Strong Leaders Serve with Teri Schmidt

166. Empathetic Leadership in a Global Workforce with Tammy Klotz

• Teri Schmidt

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Ever wondered how to lead a globally distributed team with empathy and grace?

In this episode of Strong Leaders Serve, Teri Schmidt chats with Tammy Klotz about her incredible journey from overcoming resistance as a leader to transforming underperforming teams across different time zones. Tammy shares her impactful stories, actionable insights, and even dives into how being a single mom shaped her leadership style. Tune in to explore the human-centered approach that can elevate your leadership game and create meaningful connections.

  • (0:00) - Welcoming Tammy.
  • (0:12) - What led you to write "Leading With Empathy and Grace"?
  • (2:40) - How did you manage to integrate empathy and grace in a male-dominant, technical industry?
  • (4:35) - How did you handle managing a globally dispersed team with different time zones?
  • (6:37) - How did you bring together teams that had experienced a lot of uncertainty and change?
  • (9:12) - How important is it to recognize and respect different traditions and holidays in a global team?
  • (12:04) - How did you stay resilient as a single mom throughout your career?
  • (16:20) - How has resilience enabled you to lead with empathy and grace?
  • (19:10) - What advice would you give to a woman entering her first people leadership role?
  • (23:14) - What is one key takeaway you hope readers get from your book?
  • (27:15) - How can people learn more about you or get in touch with you?

Resources:




Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teri-m-schmidt/

Get 1-on-1 leadership support from Teri here: https://www.strongertoserve.com/coaching

Set up an intro call with Teri: https://calendly.com/terischmidt/discoverycall

Teri Schmidt:

Hey, welcome back. Are you surprised to hear from me on an off week? Well, I have good news for you. For the rest of this season, that is through the end of December, we are going to be releasing episodes on a weekly basis instead of the every other week release that we have been doing. We have so many great guests coming up and today is no exception. Have you ever wondered how to lead a globally distributed team with empathy and grace? In this episode, I chat with Tammy Klotz about her incredible journey from overcoming resistance as a leader to transforming underperforming teams across different time zones. Tammy shares her impactful stories, actionable insights, and even dives into how being a single mom shaped her leadership style. Tammy is a vibrant and accomplished executive and best selling author with over three decades of diverse experience in the manufacturing industry, specializing in cybersecurity and transformational leadership. She is seasoned in security, risk, and compliance leadership. And she brings a dynamic and positive approach to problem solving, excelling and simplifying intricate technology and cybersecurity concepts and facilitating pragmatic non technical dialogues that resonate with business executives. We had a great conversation and I can't wait to share it with you. So let's jump in. I'm Terry Schmidt, executive and leadership coach at Strong Leader Serve, where we love partnering with compassionate driven leaders to turn potential into performance for positive change. And this is the Strong Leader Serve podcast. Well, hi, Tammy. Welcome to the strong leader serve podcast. I'm looking forward to our conversation.

Tammy Klotz:

Hi, Terry. Thanks for having me today. I too am looking forward to it. I'm sure it's going to be a great conversation between the two of us.

Teri Schmidt:

Yeah. You wrote a book with a title that definitely speaks to my heart, leading with empathy and grace. And I'd love to hear about your story and the leadership experiences that led you to write that book.

Tammy Klotz:

Sure. I can give you a little bit of a background on that and it goes back to early in my career. I've been now in the workforce for over 30 years, which seems impossible, but early in my career, one of my leaders that I worked for, he pulled me aside and said, Tammy, he's like, I really need you to teach people to lead the way that you do. And I kind of looked at him and I was like well, this is kind of just who I am. Right. So I was like, okay. And. He's like, yeah, but more people need to use some of the skills and techniques that you do. So I kind of tucked that away for a long time, but it was always kind of like ever present in the back of my mind. And over the course of, you know, subsequent years in, you know, building some teams across. Now, for different companies there were definitely some things that resonated with me and kind of drove those points home. And the best way for me to, to teach people to do that was to share my thoughts, my successes in the form of a book. And in 2023, I actually decided to do that. To take a, a leave of absence from the employment world. And during that was like, you know, now's probably a really good time to reflect on some of those stories. And I wanted the book to be very much conversational. I did not want it to be academic. I did not want be checklist. I wanted it to be really grounded in things that had worked well for me. Through not only my voice, but voices of other individuals that I had worked with or individuals that who had worked for me during my leadership journey. And that what, that's what this is. It's a compilation of stories from, you know, my career that have been beneficial and kind of. Somewhat atypical in America hence the empathy and grace components, to it, because those are not two words that typically come up in, in that in those circles per se. But I do believe it what, it is what makes me stand out a leader as a leader, and I think that's what folks have resonated throughout the book as well.

