grow here.
Share with us a valuable leadership lesson.
There is no end to leadership lessons worth spreading. The most recent book I’ve read on the topic was “Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek. He proves how the most effective leaders make us feel safe and shows how that affects teams. “Safety first” has become a core tenant of my leadership. I’ve experienced how differently I contribute when I feel safe, and I am committed to fostering those same conditions wherever I have the opportunity to lead.
What advice would you give to someone considering a leadership role at Hootsuite?
Leave your ego at the door. Come with an open mind. Harness your rich experiences and bring them to the table, but remember to leave room for surprise. I’m humbled every day by colleagues younger and older than I am — from different teams and different walks of life. I hear how cliche that may sound but it’s the advice I have: Be willing to be impressed.
What are you proud of in terms of what you’ve accomplished?
My favourite accomplishments are no longer my own — they’re ones we accomplished as a team. For example, there are people on my team who have never worked in pre-sales before and in less than a year, they are exceeding their personal targets. I contributed to that accomplishment through listening, coaching, supporting, and creating safety. But they were willing to be coached, to listen and to take the actions.
I’m proud that we’ve been able to create the conditions for these results. Our team’s support of one another and camaraderie is something special.
If you had one free hour each day, how would you use it?
As someone who rarely has an uninterrupted moment in their day, I treat every quiet moment like gold. I love being of service to my team throughout the day, and then to my almost three-year-old son throughout the evening and night. But how I show up for all of my life is highly dependant on the quality and quantity of time I’ve had to myself. Personal integrity has a lot to do with self-care for me. Admittedly, this is still a work in progress.
If I had one free hour a day, here’s my dream-state: 10 minutes of conscious movement or rest — call it yoga, a walk in a forested area, pilates, a power nap, or some upbeat dancing to soca music; 20 minutes cooling down and going inward through something meditative (like painting my nails without interruption by our three year old); the next 20 minutes, I would make myself a proper latte with a tall glass of water on the side; and the last 10 would be spent reflecting on what’s working in my life and what I want to focus on next. This is sanity-making for me. This is fuelling for me. It’s the difference between me at my best or surviving the day. Never underestimate the power of an hour. And of quiet.
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