Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Welcome everyone. Thanks for joining us for today’s episode. If your job feels more like a bad relationship than a calling, today’s guest might just be your career therapist. Renee March joins us to talk about career pivots, personal engagement drivers, and how leaders can stop guessing and start aligning with what actually drives individuals happiness at work.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Let’s go.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): So Renee, thanks for joining us today.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): It’s my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): So good to have you. We’re excited to dive into the conversation. First, I want to introduce you a little bit. So um Renee, her HR journey began in 1996 when she answered a new newspaper ad looking for a people person. She faxed in her resume and landed a job as a head hunter, now called an executive recruiter. I like that name better. Since then, I’ve worked all across.
 

 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Oh, she can come back. Sorry. Yeah. No, that’s fine.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): It’s okay.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): I have notes here, too, so don’t feel bad like I’m. I make sure I have my bullet points.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): No, this makes me feel good because I messed up dozens of times and she never does. So, like finally, All right.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Listen, it’s all all about being human. And I talk about that in my work all the time.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Do you want me to just start at my part? Yeah. Okay. Rene’s HR journey began in 1996 when she answered a newspaper looking for a people person. She faxed in a resume and landed a job as a head hunter now called an executive recruiter. Since then, she’s worked across all areas of HR for the p but for the past 15 years, she’s focused on career development and employee engagement. After experiencing toxic workplaces and seeing too many talented people feel stuck, she made it her mission to make work better.
 
 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Today, she helps people and organizations align with the 11 engagement drivers that we’re going to go into today for employee happiness because engagement drives results. And that is what the whole podcast is all about. We completely believe in that too. So tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into this career coaching.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Sure. Um, so I’ll add on a personal note because I’ll talk about my family a little bit. They are my inspiration for pretty much everything I do. So I’ve been married to my college sweetheart for about 26 years now.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Oh, congrats.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Yeah. And if anyone were to ever ask me who do you admire most in life, it’s my husband. I know that sounds really cheesy, but it’s true for me. Um, and then we have these three incredible young men that we’ve raised. Uh, our oldest is going to be 25 in October and our twins are 22. And the reason I say they’re my inspiration for what I’m doing is they are, uh, what’s the word I’m looking for?
 
 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Fervently, emphatically, um, chasing their dreams. I have um our oldest just got his masters as a strength and conditioning coach. So, he is applying all over the country for jobs at colleges. And we’ve got one son who just um uh graduated with his degree in sports broadcasting. And I’ll brag a little bit, he won a national award three years in a row. So, I’m really proud.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Oh. Oh my gosh.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): And um we and our other son is in Savannah College of Art and Design um pursuing an acting uh there in their acting conservatory. So my husband and I when we went to college were in the early 90s and we studied what we thought we would be good at. We never really considered what we wanted to do. So it took us a long time to find that. Um for me it just ended up being in HR because it truly was all about people. But there are so many verticals in human resources, like technology or finance.
 
 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): There’s so many different avenues to go in and I’ve been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to really dip my toe in each of them.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Well, it’s

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): But to your point in my bio, I experienced so many toxic work environments not knowing that I had a voice. And then even if I thought I had a voice, I was too afraid to speak up to say, “Hey, the way you’re leading others isn’t kind of isn’t working for me or I don’t learn the same way as others or what you’re using as ways to motivate others just isn’t working for me because I thought it was just me.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Mhm.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): I thought I was the problem.” Um, and I also saw a lot of my friends w, you know, going through the same thing. I don’t know if it was just the way work was in the 90s, but that’s kind of the environment we fell into. Um, I also am the product of baby boomers. My parents are baby boomers and when I graduated college, their thing was you go to work, you don’t ask questions, you keep your head down, do what they say, even if it’s sweeping floors, which there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
 
 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Um, but it’s basically do what they tell you to do and don’t complain and just give, you know, say thank you at the end of the day. So, I was kind of in a sense told to keep my mouth shut. So, I walked over a lot. I’d been verbally abused by superiors and it really does something to your self-esteem and kind of paralyzes you from moving forward. But fast forward, I began working for a company in Syracuse, New York um where I was hired as both career and engagement manager. So what I did was I worked with employees on um helping them understand helping them gain clarity on the career path that they wanted to go in and I worked with leaders on how to drive engagement for their teams.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Please.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Um, I give credit to the 11 engagement drivers for employee happiness that came as a result of work that I did at this organization with my VP. My VP was charged with basically evolving the engagement strategy for the company and she came up with these : 10 engagement drivers but I split one of them into two : physical work environment and psychological safety.
 
