ResEdChat Ep 79: Asking the Question: How Does it Feel to Work Here? with Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros

Crystal Lay:
Hello and welcome back to Roompact’s ResEdChat podcast, where we highlight cool people who do cool things and talk about cool stuff in residence life and college student housing. I’m your host, Crystal Lay. I use the she/her/hers pronouns. I am excited, super excited about our guest today. I have known this person for a little over 18 years, we figured out. And I’m excited about this person because our topic today will be on workplace culture, and they were a huge part of helping me in my journey to become a new mom at one of my prior institutions. And we’re a part of making that campus feel family-friendly and supportive as they actually had the opportunity to supervise and support my staff while I was at home maternity leave. And I did it without any worries, any concerns. And I just think this is a fabulous human who’s doing some amazing work.
And so again, we’re going to talk about workplace culture. We’re going to talk about some really, really cool topics as they apply to housing and making sure we’re taking care of our humans and also ourselves. And so with that really long intro and my excitement, I’m going to turn it over so our guest can introduce herself.

Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros:
Thank you, Crystal. I know I was smiling so big as you were saying all of those things because those really positive and beautiful memories came back. But hello, everyone. My name is Erica Aros. I am a workplace and leadership consultant. I also hold a formal role as a director of employee engagement at a large four-year institution. And I’m so happy to be here with you, and just thank you so much for having me here.

Crystal Lay:
Of course. Of course. So let’s get right into our topic. Okay, so your work is being a workplace culture consultant. Can you define workplace culture? What is it? What does that mean?

Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros:
Okay, well, first I’m going to give you the simple answer and then I’ll go into what that means. In my mind, it is what determines how people feel when they come to work. And there could be invisible aspects to that and there could be tangible aspects to that. And the invisible things that contribute to workplace culture could be physical and psychological safety, feeling accepted, an inclusive environment, feeling like you belong or you’re a part of something. And then also just what is considered acceptable behavior in that culture, such as, is it okay to laugh and have fun while we’re working? Is it okay to bring your dogs or your kids to work? Is it okay to show up in the office in your workout gear or do you have to be dressed very professionally? And so all those norms and acceptable behaviors is something that the workplace culture dictates based on what the leaders of that workplace set the tone for.
Then the tangible things that we’re talking about could be, what’s the makeup? What’s the physical makeup of the office? Does it encourage collaborative opportunities? Is it all cubicles and really no setting to get together as groups? Are there free meals? Are there snacks around for the staff to refresh themselves throughout the day? We know in tech companies, there’s onsite gyms and maybe even onsite childcare, things that in higher education we don’t have. Or maybe we do, but we have to pay a little price for it, but it’s there. And then maybe even the aesthetics of the office. Is it lively? Is it bright? Or is it all white walls institutional where it doesn’t really inspire creativity or feel homey? So those are all the things that I consider when I think of workplace culture.

Crystal Lay:
I am so glad you defined it for us. And then also you shared different questions that I think folks ask when they’re looking for a job place. And I’m going to add snacks to my list because I want to laugh and eat snacks at my job.
So no, there’s a lot of really cool pieces. And I think it sounds like there’s space to ask those questions and there’s permission to ask those things if they’re important to you. So as folks are going on that journey or they’re thinking about what they want, what are some signs that folks should look for that signal good culture versus bad or toxic culture? And then whether it be doing a job interview or the leader of a team, how do you know good versus bad culture?

Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros:
Okay. So when we think about good or bad culture, we also have to acknowledge the fact that that can be subjective and also it could be something for different people. So what I encourage folks to do is, first and foremost, decide on what you need in a workplace culture. What would make you comfortable?
So I’ve mentioned laughing and having fun at work. That’s what I want. But for someone who is more introverted, and not to say that that’s the only reason why you wouldn’t want a workplace culture of laughter and fun, but maybe that makes you nervous or maybe that makes you feel pressure to join in on it when that’s just not your personality. And so when you think about, “What do I want?” So for me, I want a fun environment. I want flexibility. I want a caring manager. So those are things that I personally want when I go to work.
So what are those things? Maybe at least come up with three before you go into any kind of interview and have those in mind before you start observing the workplace. Okay, so once you have those three things in mind, you want to start observing the interactions between the committee members and maybe the staff that you during your visit if it’s in person.
Just take note. While you’re sitting there waiting for them to grab you for the interview, see how the front desk is interacting with you or see how they’re interacting with each other. Is it a fun, lively environment? Which is what I would look for. Or is it everybody’s really busy working and everybody’s keeping to themselves? Again, that could be what you want.
So then after that, I would say ask those questions in the interview. When it’s your turn to ask questions, you are trying to decide if it’s a fit for you. And I know everybody has heard that already, or most people have heard that already, but take that opportunity with intention. When you come up with those three things, make sure that those questions that you’re asking are aligned with some of those things so that you really get a clear answer. And they could lie. The truth is they could just pretend that it’s what you want it to be, but as long as you have made it clear that that’s what you’re looking for, you have the opportunity to help influence that type of culture when you come on board because you’ve already said that that’s what you’re looking for, and so they know that’s what they’re going to get. And as long as you uphold those values or those things that you want your workplace to be, then you could actually influence the culture to become that.
Other things that I would want to say, because this is an example of an experience I’ve had, is pay attention to the way the supervisor talks about their staff. And whether this is in the interview, sometimes the supervisor’s not in the interview, but if you get a chance to meet with the interview, how are they talking about their staff?
So I’ll share my one example, and I won’t use any names. When I first met with the supervisor of a department I was about to join, the person was running through the list of people I would supervise, and then they say, “Oh, and so-and-so is going to be retiring in two weeks.” And I said, “Oh, great.” So I’m writing down retirements for this person. And she said, “Yeah, we’re having a party.” I’m like, “Okay, party,” I’m writing it down. And then she says, “And she’s not invited.” And I was like, “Did I hear that correctly?” And I said, “What?”

Crystal Lay:
Wow.

Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros:
And she said, “Yeah, it’s a party to celebrate her retirement and she’s not invited.” I was so shocked. That was the very first red flag that I saw in what I was coming into. And at that point it was already a done deal, but at least that information gave me an idea of how I might need to approach that department. And along those lines, the halls were very quiet, doors were closed, not a lot of chatter, and I think it’s because of that toxic leadership.

Crystal Lay:
Wow. I am picking my jaw off the floor. I think those things happen. I believe you 110%. And to think it’s nice that folks show their cards as you’re coming into a system or even hopefully they show it during the interview so you can make some decisions for yourself and what you would like to be a part of.
What I appreciated most about what you just shared, Erica, is you talked about knowing what you want prior to the search. What are your three things? What are your five things that are important to you in a work environment? They’re non-negotiables maybe, like, “I have to have these things to feel like I can be my best self in the workplace.” And then I know what to look for throughout my process. It makes it easier to say yes or no if you have an offer that comes from that particular university or that company. Your example, that makes me sad. And again, I know that those types of things do happen.
So one of the things that I know I look for to determine good culture or toxic culture in a particular place, diversity and inclusion, really, really important to me. And so can you talk about the role that diversity and inclusion can play in workplace culture?

Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros:
Sure. I guess I should have also said that when you are interviewing for a job at an institution, take a look at the diversity of the panel. Take a look at the diversity of the staff that are around, even the student assistants. Is there diversity there? Do they look like they come from diverse backgrounds because just because they have different racial or ethnic identities, do they look like they have the ability to express themselves through their clothes, through their language, through all those things?
And so I think it’s important because when it’s accepted, when diversity and inclusion are valued in an institution or that organization or department, you can then come as your authentic self. But if you feel like you have to fit in with all the people who are there that don’t quite match your background or your personality, then you may not be at your best. You may not do your best work.
And along with a diverse workforce comes richer ideas, more inclusive practices. In higher education, we’re always programming. We’re always planning events, we’re planning mentorship programs, all kinds of things. And when we design those programs or when we design those events, are we keeping a diverse population in mind?
I’ll use disability as an example because I’ve had experience working in a disability office. Are they inclusive to those with disabilities? So are we asking them what kind of accommodations they might need in that event or in that program? So if you don’t have people who are diversity, equity, inclusion-minded in the staff and can also speak from personal experience, we may forget a lot of those things and then not reach all the students we need to reach, not reach all the people that we want to come to these things. And we spend money on these things. And so we already know budget is always an issue. So when we are thinking about the best bang for our buck and the kind of programming that we do, we need to make sure that we’re reaching all the people we intend to reach.
And then lastly, just continued learning. I think that being around a diverse staff means that you’re constantly learning. I will never know what it’s like to be somebody other than what I am, but I can learn from those who are different than me. I can learn best ways to include them in the things that I do inside and outside of work. So absolutely, it makes a huge difference in the workplace.

Crystal Lay:
You just said, “I will never know what it’s like to be someone who is not me, but I can learn.” That’s so powerful, and I hope that folks can have that mindset of naming, “I will not be you. I will not know or experience your life and how you show up in the world. And I am committed as an employer, a colleague, a friend.” Pick your title or affiliation. “I’m committed to making sure that I learn enough to provide a supportive and positive working environment for you.” And I think that’s a message to leadership and folks who do recruitment and bring on folks to the team, is what can we do to make sure that folks feel like they can be a part of who we are and who we hope to be, right?

Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros:
Absolutely.

Crystal Lay:
So I want to talk about Residence Life and Housing because that’s the podcast and I also know your background, right? That’s how we met, was with Residence Life. So in Residence Life and Housing, as you know, many folks live where they work. How might that dynamic impact or shape culture in a department?

Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros:
Okay. So this is coming from someone who has worked in Res Ed or Res Life for since my sophomore year in undergrad all the way through four years outside of my grad program. So I don’t even know how many years that is, but it’s a lot. It’s a lot. Probably eight years. And I will say I have made long-lasting friendships, you being one of them, Crystal. But just through that experience of living on campus and being around and seeing each other as we are at home and at work, I mean I watched you go through your whole pregnancy. I even roomed you during a retreat while you were pregnant. And so we see so much of each other inside and outside of work. And I think because of that, there’s so much bonding that happens and that it creates such rich friendships that I really cherish to this day with a lot of those folks that I’ve been in Res Life with.
On the flip side, it comes with a lot of drama. It just depends. There’s a lot of personalities that clash, and I have had my share of that too. Living in the residence halls, it’s just there’s a tendency for live on professional staff to get together a lot and socialize together, go out, hang out at each other’s apartments, and sometimes personalities clash and then there’s cliques or there’s, I hate to say it, but sometimes bullying and exclusion and things like that that are really hard to deal with where you live where you work. And so it’s almost like you can’t really get away from it if it’s not the most positive.
But to combat that, I would say have boundaries. Have boundaries. The people that maybe don’t mesh well with you, it’s okay, knowing in your mind that, “It’s okay if we don’t get along. It’s okay if we’re not friends, we still work together. Let’s have a professional positive relationship with each other at work, but we don’t need to hang out outside of the office.” You get to choose who you get to invite over to your apartment, you get to choose whose place to go to if there’s something going on. And if you don’t think that it’s going to be a positive experience for you, you can pass. I know that that means you may not be included in a lot of the things, so therefore try your best to have a life outside of work too.
I know that we are constantly working in places where we might not have families because that’s just the nature of student affairs and Residence Life, living away from home or living away from your support system, but be intentional about creating a support system outside of where you live in res halls. So I think that as long as you have that balance, then it can be a very positive experience. I’ll say I didn’t want to leave Res Life. I only did it because I had gotten married at that point, we wanted to buy a house while it was still affordable and we wanted to start a family. Otherwise, I was very happy working for res halls, Res Life and living on campus. So yeah, that’s what I would say about that.

