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MENTOR OF THE YEAR
Peabody is the first to say she wouldn't be where she is
today without those that have lifted her up throughout
her career. Through different stages of her personal life
and professional career, she's kept her mind open to receiving
support from those around her, and sometimes
it has come from some pretty surprising places.
" It's always been a great alignment for me in terms
of the universe where there's a hurdle or need, even
just internally, that I've needed to get through and that
friend, also known as a mentor, kind of comes out of the
sky and aligned surprisingly, " Peabody says. " Sometimes
I had no idea that they have experience in the area that I
needed some help in, or at other times, I was intentional
and specifically requested some assistance or someone
to be a sounding board for me. "
It's her mission to give that energy back to WOW!
employees and others throughout the industry. She
starts with a personality framework utilized by WOW! to
gain insights into, among other things, how individuals
prefer to work or communicate. It has given Peabody a
place to start when mentoring those on her team and
beyond because she can understand where employees
see themselves on their growth journeys. " I'm curious
by nature, so I'm always asking a lot of questions just to
understand their own self-awareness, " she says. " What
are they concerned about, or even if they don't vocalize
it, it sounds like you have a little anxiety about this. What
is it? "
Once she knows that, she develops stretch assignments
for those individuals that challenge them to confront that
fear or address that trepidation. Perhaps she suggests
that person be put in a role on a project that scares
them or that will put them in a position where they can
test out an area of interest in a supportive environment.
" I believe, through discussion, you find those hidden
talents that people have that you can leverage in order
to come from a place of power and comfort, " Peabody
says.
But what's most important to Peabody is that team
members don't experience these stretch assignments
in silos and there are always conversations around how
to ensure everyone is leveraging their teams to help
achieve success. That could mean requesting feedback
or just asking for advice when preparing to make a move
forward. " I'm very focused in that space around team
communication, team support, because I do think we've
kind of gotten away from that area in the professional
realm, " she says.
It's easy for everyone to get stuck in the demands
of their daily duties, particularly in a vibrant and ever-evolving
industry, and Peabody doesn't think that
changes as you climb the corporate ladder. She suggests
that everyone build their own version of a " board "
that continues to push you or give you an assist when
you need insights on where to grow next. " You should
have those different types of personalities that you're
cultivating as you're moving through your career, and it
shouldn't just be anchored into wherever you work, " she
says.
CablefaxWomen.com
Leslie Peabody
SVP & Chief People Officer
WOW!
Beyond traditional mentoring relationships, Peabody
headed the launch of an inclusion and belonging
program at WOW! Her hope is that even if somebody
leaves the company for a different career opportunity,
they would feel comfortable referring someone or
becoming a customer themselves because there is
alignment between WOW!'s core values and the actions
the operator takes.
She took a grassroots approach with the program, creating
a template that allowed employees to create the
different employee resource groups they needed. One,
notably, is focused on mentoring. Others create spaces
for veterans as well as health and wellness initiatives.
These groups are now primarily what run and shape
WOW!'s inclusion and belonging program.
" We're able to deploy a lot of our needs on our people
strategies through these groups and they have all types
of people in them. I just love it, " she says. " I think that's
where our success has been. "
When folks question her about how to become or find
a mentor, she responds by telling people that they're
probably already in a relationship like that, just without
the label. It's about challenging each other, having a certain
degree of trust and open communication, but also
having some expectations about what will come out of
the relationship.
" It's just communicating more expectations and seeing
where you can kind of push the boundaries to, because
once you actually say yes, I'm mentoring someone, then
they'll probably release more strings for you to push
some of those boundaries, " she says.
December 2024
43
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