Skills of the Future: Recent Episodes
skillsofthefuture
Our hosts' interview industry experts to explore the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities at work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Cindy Plunkett about competencies and talent mobility.
The key takeaways from this episode:
- One challenge with competencies is that they are not easy to write. Because they capture both behaviours and skills in action, when developing competencies for a specific domain (e.g., marketing, customer care), there is often a lot of back and forth and time and effort required.
- You need the competencies written really well first, and customized to your organization, before you can start using them for talent applications like talent mobility.
- Foundational competencies are a great place to start. Competencies like Innovation or Teamwork that you really want to see in every employee. What’s great is you can link these competencies to interview questions to make sure you are hiring people that align to these foundational competencies.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Adam Culligan about defining and rolling out competency models.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- Off-the-shelf competency solutions rarely work. You need to get your business involved to see how competencies will best work for you and your organization. When rolling competencies out for the first time, it’s critical to get input from people who know the roles and the organization well.
- Key competencies right now that come up again and again across many organizations are agility and empathy.
- Competencies can help to improve retention by fostering a culture where everyone has clear expectations of what is required of them and what successful performance looks like.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Amanda Frawley about implementing competencies for the first time.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- One method for rolling out competencies for the first time is to run a workshop to introduce them. In the workshop, you can talk through each competency, and have people share an experience of when they used the competency. For example, you could introduce the competency of problem-solving, and then ask people to share an example of when they solved a problem using some of the behaviours within the competency. What’s nice is that the variety of examples should show how competencies apply to different levels within the organization.
- Without competencies, developmental feedback can be very vague and not very actionable. Sometimes managers struggle to articulate useful feedback for their employees. Having competencies creates a common language around what successful performance looks like, which allows managers and employees to have these developmental conversations using this shared language.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Aman Malhi about bringing company values to life and applying them across the talent lifecycle
The key takeaway from this episode:
- When defining core values, it’s important to keep them simple and focus on the most critical values. Having a long list of hundreds of values is not super helpful. To reduce many values to a smaller number of critical values, you can put your values through a ‘stress test.’ That is, when deciding on a value, think about if you come across someone who does not live that value, are you prepared to part ways? If the answer is no, the value is not important enough. Every core value should go through this sort of ‘stress test.’
- After your core values are in place, you can start using them for a variety of talent management applications. For example, in hiring, your values can be highlighted in job descriptions and job ads. Values should describe the behaviours that you want people to live every day. Interview questions can be asked that assess these behaviours that are linked to the core values.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Delana McKinsley about using competency models for talent management.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- Three competencies that are important right now for most jobs include Change Leadership (i.e., navigating and leading all the changes going on right now), Agility (i.e., maneuvering quickly), and Tenacity/Grit (i.e., following through on the changes).
- Ensure that competency models and the resulting tools are truly an integrative practice and living in the day-to-day. It has to be meaningful to the end-user and provide an individualized experience.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews McKenzie Hunter about using job descriptions and competencies for hiring and career growth.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- When developing job ads from job descriptions it’s important to call out the 'need to have' rather than the 'nice to have'. Many qualified people won’t apply if they don’t hit all the requirements listed.
- When hiring using competencies, it's critical to use a structured interview. Ask candidates questions that are directly linked to the competencies required for the job, and ask the same questions in the same order to reduce bias as much as possible.
- Career paths are less of a ladder and more of a jungle gym. The real crux of an effective career pathing program is having tailored development plans for each employee.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Basmah Ismail-Sidi about competencies and performance management.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- Performance management should be an ongoing process, not a once-a-year thing. There should be built-in continual feedback. In addition to feedback, the company’s strategic goals and objectives should be shared with everyone so that they can ensure alignment with their individual goals.
- It’s important to distinguish between performance management and professional development. These two functions are related but should be kept separate.
