Community Showcase: Meica Hatters

Luis Malbas  
All right. Hello, everybody. Welcome to the training learning and development community. Happy Thursday. To you out there. It's you've got a few people in the broadcast this afternoon here on Pacific time anyway, I guess evening where Mika is at. But let's see Kim is here and Susan kits all. Cindy Michelle. Jen. Thanks for being here. All right. So this is a member showcase. And I always love doing these because I get to meet such interesting people. Get to chat with them about their backgrounds in l&d and find out what they're all about, because this is a community. And yeah, and we have a particularly interesting member to to chat with today. Mika hatters, and did I get that right? I did. Listen to your little audio blurb on LinkedIn. So I'm like, oh, yeah, I got it. Mika. You, dad. Yes. Excellent. Mika. Thanks for doing this today. So I've got a few questions for you. And it looks like there might be It looks like somebody added a question in there, too. Oh, okay. We're gonna have to ask that one. That is an interesting one. That gets all added to the list. And if anybody else has any questions, please feel free to to add them to the Ask a Question area. And so yeah, we're just gonna dive right into it. Mika. How did you get into this? This crazy thing called l&d Now I looked and I noticed that you started out as an HR generalist, right?

Meica Hatters  
Yes. So I started out at an HR at Jackie International, in Kenosha, and actually based in Wisconsin, and I loved helping people. I absolutely loved it, but I really loved the l&d space. I love helping people dream and get where they want it to be. So that's how I ended up here. I wasn't I understood HR, but I didn't know about the l&d stuff. So once I got a taste of it, I was hooked.

Luis Malbas  
So how exactly did that progression work? Because I actually I mean, occasionally run into some HR folks that turned into IDs, but it's not really that common, I would say. So how did that progression work for you?

Meica Hatters  
That's a good question. So I was able to do kind of a rotational program during my internship at jockey. So I worked a little bit with the benefits area, I worked with the staffing area. And I also got to work with their lnd area. And at first I was setting up the rooms and the person running that area at the time allowed me to kind of get into helping him with the mentoring area, and build trainings and that type of thing. And I fell in love. Additionally, I'm an enormous nerd, if you look at my LinkedIn profile, and I love school. So when I finished my master's degree, I went into teaching, and I'm saying this publicly live, my very first day was a flop. I was a boring teacher, I didn't know what I was doing. So what I did was I started to research really deeply. And I learned what instructional design was at that point. And I started to kind of put all of the corporate pieces and the higher ed pieces together. And I fell in love with learning and development as a whole. And the academic side of it helped me understand that it wasn't necessarily just great PowerPoints. So that's kind of how I got into it. I could go down a nerdy rabbit hole. But

Luis Malbas  
well, I am wondering having that HR background, how helpful is that for you?

Meica Hatters  
immensely helpful, especially in my role it in my role at home, as a learning strategist, I work a lot with HR professionals who want to prepare their managers elevate their staff, do that type of thing. So I'm able to kind of speak in the HR language and help them get there. So it's very helpful.

Luis Malbas  
Nice. Yeah, I'm sure that I mean, when I think about it, and just having known people in both spaces on the l&d side and the HR side, they just work so closely together, I'm sure that having a background in HR is just just get you get you ahead. And especially with someplace like Hoan, which sounds like a really interesting company. I mean, it's you've got a learning platform, tell us a little bit about home, because that is very, very cool. Looking.

Meica Hatters  
Okay, wonderful. And homezone is a wonderful organization. I started in October, so I'm still pretty new. But at home, we kind of kind of fit into that missing middle that we find in the learning environment for corporate organizations. So we have a we have a virtual instructor led course catalog, where our courses are not recorded, you're not listening to recording, you're not clicking through an elearning you're interacting with instructors that are trained in coaching, so they can see those little nuances and kind of feel out the room and and pivot in the in the training as it makes sense. In addition, we have a platform that allows organizations to scale their training. So we work with a lot of organizations that have one person l&d teams or to personnel and DTM. So that's another kind of piece. And then my role in it is, honestly the funnest. So what I do is I get to customize that training to organizations. So making sure that it's culturally relevant for their organization, making sure that the names and titles of the situations are real. So that's that's kind of what I get to do. And then we strategize and make multi year plans to make sure we're sorry, there's a more effective way to make sure that we are truly helping organizations reach their goals. So and then we have a platform that provides data and behavioral assessments and other things. To do that.

Luis Malbas  
Do you do any of the VLT?