  
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): But I do give credit to her because she is what she came up with these with these engagement drivers and um what I have done because this was the answer to all my problems. I mean when I learned about this and I learned that I wasn’t the problem that what drives one person may not drive me but I do have my own unique engagement drivers. I really felt like I found my calling. So going back to my kids, I’m watching them pursue their passions um with so much energy and I’m like I am this is when I was 50. When I’m 50 years old, I am not yet doing what I really want to do and what I really love. I was getting a taste of it at my last company. But now I want a creative direction. I want creative freedom and I want to be a people person. I know how to relate to people. I know how to engage with them. And I just used that with a lot of curiosity and I started my business.
 
 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): That’s amazing. And first of all, congrats to your sons. And I have no doubt that they have been inspired by you to chase their dreams. And I’m sure it’s the other way around, too. But I think that’s amazing. And I am so sorry about the verbal abuse you’ve experienced in the past. And I do think that it still exists today. But I do think we’re in a better society of like let’s have good, you know, rapport, good respect. Yeah, for sure. Not okay. So maybe it is something to do with just the 90s, but certainly not. Okay. Right. Um yeah.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Oh yeah.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): So I love that background and I’d love to dive more into these engagement drivers. I just wanted to say just one thing real quick. I also wanted to point out, Renee, that I think it’s so cool that you talked about your sons and your husband and because relationships are huge.

 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): relationships can shape us and we have you know those personal relationships that are on a different level of you know closeness but then in the workplace there are relationships too and you know the manager inspiring and uplifting the team member or the team member supporting another team member or the team member helping the manager. I mean, there’s all these relationship dynamics and these drivers that we’re going to talk about certainly kind of plug into those relationships to uh make work better for us as individuals and to produce better outcomes for the company

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): It’s all connected. Sure.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): as well. So, I just wanted to call out I thought that was really cool and yeah, so tell us more about the uh these engagement drivers and uh yeah, let’s jump into it.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Okay. So, um, as I said, I first learned about these engagement drivers while working at my former company. Um and what they are are the key elements or factors in an employee’s work life that significantly impact their level of motivation for the work that they do.
 
 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): uh their trust in the organization, um their commitment to their work, their team, their manager and the organization as well. and then their loyalty to the overall workplace. Um, and it really there’s a huge thing that sometimes leaders miss, but I think they’re getting on board now is um when I talk to leaders about employee engagement, you know, I always start by saying this isn’t just a feel-good initiative. It’s about making people effective. So if your employees feel disconnected or unheard or even unclear about their unique purpose in the organization, it shows up in places like performance, turnover, customer service. Um, but when employees are engaged, they’re more productive, they’re more collaborative, and they’re committed to the company’s overall success. Um, there’s always a statistic that I use because leaders want to see numbers. They’re like, “Okay, this sounds all great in theory, but show me the numbers.” Um, and my husband’s in finance, so he’s always all about showing him the numbers, too. Um, so there’s a statistic from Gallup that uh that I think gets attention, and that’s companies are highly uh companies with highly engaged employees see 23 Yeah.
 