- Employee and leadership buy-in to your performance management program is key.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Aaron Byers about helping managers to execute strategy.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- To execute strategy effectively, it’s important that all employees feel that they are valued members of the team and contributing to the work. This is easier said than done! Managers can support this by clearly stating the desired results (e.g., This is where we are going to end up. This is what we want to see happen). Managers can then facilitate conversations with employees, unpacking the desired results, and asking employees what they can do to help achieve those results? When goals or objectives come from the employee and are not handed down from superiors, there will be more buy-in right from day one. This is also how employees can see the value in their work.
- Three skills that are critical for managers to be able to execute strategy are curiosity, trust, and accountability
- Curiosity is about being able to ask the right questions. Digging into the strategy and exploring how it can be executed. Asking as many questions as possible and getting it all out there.
- Trust is also critical and can often be earned by showing character and competence.
- Accountability is about tracking results and progress, embracing mistakes, and viewing mistakes from a learning standpoint so they are not made again.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Nicci Esterhuizen about applying competencies across the talent lifecycle.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- One of the beneficial uses of competencies is for learning and development. Having a competency framework in place can help you to conduct a skills gap analysis. You can identify areas of strength and areas for improvement, and design targeted development around that. A mature competency framework adds rigor and structure to the whole L&D process.
- Scope and complexity can be a challenge when implementing competencies in a large organization. One helpful solution is to group roles into job families where similar competencies are required for success. Doing so enables processes to work a bit quicker.
- When defining competencies for a role, it’s critical to keep the role in mind (not any specific person in that role). It’s also important to define roles in terms of minimum acceptable performance, not all-star performance.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Olivia Ecker about adaptability and talent attraction.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- Adaptability is an important competency required for many jobs, especially in this post-pandemic environment. Organizations are looking for people who are adaptable, who can reprioritize, and work on multiple projects at the same time in a fast passed environment. Adaptable people look at challenges as opportunities and thrive under uncertainty.
- To hire people who are adaptable, you need to be able to assess their adaptability skills. One way is to ask behavioral interview questions that tap into adaptability as it relates to the context of the role.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Kara Dogali about developing empathy in leaders.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- Empathy is obviously a critical skill for leaders to have. The challenge is that empathy is an exceptionally hard skill to develop. You can’t just take a class and have it the next day. It’s something that you really need to work on, which can be particularly challenging today with all the external stressors going on.
- One way to work on developing empathy is to focus on developing the more specific subskills, like active listening, communication, and curiosity. It’s important to take the time and put in the effort to really get to know your people.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Marissa Evans about improving communication skills.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- Communication is an essential competency. Strong communication can help solve most problems.
- During the pandemic, we were all forced to become adept at digital communication. We have all gotten so good at digital communication, that it might be a bit of a learning curve when we return to in-person face-to-face communication.
- One aspect of communication that is important is the ability to be succinct, but still complete. Our messaging needs to be efficient. How can we say more with less?
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Brandi Moncrief about reducing unconscious bias.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- Many people in organizations still think that they do not have any bias at all. This is particularly problematic when making high-stakes decisions, like hiring. People need to be willing to challenge their own thoughts and biases in order to make better and fairer decisions.
- To reduce bias, we need to go beyond quick training. Training is important and can help, but often training is a quick module and people don’t walk away with anything useful. There is a need to incorporate more real-life experiences and real-life conversations.
- Inclusive leadership is critical right now. One of the main skills of an inclusive leader is curiosity – asking questions and challenging your own thoughts and decisions. Inclusive leaders create more inclusive rooms and workplaces in general.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Hannah Yardley about employee recognition, employee engagement, and retention.
The key takeaways from this episode:
- Research into the differences between why employees are leaving versus why they are staying has yielded some interesting results. Compensation and benefits are one of the main reasons people consider leaving but are not strong drivers for reasons to stay. Work-life balance and recognition are stronger drivers for why employees stay.
- When considering total rewards, non-financial rewards are often ignored which is a missed opportunity. Employee recognition is one of the most effective non-financial rewards.
