team building Archives | The Glasshammer

“It might seem tough at first, but I’ve come to learn that you have to relax and enjoy the ride. No journey is linear where you must pass A and B, to reach C, or else you’re lost. That’s just not how it works,” says Rachel Lockett.

Lockett shares her thoughts on embracing a career pivot, building leadership skills through diverse experiences, prioritizing team development, and the importance of finding meaning in her work.

Pivoting from the Public to the Private Sector

Lockett’s path into marketing in the beauty industry took an unconventional route, beginning with a career in international relations. Working on the Mexico desk at the State Department while getting a graduate degree, she found herself intrigued by the macro subject matter and sense of altruism behind the work, but ultimately craved a faster pace and more control. This led her to pivot into the private sector, earning an MBA in marketing and finance and joining Johnson & Johnson’s international rotation program before landing a role at L’Oréal in New York.

She reflects, “I was interviewing at the UN while I was interviewing at L’Oréal, but the next phase for the UN was sitting for an exam. When L’Oreal offered me the job, I had to choose. I remember there being a lot of pressure to make a ‘right choice,’ feeling the weight of a decision that might be irreversible.”

Lockett recognizes that even though she felt the heaviness of the decision at the time, she is pleased with the way things turned out, particularly as she never even initially saw herself in the beauty space.

“Initially, I didn’t see myself as a ‘beauty girl,’ but my perception has changed over time. I’ve really grown to adore it. Throughout my career, I’ve delved into various roles in trade marketing, brand marketing, and consumer engagement, all within the beauty vertical. I’ve come to realize that I am, in fact, a ‘beauty girl’ and I proudly embrace this identity.”

Empowering Women to Express their Unique Individuality and Beauty

Lockett finds her marketing career in the beauty industry to be as dynamic as she anticipated, constantly offering new challenges and opportunities that energize her.

“The platforms, retailers and landscape of competitors are always changing…there is also the opportunity to work cross-functionally with retailers, media partners, and event activation vendors, making it both diverse and exciting.”

Her enthusiasm for the work shows through in what she has been able to accomplish, with her team winning an Ogilvy award and two Glossy awards for different brand campaigns. These achievements also reflect her commitment to finding innovative ideas to break through and “introduce MAC to a younger Gen Z consumer.” She continues, “a lot of these efforts have been specifically targeted around those goals and have successfully moved the needle in increasing our awareness among younger multi-ethnic consumers.”

Lockett’s aim for MAC is to continue to promote and expand diverse representations of beauty, whether it be body type, skin color and texture, sexual orientation, or gender, through thoughtful decisions around casting, who they feature on their story wall, influencers they work with, and people they feature on their social handles.

“All of those representations are really powerful, and they make a huge impact on how people see themselves and experience the brand’s transformative effect.” She continues, “it’s about encouraging self-expression and experimentation and affirming that everyone is beautiful in their own way.”

Becoming a Well-Rounded Leader who Uses Her Voice

Lockett emphasizes the dual importance of creativity and operational savvy in marketing leadership. While innovative ideas are significant, effective leadership also hinges on adeptly navigating organizational processes, securing resources, and assembling the right team. She advocates for cultivating leadership skills through diverse experiences rather than solely focusing on moving up the ladder.

“Success stems from a breadth of experiences. The broader your understanding and hands-on involvement across domains, the better equipped you will be to thrive in senior roles. Focusing on the richness and depth of experience versus the speed to get there will pay off in the long-term.”

As Lockett builds on her varied experiences to advance her career, she is committed to using her voice and point of view in how she shows up as a leader, particularly as a woman of color. Even though she finds the beauty industry to generally have more women in leadership roles, she notes that there are noticeably more men in the higher ranks of beauty.

She advocates, “As you move up, it’s important to bring your voice and your experience. Remember to speak up, because you bring a unique perspective and a richness to the conversation or strategy discussion that’s not always represented.”

Valuing the Development and Growth of Her Team

Building relationships and sustaining connections is another key element of Lockett’s leadership style, particularly when it comes to managing a team.

“As your team grows and as your profile becomes more visible cross-functionally, simple gestures like walking around the office, asking about people’s weekends, and fostering personal connections can make a big difference in their engagement and commitment because they know you genuinely care.”

Creating engaged and high-performing teams by letting everyone in on the “why” can also go a long way in making people feel included and that they are an important contributing team member.

“As you progress into senior leadership roles, you may gain insight into the ‘why’ of certain strategies, yet this information may not always trickle down to every team. Pausing to communicate the overarching vision to the broader group and explaining the reasons behind our collective efforts fosters camaraderie, understanding, and an investment from the entire team.”

Beyond engaging her team in the vision, Lockett fosters a strong team dynamic in being accessible and open to hearing feedback, demonstrating that the team has a voice and can influence change. She also looks for opportunities for the team to bond outside the office, whether it be a graffiti class or mini golf, so that the team can get to know one another in a more relaxed atmosphere, as she notes, “it can go a long way when down the line they might be in a challenging conversation or have to work long hours getting ready for a big launch.”

Coaching Helps Connect the Dots

Lockett’s insightful reflections on her development as a leader are testament to the value of executive coaching, a recent experience for her.

“Having external perspective has helped me connect the dots between my experiences and approach to things by having someone externally mirror it back to me. Also, through targeted resources and exercises, I’ve gleaned more insights into how other people learn and how I may need to adapt and present information to effectively communicate and engage with others.”

Lockett notes that the benefit of having someone outside the organization facilitate that reflective process is that it helps reveal potential limiting beliefs or behaviors that may not be beneficial, opening new possibilities for how to approach an issue.