Teri Schmidt:

Yeah. And it sounds like that was recognized by that leader who asked you to teach others to lead that in the way that you led. And it sounds like not necessarily just because maybe your team was feeling better than others, but obviously they were a high performing team, which is the subtitle of your book. So I'm curious, How did that happen? Especially, you know, you're, you're in a fairly male dominant and very technical industry. How did that infusion of empathy and grace? Help you to lead that team.

Tammy Klotz:

So if I think back to probably the, the first transformational experience that one of my teams had gone through I inherited a team that, you know, really was viewed as sub, performing. And we talked a little bit about, you know, their, their perspectives on what their contributions were. And there was a little bit of resistance to me actually even coming into the role because a lot of that response was based upon, oh, she doesn't know anything about You know, the networking space or the technology space, you know, how is she going to be able to help us? And we really had to break that down. And what that allowed me to do with them is to illustrate to them that, you know, they were contributors to the organization. I was willing to listen to what they had to say and what their thoughts and objectives were. And I was going to represent them and I was going to have their back as long as they gave me good reason to, or. They did not give me a reason not to, right? So so by empowering them for the knowledge and the expertise that they were able to bring to the team and letting them know that I was there to support them became the foundational elements of being able to transform that organization. And that was one of my teams that had a global presence. So half of the team was in the United States. The other half of the team was in Malaysia. And how, how do you do that, right? When you have folks dispersed across the world and you have to be you have to be creative. A lot of times in those situations, right? And, you know, you have to be flexible. So we couldn't always meet during the U. S. morning. We sometimes had to meet during the U. S. evening. And that was a little bit of a change, right? Now, things have come a long way because of COVID and remote working come becoming more, socially accepted as the norm. But, you know, going back then it was, you know, I remember having conversations around like, well, what night of the week is best for you? And they're like well, my favorite TV show is on a Tuesday night. So, and I'm like, yeah, okay. So it w it was an evolution, right? But that empowerment and the, the support of listening and letting them know that I was going to be there for them I think was foundational in, in beginning that transformation and what turned out and how it turned around was very much that the team was very cohesive despite the time zone differences. We had a follow the sun approach of handover and turnover at the end of the day, whosoever day it actually was. And our team meetings were held, you know Jointly amongst all members, but we alternated time. So it was a little bit of that give and take as well. If I, if I roll forward, a little bit. You know, when I probably my, my most recent example was when I was at my last conference. Company. And I had been given basically two teams to bring together and the teams had been through like a lot of uncertainty. They had had five senior leaders in as many years. There was no direction, there was no strategy and they were just like, what are we doing? Right? So bringing them together, we spent a whole week kind of formulating the team. What brought them together as individuals, what made them unique as individuals and really bringing that into kind of the composition because you want to find those things that you can cling to another human being that you have in common with them. And if you're not deliberate about a lot of those, you're never going to discover those. So sharing, you know, Things that folks are comfortable sharing, obviously and then finding those connections brings you together on a different level that is not all work related. And then some of the other things that help build that is consistency in execution, right? Following through on what you say you're going to do. And 1 of the things that I have done historically and continue to do today and my current team is at the end of every team meeting. We have a motivational moment, right? So it's reflective of whatever's happening in the business environment. Maybe what's going on from a personal perspective for somebody and really just providing that kind of oomph to keep people going and stay motivated about what they're doing and how they're contributing.

Teri Schmidt:

Yeah. Yeah. What a great combination of elements that I think wouldn't necessarily come to mind as people are thinking about leading with empathy necessarily. I mean, as simple as you started talking about the time zone issue, you know, it's not all about what's best for us. We're in a globally distributed team, you know, how can, how can we be considerate of others and, and treat others. With as much humanity as we'd like to be treated with ourselves.

Tammy Klotz:

Yes, yes. and And I think the other thing, Terry, that comes up in, in that globally diverse team structure is, you know, everybody has different traditions, different holidays, different beliefs that they recognize and they celebrate and in. Several of my global teams, we always made it a point to make sure we recognize those, you know, not just the traditional ones that those of us who are based in the United States are. But what are the other things that folks are celebrating? What's the meaning behind all of them? And really giving them a chance to talk about, you know, with pride, what fulfills them from a life of Perspective as well. And really keeping our keeping our eyes open to, you know, not just the little world that we live in, but the global world that we're encompassed by. Sure.

