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Marika Sykora

VP SALES OPERATIONS & ENABLEMENT at Harmonic Inc.

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What do you do with unsolicited vendor gifts?

People & Leadership Financial Management Vendor Management

Keep it

I never accept them

Donate it

Depends on the dollar amount

Other (leave a comment)

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23.7k views10 Upvotes35 Comments

What is the biggest barrier to introducing more technology in classrooms, courses and companies?

Disruptive & Emerging Technologies Culture & Values Financial Management

The software costs too much

It takes too long to set things up and getting started

There is just not enough time to introduce anything at all

It is not clear that there are any benefits for us

There is not enough good technology

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8.6k views1 Upvote8 Comments

What’s the number-1 factor you consider when deciding whether a new tool is worth purchasing?

People & Leadership Applications & Platforms Disruptive & Emerging Technologies+3 more

Budget allocation

Potential process improvements

Onboarding & training bandwidth

Security & compliance

Reviewing prior purchase overlap

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5.1k views2 Upvotes3 Comments

Do you wave when you're on a video call?

People & Leadership End-User Services & Collaboration Culture & Values+3 more

I wave hello

I wave goodbye

I do not wave

Depends on the situation

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3.3k views

Who is best informed to have the final decision on how the IT budget should be spent?

Lead Architect

Lead Developer

Lead Engineer

Business Unit Leaders

CIO

CFO

CEO

Other (please specify in comment section)

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5.4k views4 Upvotes5 Comments

What is your experience with outsourced lead generation companies?

I don’t outsource lead gen

Very positive

Somewhat positive

Neutral or too early to tell

Somewhat negative

Negative, I don’t recommend it

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94 views3 Upvotes

Is your team entirely located in the same time zone?

People & Leadership Process Management Team & Organizational Design+1 more

Yes

4.4k views1 Comment

Which social media platforms is best for increasing network

Facebook

Instagram

Any other

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5k views2 Upvotes9 Comments

Will people who choose to work remotely will be passed over for leadership roles versus those who prefer to work in the office?

People & Leadership Process Management Team & Organizational Design+8 more

Yes, they will be passed over.

No, remote work has become normalized.

Remote = doesn't care to lead

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1.7k views1 Upvote4 Comments

Nike recently closed it's offices for a full week to give employees a mental health break and recognize worker well-being. Would you consider offering this at your organization?

People & Leadership Culture & Values News

Yes, this is a good move for both the business and employees to recharge.

Yes, but vacation time could have been offered through a less disruptive model.

No, we can't afford to lose that many consecutive operating days.

Other (please share below)

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11k views2 Upvotes7 Comments

Does anyone have experience with Slack Sales Elevate or Slack AI? If so, did you see any productivity improvements, specifically for Sales? We are looking at Sales Elevate for a few specific use cases: (1) Deal Desk efficency improvements; (2) Summaries of changes made to opportunities for sales leaders; (3) Account planning (there are collaborative templates in Sales Elevate which you can configure to meet your org's needs). We're also interested because it seems like an easy way to start using AI in a fairly low risk area. For context, we use SFDC CRM already.

Feedback Business Applications Applications & Platforms

Marika SykoraVP SALES OPERATIONS & ENABLEMENT at Harmonic Inc.23 days ago

Been disappointed by it honestly, especially when compared to Momentum.io it doesn’t even come close.

77 views1 Comment

What is that one "magic" piece of advice/feedback you've gotten that improved your effectiveness as a leader?

People & Leadership Peer Insights

Marika SykoraVP SALES OPERATIONS & ENABLEMENT at Harmonic Inc.2 months ago

"Clarity is magnetic." It was part of a bigger lesson that people value integrity, but they actually follow clarity. Clarity in vision combined with a good vision has a potential to build incredible followership.

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20.3k views11 Upvotes67 Comments

How can sales enablement improve the employee experience and help retain talent? Any guidance would be great!

Customer Engagement Employee Engagement

Marika SykoraVP SALES OPERATIONS & ENABLEMENT at Harmonic Inc.5 months ago

It's really important to understand your employees "why". Why are they doing what they're doing and what's their end goal? If they want to move on or grow their career, a lack of enablement will have them running out the ...read more

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130 views2 Upvotes2 Comments

If AI generated content is required to have a watermark, will this make you less likely to send it to your customers?

Generative AI Financial Management Finance

Marika SykoraVP SALES OPERATIONS & ENABLEMENT at Harmonic Inc.9 months ago

I endorse AI watermark. People need to know. No I will not be less likely to send it. AI generated content has its place. Any repeatable, standard policy, consistent messaging, public factual knowledge can be AI generated ...read more

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265 views2 Comments

What is your companies percentage split between base and incentive pay for Sales Management?

Peer Insights Talent Management & Performance Team & Organizational Design

Marika SykoraVP SALES OPERATIONS & ENABLEMENT at Harmonic Inc.10 months ago

The ratio of base-variable comp varies by team and position across our sales org. But overall, the majority of our sales management positions fall within the 30-40% variable range.

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284 views3 Comments

Do you think AI will level the playing field when it comes to sales talent? Why?

Disruptive & Emerging Technologies Peer Insights People & Leadership+3 more

Marika SykoraVP SALES OPERATIONS & ENABLEMENT at Harmonic Inc.10 months ago

AI can assist salespeople at all skill levels in honing their pitch and improving certain technical aspects of sales engagement, such as active listening and open-ended questioning. However, it cannot generate genuine interest ...read more

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687 views3 Upvotes9 Comments