Disrupted! A Talent Development Perspective

Disruption happens every day across the corporate world. As employees, we experience reorgs, layoffs and acquisitions, and as disrupters ourselves we move cross country, chase ideas and challenge norms. But amidst all the disruption we all experience, some of us seem to thrive in times of turmoil.

These are the communicators who have mastered the two secret arts hidden within corporate disruption: learning how to establish a compelling brand and build an intriguing career narrative. They are skills that take time to perfect, but they’re the differentiator factors between those who are cast adrift from disruption and those who prosper from it.

We believe in this strongly...and it’s why we wrote our latest book: Disruption: How to Reset Your Brand & Your Career.

But don’t just take our word for it. On this episode, Hurst Williamson is joined by 3 Talent Development specialists to share their perspectives on what makes an employee a high-potential candidate and what traits they look for in tomorrow’s leaders.

More About the Guests

Alexandra Daily-Diamond is the Northwest Regional Talent Development Manager at Gensler, a design and architecture firm. In her role she identifies people-focused solutions to HR challenges. She focuses on organizational and employee development and engagement, talent management, coaching, and HR strategies that promote wellbeing.

Hilda Currey is the Enterprise Learning Management Systems Administrator for Methodist Health System, a non-profit healthcare organization located in Dallas, Texas. Hilda has over 25 years of experience in corporate & healthcare learning and talent development, and has held a series of progressive positions in the training and development field.

Megan Breiseth is the Senior Director of Learning and Development at InsideTrack. Megan has worked  in employee development since 2006. At InsideTrack, she coached online adult learners and eventually moved into Learning and Development leadership. During her career, Megan has built and managed learning programs that unlock the potential in coaches, managers, and support staff.

Show Notes

• Disruption is happening across the board in companies and for employees. Employees no longer have a mapped-out career path.
• Seek opportunities to expand your skills and repackage your potential.
• What do companies think about talent development? 
• What percentage of the workforce has needed to do some kind of rest in 2020?

• 100% of the team had a reset in priorities, personal goals, and how they do the work.
• All training was converted to virtual learning, 10% of corporate employees shifted to work from home.
• 100% of people's jobs changed and circumstances changed. Staff neededg to focus on what is most essential for students and institutions to meet their basic needs. Prioritize safety, wellness, and how to set up systems to support employees so they could show up.

• Pandemic aside - What other things would be examples of organization disruptions?

• Integrating separate systems into one
• Transition from for profit to nonprofit business 
• Change roles to be more scalable and sustainable
• More efficiency changes in the workplace
• Pandemic heightened changes that would have happened otherwise but pandemic made it more urgent.
• Economy is a general factor in disruption. - Global company and global economic impact.
• Companies are shifting to have a clear focus to elevate the human experience.

• What is the organization's responsibility in an employee’s development and what is the employee's responsibility in that?

• Company being intentional to listen and empower.
• Employees seek out feedback on what the individual could do better.
• Ask the questions that are going to get employees thinking deeply.
• Empower employees to own their career and see themselves.
• Have a specific program for leaders.
• Offer employees training or tuition reimbursement.
• Encourage them to play a visible role in committees.
• Offer the opportunity to get input from coworkers and managers.

• What happens when an individual hits a wall where they don’t have the skills they didn’t know they needed to advance but were still good at their current job?

• Push employees to get the skill - many companies will work with employees to get them to develop the skills they need to continue.
• Encourage employees to have a conversation with managers to get the skills they need.
• Library of competency to get measured on.
• The goal is to look within the company but they will be open to hire outside the company if a specific skill is needed quickly.
• In times like this, a person would lose the job for somebody who has that skill if the employee has not done anything to grow.

• When a person is having their potential assessed, being great at what they can do isn’t always a great indicator that they can stretch when a skill is needed.
• Examples of employees that were hired from other industries to do a new job:

• Head chef- great head of customer service
• DJ as a sales person
• Zookeeper as a head of operations

• 3 key attributes that talent development looks for in any position 

1. Ability to communicate and influence others
2. Agility during changes or times of uncertainty 
3. Problem solving and critical thinking

• Debunking of the rumor of “There's never enough “top talent”
• Personal brand and feedback
• The book goes over the importance of hitting the reset to create your brand you must make yourself visible.

• Participate in programs.
• Volunteer for outside organizations.
• Champion specific projects.
• Use talent and skills on a broad perspective.

• Personal brand is how people think about and talk about you when you aren't around.

• Asking for feedback removes the barrier and opens it up for an honest conversation.
• If you dread feedback, work on your mindset around feedback, your mindset will share your reality. We can’t grow unless we get negative feedback. Seek feedback and control the narrative.
• Participate in a performance review for yourself and from your manager. Feedback should be given on a day-to-day basis. 
• Not all feedback is useful but it's important to put yourself out there. Seek feedback from individuals that make you nervous.

• You can’t grow without stress or change - everyone deserves to love what they do. Always seek to grow and chase meaning and purpose.