- The best type of recognition is well-defined, frequent, specific, timely, values-based, and public. Creating a recognition program can be a great way to add structure and buy-in to rewarding and recognizing employees.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Suzanne Knight about applying skills and competencies to the talent lifecycle.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- In many organizations, there is a need for workforce planning connected to business strategy to figure out what skill sets are needed to accomplish future goals. Shift from filling positions you need today, based on outdated organizational charts, and look to the future to see where the organization is going.
- ‘T-shaped skills’ can be used to describe deep knowledge in one area, and a broad base of supporting knowledge and skills in other areas. People with these T-shaped skills tend to be strong collaborators who can work cross-functionally. They have the knowledge to relate to others who are outside of their area of expertise. This facilitates an adaptive organization and builds a strong understanding across streams or silos.
- When onboarding new employees, it’s important to be thoughtful about how to create space for new hires to listen and learn without feeling pressure to perform and make an impact right away. Encourage people to take the first month to have a bunch of onboarding meetings with people in various areas to absorb as much as they can about the business.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Jelena Radecki about applying skills and competencies to hiring and onboarding.
Four competencies that are important right now to look for and grow in people include:
- Emotional Intelligence – the ability to identify, understand, and anticipate emotions, concerns, and thoughts of others.
- Agility – the ability to learn quickly and flexibly, especially in today’s world of work where skillsets are quickly shifting.
- Creative Problem Solving – the ability to be flexible and to use different problem-solving strategies and searching for competing alternatives before making any decision.
- Collaborating – the ability to drive innovation and solve hard problems by communicating with others and bringing multiple views points to the table.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Cassandra de Iongh about reducing unconscious bias.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- We need to be intentional about reducing unconscious bias. Sometimes we exclude more when we are trying to be inclusive. It’s important to create a safe space where people feel comfortable having difficult conversations.
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When reducing bias from the hiring process, consider:
- Using free tools online to remove biased language from job ads.
- Limiting the number of job requirements to the “must-haves” rather than a laundry list of “nice to have.”
- Training hiring managers on interview practices that reduce bias.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Cerys Cook about applying skills and competencies to hiring and onboarding.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- Two competencies that are critical for most roles right now are growth mindset and emotional intelligence skills, particularly self-awareness and empathy.
- Roles evolve, and so do the expectations of them. As a result, it’s important to restructure and redefine roles to clearly articulate the role requirements and outcomes. This takes time to do upfront, but is so worth it in the end, because you can use them for a variety of talent applications, including hiring and onboarding.
- A full onboarding process should have a 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day plan that is directly linked to the requirements for the role. Onboarding is key to setting people up for success and retaining them!
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Anja Gorrie about employee engagement and building internal talent.
The key takeaways from this episode:
- It’s important to consider how external changes and external shifts (e.g., globalization, digitization, and remote work) impact employee engagement.
- To build employee engagement it is critical to act and do something with what you hear from employees. It’s not enough to just listen to employees, you need to hear what they are saying and do something about it.
- To help employees to learn, grow, and develop their careers, it’s important to create a learning environment where you:
- Teach people things in real-time and provide real-time feedback.
- Implement methods to track personal and team goals.
- Use an LMS for a scalable solution.
- leverage a mentoring or coaching program.
- Provide recognition and rewards.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Crystal Rizzuto about applying skills and competencies to performance management.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- We have all been through a traumatic experience because of the pandemic. As a leader, it’s important to be mentally checked in with yourself so that you can provide a safe space for your employees to come to you and be able to provide resources to support them. It’s about emotional intelligence and being able to read people’s moods and have those check-ins with your people.
- We need to ditch the annual performance review for more frequent less formal performance check-ins. Having these regular one-on-one check-ins can also help to retain your talent.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Jan Johnson about the employee journey and learning moments of truth.
