Organizational Resilience - Cisco's Chuck Robbins & Francine Katsoudas at CNBC @Work Summit

And now for our final discussion of the day. We have 2 executives with us to share how this historic point in time has shaped their goals, their strategies, and their outlook for the future of their business and their workforce. Back with us now is John Forte, joined by Cisco's chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins and the company's chief people officer and also CNBC Workforce Executive Council member John?

Tyler, thank you. And Chuck, Fran, it's great to have you help us bring all of this together with some insights from Cisco. And I'd really like to do this by looking at almost a case study of what Cisco has been dealing with over the past few months. Chuck, WebEx is a tool for Video collaboration that so many businesses use. And my understanding is that you are at something near, what, 70 billion minutes a quarter of use now. That's 3 times higher than the period a year ago. Talk about the increase in customer need for support, in tools within that product that you found with this unexpected rush of use and what that led you to do.

Yeah, well, first of all, John, thanks for having us today. We, uh, we really appreciate being a part of the event. I think that if you, if you look back in February, uh, as an example, we had 160 million, uh, meeting attendees, and then by the time April rolled around, it was 500 million, so half a billion. And with that came a lot of users who perhaps had not used the platform before. And so they had lots of questions and we were getting lots of calls. And so our technical assistance center was just deluged with incoming calls. So, you know, the great— one of the benefits of these kinds of situations are that when your back's against the wall, you don't test things and you don't pilot things, you just do things. And our team really went into action and I think They drove some very quick innovation with technology by building a personal assistant bot that actually was able to help take on some of the more simple requests that were coming in. But the other great thing that happened is they— our engineers around the company actually stood up and volunteered to take calls on behalf of our technical assistance center. So we had field engineers or engineers in other parts of our portfolio And typically there's 3 months of training before we allow one of these folks to take a call, and we compressed it into 3 days. And there were 1,800 engineers that volunteered, and it was just really impressive to see. They were dubbed the Webex Warriors, and they've been recognized in all sorts of leadership meetings and all-hands throughout the company. So those are just— it's just been a time where I think when you're in a crisis, there's tons of creativity. There's a huge desire to help and you just do things. You don't think about, you don't plan, you just get it done.

You know, over the years, particularly when I was based in Silicon Valley from late 1999 through 2013, I visited Cisco's campus, or maybe even campuses you could say, in San Jose a few times. And, you know, people showed up to work. So I imagine in previous eras when there was a challenge like this, especially with flows like Agile, you'd have people in a room whiteboarding what the solution was going to be. As a CEO who has a major product that's now in focus and in need from customers around the world, and you've got to change and update the way it works, how did you have to change the way you manage in order for that process to work as smoothly as it could?

Yeah, I'm going to— I'll make a couple of comments and I'll ask Fran to jump in here. I think that one of the big things that we had to help our leaders understand is that you have people working remotely, working at home, but they're not just working at home. Their families are home with them. And that was one of the biggest things that we had to talk through with our leadership is understanding that empathetic balance that you had to show as a leader that said, while I need you to drive this innovation, I need you to work on this problem or this opportunity, at the same time, I had to be cognizant that if you had a 3-year-old tugging on your leg at 2:00 in the afternoon, you had to deal with that. And so helping our leaders really get their head around that balance was very interesting. Fran, you want to add to that?

Yeah, I would. I would say that, you know, first, we know that we have amazing people that want to do their best for the company. And I think the other thing that we know is they have a lot of amazing ideas. So being able to say, okay, we're actually getting a lot more calls from our customers, how do we support them? And having our people come forward and choose to be part of the solution is pretty amazing. I think in the past, having 1,800 people raise their hand to help is something that would have taken a lot of coordination. And today it's just a lot more seamless. And I think that's partially about the tools. But I also think it's partially about the leadership and trusting the team to do what's right.

Fran, say more about the tools, maybe that compression of training from 3 months to 3 days. I imagine you in human resources are going to keep track of who has experience, who has skills in certain areas when it comes to engaging with customers. Are there changes that you're making either to training expectations, to the demands that you have or the requests that you have of toolmakers and how you assess worker capabilities based on what you've experienced over the past few months?

Yeah, I think there is a really important shift that was happening, and I think that COVID accelerated that. I think for a long time we talk about roles. We talk about, have you done this role before? And based on the answer, that would determine whether or not you think someone is a good candidate. I think we've thrown that away. And basically what we've said is, do you have the skills and the capabilities? Mm-hmm. And so for us, so much more important than the resume are those raw skills and capabilities. And I think when we can identify those and help our people understand really what differentiates them against the backdrop of really the type of career that they want to have, you're unleashing, I think, a tremendous amount of talent onto the challenges that we have. And so I see the same agility that we're leveraging to develop products really applied to how we look at our people too.

Chuck, what I, what I hear Fran saying is distinguishing between talent and experience. And I think so often companies can get into this mode of hiring for experience or screening for experience when talent in some cases might be more important. From where you sit in the C-suite, not only dealing with your direct reports but also shaping and shifting Cisco's culture, how does that interplay between talent and experience play in now?