  
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): 23% higher profitability and up to 43% um lower turnover. So, I think that speaks volumes. And these have been uh these numbers have been consistent across multiple Gallup studies. And that shows a strong correlation between employee engagement and business performance. So um I frame them not as just feel-good initiatives but as strategic investment with measurable uh ROIs. And so when leaders can see that connection between culture and the bottom line, they’re far more likely to get on board. So the engagement drivers for employee happiness uh the concept actually comes from Maslo’s hierarchy of human needs to motivate behavior. So the pillars for Maslo’s hierarchy are physiological needs, safety, uh love and belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. And what’s interesting is that it maps surprisingly well to the workplace and it understands engagement often starts when those basic needs aren’t being met.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Excellent.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): So, I led a webinar recently called finding your love language at work and it’s all about the engagement drivers for employee happiness and I asked everyone to um kind of complete a scorecard and it was to help them determine what their top engagement drivers are.
 

 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): So, for each engagement driver, I shared a sample statement that you might see on an employee engagement survey and then um I offered a couple of questions for them to ask themselves on how that driver um might show up in the workplace so that they can reflect on how it relates to their experience. So, they would rate their level of agreement with the statement from one being strongly disagree and then five is this is a must have. This is nonnegotiable. Um so, I can. I’m just gonna pull over my notes here. I’m going to go through the engagement drivers with you. Um the first one is recognition, rewards and recognition. The statement is it is important to me that my contributions are recognized and appreciated by leaders and colleagues. Um and again this is about finding what it is within that statement that you agree with. So you might want to ask yourself, do I feel more motivated to perform if my work is acknowledged by my managers and my peers? Or does public or personal recognition like a thank you or a shout out or a reward like boost my sense of self-worth?
 
 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Um and then the next one is um trust the manager. It is important for me to have a manager that is available uh and invested in my professional development and overall well-being. Questions you may want to ask yourself to understand if this is a significant driver for you. Do I feel more motivated when my manager genuinely supports my career growth and personal well-being? Or when I’m overwhelmed or um uncertain? Do I have a manager that’s approachable? Um, and that can help me stay engaged. And then the third one is the physical work environment. And it’s pretty much what it sounds like. It’s important for me to feel comfortable and safe in my physical space and have all the tools and resources that I need to be successful. Whether you’re working remotely or on site, do you have a chair that is ergonomically fit for you? um do you know if your work energy drops if your environment is poorly equipped or if you have to go through all these different layers to actually gain access to what you need to basically set yourself up for success.
 
 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): So that’s a physical work environment. Um the next one is psychological safety. It is important for me to work for an organization that fosters a culture of belonging and inclusivity where I can bring my authentic self to work. And what this is basically saying is um do you feel more excited and more engaged when you don’t have to mask who you are at work when you can bring your authentic self? Um, do you feel safe making mistakes knowing that they’ll be seen as opportunities and not just uh opportunities to learn and not just reasons for punishment or blame? Um, and then do you, you know, feel like you can contribute more freely when you won’t be judged or penalized? You know, I love organizations that really invest in an environment where people are like, you know, fail fast and just move forward. Um, or they view making mistakes as just another step to innovation. So, um, the next one is confidence and leadership. I’m seeing this come up a lot these days because of all of the organizations that are going through M&As and going through these major changes.
 

 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): It is so important to have confidence in leadership in order to ride those waves. So the statement is it is important for me to have confidence in the executive leadership team’s ability to provide strategic direction, navigate challenges and make decisions in the best interest of the organization. First thing I would ask myself, does strong, transparent leadership increase my trust and investment in my work? Do I lose motivation if I don’t believe that leadership can confidently navigate changes? Again, I see that a lot with M&As where people are they don’t know what’s going on from one minute to the next, the strategy keeps changing and they’re just told they need to roll with the punches. Um and then am I excited? I am likely to stay with an organization that I respect and believe in their senior leaders. Um, before I go on, I also want to mention like you’ll see a lot of these may have some overlap into the next engagement driver. And it’s almost unavoidable, but I think it’s important to be able to distinguish one engagement driver from the next because what stands out to me and what drives me may not be as much of a factor in your
 

 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): I see.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): employee experience. Um, so the next one is autonomy and freedom to innovate. And this is one of my top three. It is important for me to have the autonomy to make decisions and the freedom to be creative and innovative in the work that I do. Ask yourself, do I feel more energized when I’m trusted to decide how to execute my work, how to do my work? Um, does micromanagement or lack of creative freedom drain my enthusiasm for what I do? and is my commitment tied to being empowered to try new things and new approaches and ideas. Um the next one is the employee voice. It is important for me to be able to voice my opinions and concerns and ideas when feeling seen and heard and appreciated when doing so. Does or do I feel more committed when I know that my input actually shapes decisions or improvements? Um, when I bring up questions to my manager, are they quick to shut them down? Are they thankful or are they thanking me for my input?
 
