Alisha Joseph The example that I'm going to use, that I think a lot of leaders make the mistake of — and including now in this AI industry — is leading everybody the same.
Treat each and every individual on your team as that individual. Get to know them on a personal level. Get to understand how they work, what works for them, what communication makes sense for them.
You will really actually get buy-in if you're able to take all of that from each individual on your team and create a way where it can still be a safe space, but it will also be an opportunity for you to be able to implement the why.
Jen Weaver Hey friends, welcome back to Live Chat with Jen Weaver.
Today I'm talking with Alisha Joseph, a support leader and founder of Savvy Edge, an AI coaching tool built to help managers grow their leadership skills on the job.
We get into what it's like to balance a W-2 role, consulting work, and caregiving, plus how to plan for the unexpected in a world of smaller teams and tighter budgets. Along the way she calls out the biggest leadership mistake — treating everyone the same — and shows how AI can frame better coaching conversations without losing authenticity. We wrap with her advice on LinkedIn, why chasing the top voice badge doesn't matter, but showing up as your genuine self does.
Grab your coffee and calendar, because this one's all about building resilience as a support leader. If you're looking for inspiration in your leadership role, then this episode is the one for you.
Before we get started though, our QA tool Supportman is what makes this podcast possible. Supportman sends real-time QA from Intercom to Slack with daily threads, weekly charts, and done-for-you AI-powered conversation evaluations. It makes it so much easier to QA Intercom conversations right where your team is already spending their day, in Slack.
All right, on to today's episode.
I'd love to start with — you are creating a tool for leaders. I just want to establish what that's about, when it's coming out. I know it's been a long time coming. Can you tell me more about that?
Alisha Jen, this has been a journey. We are near the end, which is the great news.
So I kind of pivoted. Most people know that I have my company, Savvy Service Pro Learning Solutions. I started off with more consulting, wanting to do courses, masterminds, especially for the contact center industry.
I pivoted a little bit, just looking at the current status of our wonderful industry. Of course we have AI, which is a non-stop conversation. And of course we've had a lot of our colleagues with layoffs, transitioning to other roles.
So I wanted to do something that I know will be impactful, but really comes together with today's current standards. We know that teams are smaller, we know that budgets are smaller — and one of those is definitely learning and development, and leadership development.
So I pivoted a little bit to start developing software, an AI coaching tool that actually helps leaders build their leadership development skills within the work.
The goal would be to prompt them with their notes and the information that they put in when they're normally checking in, and to help those leaders have prompts and coaching logs where they can reflect — but it also helps them to continue building their skills as a people leader.
So if they notice that someone's performance is off — even if they have an agent or a team lead that may just be off for the day, there may be some personal things going on — this coaching model helps you with that. Knowing when to check in, the best time to check in, when to update and coach if it's something with performance.
So the model is there to help them build that leadership development on the job. We know a lot of budgets have decreased with professional development, so I wanted to find a more innovative way to bring that to the table as they're working on the job.
It is called Savvy Edge. I'm very excited about it. The MVP is actually set up, and the next stage would be for me to get some testers in action. Get our team leaders, ops managers, even our directors and heads of support to actually try it out, utilize it, give some feedback.
This is something that I'm looking to bring to the industry that is really going to be impactful for people to continue to get their development, while still building the momentum for their teams and impact for their business.
Jen That's fantastic. Beta testers needed. So is this going to be a membership product?
Alisha The goal long term would be a membership product. We're also looking at licensing as well, for companies that may have certain things in place for their organization for leadership development.
So it's pretty flexible. The goal would be to have it flexible not only for the operations leaders, but even for their learning and development teams — because we know that some companies have certain specifics that they're looking for.
So we're bringing in the general, the basics for leadership development, but also being able to implement it into the organizational structure and how they do work. That's the ultimate goal.
Jen I'm so glad you're sharing about that. I'm looking forward to digging in and seeing what it's like, and sharing it with the community.
So just to launch into our podcast — I wonder if you would share with me what a week in your life looks like. And to preface that, I know you have a W-2 job, a nine-to-five, you have consulting work — it's a lot — and then you also have a personal life, you have a family you take care of too.
How does that all fit together for a week? In terms of meetings, and what your Monday morning is like, and how you plan your week?
Alisha At the end of the week I typically will put a plan in place.