The key takeaways from this episode:
- When looking at journey mapping in general, there are key events or key touchpoints when people form an opinion about a brand. We can make similar parallels with employees and their journeys within a company. There are key moments of truth when employees form an impression about the company and its value proposition. One key touchpoint is on-the-job learning.
- One useful L&D strategy is peer-to-peer learning. Organizations can encourage networking groups that can link people together who perform similar jobs and can learn from each other.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Amanda Small about applying skills and competencies to career pathing.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- There is a need to cultivate and support a culture of feedback. Having meaningful conversations to help employees see how they can impact the future state of the business. Using core competencies that are clearly linked to the vision and values of the organization can be a helpful tool to guide these sorts of conversations.
- Competencies that are important across the board right now, particularly in the start-up space are creativity, resilience, and accountability.
- People will leave companies if they are not provided opportunities to hone their skills and grow their careers.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Brandi Stockman about the great resignation and ways to improve employee retention.
The key takeaways from this episode:
- Enabling leaders to lead with empathy and compassion is so important for employee retention.
- Bring relevant retention data to the table to help drive retention initiatives. Data could include things like voluntary resignations, reasons behind resignations, resignation trends, or the use and uptake of employee programs. All this data tells a story and can lead you to an area that you need to focus on to improve the employee experience and ideally increase retention.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Shrutee Sehajpaul about applying skills and competencies to talent development.
The key takeaways from this episode:
- The future of successful learning programs needs innovative and employee-centric solutions that are tailored to the unique needs of each learner.
- Three skills that are critical for all employees to develop right now are a growth mindset, navigating ambiguity, and digital fluency.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Mark Kaestner about applying skills and competencies to the talent lifecycle.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- Having a strong Employee Value Proposition is critical right now to attract and hire good talent.
- Behavioral-based interviewing is a great way to assess candidates’ skills when hiring. When using these types of interview questions, it is important to use a Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (i.e., the most objective, fair, and accurate rating scale).
- Skill development is not one size fits all, and it’s important to have a learning strategy that can tailor and personalize learning plans for each employee. Also, career development does not equal career progression. Some people want to grow in the role they are in and do not aspire to move into other roles, and that’s okay.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Pam McCartney about developing and maintaining organisational culture. Pam leads the Human Resources team at The Green Organic Dutchman (T…GOD) Inc.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- One challenge with developing culture is ensuring that owners and senior leaders are bought into the culture. Without their support, moving the needle on culture is impossible.
- Another challenge is maintaining culture with a remote workforce. One strategy is to focus on employee mental health and ensure leaders check in on employees regularly.
- Trust, respect, and empathy are critical individual competencies that can help to support and maintain a strong organizational culture.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Paul Cameron about applying skills and competencies to talent acquisition.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- Focus on the recruiter experience, and the by-product will be a good hiring manager experience and a good candidate experience.
- One challenge with recruitment is that organizations want to reduce the time to fill, increase the quality of hires, and increase the diversity of candidates. It’s impossible to have all three. For example, ensuring diversity and high-quality candidates will take time.
- Three universal attributes that high-quality candidates possess are curiosity, grit, and tenacity.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Adam Raya about applying skills and competencies to hiring, onboarding, and performance management.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- Employer branding and having a strong employee value proposition is very important for recruitment and selection, particularly given the fierce competition for talent right now.
- Three key competencies that are critical for any role are minimum technical ability, engagement, and ethics. These types of competencies can be measured during the selection process using a variety of tools, such as work samples or validated psychometric assessments.
- After you make the offer, have a clear onboarding plan to get new hires up to speed as quickly as possible.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Sarah Blackmore about applying skills and competencies to performance management and career development.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- When it comes to employee development and career pathing, the employee should own their own development and career path, but the organization and managers need to ensure resources and supports are in place for the employee to do that.
- There is a legacy negative perception of performance management (think the lengthy yearly review). there is a need to change the language around performance management, and reframe it as being about career development, and do check-ins, and goal setting, rather than “managing your performance."