 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Um, do I lose excitement for a role when I’m not listened to or taken seriously? Like those can be major factors in how an employee feels in their job. And I will tell you just looking at the gender different generations that are in the workforce now, we’re seeing a lot of this pop up with the Gen Y somewhat of the millennials. But like I’m Gen X and we were the ones who were told to just shut up, sit down, do your work. But you’re seeing a lot of this now with millennials and Gen Y’s and even Gen Z’s. They want to have a voice. Um, and I think it’s terrific. I think it’s wonderful. Um but yeah, generational differences in the workforce, that’s a whole other uh podcast.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): something. Seriously.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Um camaraderie with co-workers. The statement is it is important for me to work in an environment where employees show genuine interest in the lives of their co-workers and spending time together. So, are you someone who really thrives in an environment where positive relationships uh exist and and do they make you feel more energized and connected?
 
 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Um, you know, it’s when I’m going out on PTO, do I have um a team of co-workers that are like, “Hey, you go enjoy your time. We’ll pick up whatever’s left.” That way, I can come back and be like, “Okay, let me pick up where I left off.” But I think that’s so important, especially because we spend more time with our co-workers than we do with our families sometimes. So to not have those um trusting relationships can you know really be hurtful for some people. Uh, the next one is meaningful work. This can be taken a couple of different ways. The statement is, “It is important for me to understand the purpose of my work and see how my contributions align with the organization’s missions and goals and impact overall success.” Uh, when I first saw the term meaningful work, I thought it meant like, oh, is the company doing something for charity or do we have um a particular philanthropy that we invest in? And that is valid, but this is specifically about understanding how my work contributes to the greater business goals.
 
  
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Um, so the question you may want to ask yourself to determine if this is important for you is, do I feel more excited when I know I’m making a difference?

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Mhm.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Does understanding how my work fits into the bigger picture um increase my motivation and and would I struggle to be committed to my work if I felt it was meaningless or I couldn’t understand or I didn’t understand um how it impacts business goals and I I promise I’m getting there. Employee well-being.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): You’re doing great.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Um uh it’s important for me to work for an organization that prioritizes employee well-being and offers meaningful support for physical, mental, and emotional health. Um so, you know, does my engagement increase when I know my employer respects my boundaries and health? Uh would lack of support for my employee wellbeing for my personal well-being lead me to burnout? Yes. um or even dissatisfaction more quickly. Yes, that’s just for me. Um and am I likely to thrive when I know that my mental and emotional health and physical health are part of the workplace culture?
 

 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): The last organization that I worked for, I had to with the within the first six months of working there, I had to go undergo major surgery and I was put out on um I had to be out for

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Oh.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): about three months and that like not or all organizations would be very understanding. Um and I were working in New York at the time. In New York State. Um, FMLA says that if you’re only qualified you have to be there for a year unless your employer will just, you know, decide otherwise and wants to offer that to you within the first year. And my employer did offer that to me within my first year and that was a huge sign of the culture that they offered. And I was and I’m still incredibly grateful for that time because not only did I have the resources to um they had an EAP and I was able to talk with people who um could send me to the right specialists. But um again they’re like you take the time you need.
 