Crystal Lay:
You said a lot of things that I think being outside of housing now you can say. I think for myself being a director, I think about how do I have those conversations with my entry level or career folks who do live in without sounding like the old person? I don’t live in anymore. And I’ve seen some stuff and I have stories and I want to be helpful. I don’t know if folks are always open to hearing that, and so I wonder how within the group folks can have those conversations about boundaries. Who’s the person you can bring in to facilitate some of those conversations? Because it’s really tricky because now I’m getting involved in your personal life. I’m getting involved in who can be your friend and who can’t be your friend. And then I don’t want drama. And so I think if it gets to me that there’s an issue and it’s just awkward and I have to deal with it.
And so I like the pieces that you’re talking about. And I encourage folks to think about, “What do I need when I live on? What are the expectations I have of myself and my peers? Am I okay with not getting the invite?” And then between levels, whether it be student staff, graduate staff, and then our full-timers, what’s appropriate? What are relationships that are appropriate? And then who defines appropriate? I think there’s a whole host of things that come up when you live in and how do we create space to talk about that because it is a really different dynamic to some of our other positions and then definitely some other industries out there. So yeah, a lot to chew on there, but just appreciative that you talked about that piece and the impact positive and sometimes messy that come up in our culture.
So you may or may not be aware, Erica, but right now there’s a lot of debate on whether or not folks should go into student affairs, whether or not folks should go into housing. And so based on what you may know just from your work, what do you think needs to happen to recruit and retain our housing professionals?

Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros:
Yes, I do know that there’s a crisis right now. We can’t retain our staff in student affairs. And I think what it comes down to is we need our basic needs met. I know that, I mentioned it before, budget is always an issue. Some universities and institutions, colleges are at the mercy of the state budget and may not have a lot of freedom with what kind of budget allocations they get, and therefore oftentimes student affairs professionals feel like salaries are just not where they need to be to be able to make a living. I think that’s the biggest problem overall. I don’t know how to fix it because I’m not in politics and I don’t know how those decisions are made as far as how budget gets allocated, but that is something we can’t always control. I just want to say that though because I do know that that’s what’s on most people’s minds, is how much we get paid.
The nice thing about living on in Residence Life is that a lot of times your rent is free, you get meal plans and you don’t necessarily have to spend a lot on gas because you’re not commuting. So those are some definite positive things for recruiting, is highlighting those benefits that you get as a live on staff, if it’s live-in.
The other thing that we can do to balance out the lack of higher salaries is having caring supervisors. And I like to call caring supervisors mentor supervisors. That’s kind of the term that I use in my consulting, is we want to create a mentor culture where we have supervisors who have a mentoring approach, not a manager approach. So if you have a caring manager, that means you are perhaps not always overworked. We know in higher education and in Res Life there’s always those peak seasons where we can’t take time off, we might be working longer hours. But there are also those times where we have the ability to lessen the load because there’s no emergencies or no big deadlines or big things going on.
So as caring managers, we also have to consider, “What are those seasons? Let’s do some workload mapping, let’s look at the hotspots in our season and see when it’s really busy so I can help my staff get mentally prepared for that and also to give them the resources they might need.” Maybe during that really busy season we’re providing a little bit more refreshments, we’re providing more time to decompress, maybe some social gatherings to kind of even out the intensity of the work that we’re doing. But then when it’s off season, encouraging staff to take breaks, to take vacation, to go somewhere outside of town so that they can relax, refresh, rejuvenate.
Then lastly, I’d say professional development opportunities are really important as far as how we can retain our staff. I know that when I was a resident director, I had multiple opportunities to go through leadership programs on site and also system-wide. And I’ll never forget those programs. They were huge in shaping my leadership skills, networking. And I feel like it set me on the right track to think about leadership. And so, we know that Res Life folks may be moving on, especially if they’re in those frontline positions where it’s really intense and maybe not meant for folks to stay in for 10 years. So how can we help them to think about what’s next? Guiding them toward other opportunities, future opportunities, because it can be scary for them to leave such a comfortable space where they have housing, meals, et cetera. That’s just the beginning, I guess.