Meica Hatters  
Yep, it's all virtual. Oh, I know. I don't. I try to stay behind the scenes. Yeah, I can to be honest.

Luis Malbas  
Very interesting. That's cool. I am. Yeah, I found myself kind of lingering at the own website when I went to visit and I'm like, wow, this is really, really cool. Yeah, yeah. Sounds sounds very, very fun. I mean, gosh, and you're relatively new there. It seems like you must be learning a lot.

Meica Hatters  
Yes, most definitely. Our organization does move fast. And we're constantly constantly growing and iterating. So I would, I would say that while I'm not, you know, a veteran there, you know, I do. I do very much enjoy it.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, let's see, um, Kim's looking for the URL. I think it's home HQ. Is it? Yep. It's

Meica Hatters  
home. hq.com. Yeah,

Luis Malbas  
yeah. Cool. All right. So let's hear a little bit about your favorite part of being an instructional designer or l&d Professional.

Meica Hatters  
Um, yeah, it's, it's hard. Um, I love helping customers make their dreams come true. So when we hear I actually went to a conference, and one of our one of my customers that we had customized training for, so we went through and made sure it was relevant to their culture, cultural languages, and things like cultural cultural language and things. And they came up and they were super excited and had said that their leadership was using the language already, after one session. And that is my favorite part. It's the impact it seeing it seeing things happen. I also like to get nerdy and get into the science of learning. And talk to my wonderful colleagues about that there's multiple learning strategies at home. And so I love being a nerd with them as well. And seeing the program success.

Luis Malbas  
That's very, very what conference were you at? I was an HR transform. Okay. Okay. Nice. That's great. And so, home, was there just serving attendees and stuff, just and you got to be participate in that?

Meica Hatters  
Yes. So a number of individuals from home went, we had a booth to share some of what we do. And then actually, our people ops team was there attending sessions. So it was a nice, a nice time to get together. Our company is remote first. So we have individuals across, you know, across the world, so it was nice to get together. We haven't seen each other since December. So a bunch of us were there. Not everyone, but a bunch of us.

Luis Malbas  
Wow. And you're also still currently an adjunct instructor at Madison Area Technical College. Yes, I am. Wow. Can you talk a little bit about that? What do you do there?

Meica Hatters  
I teach HR courses. So I I'm currently teaching effective staffing, which I've been teaching since 2010 2011. And I really love meeting the new HR people kind of coming into into this into the HR world and kind of helping them through the process and sharing some of the things I wish I would have known kind of going into it. So that's it's been a joy to do that.

Luis Malbas  
Wow, that's great. Yeah, Kim was asking if that's where Alan not to chew worked. Did you know him by chance? He's somebody else. He was he's a regular hair and since moved on, but I'm not sure if that was the the technical college the Madison Area Technical College that he worked, but absolutely wonderful guy. That Allen? Yeah, so um, how about some things that you you wish you had known when you first started out in your career, anything that you would like to you know, if you could go back and tell yourself when you were just considering like, sorry, HR things cool, but I want to you know, I want to get into instructional design stuff that you would tell yourself

Meica Hatters  
um, you can't do it all. You're gonna have to rely on a team and you know, and have those colleagues and have those networks and communities like what you've created here. I think these I think that community and, and opportunities to kind of talk to one another and learn new things is key.

Luis Malbas  
So when you first started were You were you just trying to do everything you think?

Meica Hatters  
Um, yeah, I have that habit. But But yes, I definitely was trying to do everything. I thought that I needed to know everything. And then I started leaning I'm colleagues, I've been part of communities and professional organizations, since very early in my career because I just find so much joy in the sharing piece. And then we're better at your job, right? If you if you do that as well,

Luis Malbas  
no, that's great. And I would love to talk about that too, because I see that you volunteer with a TD. Right? And then what was it the Online Learning Consortium?

Meica Hatters  
Yep, LLC, as well as?

Luis Malbas  
What do you why do you? I mean, what do you get out of that? Why is it something that that, that you do?