 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): We believe in you. That’s why we hired you. And when you come back just pick up where you left off, but we’ve got you. Wow. Wow. So yeah, it really can make or break an experience for some people. Um, finally, the last one, professional growth and development. Um, it is important for me to work for an organization that fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement. So this includes skill development, career advancement, personal growth, and just knowing that the organization is committed to my long-term success. I love this one. Um, I mean it, I love all of them. This one is interesting. For many years, especially as I was coming up in my career, professional growth was seen as something that was linear. It was just you just going up. And the only way to grow is to become a people manager. Well, I hate to tell you, one, not everybody wants to be a people manager. And two, not everybody should be a people manager.
 
  
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): That’s true.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): That doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be other growth opportunities, development opportunities. How can we grow out? How can we offer a career path for people who may not want to be people leaders, but can grow as subject matter experts? Are we sending them to conferences? Are we sending them to get certifications? I mean, to have that subject matter expert as an internal consultant or leading projects even, that’s huge. And people want to know that they have opportunities to grow in a variety of directions. So, you know, you want to ask yourself, um, do I feel more excited to contribute when I’m developing new skills and expanding my impact? Um, and would I be less likely to stay at a company that doesn’t invest in my growth and development? And there you have your 11 engagement drivers for employee happiness.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): I love it and an amazing job going through all 11 of those. Um, but that last one is self-actualization and another piece of that I think you know about being able to enhance your own skills and improve your own career development is huge.
 
 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): And then the other side of that is just feeling like your role or or what the company is doing is meaningful and is making a difference in the world. And I think the research that we’ve seen is that that piece is very important especially to those younger generations that have a voice. Um so anyways I think I think that piece is so important and there’s multiple facets of reaching that like career development and finding purpose and meaning in the work. So that’s yeah that’s yeah that that’s a good question.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Yeah. And if I can be so bold as to ask the both of you now that we’ve gone through it, what are your top three engagement drivers?

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): I took notes. I wrote all 11 down. So I’m just going to read them out loud and then I think that’ll help me. So one and correct me if I get anything wrong. Rewards and recognition. Two trust in managers. Three physical work environments. Four, psychological safety.
 
 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Five, competence and leadership. Six, autonomy. Seven, employee voice. Eight, camaraderie with co-workers. Nine, meaningful work. 10, support for physical, mental, emotional health and well-being. 11, professional development. Did I get that right?

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Yeah. Yeah. The one for um autonomy, the second piece of that is freedom to innovate and I’m a stickler.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Okay.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): The only reason I’m a stickler for that is because it’s one of my top three.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Um so it’s both like the ability to execute um in a way that you know being trusted to ex that I see fit and have the ability to innovate and be creative.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah. Okay. I think for me that would be one of my top three as well. And then also I would say psychological safety and I’d probably say uh the meaningful work. Yeah. For me. What about you, Matt? Well, for me it would definitely be camaraderie with co-workers because my wife is my co-worker.
 
 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): I know 100%.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): So definitely definitely that one, but also the other people that I work with. I work with some really cool people. Um I would say the autonomy and freedom to innovate is really important for me as well. I think it’s one of the reasons why I wanted to start a business. Yeah. To be an entrepreneur and um because I’ve had lots of situations um at different in different work settings where I had research, I had data of like, hey, this is a really good idea. And then another choice was made and it’s okay you know you you follow uh the leadership but um I I would love to be able to p pursue my own path with data and just a really small side story there was one time in college I was working a job and um they wanted to fire me. I actually had in my numbers that I was, you know, one of the top performers in the department. They wanted to fire me because they were making a departmentwide scheduling change and my school schedule was one hour different and so I I needed a 1 hour adjustment or adaptation to the schedule and they didn’t want to accommodate that and so they were just going to let me go and I basically went to them and said like you can’t do this this is not cool like I signed up you gave me this schedule that yeah
 

 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): and I’m a great worker. I’m performing really well.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Yes.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): And uh I ended up having a meeting, a one-on-one meeting with the CEO and expressed that um kind of frustration that I was working really hard and they were just going to let me go for this one-hour difference. And this what he said changed my life. He said, “This is my company. I can run it how I want. When you are in charge of your own company, you can run it how you want.” And