Teri Schmidt:

to feel seen. I think just as when you went into that underperforming team and you. Face that resistance and communicated to the team members that, you know, their knowledge was valuable. You help them to feel seen, but in the same way, respecting and honoring people's traditions and celebrations and beliefs helps people to feel seen. And when it comes down to it, I think that's what we all really want. so that's, I can see how that would be very effective.

Tammy Klotz:

Yeah. If I, if I could share one story with you because it does definitely warms my heart and it, it really resonated recently with me again, because going back to that, that team the, the underperforming team, right. We had the opportunity to have the entire team come together in the United States. For a week long training and team building. And we, we spent not 24 seven, but maybe, you know, 18 by seven together because we were doing, you know, not only in, in the office activities, but we were also doing like trips to New York city, or we did you know, some other team building activities. But one of the things that we had done to kind of build on that culture component that you talked about is it was in November. So I did a big Thanksgiving dinner, At my home for the entire team. Right. So for the U S folks, it was like, Oh yeah, we know what Thanksgiving is, but for the folks from Malaysia, they were like, Oh my gosh, this is like so great. And they still talk about that to this day. And I was. I was humbled recently. It was recently my birthday. And now that they're not working for me, they are all connected to me on Facebook. And, I woke up the morning of my birthday and, you know, checked and over 80 percent of them had commented happy birthday. And if that just speaks to the bond that you can form when you instill or display that, that empathy and grace to really bring. It's that human centered approach to leadership

Teri Schmidt:

Mm hmm.

Tammy Klotz:

we're all human beings. And sometimes we forget that when we're, you know, trying to drive to corporate objectives, return, you know, on deliverables and investment and things like that.

Teri Schmidt:

Right. Right. Oh, that's, that's a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing that. You know, I've, I've heard that the fruit of empathy is connection

Tammy Klotz:

I love that actually. I love that.

Teri Schmidt:

and that's a perfect story to display that. So thank you. you. know, and another facet of your career that I was interested in I know you were a single mom through much of your career and that came with its challenges, how have you managed to stay resilient throughout that?

Tammy Klotz:

So great question. And it's definitely, you know, not been easy. But I did, I have two girls that are now almost 21 and 23. But you know, we were a team as we were, you know, as they were growing up, I should say, and you know, one of the things that I needed to do as I tried to balance. You know, my work responsibilities, my mom responsibilities and I was also, I'm still the primary caregiver for my mom, right? So how, how do you deal with that? balance all those hats that we have to wear, right? And it really comes down to establishing for yourself what your boundaries are when you're willing to compromise, what you're willing to compromise, and maybe more importantly, what you're not willing to compromise. So, you know, as the, the, the one parental thinker that my children could count on, it was really around the fact that I was going to be present. At every event that I could be. So whether that was scouts, whether that was sporting, whether that was an end of the week program from camp, whatever that happened to be, I was going to be there because I needed to know that they needed me. that they could depend on me as, as their, as their mom. And, you know, there were some circumstances in which that was challenged, right? Because I was always very over communicative in where I was going to be, when I was going to be where, and there was a particular Friday where the girls actually had a an end of, I think it was a, camp, uh, event or closing program that they were having. And that morning my mom had a doctor appointment and I remember sending out a note to the team and I said, look, I said, I have this and I have that, but I'll be online this afternoon. And again, this was going back probably 15 years now. And my boss at the time, he reached out and he's like, so are you working today? Or are you on vacation today? And I said, well if you're telling me I have to take vacation, I will, but I'm going to ask you a question. I'm going to ask you, is my job getting done? And it kind of stopped him in his tracks. And it really became a pivotal point in our relationship. Because when countered with that question, he really wasn't able to challenge because he couldn't say that my job was not getting done. And it was really about balancing my priorities. And if that means I have to work a couple hours more on Saturday, that's my choice at that point in time. Right? So breaking down those traditional boundaries of, I'm not going to be necessarily, you know, in the office or online from eight to five. But I'm going to get my job done and make sure my get job, my job gets done based upon what my, Personal demands on my time are as well and had that not worked out you know, it probably would have been a situation where I would have looked for a different opportunity that afforded me that flexibility because that was one of those boundaries that I did not want to compromise on.

Teri Schmidt:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like you did the work to clarify what your values are, which then dictated your priorities and your boundaries.

Tammy Klotz:

Absolutely. And, and that's actually reflected. I think there's a story in the book around, around that as well and the recognition of that. Because again, it was before remote working was really a thing or, or socially accepted. And, you know, and my kids, My kids today will speak about that. And even, even with going back to the global part of it, right, there were often times where I would have to have meetings in the evening. Right. So, you know, it was a respect with the girls that they understood that I had those responsibilities. But most of the time I would try to schedule them when after they were in bed, right. And that, that was how I prioritized and balance that, that work and life balance.