Meica Hatters  
I love your questions. You know, I volunteered a lot with a TD, up until kind of COVID change my life and everyone else's. But I've made so many wonderful friends and connections through a TD, and I've been able to learn so many things that were immediate, immediately applicable to my role. Some of that came through monthly meetings that we would have, but a lot of it came through one on one coffees, I would have about what are you doing in here? And have you tried this and that type of thing. So those informal relationships really helped my career. And honestly, when I was doing consulting, it helped, it helped that as well. So I very much enjoy the community. And then all I'll see is a little bit more higher ed focused. And with that organization, I did peer review of conference conference on proposals and things like that. And that really helped me stay fresh in what was happening in the higher ed world and and also understand some of the questions and concerns that I didn't know where questions and concerns because you know, I'm one person, so that really helps me understand and connect with my students a little bit more effectively. So

Luis Malbas  
that's great. So you're, you've got like, one foot on the corporate side and one foot in the academic side, higher ed side, right? Yeah. That's not typical, either. Oh, right. So I mean, I yeah, I just there always seems like we have conversations with people. We're like, Yeah, I left higher ed to you know, because the corporate, you know, side of things was more appealing to me or the other direction. Yeah, I read I, you know, I have like this certain level of autonomy or, but you've got your foot in both. Is that hard to adjust to? Or is it? Is it something that you're really comfortable with? Or does it help to? Do you feel like you're benefiting from, you know, having a foot in both sides,

Meica Hatters  
like, definitely have a foot in both sides, I would say that, like most of my body is on the corporate side. But I definitely, I'm a nerd. So I love to school, I love office supplies, let's be really honest, like getting a new pen is awesome thing for me. So, because I've always loved school, I wanted to bring that corporate side to what I do, I teach at technical colleges, as you'll notice, because a lot of these individuals are already in the workforce doing the job or transitioning. And I really enjoyed helping make things real for them with the kind of the corporate experience. And not to say that other instructors don't do that I just that's part of part of my passion for learning. And then I would also say, I use my higher ed, especially kind of the some of the academic approaches to inform what I do on the corporate side. So for me, it's definitely a shift, kind of going back and forth. Because how I work with our individual customers, and how I work with my students is a little bit different. But I guess I hadn't really thought about having to switch back and forth, but I guess I do.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, no, I think it's pretty significant. Do you mentor anybody right now?

Meica Hatters  
I do not formally mentor anyone. But I definitely have individuals on LinkedIn, or, you know, in my life who say, Hey, can we talk about fill in the blank? And I definitely answer those messages and try to try to help but I don't formally mentor right now. No,

Luis Malbas  
nice. Okay. So catesol has a question in the q&a area. And he's asking, what is a thought partner? And I'm not sure what the context for that is? Exactly. But he's asking.

Meica Hatters  
I love the question. So in my mind, a thought partner is someone that you trust to be open and vulnerable with to work through concern. So that might be to design a program that might be to design a course or work through some type of concern, or take something to the next level. And that was actually one of the biggest compliments I received from a customer at home was that make your your thought partner really appreciate you. So that's why I printed my LinkedIn because I was such a wonderful compliment. But I definitely do that. And I have throughout my career. I'm kind of one of those people that people enjoy talking to. And then I ask those tough questions, and then hold space for people. And I and I love doing it. So that's what I would consider thought partners want to hold the hold space and kind of acts as a sounding board for you. So does go through those things.

Luis Malbas  
No, that's great. That is great. I had never heard that one before. I'm glad that there is context for that. But it was on your LinkedIn profile. And it wasn't just some random question from gets. Um, and so projects that you're currently working on, is there anything I'd love to hear about like for in and own? What are you doing right now.

Meica Hatters  
Um, so I am working on something really neat. I actually closed it out before before I jumped on, but I am working with an organization that is multinational. So they are working to customize a Diversity Equity and Inclusion belonging track course track we have. And I'm working to make sure that it's relevant to another culture that might use different languages, but it's interacting with United States. So I'm working on that. And it's an it's a wonderful experience, because it's also a culture I'm not familiar with. So I'm partnering really closely with that with that organization, people on in multiple nations to make sure we customize it, so it it truly lands. So

Luis Malbas  
wow, that sounds like a lot of fun. So you must be learning a ton just by doing that project.

Meica Hatters  
I am learning a ton. It is so much fun. And it's it's wonderful to partner with passionate people passionate about making change, about teaching and that type of thing. So that's what I'm doing right now.

Luis Malbas  
So you're definitely a learner. I'd like to hear like, and you've mentioned that like, I think it was maybe four times so far, you've mentioned that you were a nerd. But how do you stay? How do you stay on top of your professional development, like as your for your career specifically?

Meica Hatters  
I would say that I read quite a bit. I very much enjoy. Malcolm Gladwell, Brene, brown, Adam Grant, Simon Sinek. So I read the read those type of books. I also there's a magazine, there's a couple magazines I really, really enjoy. I'm one is a talent strategy magazine, the name is escaping me. But I'll read Harvard Business Review, TD magazine, and those types of things to stay to stay relevant. And I also talk to my colleagues internally. We're all were from all over the world about other learning strategies. So they helped me under help me think through topics and we definitely talk about things. So that's how I stay. Stay abreast.

