Longitude Sound BytesEp 03: Generating creativity in the workplace | Leticia Roinesdal – by Jimmy Ren (Listen)

Leticia Camara Roinesdal, senior manager at Deloitte Consulting, Houston:

Hi everybody! This is Leticia Roinesdal, excited to be here with you guys today to talk a little bit about creativity on my first Longitude Sound Bytes.

I am a Rice University graduate, 2010 Jones College, married to a fellow Rice alum, who is also Jones College but we could talk about that another time. We have two small kids and we live here in Houston, Texas.

One of the things that I wanted to talk to you all about today is creativity. And, you know, I am in a fortunate position where I actually get to apply creativity on a daily basis. Not only at work but also home with two little kids. So, you know, as a senior manager in a consulting environment, it’s my job to lead teams to help companies with complex problems. And from a human capital perspective, I look at these problems from a people lens. And I like to say that my job is to focus on making humans better at work and the workplace better for humans. So, I am typically at the intersection of how digital, future of work, employee experience, you know, demands from younger generations, all of these exponential changes are impacting us from a work, so how does our job actually change, to work place and a work force perspective. So, this is complex and most of the time, it’s my job to help clients understand what this even means and how this impacts their employees and then how they can message it and work through, you know, their strategy with their employees.

On a daily basis, I would say, I am typically thinking outside of the box. That’s how I think about creativity. You know, how do I take a moment to pull myself out of my typical, you know, answers and solution type mind to, you know, ask the right questions, like what’s the right question that we’re trying to solve today, how do I walk a moment in someone else’s shoes, and how do I make sure that I am asking the questions even if they sound like simple questions that folks would typically hesitate to think through in more detail. So, for me it’s really taking a full step back to allow all of the possible before we get to an actual solution. So, you know, working with clients, I typically pull clients into labs and I force them to kind of have a different environment, so, you know, bean bags, lounge chairs, plato, wire-tubbing- things that’ll help senior folks get out of their daily, you know, shoes essentially and pull them out of their daily habits of no questions and work some anxieties and have them just think creatively and help them think outside of the box. So, we do different types of labs and ideation sessions to make sure that, you know, they’re lowering all of their inhibitions and allowing themselves to approach a problem from a different lens. And I do this, you know, everyday almost in one way or another and making sure that we are progressing towards the right strategies and the right implementation plans with our clients.

You know, also as a team leader, it’s my job to make sure that I’m creating an effective environment for my teams to bring their authentic selves to work. So, when you are working and leading different teams, how do you make sure that everybody has enough time to process information, how do you make sure that everyone feels comfortable, you know, participating in a brainstorming session, how do you know enough about people to understand what motivates them, what energizes them, you know, and what’s gonna be a drain task, and how do you assign, you know tasks to team members, based on what’s gonna energize and excite them. So, these are all things that I’m thinking through, you know, on a daily basis as I am talking to my teams, you know, managing across multiple projects and then also managing the client scenarios.

One of the things that, you know, has really changed in my life, of course, is becoming a mom. And so, as a mom, creativity is challenging because kids think in really simple but abstract ways and they remember some vivid details and they just absorb everything around them. So, in my house, creativity for me is slowing down, being present, playing with kinetic sand or finger painting. And you know what, wouldn’t you know it, sometimes I get my best ideas for different client sessions from these moments.

Thanks so much for listening!

Jimmy Ren, Longitude fellow, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia:

Leticia works on getting her clients to think about things in different ways to approach problems to implement the right strategies and plans with their clients

Also has to work towards making sure people are working well and authentically

Personally, I find Leticia’s work fascinating because her work has to take a deeper look into how individuals act in a team, and how we can help others think differently.

In retrospect, I think leading teams requires a complex understanding of we as humans work. Trying to get people to work more effectively and in a comfortable, more authentic matter definitely takes an understanding of how they think, what they can do, and what they enjoy. I know in my past, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the strengths of my team members, and helping them utilize that energy to try to get the most out of them to work on projects.

While it for sure takes some practice to get used to, I would recommend for every person to think about this as they continue throughout their lives to be conscious of how others think. The way Leticia steps back to try to think outside of the box to ask the right questions is something we can do every day in our lives to try to understand other people.

We hope you enjoyed todays segment. Please feel free to share your thoughts over social media and in the comments, or write to us at podcast@longitude.site. We would love to hear from you.

Join us next time for more unique insights on Longitude Sound Bytes.