- Use behavioural competencies to clearly define what’s expected of people and be completely transparent so that everyone has access to the requirements for all roles. If people want to grow and develop their careers, they should know what is required for their current role and any roles they aspire to be in.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Jenna Decker about applying skills and competencies to performance management.
The key takeaway from this episode:
- Two skills that are critical right now for employees and for organizations are resilience and adaptability. As people navigate through these unprecedented times, they need the tools and skills to adapt. Organizations can help by putting some of those tools in the toolbelt for employees. These tools could include things like employee assistance programs, mental health initiatives, or increased communication from senior leaders.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Lee Boudreau about applying skills and competencies to learning and development.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- L&D needs to be proactive, and always looking ahead. For example, be forward-thinking about how technology can support L&D.
- Intercultural competence is a critical skill for L&D professionals right now. The ability to think, act, communicate with, and work with people from all kinds of different backgrounds is extremely important for L&D and business in general, and if we are inclusive and interculturally competent we can attract more diverse talent, retain more diverse talent, and grow more diverse talent.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Williams Nken about applying skills and competencies to onboarding.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- When done right, effective onboarding positively impacts your bottom line because it builds loyalty with your employees.
- Who should be responsible for onboarding? HR leader? Hiring manager? It’s really a team sport – it takes the organization-wide collective to bring a new employee onboard. However, someone needs to be accountable to make sure onboarding is a success.
- Competencies and skills that are important right now include communication skills and empathy.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Candice Hollingsworth about delivering performance and developmental feedback. Candice is the Director of Talent Development at Bosa Properties.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- The challenge with delivering feedback is that some people are scared to give feedback, and as a result, they either do not give it or they really water it down so that it is no longer useful. Or people give feedback that is too generic and not specific enough.
- To give effective feedback, it’s important to focus on the behaviour you observed. Try to limit the judgement or limit jumping to conclusions. Speak specifically about the behaviour that was observed and what the impact of that behaviour was. Use the SBI model for giving feedback (Specific, Behaviour, Impact).
- Capabilities that are helpful for delivering and receiving feedback include self-awareness, empathy, communication, listening, and asking good questions.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Kathrina Nhan about strategies for attracting and retaining talent. Kathrina currently serves as the Managing Director of People and Culture at GroupM Canada.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- When looking to win the war on talent, it's important to re-examine your employee value proposition (EVP) and what you are doing to demonstrate your EVP day-to-day in your workplace.
- On the attraction side, it's important to showcase your organizational values in an authentic way. They should be more than just words on a page.
- On the retention side, it's important to really listen and engage with employees. Foster strong relationships and really get to know your people, particularly when your workforce is more remote.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Jenny Hill about applying skills and competencies to leadership development.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- The ability to learn new skills and competencies is critical for leaders right now, especially given how quickly the world of work is changing. Successful leaders need to be able to navigate these changes and challenges.
- Leadership development should not be something specifically for leaders, but something that can nurture leadership skills in everyone. Leadership development programs should be accessible for everyone within the organization.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Susan Mahaffee about promoting employee mental health and well-being. Susan currently serves as the Global Director of People and Organization for Mars Incorporated.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- The most engaged employees are often the ones most prone to burnout. Leaders at every level within the organization need to check in with their people and ask how they are feeling and what can be done to help support them where they are. It's important to remove the roadblocks that you are able to remove.
- Employers who encourage and support mental health in the workplace are going to win in the marketplace and ensure they do not lose really great talent.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Asad Allibhoy about applying skills and competencies to performance management. Asad is the People & Culture Lead for Traydstream, which is a rapidly growing FinTech based in the UK
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Performance management must be a more iterative and ongoing process rather than an annual or semi-annual event. Use iterative feedback loops in real-time. Emphasize skills development and mentoring to prepare people for the skills they will need in the future.