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): I have so many questions.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah. Yeah. It was crazy. I was just almost taken off guard and they actually sent me to go chat with HR and they ended up transferring. They said, “Okay, we’ll not fire you.” But they reassigned me to a completely different department and I had to get retrained and all this other stuff. Instead of staying where I was really efficient and I was I’m not saying this to brag, just to illustrate, but they had set metric that you had to hit or to like stay employed and I was more than

 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): No. Yeah. Yeah.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): double that number. Um, so just kind of crazy how that worked out, but it really made an impact on me. So, the autonomy piece to be able to I want to really treat people like people and it maybe we have to say no to something, but I’m I’m definitely going to say it with some psychological safety as the

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Of course.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): uh copying screaming on that message.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Well, I am so sorry for that experience for you. But at the same time, what I’m hearing is that it changed your life. You said, you know, gave you the motivation to do things differently. Same with me. You know, the toxic work environments I worked in. had um a manager tell us if he was going to there was he was waiting for a particular call to come through and if he he said he’s going to be in another meeting but if that call came through he will drop everything make sure he knows well the call came through and of course I’m the one who answered it and I went into his office and they said hey so and so is on the phone for you and he looked at me swear to God looked at me straight in face and said you know Renee sometimes you are really stupid said that to me this
 
  
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): was 199 98. And so I just kind of tucked my tail between my legs and walked away.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Oh my goodness.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): But I had so unfortunately I had a number of like those types of instances in various forms that I’m just like this is not how we treat people. You know, at the beginning of the year, sorry, and this was my other I think inspiration I would say for a long time to come.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): No, definitely not.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): At the beginning of the year, I decided that anything I do both professionally and personally, it’s kind of like my New Year’s resolution. Anything I do both professionally and personally moving forward was to build my legacy. Now, I don’t want to , I’m not trying to be morbid, but I’m going to give you a morbid example. If I was on my deathbed, God forbid, and I was looking back over my life, what am I going to be proud of?

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Mhm.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): I’m not going to be proud of, and I’m not saying this is for everybody, I’m not going to be proud of the numbers I produced.
 
  
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): I’m not going to be proud of working 15-hour days. What I’m going to be proud of is the actual impact I make on other people’s lives, how did I make a difference? Did I plant a seed somewhere? And these are things I may or may not know about, but I want other people to feel empowered, whether it’s my kids, my husband, my family, my friends, my co-workers.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yep.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Um there is a good friend um she’s kind of like I by the way I’m I’m a big um advocate for mentorship and I think we can all have mentors that help us both personally and professionally.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Uhoh.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): You have many mentors. I had a mentor when I was a young mom and she really helped me come into my own. And I will also be um transparent. I’m a recovering alcoholic. I’ve been sober for 22 years.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Wow, congratulations.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Oh, thank you. And I don’t say that to get words of accolades, although I appreciate it.
 
  
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Um, but she was someone who really helped me understand the type of sober mother I wanted to be. And um, she was sharing with me that she had gone through a difficult time. Um, and she said, “What I learned during that time is that people that come into your life at that time can really because you’re so impressionable can make a big difference for better or for worse.” She was a teacher and she was walking. Her example was she was walking through the halls of her school and the same janitor was there every single day singing at the top of his lungs happily.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Oh, wow.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): I mean really just and and she was in such a mood where she was like I don’t want I don’t want to hear the laughter. I don’t want to see the smiles. But one day she just stopped him and she said okay I have to ask you what are you so happy about? I mean she was miserable. She’s like what are you so happy about? And the example I’m going to share is like what he shared.
 
  
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): It’s not what he shared that makes the point of this, but it’s that anybody can have that level of impact on your life. And he said, “It’s my faith. I go to this particular church. It instilled a real faith inside my heart and I can get through anything now.” And because of that, she started going to his church. And even though she didn’t stay with his church, it changed her life. She started to seek out her own faith. Now, I’m not trying to bring religion into this at all. That’s not the point. My point is if you’re open and you people are in and you know coming in and out of your life, anybody can make that difference as long as you’re open. So having said all that, my legacy is to make sure that I am positioning myself to make a positive difference in other people’s lives. And it sounds a little hokey, but it truly is what I am. I feel I am called to do it.
 
