
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Jane Helbrecht is the founder of Uplift Engagement where she focuses on building people and leadership development programs that shift team dynamics so that teams can focus, get stuff done and have fun while they do it. Jane is a dynamic speaker and facilitator who focuses on helping make leadership more manageable through Uplift’s 3.5-day Leadership Lift Training Program.
Jane is a B.Comm (Hons) who graduated from the I.H. Asper School of Business with a double major in Human Resources Management and International Business. Prior to launching Uplift Engagement, she worked as an HR professional in manager, strategy and partner roles where she developed her expertise in leadership development, engagement, people and culture programs, and training and development.
Jane has her CPHR designation and is a Certified Leadership Coach. She is involved in a number of Winnipeg Community initiatives including serving as a Past President of Prairie Theatre Exchange and her past roles on United Way Winnipeg’s Campaign Cabinet. She has previously been a board member of the Young Associates, Co-Chair of ArtsScene Winnipeg and co-founder of the GenNext Summit and RWB’s Barre After Hours fundraiser. She has a passion for the arts, good food, travel, the Zara app and some dive bar karaoke.
In the last year, you took a big leap and started your own business, Uplift Engagement. Can you walk us through your thought process when you realized this is something you wanted to do?
Making this move was prompted by making the wrong move first. I came out of 9 years working in consulting, 7 of those years as a partner in a small HR Consulting firm. I realized at some point in 2021 that I wanted to make a move and I immediately had my heart set on a big-time corporate HR role in Tech or Finance. But the search took a while, and I turned down a few offers along the way because none of them seemed quite ‘right’. In early 2022, I decided I needed to take the next offer that was close enough. It was time to move. So, I did. And two weeks into my new Tech HR Strategy gig I knew… I hated it.
But taking that role gave me the clarity I needed to know that starting my own business was the right move. Prior to leaving my last consulting job, I couldn’t picture starting my own thing. It felt like a bit of a betrayal to my former team, so I didn’t entertain it. I always knew I would end up back in consulting some day but I thought it would be 2, 5 or 10 years down the line.
Once I let the dream take hold of starting my own business it was all consuming. I also started to see the indicators that had been there all along – journal entries from 2020 about ‘doing my own thing’ and friends and colleagues asking me if I was starting my own thing when I left my last consulting gig.
Ultimately, I knew that starting Uplift Engagement would be where I could provide value to individuals and organizations and do work that gives me energy and aligns with my personal values. Consulting is where my heart is, especially the world of leadership development, engagement and the future of work.
What is the biggest difference you have experienced coming from working in the corporate world, to owning your own business?
I think there are three major differences.
The first is the ability to focus on my interests and curiosities and where I think I can provide value. I can say no to work that doesn’t align with my values, talents or interests.
The second is the lifestyle. I truly feel that starting this business has allowed me to plan my work around my life instead of planning my life around my work. I have flexibility over how, when and where I get my work done. It all fits together. And when there are times that work takes over my life, I made that decision and there is ownership in terms of the impact it might have on other areas of my life.
The third difference is that I get to focus so much time and energy on learning. Learning about my clients and their businesses and building relationships. I spend time learning about the pressure points impacting clients and learning how I can support them in addressing those issues. Since leaving corporate I’ve been focusing a lot of learning of flexible work and future of work preparedness. It’s given me the freedom to learn and create in areas I know will have an impact and align with my interests.
In your opinion, what is the most important thing entrepreneurs and those in leadership roles can do to create a workplace with culture, and a strong value system?
I think the first is to hire stellar leaders who you trust will execute with integrity. I spent the first 6 years of my career in HR generalist and manager roles and it became very clear to me that organizations need significantly less HR intervention when they prioritize hiring and developing great leaders.
I think it’s also recognizing that culture isn’t made by the words plastered on your boardroom wall, listed in your job postings on your website. Culture, at its core, is how we do things in an organization day in and day out. How we treat each other. How we communicate, collaborate, make decisions, and get things done. That’s our culture. And leaders have a huge impact on those day-to-day things.
To build culture and a strong values system, organizations need to define their vision, mission and values and then actually live them. They need to continue to audit and adjust to be consistent with those values. And just like we keep tweaking, revising, and iterating our products and services we need to keep tweaking, revising and iterating our culture. Our people and culture is our best. Never stop working on it.
If you could go back to day one in your career, and have 15 minutes with your younger self to communicate any lessons you’ve acquired, what would you tell yourself?
Listen more. Don’t rush.
I like to talk and share my ideas, but I wish I learned to sit back and listen sooner. And honestly, I’m still working on it!
I can also power through getting something done so I can check it off my to do list. I would remind my younger self to take my time and do it well.
I’d also tell my younger self to keep thinking big about what life and work can look like. I think 25-year-old Jane would be pretty jazzed about what 38 year old Jane is working on.
Is connection with likeminded people important as a business owner? Has Knew House influenced your personal and professional life?
Connection has been so important in making the shift to start my own business as a solopreneur. People often ask me if I feel alone working in my business, and truthfully, I don’t. I have so many people (in particular a lot of women) I can go to for support. I often call up my former colleague, Devan, for her feedback on how I’m pricing something. Or I connect with other consultants to partner with on bigger projects or refer work to them that I don’t have capacity for or that they do better than I do.
My house has had 4 meetings so far and I really appreciate the care and connection in that room. I recently leveraged the house for a brainstorm on a particular leadership development program I’m working on and their feedback was so meaningful. I think the connection with my house and with the broader Knew House membership community will have a big impact both personally and professionally over the long term.
Comments