Life as we know it for everyone is pretty crazy, and plans change. So in my life I have to always be ready for the unexpected.
What a typical week looks like for me: I do have my W-2 job. I work for an AI technology company. I'm a senior ops analyst, so I help with processing, correcting processes, helping with automations with AI. That's something that I usually organize my meetings and my sessions around, understanding where I need to do my work. So definitely my calendar — we all know about that good Google Calendar.
And then my family. I have my son, who is medically complex, and I also have my mother. So if they have certain appointments or things that need to be done, like with medications, of course I put that into my planning and organization for the day.
The goal for me is always prioritizing — what's important. It is a lot. I am running around. Coffee is definitely my best friend on a daily basis.
So it's really just about managing what I can and being ready for the unexpected. My life can take a turn at any second, with the personal as well as my work and my business. So I'm always making sure that I'm putting everything on my calendar, because I will forget.
Any pertinent scheduling or anything that's immediate for my family, I put that in. I also schedule my self time. That's very important in our industry — I try to make sure that I am setting time for myself.
Jen I do that too. I set time for myself, and then I always bump it. How do you not? How do you commit to that?
Alisha You really have to — you can't pour into anybody else's cup unless yours is full. And I have to remind myself of that all the time.
There have been scenarios, Jen, where I would pour into people and I was just literally drained. Drained to the point that I'm laying on the floor. And even for me personally with health issues, I've seen that firsthand with myself.
So you really have to remind yourself every single time: I have to put this time in for me. If I do not, I am not going to be able to pour, I am not going to be able to work at the intensity that I work, I'm not going to be able to pour into others.
So I make sure I set that time. If it's time for me to go out, then it's like, hey, leave me alone. Don't talk to me right now.
Jen That refrain is really helpful, because I often get derailed trying to have self-care time by thinking, oh, but my kid needs me, my family needs me. But they need me to be my best, they need me to be well resourced. So I'm going to take that to heart, I appreciate that.
You end your week by planning the next week, that's smart. And when you said you plan to be ready for when things are unexpected, it made me think of getting ahead of deadlines. If something is due on Thursday and I have it ready on Monday, that gives me some of that flexibility.
Do you have other tips? How do you prepare for the unexpected, especially as a support person?
Alisha The easiest way for me to prepare for the unexpected is to look at risk.
Typically with my business, and even with my day job, my goal is always to take a look and assess the current temperature of things. Whether it's a process, whether it's "hey, I need to reach out to certain people," whether it's partnerships — I'm always assessing what could be the next risk if I don't do certain tasks.
It's not 100%. Sometimes in our industry, and in general in life, it's not going to be at 100% intensity. I used to be the real perfectionist of everything, and even now I still have bits and pieces that I'm personally working on.
But I look at risk all the time. What happens if this does not get done? What happens if I don't prioritize this? So I'm always looking at the risk of doing something, pushing it out, or not doing it sooner. And I try to utilize that to make the best decisions that I possibly can.
And of course in support, that's always been my biggest driver — I'm a people leader first. I'm always operational, I'm always asking questions, I always want to look through process. But it's the people that clearly make these things function.
So when I'm looking at a process, I'm not just looking at what's the impact if we don't make the next executed move, but I'm also looking at how this impacts the people.
I always try to look at risk — whatever I can mitigate, whatever needs to be moved, whatever can be negotiated. That's my best tip for people, just with your life, just in this industry: always mitigate the risk that's going on. We're in a time now where there are a lot of decisions being made fast and quick. So you really need to prioritize what that risk looks like.
Jen I'm also going to take that to heart. When I plan projects, I don't think through what would happen if my perfect scenario goes differently than I'm expecting. I think that's an additional step I need to add to my project planning.
You mentioned being a support leader and thinking about how things affect your people. Do you have thoughts about what the biggest mistakes are that people leaders make?
I'll say, I had a leader once — really prominent memory that I will probably remember forever — give me what they call a sandwich. You know: you're wonderful, you didn't get the promotion, I think you should keep doing this amazing thing you're doing. And it did not land for me.
Ever since then, in the back of my mind it's been: don't give a sandwich. That's an old thing, it used to be advice that leaders would give people, and now everybody knows what it is. So when you hear that first compliment, you know that section of the sandwich is coming. It doesn't land, it's not effective.