It's a great point, John. I think this has been at the crux of the debate over the last several years relative to college degrees versus capabilities. And I think that, you know, there was one of my direct reports who is now running a publicly traded company, actually, I don't believe even had a college degree. So it's an interesting thing for us to contemplate. And the other aspect I think that has become very clear is that the success we've been able to drive, we as a society, relative to working remotely, I think now opens up the geographic access to talent. So this whole myth that we have to all work in the same place, in the same, you know, area, or the talent only comes from a certain place. I think this is really going to allow us to branch out and recruit and have people join and work collaboratively across different geographies. Clearly, there will be times where people want to be in the same room, you know, to your point earlier, on the whiteboards doing innovation, but For a great deal of this work, it can be done remotely. And we just completed a survey where 98% of our customers believe that every meeting going forward will have a remote attendee. And so I think this really opens up the, the opportunity for us to go get talent wherever that talent might exist.

And Fran, so much of what Cisco does across many products and capabilities deals with certifications where people are studying and going through tests to show that they're capable of supporting, of building on certain products and platforms. We've talked more recently about access to opportunity for broader groups of people, and I wonder if this period has either brought you new processes or new ideas for how more people both at Cisco and using Cisco technologies can have more access to that kind of opportunity?

Yeah, so the first thing I would say is this is something that we think about quite a bit. And the lovely thing is I think the technology is making it so much easier for us to get access to the best people around the globe. To Chuck's point, they may or may not have the degrees or the certification that we once felt was so important. And so what that means for us is that we have to have a good way of really capturing the skills and capabilities that someone has. Something that we launched about 2 years ago now is something called blind hiring. And what that means is that we have the ability to see someone's technical strength without seeing their name, without seeing the universities that they go to. And so we're seeing really what they're capable of. And I think you're going to continue to see us leveraging technology to really enable us to find the best people around the globe. Something that we're really proud of is that the networking academies that we have around the globe are an amazing pool of talent, not only for Cisco but for companies around the world, and we'll do our best to connect talent to companies.

Chuck, talk to me now about the new employee. It's a theme that I find coming up so often that right now during this distanced Right. In this time when people aren't able to forge new relationships as naturally or many people as easily, a lot of people are really leaning on the relationship capital that they built in the past. Well, for a new college graduate, they're not going to have as much of that capital. What have you seen that's been successful for newer Cisco employees during this time? What are you telling your managers about interacting with those employees to try to help them be successful?

You know, it's funny. I have a direct report that we hired during the pandemic. He started working for me and he and I had never met physically. And that is a real— it sounds like a really strange situation, but you don't really think about it until you actually are talking about it because this technology allows you to feel like you know somebody really well. So I I actually don't know that that is as significant of an issue as we might have believed it would have been. And I think that one of the big positives, I think, that will come out of this tragic situation is that we as a society, and particularly the C-suite in corporate America and around the world, now understand what can be accomplished over this technology. And clearly, I think many of our employees want that hybrid environment where they're in the office some, they're at home some, maybe not home every single day, but some will work from home every day. But I think that— I actually think the technology has made that work much more effectively than I would have expected it to, to be honest with you.

And Fran, I know that there's a distinction between the more experienced employee, even who's coming in perhaps at the, at the C-level and the brand new employee. What are you hearing from your entry-level employees who are perhaps more successful, gaining more traction, forging more relationships early? Are there things that they are doing or not doing that are helping?

You know, there's 2 things that I would share. So you're right. Something that we've learned is that A new employee can join the company and they can build an amazing network of colleagues incredibly quickly. And what that looks like is really their ability to reach out on video, connect to people, ask people, who else should I be talking to? And we just see the power of building these networks, which really help us get work done. I think the second point, which is really important, is that we've always been a big believer that Leadership is everything. I think in the last 7 months what we've realized is that leaders who are curious about their people and what's happening in their homes, leaders that are curious about how people are feeling about the work, whether or not they're truly passionate about what they're doing, that's the differentiator. Because you can have someone new come into the company and maybe feel like they're trying to figure out now that we're remote how How they connect, and the leader can actually be their shepherd, if you will, in doing that. And so I think for us, we're going to continue to focus on ensuring that in addition to looking for someone's strengths, in addition to focusing on the skills, our leaders just check in on their people and just be open to the fact that we may have to be really flexible about how our teams work.

Fran, how much of that is also digital? I hear a lot these days about pulse checks. about quick surveys going out to employees to not only check on how their work is getting done, but check on their mood, because you can't really walk by somebody's desk and see their facial expression if you're that manager. Are there tools that you're using specifically for that? Are you having to, as HR, get new data capabilities to interpret that data?

