Meet the Masters - Marieke Flament, Mettle
MARIEKE FLAMENT
As part of our Meet the Masters Series, Stephanie de Wangen, Director at The Up Group, spoke to Marieke Flament, CEO of Mettle – a digital start-up by NatWest, that provides small businesses and self-starters with the resources they need to start, run and grow their business. Marieke talks about the interesting insights she has discovered through conducting Diversity & Inclusion surveys, the top qualities she looks for in candidates, and her go-to podcast.
What three attributes do you think make a great CEO?
The first attribute is the importance of clear communication. This has been particularly enhanced with COVID-19. CEOs must be able to articulate what needs to be done and where teams are going, now more than ever, as the requirement for clarity and sharper communication has been enhanced with everyone having to work remotely through the pandemic.
My second one would be the ability to connect the dots to help make faster decisions. Often your teams are managing different projects and it can be unclear on how everything ties together, so CEOs need to be able to make that connection at a higher level when things get stuck.
The third one, which has also been heightened in recent times, is empathy. Leadership styles are changing and having genuine empathy for your teams and customers is fundamental.
When hiring for your team, what questions do you ask to separate a great leader from a good one?
I think you see the truth in people when you ask for examples on how they handle difficult conversations. The art of mastering those moments in a thoughtful way, to move things forward and find clarity, is essential. Gaining an understanding of how candidates think and manage those situations is crucial. I also ask candidates to explain and present their first 90-day plan if they were to join the business. It helps identify the individuals who have given thought to what they might be doing and how they would approach the role.
In your opinion, why does diversity matter? Do you have any examples from your career where you have seen tangible business impact from increasing diversity?
Diversity matters, particularly in tech. You need to reflect the customer base for whom you are building your product, and if you do not have diversity and inclusion of thought, you end up building something that is not fit for your customers. In my opinion, cryptocurrency is still a space which needs to improve as it is not fully diverse. You can sense that some of the applications are very difficult to use and not necessarily fit for a holistic community.
“This inclusivity shines through when you see the team working together and challenging each other on how they can build the best product for our customers.”
At Mettle, 27% of our staff are women, a number we are continuously working on (40% of new hires in 2021 are women). Our inclusion survey always scores 90%+ which is amazing. This inclusivity shines through when you see the team working together and challenging each other on how they can build the best product for our customers. We also recently started working with Toby Mildon who is a diversity and inclusion architectural consultant. He is helping us to deep dive into audits and surveys to figure out what else is needed to increase our diversity.
What have you discovered from conducting these surveys?
The interesting thing we found was that employees are hesitant to give their data directly to their employers. So having an external person come in to do this really increased our understanding, and I learnt many things which I did not know about our employees. For example, it showed that 11.5% of the Mettle team have some form of disability that was not visible. And it turned out that that community said Mettle is a great place to work, which is amazing as I wouldn’t have known this had we not done the survey.
We also hosted forums and Q&A sessions, again led by third parties. From there, we came together as a leadership team to analyse the data and develop a strategy. The thing I love about the work that Toby does is that he believes that there is always something more to be done. Although at Mettle we could be seen as a ‘poster child’ and our statistics may seem impressive, there are always things that you can do to keep improving.
What advice do you have for your peers and other executives on prioritising D&I within their teams?
I would say to invest a lot of time into discovering ways you can improve D&I. If you do not invest enough time and let it slip off your radar, it can go wrong very easily and leave you at a disadvantage. In addition, investing time as a team to discuss D&I and bringing external speakers and different points of view into the organisation is very helpful. I have been very vocal about this, and not everyone is. Listening to your team is also important as it gives individuals who want to make a difference a chance to speak up.
You should also have the right definitions for the type of diversity you are looking for. You may have diversity in one aspect but not in another, so having the leadership team come together to identify this and have the same level of understanding and priority is important. I see diversity and inclusion as a fundamental layer which you build upon.
“When I find myself making too many decisions, I know something is broken in the machine. To move at pace, you need to be able to make decisions at your local level. ”
How do you create a high-performance culture and are there any examples of things you have put in place which have been effective?
The number one rule I have on creating a high-performance culture is that you need to make sure that everyone in the team knows what your long- and short-term objectives are. So, the first part is having clarity of vision and underlying objectives. The second part is having clear ownership which is delegated as much as possible. When I find myself making too many decisions, I know something is broken in the machine. To move at pace, you need to be able to make decisions at your local level. My third recommendation would be to give continuous feedback. I have always been a fan of coaching and quarterly reviews. Giving feedback to the team and setting expectations on business objectives and their career goals is important.
What is your career highlight to date?
Very often my career highlights are fun moments with my team and the human interactions that make our jobs more than just work!
When I worked at Circle I did quite a lot of work with governments and regulators to shape what crypto is and what it should look like. Today, so much has evolved and I see my contribution at that time as a fundamental pillar. I’ve also helped launch USDC, which today, is one of the major stablecoins.
I am also an advocate for what we call the ‘passion economy’ which raises awareness of the need for a shift in expectations of how we work and live. I think it is an issue that needs to be thought through, not only by banks, but by governments and regulators because the way we handle our lives has changed and needs more flexibility.
Are there any books or podcasts that have influenced your career or leadership style which you would recommend?
Basketball has played a major part in my life and career. There are so many parallels that I draw between coaching a team sport and how you manage the workplace. I am a huge fan of any book written by Phil Jackson who was one of Michael Jordan’s coaches.
I listen to the Tim Ferriss Show frequently. The way he interviews people and the life lessons he speaks about are great. He is the author of The 4-Hour Workweek and his podcast is phenomenal – there is always something on there which I pick up on and think of how I can build on that in my career.