To me, those can be the most ripe lessons — where some leader did something that just didn't go well, and we can learn not to do that. Does that make sense?
Alisha That makes sense. So I do have an example.
The example that I'm going to use, that I think a lot of leaders make the mistake of — and including now in this AI industry — is leading everybody the same.
Jen And my career — people are so different. You can have a superstar high performer who needs entirely different things than your rock star, solid, steady person.
Alisha Absolutely. And even from a generational standpoint. You may have someone from an older generation that's like, hey, we do things a certain way, let's just get the task done. Where we have newer generations, after millennials, that's more like, hey, I want to fix the problem, I don't need you to do it.
In my career I was taught — and I think most of us were — that the easiest way to handle a team is to be aligned on everything with everyone. That did not work for me. I have had several agents and team leaders look at me like, you're crazy, that does not apply to me in any way, shape, or form.
And it hurt, especially when I was a beginning leader, because I'm just like, whoa, I wasn't expecting this pushback. But over time it actually helped me learn and understand that each person is human.
You have to take generational mindset into account. For some people, they're coming in, they're not trying to get to VP level. They're just trying to do their best work. They've had their careers, and they're just here because this is what they want to do at this point in their life. Then you have those that are just starting their career, and they really don't have that skill set yet.
AI is really challenging that as well. You have people from different cultures and backgrounds, and AI plays a component in that. Of course, we have a lot of experts talking about healthy, positive AI, and we're still trying to figure out those intricacies. But even with communicating that to teams now, you have to be mindful.
For some people AI is like, this might take my job. For some people it's like, oh, I can make impact with AI — if I learn about chatbots, if I can implement it into my processes.
So the one thing I would tell people: treat each and every individual on your team as that individual. Get to know them on a personal level, get to understand how they work, what doesn't work for them, what communication makes sense for them.
You will really actually get buy-in if you're able to take all of that from each individual on your team and create a way where it can still be a safe space, but it'll also be an opportunity for you to be able to implement the why.
So when it comes down to those tough conversations — hey, this is why we're implementing AI, this is why we're doing it tier one versus tier two — now you can bring some type of uniform to your team and get people aligned.
And this is no disrespect to people teams, people ops, HR — I love my HR team, I've had great partnerships. But operations-wise in a support team, it doesn't work just to do one straight way of doing things. It has not helped my career, it definitely did not help me at the beginning. Don't do it. Please don't. If you're doing it now, stop, at this moment.
Jen It's more work to get to know people, right? To understand and keep notes.
There was a manager who I had years ago who I still meet with, and every time I see her, every six months or so, she still says, "How are your kids?" and names them. And I'm like, how do you remember my kids? I'm sure she has notes that she's kept very intentionally on all of her reports from then, in order to be a better manager and be more specific and not treat everybody the same.
So that's the way to be a good manager for sure — learn who people are and what they need.
And I think to be manageable, it's good to know who I am. So I can quickly explain to you as my manager, I like to be managed this way, here's what I need. That makes for a good relationship.
Do you have thoughts on how a manager could use AI to get better as a manager? An example is somebody just told me that they put their call transcripts from all their meetings into an AI chatbot and just ask, did I talk too much in this meeting? Do you have other tips for what we can use AI for?
Alisha I would say use AI to help with framing, but still keep that personal touch.
ChatGPT is my friend, but I also try to be very mindful. As much as I've tried ChatGPT, I've tried Claude, all the different versions of AI out there — I do realize that they can give you a good framing, but that framing can be too professional.
A lot of the time people will try to put in, you know, make it sound like my voice and my authenticity. That doesn't work for me. It absolutely does not. I've tried it a million times. It will never get the intricacies of you, because you're you.
So I say yes, framing is important. What I like to do a lot is: here's my notes from a conversation. And then I put in questions for myself, like — should I have asked more questions? Should I have added any additional detail?
I utilize AI for that, and it gives me a nice framing and suggestions that have actually been very valuable to the conversations that I have or that I need to lead. But I also take a look at the individual. AI doesn't know the individual that I'm talking to, or the necessary stakeholders.
So I then take that information and I frame it in a way that, one, I know they'll be able to receive, but two, it'll still be authentically coming from me.
AI is more of a strategy piece. It is definitely not a copy and paste — which is what people are doing — because we can tell. Especially if I know you personally, or if I've had a drink with you. If I see you writing this, I know it's not you.