“I’ve seen the impact of leadership coaching reflected in my ability to dedicate more time with my team, listen to their perspectives and advocate for what they need in a way that I may not have in the past.”

Making an Impact with the Relaunch of VIVA GLAM

Lockett is an inspirational leader who not only hopes to make an impact with her team, but also on a macro level through the relaunching of the MAC VIVA GLAM campaign. The charitable arm of MAC, VIVA GLAM has given over half a billion dollars globally to support organizations in their mission to create healthy futures and equal rights for all. Now thirty years after its founding, MAC VIVA GLAM has an expanded mission with new pillars including sexual equality, racial equality, gender equality and sustainability that all markets can tailor with grant funding.

“Being involved with VIVA GLAM is one of my favorite parts of working on MAC. I get to oversee the programs that we will run and the charities that we support, allowing me to play a role in making an impact on something – and someone – that is much bigger than myself.”

Reflecting on where she started with aspirations to work in international relations, she realizes, “finding what’s important to you and how to bring that into your work” is what she values most, and she is excited to have an opportunity to continue to do that in her leadership role at MAC.

By Jessica Robaire

Trust is foundational to a successful team. Being able to trust that your coworkers and employees will perform to the best of their abilities enables not only more productivity but also engaged employees. The Harvard Business Review found that people who work in places with high trust levels reported 106% more energy at work, 76% more engagement, 74% less stress, 40% less burnout, 50% higher productivity and 29% more satisfaction with their lives compared to those at a low trust workplace.

The report also found that low trust workplaces often mean that people have to spend time navigating office politics. There have been decades of research into all aspects of the workplace, team performance being a dominant one. One person who has researched trust and dysfunction in teams is Patrick Lencioni who wrote the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

The book lists these dysfunctions as absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. Absence of trust focuses on the lack of vulnerability based trust which leads to team members not willing to be open with teammates on things like admitting mistakes or weaknesses. Fear of conflict connects to trust as it involves team members being comfortable contradicting a teammate and debating topics. Lack of commitment happens when members’ ideas aren’t being taken into account. Avoidance of accountability is when peers don’t hold each other accountable for living up to the standards of the team. The final dysfunction is inattention to results in which individual team members are more focused on their own results than the team results. Many of these dysfunctions can be addressed by making sure psychological safety is present in the workplace.

The current definition of psychological safety was coined in 1999 by Amy Edmondson and is defined as, “the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes, and that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.” In a recent study by Yuanqin Ge, it was found that employees that felt a sense of psychological safety in their workplace could speak more openly and often, provide their opinions to help decision making in teams and feel comfortable enough to share their ideas with managers. All of these outcomes are based on trust.

How can you apply psychological safety? According to Timothy Clarke, whose model is based off Edmondson’s 1999 research, there are Four Stages of Psychological Safety which include:

Inclusion Safety – Inclusion safety involves making sure team members feel as though that can be their most authentic selves and will be accepted for that.
Learner Safety – This stage includes making sure the workplace is an environment where questions are not frowned upon. The workplace needs to become a space where people feel they can ask questions to learn, give and receive feedback and even make small mistakes without fear of repercussions.
Contributor Safety – In this stage, the team should feel as though they can share their ideas without the fear of being ridiculed or embarrassed. This stage can be the most difficult stage as bringing your own ideas in front of peers can be a very vulnerable position to be in.
Challenger Safety – In the final stage, team members should be able to question or challenge coworkers’ (include authorities’) ideas and offer suggestions to plans or ways of working through a project.

What Can You Do to Encourage Psychological Safety In Your Own Team?

Don’t Worry about Being the “Perfect” Team

Don’t put all the emphasis on being the “perfect” team where no mistakes are made and everything is always right. It’s understandable to strive for that as a leader, but it’s not exactly feasible. All of your employees are human and humans cannot be perfect all the time, as much as we may want to be. Studies show that a perfectionist boss has negative effects on motivation, effort, and willingness to work. Let go of your perfectionism a little and allow your employees to make mistakes and learn from them. Try to avoid anger in blaming the person and instead look for ways to rectify the situation. In doing so, you not only show your employees that you trust them enough to learn from this and not do it again but also show your team that coming to you with a mistake will not result in being berated by authority.

Encourage All Voices

Try to create a space where everyone can say what they believe needs to be included in a discussion. Remind your team that their input is appreciated and cherished. Attempt to hear people out when they are sharing, instead of dismissing them with answers like “yes, but…” or “You don’t know enough context to understand this situation.” Instead, ask them questions and invite participation in a non threatening way such as “What point of view could we be missing?” and be willing to accept criticisms. It may help to even set up meetings with a portion for playing the devil’s advocate and addressing those concerns as a group. Making sure that your employees feel as though they are being heard can encourage them to continue speaking up and bringing unique ideas and solutions to the table.

Focus on Building a Team Culture

Build a team where no one is afraid to ask each other for help. Make it the norm that coworkers encourage each other and have that begin with you. Try to schedule times for your team to spend time together and focus on feedback and appreciation. Make sure you let your team know you appreciate them and are supporting their development personally and professionally. Do this as well as events like happy hours or fun team building activities so your employees can let loose a little. You are with these people 35+ hours a week. Knowing more about them and feeling safe around them will make working with them more enjoyable and productive.

The addition of psychological safety can do wonders for increasing trust in your team. Trust and safety go hand in hand in making sure your workplace is one that can flourish and perform to its highest standards. Applying these few examples can make huge strides towards a more productive and happy work environment for your team.

By Chloe Williams

Tag Archive for: team building

Rachel Lockett: Vice President of Marketing, MAC Cosmetics