Luis Malbas  
Wow. And you were and then of course, you were just at a conference. Oh, yeah. Was that was it? I mean, was that something? Was that a learning experience for you there? Like, were you attending sessions and stuff?

Meica Hatters  
Most definitely. I attended as many sessions as I could you know, how they have them at the same time. So you have to like flip a coin. But that was a wonderful experience. And honestly, I haven't been to a conference in years. So I put books and magazines in there to kind of fill that void over the last couple years. All right,

Luis Malbas  
that's great. So we hear about all these wonderful things, that you do it at home, but how about something that is particularly challenging for you at your job?

Meica Hatters  
Hmm. That's a That's a good one. Um, I would say time zones. Time Zones are the biggest challenge. I can't necessarily change them. But, you know, working across all of the time zones in America, as well as other time zones outside of America has been a little bit of a challenge, but we all flex and kind of make it work. But I would say that's kind of the biggest challenge.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, I think, you know, it didn't used to be that much of a challenge to me before. But I don't know, for some reason, in the last few months, it's actually gotten especially difficult. I don't know if it's pandemic related or what, but for some reason, time zones are just starting to elude me and just kind of, you know, have to get into it a little bit and say, well, oh, well, just gonna have to miss an appointment here and there. Um, what other what other kinds of jobs if you weren't Mika?

Meica Hatters  
Ah, so I have, like, we had talked what had been an HR generalist, um, what else have I done? I've done instructional design. So I've been kind of behind the scenes building the courses. I've worked in food service as my first job. That's what I'm looking for. Okay, that's what you're looking for. Okay. So my very first job was bussing tables at a Chinese food restaurant. And they learned one very important thing. If you drop hot rice on a carpet, you cannot sweep it up. You have to let it dry. And you have to just kind of walk past it for a while, because you can't get it up. And if you try to sweep it, you grind it into the carpet no matter how like, low the carpet is. Yeah. And I mean, that was more than 20 years ago, and I will never ever forget that. But it was it was fun. I ate a lot of food and met a lot of people had a great time. But that was my experience. My biggest learning was you can't sweep can't sweep race.

Luis Malbas  
Wow. And you just bust tables. That's and that's it. You know, that's great.

Meica Hatters  
Yeah, that was my very first job was bussing tables. Yeah. Right.

Luis Malbas  
And so if you weren't an l&d professional, what do you think you'd be

Meica Hatters  
I'd like to think I would be a writer, um, I very much love reading, and I've been taking some writing courses that kind of, you know, calm the brain, well, I guess use different parts of the brain, but I very much enjoy the communication piece. So

Luis Malbas  
that's great. That's great. Is it something you've been doing? You know, since you were a kid or anything, or is just writing something that just started for you.

Meica Hatters  
Um, so if I told you I just started, my mother would probably say me go, why did you lie on that? I did. I was writing poetry. And I have one publication. My mother has the book on her bookshelf like it's front center when I was in high school. But I do and I see a comment from Kim. I do write, not creative nonfiction. So writing about kind of kind of ridiculous things now, like absurdity, things that happen. So that's what I do now. But in the backend back in the day, I did write poetry. And now it's more so memoir and essays and trying to bring some levity to life, I guess.

Luis Malbas  
Sure. And that, I'm sure totally helps with everything that you do. Just having the ability to write is so important for, you know, basically anybody that's in l&d, I would say,

Meica Hatters  
Mm hmm. Wow, that's great. Fun. I mean, it's it's it's it's a creative process. It's like painting almost, it's it's a creative process. So.

Luis Malbas  
Right, right. And so um, let's see, we're getting down to some of the last questions here. How about one thing that people should know about you?

Meica Hatters  
Oh, I'm hadn't given this one thought. And I've we've already established that I am. I was a nerd. For so I enjoy baseball. You see my baseball scarf? I'm in Wisconsin. Oh, yeah.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah. So. So you think so baseball is the way that you're a baseball nerd, that's the one thing that people should know about you.

Meica Hatters  
I'm not a baseball nerd. Because if you say that there's people coming out of the woodwork who are gonna quiz me on LinkedIn. So I can't see that I'm a baseball nerd. But I very much enjoy baseball. So that's something that people kind of wouldn't guess about me that I enjoy baseball and enjoy the players and seeing their their kind of progress through different teams and stuff. So that's one thing that people should know.