So framing first, have your notes, get organized. AI is great for that. Providing suggestions, great for that. Take that framing and put it into your authenticity, without asking the AI, because it's never going to give you 100%.
Jen And there's nothing worse than somebody you have a personal relationship with at work sending you something that you know they generated via AI. It feels like, I am not worth your actual time.
Alisha Exactly. And it just doesn't feel genuine. So now that conversation's going to close. We're going to go from, hey, we've had a great relationship, I've been able to talk to you — to now it's like, I'm just going to back off a little bit.
Jen It creates distance for sure.
So, you have a great LinkedIn presence. I talk to a lot of support leaders who feel like they should be on LinkedIn — maybe their team is leaning on them to be on LinkedIn — but it feels kind of gross, or they just don't know what to say.
I love your content because you post about your family life, you post about work, you post about your expertise. It's a variety, and I respect that, and I want to do more of that. So what's your advice for other support leaders for getting into the LinkedIn posting game?
Alisha Okay, this is going to be very unpopular. Do not come in trying to get top voice.
Now, I know LinkedIn has algorithms, things like that, people have top voice. I applaud you — if you got the badge, you got the badge.
My intent with my content is never to bring stuff to be a top voice. My content is to be as genuine a human as possible.
When I started on LinkedIn, I took all the advice of keeping it professional. Keeping certain things on Facebook and off LinkedIn, keeping it strictly about work. And back then, of course, more people used LinkedIn just for finding jobs.
Now we're in an era where people want to see more, people want to know you a bit more. It did take me a while — for a very long time before I actually was able to share some of the things that I share on LinkedIn.
But authenticity matters. I don't care about the top voice, because that's not my intention.
I get more people in my inbox that are either thanking me, sharing their story — like, your post, whether it's a professional one or a personal one, it resonated with them. They're going through a hard time, they did not feel like they had that same level of attention. And so when they see my post, that to me matters and adds more value than me having a top voice badge.
Now, I will say we still have to be mindful. We do have other people that are still in the corporate mindset. So no, don't come on sharing your twerking sessions, your outside drinking habits. Let's reel it in.
But I will say, genuine people want to see genuine people. Genuine people learn from genuine people. Genuine people buy from genuine people.
And start small. I say this especially for my introverted leaders — I have a very soft spot. I'm more extroverted than I am introverted, but I do have introvert tendencies. I say this more for my introverted leaders because it is very difficult for them to come out of that shell.
Start small. Don't try to throw everything out there. If there's something that you are an expert on, share that information. It doesn't need to be 20 paragraphs — just simply a capture of your day, a quick snapshot of your day.
Always start small, see what works for your actual audience, and then execute appropriately. Because I'll tell you now, there have been plenty of people who have liked my content, and a lot of people like it — but there have been a lot that haven't, and have shared that they did not like it. They're just not my tribe. We move on.
Look at what's going on in your industry as a leader, things that you're doing, because it is valuable. What you bring to the table is valuable. Where you're at, clearly you're not just there for any reason. You're there and you're making impact. So even sharing those little things matters.
But all that buttoned-up suit and tie — no, I got rid of that. And it was the best decision that I ever made.
Jen I love that. That may even have been how I came across you, because I have definitely an eye for authentic content.
I was LinkedIn-stalking somebody the other day, because that's the thing I do now, I guess. And he hadn't posted at all — there were no recent posts. But what I did see, right up on the front of his activity, was all these comments where he had been boosting other people. Commenting on this post, congratulations, I knew you could do it.
And I just thought, okay, I get this person's vibe now. No posts at all, just comments. And I think that's also valuable.
Alisha Yes, and I like to do that too. Sometimes I may not post content, but I might post a comment on someone, or I might share someone's accomplishment — because that's how you continue to build community.
There are a lot of smart people in this industry, people that even have years of experience surpassing me. So when I see them sharing content — or they may be someone who has more experience than I do but they haven't really been in the game of LinkedIn — I like to promote and share them, so people also know, hey, this is another resource.
So even if you're not fully comfortable posting things yourself, post your community. Share a thought about what they've been talking about and really heighten them up. That's really something that's going to help you get that muscle flex for when you're actually posting. You may get from that a general idea of how you can promote yourself, or something that you're doing that could be impactful.
