CDW Exec-Connect: Seeking Tech Work for Good? Look No Further

Tara: We get that question a lot, right Mike? And we talked about this at the August CDW Executive SummIT Series event in Seattle. You had some great thoughts about the ways in which CDW has been able to stay innovative with recruiting skilled talent. Let’s dive deeper into that conversation.

Mike: That’s right. As far as recruiting goes, we are competing with everybody else in this nationally, now global market. Yet, in the Technology department we've seen success with retention. What we’ve learned is that it’s important to empower people and teams in four ways:

1. By being transparent with the company’s strategic vision
2. Pushing down decision making
3. Providing clear opportunities for upskilling and reskilling, and
4. Providing meaningful work

Tara: Upskilling has been one area where ITS has seen our retention rate skyrocket also via coworkers who were recruited through our Associate Consulting Engineer (ACE) program during the pandemic. Associate engineers focus on training, certifications, and apprenticeships with experienced engineers and technical leads to become CDW customer-preferred consultants. 

There have been lots of iterations along the way. And one of the things we learned is to allow people to self-pace. We realized there were recruits who were dissatisfied with the rigor. They were moving faster than our regimented curriculum. So, we made changes. In anything you need to listen, make adjustments, schedule checkpoints, assess KPIs, and request feedback to keep your workforce engaged. Just like we listen to our customers, it is imperative that we listen to coworkers. 

Mike, I think more organizations will need to give space for that sort of feedback and build processes around a more autonomous workforce. What do you think?

Mike: Definitely, Tara. The feedback loop is something that I was introduced to very early in my military career. Most people think that the military is very hierarchical. While priority is placed at times on command and control, most people don’t realize that more than many corporations, the military stresses the importance of decentralized teams being autonomous. 

But ability to rely on decentralized teams comes from a strong common and repeatable process. As orders are developed, leaders focus on clarifying the task and purpose. For example, the “what” and the “why” of the mission but, there is always the opportunity for a team to ask questions, assess what they are being asked to do, and provide feedback, back up the chain of command. These feedback loops stress communication on two core areas: each team self-defining how they plan on achieving the objectives they were given, and also contributing to the plans of supporting teams. Combining the what, why and how through a collaborative process creates a cycle, in which you've got a kind of a top-down strategy and a bottom-up execution, working in concert. With this continuous loop of reevaluating and reassessing, it’s easy to see whether we're on the right track.

Tara: Feedback is key, but it starts first with leaders making sure that their teams are aligned to the business goals, right?

Mike: Absolutely. Our CEO has laid out this multi-year strategy and a big tenet of that is having the technology and the skilled workforce to make that real. For decentralized leadership to work there needs to be consistent communication all the way down from the strategic level to each operating team, creating the “spine.”

Within Technology we do this using a process called VSEM (Vision, Strategy, Execution and Metrics), a tool we use to provide a clear set of strategies, along with the measures by which we're going to track progress for the top initiatives that we must deliver on to be successful. We build our VSEM with input from multiple stakeholders, then cascade it down to the teams so they can provide greater detail around the “how,” which is then incorporated back to the Technology level. It allows us a common model in which everyone down to the lowest levels can see how their contribution rolls back up to the strategy. This way they have a clear vision of the what, why and how, which is going to make the technology successful, and by extension make CDW successful. 

Tara: So, why do you see pushing down decision making more important in a remote work world?

Mike: The biggest reason I see is to meet the speed of the world today. Our systems and communications have enabled rapid inputs and our ability to act needs to be at the same speed. One of the biggest lessons I took away from the military was the power of sharing the what and why as broadly as possible. In other words, what are we asking you to do and why are we asking you to do it? Because typically the plan lasts about 10 seconds, right? And then the plan is out the window. But understanding what you're trying to do and why allows coworkers to improvise, it allows you to achieve the goal but maybe through alternative means. With people working remotely, many companies struggle with this level of autonomy, but I think CDW is really taking advantage of it, and employees appreciate it when they know they are trusted in this way. 

Tara: During our presentation in Seattle, we talked about the Mississippi Department of Education Project. In less than three months, and during a supply chain crisis, CDW was able to put a Chromebook in the hands of over 240,000 students along with a cybersecurity protection bundle and professional development so that teachers who have never taught in a 1:1 environment could have the tools necessary to keep kids learning remotely. I remember Ashley DiCiurcio, the K-12 southern sales director, explaining that she and everyone working on the project put up a unified front to get this accomplished because they knew they weren’t just working to put food on their tables. They were helping parents and their children. I think that is a great example of how VSEM empowered our workforce to excel quickly under tight constraints.

Mike: That’s a perfect example! When I first joined CDW a year ago, I heard that story at one of the leader summits. My first thought was that only an elite company could pull that off. What struck me most, was that the story is not about a customer or delivery it is about solving a problem and making things better for people we may never meet. Everyone likes to be a part of a winning team, but it’s not enough to just win anymore. People want to win with heart. We hear over and over that skilled workers are no longer interested in just delivering products and services to our customers. People are saying to themselves, ‘I can make money anywhere, but what is it about CDW that either gives me some intrinsic value or allows me to contribute in a unique way?’ In addition to compensation, to retain coworkers we must involve them in projects that are sustainable and altruistic. 

On the Services side, how do you make sure that your workforce stays engaged?

Tara: Well, there is no end to the number of projects in education, healthcare, or otherwise where coworkers can find an opportunity to make a positive imprint at CDW. For our existing workforce, we’ve put in place tools to automate routine or mundane tasks, so that engineers and developers can focus on emerging technologies, the needs of tomorrow and work that they are passionate about. Automation, whether through processes or technology is not a new idea, but it gives the teams breathing room. Also, because of our ACES program, we can offload lower-value tasks—which also helps as a learning opportunity—to those new to the pipeline and free up space for seasoned engineers to reskill.

Mike: It’s not easy today but we are finding success by redefining what recruitment means and how the power of the CDW mission resonates with candidates.  

At CDW, we’re asking ourselves, how do we look for people who have the right combination of skills but who don’t have the specific experience yet? And how do we put them in a place where they can make a meaningful impact. Take as an example, CDW’s Legacy Excellence Fellowship program, which was launched at four premier Historically Black Colleges & Universities this past spring and invited 16 students to intern in Chicago. The graduates there are competitive and already being sought after by many corporations. By funding the computer centers and by partnering with the university on infrastructure improvements our investment is not just to develop our 16 CDW HBCU fellows, but the overall program. We’re looking to establish CDW as a brand early in the careers of future students so that as they’re looking to make their career choice, CDW is top of mind. We also target veterans and other nontraditional candidates, who maybe didn’t come up through a university but who have the skills we need—grit and resilience—the ability to execute on time and manage stakeholders.

Tara: I think our secret is that whether it’s a gig worker, an upskilled coworker, a candidate trained through ACE, or a college student enlisted from a CDW recruitment program, when people feel they’ve been invested in, they are likely to stick around because they recognize this as a place that values professional development. And they know CDW is going to continue to provide them with learning opportunities. How do they know? Because that's literally, how they joined the company, through a learning opportunity.

Mike: I wholeheartedly agree. When employees are engaged both mentally and emotionally, they can do anything. They'll move mountains. And the way technology keeps changing, the sky is the limit. I think the world is in a place of continuous transformation. It’s like my previous industry—autonomous driving—where everything was new. There was no right way forward because no one had ever done anything like that before. Now, with virtual working, there is no formula for this. This is untread ground. We're going to have to cut some new paths. Part of that is going to be through trial and error. But one thing is for sure, it’s going to be the coworkers who have the final vote on what works.