Luis Malbas  
Now, your as far as your lnd role is concerned, specifically, like, is there anything that you like doing more than others, the one thing that if you could just do this one piece all the time? What would it be,

Meica Hatters  
um, I would talk to I would talk to people and help them build their strategy, a strategy that's truly aligned with business outcomes, because it's so hard from an in my experience with lnd, we're often given these orders, like build this training, do this do this. But sometimes we aren't, you know, allowed to think strategically. So if I could do one thing, all of the time, it would be to look at kind of cultural nuances, it would be to look at goals, it would be to look at like business strategies, and build out a multi year training and development program for individual contributors, as well as leaders.

Luis Malbas  
Wow, that is pretty intense. I don't think I've spoken to anybody else that just really likes to get into. So can you like get into that a little bit more? So how would you build that out? Would you just isn't just a thing you would document in the you know, in a word document or something? Or how would you like, develop that strategy specifically.

Meica Hatters  
So in in my ideal world, I would be able to talk to business business leaders, so the chief people officer or the CHRO, and then understand what is what's coming up, what's coming up today, and what's coming up tomorrow and help kind of map that out. And then also work with you once we understand kind of what's coming up where the goals were the strategies to meet the needs of their customers, and then map quarterback skills back to our courses. And that's what I would do. And then also, I would build within that strategy, I would talk about, you know, tactical things like how are we going to reinforce the learning? So yes, definitely a Word document, maybe more of an Excel file, multi year to kind of look at it. And then I would be able to talk to learners, I would be able to talk to leaders within the organization to see what they need. So I would do a full blown needs assessment. And then I then I would, I would build it out from there.

Luis Malbas  
You must really like people.

Meica Hatters  
Oh, I do. I mean, well, I teach. I teach. And, honestly, my favorite part of Hoan is like the work I do, but it's the people I do it with. I mean, really honest, we work very hard. But it's um, it's it's not just me doing it. It's not actually I mean, it's everyone. We have customer success managers. We have operations people, we have our leadership. I mean, it's not definite in our sales team. It's not definitely not me. And I love the collaboration with them and our customers. So yes, I love I love people.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, just I mean, it just this radiates from you that just you being an educator, and just the fact that you want to help others. So, last question, who are what keeps you inspired?

Meica Hatters  
Oh, wow. Um, I would say that I would say that my family keeps me inspired. So like my mother and my brother. My mother has taken care of people with special needs and own own business owner business for years and years and years. And I just see how much love and care she gives to her residents as well as her people. And it's inspiring, because to love that deeply, this is something and then my brother, we're 16 years apart. So he's just a baby. He's really not a baby. He's taller than me, but just seeing him and his growth and all of the things he's achieved and, and overcome and coming into his own, I would say, it's my family that I'm like, Okay, gotta get up. Gotta try a little bit harder. What would my mom do? What would my brother say, you know, and stuff like that in a loving way. So it's my people.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, no. And that's definitely inspiration. You know, just to be to think about it in that way. That's wonderful. Um, actually, I do have one more question from Kim. Asking about hones courses for managers. Are all of them for managers? Are there is that are there anything for lineworkers?

Meica Hatters  
Absolutely. So we offer well, maybe we offer individual contributor courses as well to build crucial skills like asking powerful questions and building high trust relationships and productivity. So we have a whole course catalog that looks at leaders of different levels as well as individual contributors. So yes,

Luis Malbas  
nice. Okay, cool. Rica, you must be wonderful to work with. You seem like somebody that would just be like a great teammate. So yeah, yeah. No, I really appreciate appreciate you taking the time out to do showcase with us. That was a lot of fun. It was Oh, Michelle saying yes, indeed. And Cindy saying she's the best. Yeah, it's a, you just sort of get that so I I'm so glad you're able to do this. And I'm gonna go Is it okay, if I post your LinkedIn profile in the chat?

Meica Hatters  
Sure. That would be great. And if Kim or if anyone else wants to kind of hear about honer nerd out, I'm more than happy to kind of talk about it. I'm super passionate about everything. lnd even outside of home, so,

Luis Malbas  
love it. Mika. Thanks again. I really appreciate your time. And with that, I'm going to go ahead and wrap up this showcase. I'll have it posted on the website at some point this weekend. And I really appreciate you supporting the LDC with your membership and maybe we can have you on as a speaker sometime.

Meica Hatters  
Okay, thank you so much. Take care. All right.

Luis Malbas  
All right. Bye, everybody.

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