Jen I see you as somebody who does the LinkedIn thing really well. You also are creating this tool for support leaders. You do a lot of different things to move your career forward.
I remember there was a time in my life when I just felt like it was a lot just to do my job. I kind of felt like, I don't want to have to also manage my career. I pushed through that, and I really feel at this point in the world we have to be entrepreneurial — even just as people with a W-2 nine-to-five job, we've got to be ready for that next thing.
Do you have advice for people on how they can manage their careers in a world where any of us could be let go at any time and we need to be ready to hop back up and be in the game?
Alisha I'm still learning that, I will openly admit that. I'm not going to say I'd suggest this for everyone, I'm just going to say for me.
I have been laid off in this industry, and I made the decision to start Savvy Service Pro as a consulting firm.
For me, I no longer represent the companies that I'm with. Not because they're bad companies — it's just, unfortunately, names change, and so there has to be some form of consistency in what I do. I think the best method for me is showing this is stuff that I've done. Not only showing my operational leadership, but also showing my development leadership for other leaders, other team members.
And the best thing to do is just make sure that whatever you're doing, regardless of your relationship with the company, is in authenticity and integrity. So I never bring my day job into what I do outside of it with my business. They're not in competition, they don't compete — because there are things that, if you are competing, could cause you problems.
Let's be honest, there are a lot of people utilizing a day job to build their businesses or their personal brand. That's something people know, it's not quiet any more. The best thing to do is just make sure that you move with integrity — keeping those things separate from your day job, making sure that's understood.
I know that doesn't work for everyone, and that's an individual decision that you have to make. Because people talk to me, they send me DMs. I've had someone send me a DM and say, hey, I tried that and got fired.
People will talk to me and say, well, how do you do this? I just try to be very transparent. And yes, at my current job, people have asked me about my LinkedIn, and I let them know — hey, this is something that I started, it doesn't compete with this brand or anything that you guys are trying to do, nor your clients.
How they take that is really on them. If they're smart, you would try to do a partnership. But again, corporations and companies have different OKRs, KPIs, whatever works for them. I always try to move with integrity.
So assessing what you want to do — you should have some form of a personal brand, some form of a backup, something that when people look at you, they know it's you. And that consistency. So even if the business changes, you're going somewhere else, your personal brand, your personal skill set, what you bring to the table does not change.
That's how I operate. I try to be transparent. Again, I know that's not something that works for everyone, everyone is not open to that yet. So unfortunately you have to make decisions on whether you need to lay it down a little bit on LinkedIn for the current work that you're in, or if you may need to transition.
But what I am positive to say is I do love the fact that I am seeing a lot of companies being more open to their employees and their leadership having that personal brand — because they're getting it, that brings you business. If you see someone that has your attention, that is something you want to bring that positivity to your organization.
Jen I think a lot of support leaders could really benefit their teams by being more engaged. But it's true, you need to keep yourself — so when you inevitably leave that company, even if it's 10 years from now, you're consistent and it makes sense.
I know our time with you is limited, so I'm not going to keep you past your hard stop. I am so grateful for you giving us some of your time. This is going to be an amazing podcast episode, and I just can't wait to do more things with you. I'm excited for the whole support community to get more exposure to you. You're amazing.
Alisha Likewise, Jen. I've been following her — I'm not just saying this as a guest. We know Jen. Let's keep it real, she is amazing. She lets us know what's really going on every week with the weekly snapshot.
Jen I'm going to have to cut this part, because it'll look like I paid you for that. You're a sweetheart, I appreciate it. I look forward to many more collaborations in the future, and we will let everybody know when your leadership tool is out.
Alisha I appreciate it. Thank you, this has been an amazing conversation.
Jen Before you head out to whatever you're doing next, here are the five takeaways that I hope you can carry forward from this episode.
One, plan for risks. Build in planning for those things that you just might not expect, not just deadlines.
Two, don't treat everyone the same. Individualize your leadership.
Three, use AI for framing and reflection, but stay authentic.
Four, be genuine on LinkedIn instead of chasing badges.
Five, treat your career like a personal brand business.
If one of these ideas clicked, share this episode with a fellow support leader and drop us a quick review. Also, be sure to follow me and Alisha on LinkedIn and reach out to send us a connection. See you next time.