Teri Schmidt:

Yeah. Yeah. Leading to your resilience. It sounds like, and, and how has that resilience then Enabled you to lead with that empathy and grace that you talk about in your book.

Tammy Klotz:

Yeah, I think resilience is a very I guess special word for me, much like grace is, And one of the things that I can say, you know, we all have life traumas that in most cases are unexpected. And, you know, there's a lot to be said about that. It's, it's not about the situation itself, but it's about how you respond and how you react to the situation. And you know, a lot of times it's hard to maintain a positive attitude as you're going through A situation that is certainly not positive, but between, you know, going through a divorce dealing with a suicide death, dealing with a mom who is, you know has a cancer diagnosis, there were all of those things that, you know, life, life happens and I don't share that for, you know, a pity or anything like that. It's just been a part of, you know, yeah. My life and I could have, you know, crawled in a hole after each one of those and said, I can't do this anymore. But honestly, what kept me going is because I was the person for my girls and I had to persevere and I was the primary provider. So how am I going to do that? Most effectively, right? So that resiliency and your ability to be able to respond after a crisis and bounce back becomes, you know, fundamental to survival. And it's, I think it's interesting now that I've ended up in the cybersecurity world, right? Resilience is one of the key things that we talk about after there is a, you know, an attack and it's not about how. It's not about the fact that you were attacked, it's about how you respond and how you react to that is how you're perceived by the public, by your customers, by your employees, et cetera. So it definitely, you know, those parallels between my personal life and now my professional life, one probably wouldn't naturally go there. But it's. something that I've been able to kind of pull from both both worlds to demonstrate the need for resiliency and how you can benefit or not depending upon how you handle a particular situation.

Teri Schmidt:

Yeah, that's fascinating, taking that out of the world of cyber security and you know, thinking about it in that regard and the parallels and what you can learn from both sides and apply to the other side, I think is, yeah, it definitely has me thinking.

Tammy Klotz:

Yeah, good, good.

Teri Schmidt:

Yeah. So, you know, you have had success as, as a female leader going throughout your career. If you were sitting across from a woman who was just entering her first people leadership role, this is the first time she has direct reports. What's one piece of advice that you would give her?

Tammy Klotz:

So one piece of advice would be to take the time and make the time to invest in your people. Really get to know them as individuals, understand what makes them tick, what motivates them and what what forms of recognition do they most need. And that's not usually a set of direct questions that you're asking those direct reports. You're, you're engaging them and exploring, you know, them as an individual as a person. and then, you know, the challenge then becomes, you have to be careful because. There are some people who are going to be willing to share more or share less, and that's okay, because you never want to put them outside of their comfort zone. One of the things that I've always done is I've been very transparent in my leadership with my team. So they get to know me as a human being, as an individual, not just quote as their boss in that situation, right? And, you know, it's one of those things that, things that, you know, then people are always like, well, but, you know, then you're walking on the borderline between, you know, you're not just their superior. You're now kind of like dipping into that, that friend area. And there are definitely boundaries that need to be maintained. But I find that if you build that relationship explore that personal side that develops The level of trust and respect in a relationship, a working relationship, so that when things are not great, in the work environment or perhaps you have, you know, less than positive news to share. It is always received better because of that relationship that you've actually formed. So you're able to one, apply empathy, And give grace in those situations. And then it in, in turn is given back to you as well. So my advice is as a new people leader, don't be afraid to do the people part of it, right? It's definitely the harder part. And it can be exhausting. Especially if there are, you know, Direct reports who need a little bit more coaching than maybe some others. But it's about fair, being fair and being equitable as well. You know, you, you have to make sure that, you know, you're giving equal time to everybody on the team, making, you're making sure that you're available when they need you. And I always, always, whenever I do a one on one, I try to wrap that conversation up with, what can I help you with? Is there anything you need for me to help you be successful? And that shows them, you know, I think in some cases the element of grace as well, that you're willing to, to be there for them.

Teri Schmidt:

Right. Right. Just like you started off in the first story, you have their back. You're going to be there for them. Yeah. And I think that sharing, you know, again, getting back to what you said before, you know, knowing your values so that you can know your priorities and your boundaries can help you to make sure that sharing is done in a way that. Is aligned with those values aligned with, you know, the boundaries that you need to have, and it also helps people to see you as human. So if you are, like you said, delivering bad news it's not like it's just coming out of a computer, you know, it's,

Tammy Klotz:

Correct. Correct. yeah, absolutely. And, and it, it, it's also, you know, they, they understand that it's not a message, an easy message for me to deliver either. But because of that respect, it, it is, I won't say it's well received, but it's better received than without that.