Crystal Lay:
This is good stuff. This is really good stuff. You’re naming the pros that come with living on campus while also naming that we do have to make sure that folks feel prepared and ready. And so what is our responsibility as leaders and employers to provide additional opportunities? And then maybe also be transparent about funding where it comes from, what we can and cannot do.
I like how you talked about what are the high points, what are the low points. I think sometimes we have to name it’s okay to be away. I never want folks to feel like they’re tethered to their community or to their role, and naming, “It is okay to go away. We have an on-call system. We have all these things in place. You can trust that your humans will be okay when you leave to go take some time away. You don’t have to give out your cell phone number.” And I know that’s not the same at every institution. And so I invite folks to think about what are the things you can do within your organization that are reasonable and feel really good to honor folks’ time away, but then also all of the things they have to get done in these roles that could be not just physically demanding but also emotionally taxing because some of the things that you see and experience, particularly when you’re in a live-on role and/or have crisis response pieces attached to that. So thank you for naming that.
So I think the other part of this is not just instituting stuff, like, “Here’s a pizza party and a T-shirt” because folks don’t want that. So I want to talk about feedback. How do you figure out what folks want? How do you figure out what the culture is so you can begin to do some work? And so I guess my question for you, Erica, is really, what are some strategies that can be utilized to foster open communication and the collection of feedback in housing or Residence Life?

Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros:
Number one, normalize it. Normalize having those open conversations. And you can do this by, first of all, nurturing those individual with whether you are a staff member with your supervisor and normalizing that, asking for feedback, asking for coaching. And I actually like to use coaching or mentoring instead of feedback because I feel like feedback, there’s some anxiety that comes with that term. It doesn’t have to be bad, but you just don’t know to what extent how people feel about that word. So sometimes when I’m having a feedback conversation with someone, I say, “This is a coaching conversation. I am here to help you be stronger with this information I’m sharing with you.”
But it also means that in those conversations you’re having, you’re asking, “How are you feeling about the workplace? How are you feeling here? Do you feel like you’re coming to work happy? Do you feel like you’re really stressed right now?” And then modeling that vulnerability because how do they know it’s okay to say that they’re not having the best time right now? You might share, “It’s tough for me right now. I feel kind of stressed, so I totally get it if you feel stressed too.” So we want to model that, model that openness.
Let’s see. I’m also thinking the appreciation side of things. Feedback. It can also be positive feedback. It could be sharing what went well or pointing something out to someone to make them feel good. It could be something as small as a great email that they wrote that you were copied on and just saying, “You were so clear in that email and you had a great tone and I love your writing style.” Something as simple as that. Or it could be something as big as, “Oh my gosh, you were the biggest help for this event and you were out there doing your thing. I loved seeing you in your element, you were shining today.” And the balance of that positive appreciation and feedback with the coaching and the things, “Hey, let’s work on these things,” then I feel like that creates more openness to be able to share.
And maybe then they might share about some things that aren’t going so well in the workplace that at first they were scared to tell you, but now that you’re having a lot of open conversations, now they feel comfortable sharing it with you.
And like you said, getting involved in some of the drama that happens between personnel, just like the personal drama that happens. I would encourage supervisors to not necessarily tell them what to do because it is their personal life, but ask them reflective questions to help them decide what they should do, to help them decide how they feel about things and what they want changed. It’s not us giving the answers, it’s helping them figure out what the answer is.