All of the above. And I think the magic is when you have the tools and the technology, the analytics and the personal connection. And so something that we do at Cisco as an example is each week every employee checks in with their leader. So I check in with Chuck and I share my priorities for the week, what I loved from last week, what I loathed from last week, and then really how effective I feel that I'm being at any given moment. And what's so fascinating as a leader is I think when you do this on a weekly basis, you start to see the signals and the signs that tell you when you need to spend more time with someone. So absolutely, that technology I think allows a leader to scale to their team and then to pinpoint where they really need to spend their time. I think when you overlay some of the analytics around your people, perhaps how long they've been in role, It just gives you some insights to where your people are. And I think this is what's really exciting about people as we move forward is really pushing into some of the AI and the analytics that exist. And Chuck, I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about how it even works at the executive level.

Yeah, it's been fascinating, John, because it's a very simple method of checking in on a weekly basis. But it is incredible because I think when people sit down on Saturday morning with their coffee or whenever they do it and they actually start reflecting and thinking about the week, they actually are incredibly honest. And it's been a real refreshing process. And even with my direct reports, because many people in the company, if they're not doing it, then I get to shame them by telling them that we use it and it's quite effective. I think that it allows me to keep up with what's going on with our team, everything that they're all working on. There's so much going on right now, obviously. So it's been very powerful. And it's a very simple— sounds like a very simple tool, but it's incredibly powerful.

Chuck, are there areas where, as a leader, you have seen during this period that you want to grow, you want to develop new skills, maybe even particularly soft skills as we've moved to this model of having to read people or figure things out over WebEx, though I know you're probably, you know, an expert at WebEx use. This period of time I found for a lot of people has caused them to reflect differently on how they want to grow. Has it done that for you?

Yeah, I think that it's— look, I think what it's really created is the need for our leaders to to bring personal empathy to the forefront. And a lot of the characteristics that are associated with how they deal with people outside of work, they've had to bring into work. And I mean, it's the example of really being empathetic to the— your team member who may have their elderly parents at their home or someone who, you know, we've talked about a lot over the last 6 or 7 months. For some reason, since we're home, And we have long, you know, days. We're actually working in some cases more than we were before. And so one of the things that I've encouraged our team to do is to find your therapy, right? If you need to block an hour from 2 to 3 and go for a walk, and as leaders, you need to think and encourage that. You need to really balance. I think we're having to develop our teams to actually think this way and to think about what is it that your team member may need given the situation that we're facing that you might not have thought about if you were just going to the office and going home every day. And I think that's probably the biggest thing that we're all developing and we're trying to get our teams to develop.

Fran, when it comes to infrastructure and incentives, I remember, I'm pretty sure, there being childcare on-site at some Cisco locations at least several years ago. And there were certain perks and things that were built into corporate life and campus life that were really around coming into the office and a work style that is shifting, if not changing entirely. How much are you thinking about the things that the company can do from a human resource perspective, benefits, things that come alongside employees, that might need to change, that might be different 5 years from now than they were 5 years ago?

It's interesting because we're thinking about that a ton at the moment. You're right. You know, we have childcare centers and we have health centers. But at the moment, we're looking at what do our people need? And so we listen to them a lot. I think a lot of our best ideas come from our people. And so, you know, recently what they've asked us for is help with their kids at home. And so we have been helping our employees by offering tutoring that can serve for very young kids, teenagers, because that is just top of mind at the moment. As Chuck mentioned, a subset of our employees are really worried about their parents. And so we are really looking at some of the offerings that we can provide from a care perspective to parents that perhaps are ill. Recently, we had a— last week we had a meeting, we have another one today that we're just talking to our parents and our caregivers. And we're really listening and hearing what they need. So I think you're going to see a lot of change in this space. I think something that we've realized as a company is that everyone's situation is different. And so there's going to be a lot of choice that we provide in the future. And I think we're going to be really transparent with what we're considering. And we're going to seek out our employees' feedback as well.

Chuck, a final thought on what it's going to take to thrive in the coming months?

Wow. Well, John, you guys talk about this every day, so I'm not sure I have a lot to add. I listen and learn with the broadcasts that you guys do. I think that, you know, everybody obviously is looking for vaccines. I think that I think, you know, high-volume rapid testing is probably more likely to get us to a place where we can become comfortable. I think that, you know, we're all going to operate in a new world once this is behind us. And we were fortunate that we had all of this technology that enabled us to move very quickly to work from home. And it's not— and working from home, at least some portion of your job, was just very natural for us. And I think that's going to be very natural for everyone going forward. And I think that creating new technology in the future, which we're working on right now, to actually deal with the dynamic that I stated earlier, which is that almost 100% of meetings going forward are going to have both people in a room and people remote. And today, if you think about what it's like to be the one person on the, you know, in the meeting that's not in the room, It's just terrible. And so we're working hard on bringing that together, bringing technology to make that a more inclusive experience. And so I think there's medical breakthroughs that we need, and there's obviously continued technology innovation to help us, whether it's getting back in the office and ensuring social distancing and testing and all those kinds of things. And it's, you know, I know we're all anxious to get there, and hopefully we'll get there sooner rather than later.

Yeah, we at least want to have the option. Uh, Chuck, Fran, thank you. Thank you.