Teri Schmidt:

You know, a question for you about the book, what, what is one hope that you have for the book or if, you know, if there's something that you definitely wanted someone to take away from it or a definite impact you wanted it to have, what would that be?

Tammy Klotz:

So I think the the, the key message or takeaway for the readers of the book is, is not to be afraid of being empathetic. Because I think, you know, one of the things that people always say is that, oh, those are soft skills, right? Well, soft skills just parlays this squishy, Thing, right. And, you know, that's not, you know, people want like hard return on investment or what are your quantitative versus qualitative results and those types of things. And I think, you know, by the examples that I share in the book, it demonstrates for folks that, you know, being able to relate to people on a personal level is not only okay, it can be extremely, beneficial as you build your teams, right? So not to be afraid of that. Look at empathy and grace. That's critical skills, not as soft skills. And, you know, kind of go out of your comfort zone. And, you know, what I have found works extremely well is using tangible items for folks to kind of touch and hold on to. So one of the things that I had done At my last company is as part of that motivational moment. Things were a little bit bumpy. There was a lot of change going on in the corporation. Folks were overwhelmed. The stress levels were high. And, you know, you have to like, kind of reach outside that world and remind folks of, you know, what's important. And so 1 of the things that I had done is I had I had looked on Etsy right and found these little vials of pixie dust and you know, there's the quote from Peter Pan and Tinkerbell around. All it takes is a little bit of faith and trust and pixie dust, right? So you know, and now most of my team is, is Men. Right? So this is like a stretch, right? But I gave every one of them a little key chain that was symbolic of kind of what we were going through. And the reward for me is when I saw it on their desk, when it was tagged to their back back, they took it home and shared it with their kids because it gave them that. tangible, touchable thing as a reminder as simple as it is, as subtle as it is, it was a trigger to kind of reground everybody. So I would say, don't be afraid to do those things and get in touch on the, on the personal side.

Teri Schmidt:

Yeah. Yeah. Great advice. Thank you. And so a question we ask almost all of our guests, what does strong leader serve mean to you? Mm hmm.

Tammy Klotz:

So when I think about that phrase, strong leader serve, I think about it as serving the people who work for me. And being everything that I can be as an individual to help make them successful. So I think if you think about it from a direct reporting relationship, that's kind of the you know, the feed forward, right? But then at the same time, it's the Thinking about how do I, as an individual, serve my leadership as well. And that is also then founded in the transparency of the communications that I have and relate to them. And then being very fact based and, you know, removing, you know, what, especially in, in the world of cyber, when there is an event going on, you can get so caught up in the adrenaline and you know, kind of the noise that is happening, but you've got to ground everybody and bring everybody back. So serving, you know, is making sure that I am providing the right information at the right level to the right people.

Teri Schmidt:

Mm hmm. Well, thank you for bringing that unique perspective of what that looks like in, in cyber because it is, you know, service can take so many different forms, and I appreciate you calling that out.

Tammy Klotz:

Absolutely. Thank you.

Teri Schmidt:

Well, Tammy, obviously you're going to recommend the book and include that in the show notes. If people are interested in learning more about you or getting in touch with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Tammy Klotz:

So the best way right now is to look me up on LinkedIn. That is where my social presence is. I'm doing some work right now to get a website stood up, but it's not quite ready yet. But so LinkedIn is the way to go. Send me a connection request. Tell, tell me how you heard about me and where, you know, what, what triggered in your mind of what I shared with Terry today. Check out the book on Amazon. It is available. If you like what you read, write a review and I would be happy to engage or come talk, whatever it is that would be helpful for anybody who takes the time to read the book and learn some of what's worked for me.

Teri Schmidt:

Excellent. Well, thank you for taking the time to put your learnings into a book so that it can benefit so many others. And thank you for the time discussing it today.

Tammy Klotz:

Sure. Thanks for the opportunity, Terry. I really appreciate it.

Teri Schmidt:

It was such a pleasure to get to talk to Tammy. And so once again, a big thank you to her for sharing her insights on leading globally distributed teams with empathy and grace. Thank you as always for listening and don't forget to check out Tammy's book, Leading with Empathy and Grace, available on Amazon. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn to continue the conversation. And until next time, lead with this quote by Brene Brown in mind, Empathy is simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message. Of you are not alone