Crystal Lay:
Yes. And I’ve seen some supervisors who just want to fix it, “I want to tell you what to do or I’m going to fix it. I’m giving advice.” And so your terminology of coaching, coaching is not in the workplace. It’s not telling someone what to do. It’s helping them find answers, from my understanding, because as I’m learning more about coaching. And so I like that piece about reflective questions. “What would you like to do? What would you like to see?” You even talked about like, “How do you feel working here?” and inviting that in.
I think when you think about positionality, I do take all of my new humans to get coffee. I try to do it within the first six weeks of them starting and then things get busy. And so I’m like, “If I do it within the first semester, I have succeeded.” And so I take them to get coffee and I say to them, “This is not a evaluative, right? I’m not judging you. I want to just connect with you and learn about who you are as a human and how I can support you on your journey here,” which I think can sometimes be a little tricky, this director and then an entry-level human. And I truly care about all of my team at every level. And so folks have bandwidth and hopefully genuine interest. Getting to know your team members at every level can help normalize feedback, and that’s what you started with, the normalization of feedback.
I think too, naming you will not get in trouble or fired for sharing feedback. Now, you didn’t say that part, Erica, but I want to offer that up because I think some of our cultures, there is fear. And there are some places that that is the culture and that’s very, very real. And so my question for you is like, how do you protect yourself or how do you balance what you should share and not share? What’s that? I put you on the spot here with this question, but just, are there any recommendations for, “There’s this thing happening and my director wants to have coffee with me, do I share it or not?” How do you gauge that?

Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros:
I think it depends first on what your relationship is with the person you are thinking about sharing it with. And that’s why relationship building is so important. And starting off setting the tone with taking them out to coffee once they first get there, a lot of that foundation building happens at the very beginning. They need to know who you are, what your intentions are, your heart. I mean the soft side of it is they need to know your heart. And if you show that you have best intentions and you help them to feel that from you, then as a staff member, I will feel more comfortable sharing that with a supervisor who has already shown me who they are from the very beginning. So hopefully, it won’t even get to the point where they feel fear, but I know that that does happen.
So then what do you do when you don’t have that relationship with the supervisor and you’re not sure whether to tell them first? I would hold off first and maybe talk with mentors about it. Get those thoughts out unfiltered with someone you trust, maybe someone who even understands the field or understands the work that you’re doing. So get it out unfiltered. Ask your mentors to help you come up with a language to be able to share it with a supervisor who you are not really sure will take it well or negatively.
So there could be some strategies that you can share that feedback in a way that’s not personal, in a way that’s not emotional, but sharing it as facts or observations and then asking questions to the supervisor about, “What do you think about this? So here’s what I’ve heard or here’s what I’ve observed. What do you think about it? How can we, together, try to resolve this issue that is perhaps perceived and very real for some, but for some non-existent?” Because it just depends on the perspective.

Crystal Lay:
That’s so helpful. When folks come to my office to share things with me, and it happens a lot, so you have to find your joy too. You’re like, “I am in a role. I hear a lot of stuff.” And I like that my door is open. And so I’ve had to balance that with, “Well, how do I find my joy and look for moments of things we’re doing really well?” Because things aren’t all bad. But I think that’s the piece too, is how open are you and how do you balance that out to hold space for many experiences and perspectives. But I think I like that piece, or what I try to do is, “Thanks for sharing this with me. Have you thought about how we can move forward? Do you have any solutions or thoughts in mind? Let’s talk through it or tell me more.” And being curious versus being defensive.
And so I think those are some of the pieces too for leadership is, as you’re hearing these pieces, leaning in and saying, “Tell me more” and being supportive versus being defensive because then that person may not come back to you, right? And so I like the mentor piece too. Always talk to someone that you trust first and/or talk to, is it human resources, it Ombuds, is there someone on your campus that’s separate from your department who is trusted, confidential and can help you piece through some different pieces and come up with some strategies as well? So this was really helpful. I was like, “I’m going to write this down for myself.” My work is fine. I’m good. Let me put that, let me say that. But you share some cool pieces.
So is there anything else that you would like to share about workplace culture that would be helpful? And/or if folks want to learn more, do you have any recommendations for where they can start?

Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros:
Okay. The thing that I’ll say about workplace culture is that managers, supervisors, leaders of the organization, it is heavily on you. And while everyone contributes to the workplace culture, no matter what level, everyone has the ability to influence workplace culture. But are you going to have your team fight against a workplace culture to try and get to a place that they feel valued and included and comfortable? Or are you going to set the tone so that it’s not an uphill battle for your staff?
So managers, supervisors, this is a call-out to you to really reflect on the type of workplace culture you think is going to help your staff thrive because it’s not about you, it’s about your team and making sure that they feel at their best to do the best work that they can for the students that we serve. And so it may not be comfortable for you all the time, but as long as it’s something that helps create positivity and inclusiveness, that’s the goal. So I’ll say that. So it’s on supervisors heavily, okay.
The other things that I can recommend, some books, some podcasts. One book that I just finished listening to, it’s a book and audiobook, and I’m going to hold it up because this is so funny. A student assistant gave this to me because he was able to get it at an event for free. And he’s like, “You would like this. I feel like you would like it.” So I didn’t know anything about Patti Perez, that’s the author, VP of Workplace Strategy with Emtrain. So I’m like, “Yeah, we’ll see if it’s any good.” I started reading the first couple of pages and I’m like, “Oh my gosh, this is so good.”
And then because I’m more of an audiobook person, I started looking for it on my Libby app, and I found it. It’s actually on Libby app and it’s free. So I listened to the whole thing. And I’ll just say it covers sexual harassment prevention, DEI, ethical lapses, best practices for policymaking. And then she also provides helpful language to use in your policies and even the way that you talk with your staff. As well as at the back of the book, there’s a whole DIY roadmap for creating a healthy workplace culture. I think she covers so many things that are both technical and the psychological safety piece. It’s very direct and practical. So that’s my favorite book right now. I even reached out to her on LinkedIn because I’m like, “I just wanted you to know that I’m just loving your book.” And she responded and said, “Oh, I’m so glad. Let’s stay connected.”

Crystal Lay:
Awesome. I love it.

Dr. Erica Alcantara Aros:
I use gallop.com a lot. The Workplace part of Gallup, so gallup.com/workplace. That’s where I get my employee engagement framework. That’s where I get a lot of articles that are really useful and relevant to today. Podcast-wise, I love listening to 9 to 5 with theSkimm. That is short interviews with high level leaders. They’re women mostly, or I think they’re all women. But just listening to them talk about their careers and workplace, it kind of validates a lot of what I feel and what I do, and it helps me to realize that these are really successful high level executive leaders who are doing the same thing.
And then lastly, of course, I can’t help but plug my consulting business as a resource for workplace culture. My business is called Mentor Culture Consulting, so mentorcultureconsulting.com. I’m available to do trainings to help your supervisors become mentor supervisors. I have a whole framework based on my research. I can do speaking events, I could do workplace consulting, kind of like this. Just what are the issues in your team right now? And then strategize ways based in research and all the things that I’ve read to help contribute to a more positive and healthy workplace.

Crystal Lay:
You are brilliant. I have so enjoyed listening to all the different pieces that you’ve shared. The resources sound fantastic. I’m already writing them down so I can go look some pieces up. And so Erica, I can’t thank you enough for spending time with us and sharing all these pieces, which I know will be really helpful and challenge leaders and supervisors to ask some different questions and hopefully show up differently. And so I will answer your call. I want to show up as a supervisor and leader of my department to support my team differently and better and more and create space for continued feedback that feels good for everyone. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Definitely delightful.
And for y’all listening, thank you so much for joining us on this episode of ResEdChat. If you have an idea of a topic or a person that you would like us to talk to, please do not hesitate to reach out and let us know, and take care.