  
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah. And I think you’re succeeding with that. And that’s a very admirable thing. And I think Matt and I, we both agree on this topic that people come into your lives at different times and you know, you may not like to have a best friend forever, right? Or or you may have a great marriage and everything, but um they come into your life at different times for different reasons. And I love that thought of being open to learning. And that’s why we talk about that a lot. It’s a growth mindset, right? We’re willing to change and adapt and progress and that’s why we’re here.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Yes.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): So, yeah, definitely.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Absolutely. And I love that you use the words growth mindset because it’s something that we can apply both personally and to our professional lives.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): So, I want to hear what your other two are.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Oh, okay. So I will say that autonomy and um freedom to innovate was my number one and meaningful work understanding the how the per understanding the purpose of my work and how it connects to the larger
 
  
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Okay.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): picture. But I realized that in order to have both of those I needed to have trust in my manager and I was so lucky that I did. I worked for um talk about the youth coming up in the profession. Um, I worked for a woman who was 15 years my junior and she was the most impactful manager I have ever had. And she gave me that space, that trust to execute my work in a way that really exhibited my strengths and to innovate and work creatively. She listened to me. She would um get me on a Zoom call just to say, “Hey, I need you. I want a second set of eyes on this. I want your opinion on this.” And it was like she lit me up. So, what I will say is that even though maybe a trusted manager isn’t everybody’s number one, I really do believe that our experience at work starts and ends with our manager. You’ve heard people say people don’t leave jobs, they leave people or they leave managers.
 
 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): And I really believe that to be true, at least for me.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): She made such a significant difference in my life and she’s the one who came up with the engagement drivers.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): I’m just iterating on it.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Oh, that’s that’s the view.

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): Yeah. Yeah. She literally said to me once, you know, she said she would hold these um every month. She would hold what she called an engagement meeting where she would sit me down and it wasn’t about performance and it wasn’t about status updates on projects. It was, “Okay, Rene, we’re going to sit down and I want to hear how you’re doing at work in terms of how you are feeling and not that she played therapist, but she said, “I want to know so that I can better support you. What do you need? How can I help you?” And you know when you open up that conversation, that type of dialogue, a manager may hear things that they don’t necessarily want to hear, but if you are a good manager and you put your ego aside and you have genuine interest and curiosity in in making work better for your team, that is really going to help you.
 

 
Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): So having that information is going to be incredibly powerful and impactful for your team because they know that you really care.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah. So on that end, being open is huge as well to be a good manager. And I think this whole topic is so impactful to anyone who’s listening right now. You know, whether you’re a recruiter, engagement is huge to recruit. And then also for managers, this is a huge piece. And then for those who are team members, you can pay attention to this. Are you being fulfilled in your job? And if not, you know, chase your dreams like Rene’s sons here, okay? do what makes you passionate and excited. So, um, thank you so much for all of your amazing insights and I love these 11 pieces and I think everyone listening should go back and figure out what their top three are as well that drive them. So, anything you’d like to add? Yeah, I thank you, Renee. And for everyone listening, we’ll make sure to um put her LinkedIn link on there as well, so you can connect and follow her and continue your journey to better engagement. People leaders, definitely make sure you’re thinking about this for your team and adapting how you can support your team members individually. Any final thoughts as we wrap up here, Renee?

 

Renee Marchak (Guest) (Guest): No, I I just want to say it’s been such a pleasure uh talking with you um in high school, my my English teacher went up to my father at like an open house and he said, “You know, if you put an ear of corn next to Renee, she would talk to it.” Um, so any chance I had the opportunity to talk, no. Um, but you’re, this was fantastic. Um, but to be able to talk about something that I truly love, it just brings me a lot of joy.

 

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Well, you’re so particularly articulate. You explained everything perfectly and I think everyone will have lots to think about after this. So, please check out our highlight article so you can look through those 11 one more time. And thank you so much.