- 5 key competencies that are critical for almost any business are problem-solving skills, interpersonal skills, leadership/management skills, domain expertise, and functional knowledge.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Leanne Randall about applying skills and competencies to hiring. Leanne is the Director of People and Culture at Pagnotta Industries.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- In addition to skills that are specific to the job, transferable skills that are critical for every job are a strong work ethic, a good attitude, and a willingness to learn.
- Be specific in job postings to give candidates a detailed view of the job requirements.
- Conduct stay interviews in addition to exit interviews. Ask current employees why they stay here and what they like about working here, and use that information when hiring.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Sonali Goel about applying skills and competencies to performance management. Sonali is the Director of Talent and Development for Macmillan Publishers
Key takeaways from this episode:
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It is critical to incorporate organizational values into performance management.
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3 skills that are critical for successful performance right now include:
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Resilience – ability to take setbacks in stride and learn from them.
- Agility – ability to shift focus as circumstances change.
- Entrepreneurship – ability to step away from the day-to-day and find a way to look at things differently. Reinvent yourself as needed.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Anat Weiss about reducing unconscious bias from the interview. Anat is the director of HR at Varonis
Key takeaways from this episode:
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Don’t use the “beer test” when hiring (e.g., asking yourself or your team if they would enjoy an after-work drink with the job candidate).
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Help people recognize that they all have biases. It’s not about making biases go away, but about recognizing when it’s happening, and not let bias seep into the decision-making process. Be very specific about what you are looking for in a candidate. Identify the most important skills and competencies and assess them consistently across all candidates.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Adam Yamaguchi about applying skills and competencies to learning and development. Adam is the Talent and Organizational Development Consultant at Zoom Communications
Key takeaways from this episode:
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Take a consultative approach to really understand what the business needs are, and what the individual needs are, and offer learning and development opportunities that align to both.
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Self-awareness and Empathy are two critical skills right now. The ability to understand others' experiences and how they are feeling is critical. These two skills are also really hard skills to develop.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Lauren (Carroll) Mandel about applying skills and competencies to performance management. Lauren is the Director of People Operations at Tread.
Key takeaways from this episode:
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Most companies have moved away from the annual performance review towards regular performance feedback in the form of one-on-ones or more frequent reviews.
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The best feedback is timely feedback. For example, providing feedback after a project ends, or after a sales call, or after some other performance event.
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Three competencies that are critical for successful performance right now are communication, coachability, and adaptability.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Stefanie McNeil about applying skills and competencies to employee engagement. Stefanie is the Director of People and Talent at Field Effect, a global cybersecurity company.
Key takeaways from this episode:
Within employee engagement, there are a few main areas that organizations should really focus on and do a temperature check on to make sure they are focusing on the right things.
- Is there a high level of trust in leadership and management? In an engaged workforce, employees see leaders as credible, reliable, and trustworthy.
- Is there a communication approach that embraces two-way communication? Ideally, there should be a feedback loop so that you are not waiting for your annual engagement survey results to learn about any issues or challenges. There should be a clear line of visibility and communication to employees.
- What does employee growth and development look like? Employees want to feel they can grow and develop in their current role or any future roles.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Sadie O'Neill about developing and maintaining organizational culture.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- One way to be more active in communicating culture is to use a bottom-up feedback process called continuous listening, where you have an open platform where employees can share their thoughts. This platform should be a direct line to leadership and allow employees to feel that their voices are heard. It is particularly important to keep these lines of communication open during remote work.
- When collecting employee data on culture, only ask about topics that are actionable. For example, don’t ask about satisfaction with pay if you are unable to increase pay.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Carlin Dominique Rensburg about applying skills and competencies to learning and development. Carlin is the Director of Talent Development at Mediabrands Canada.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Driven by the new realities of work, Emotional Intelligence and upskilling in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion space is critical right now.
- These skills are particularly important for new leaders who may be leading people who are both in-person and virtual. In this environment, it's important to understand the unique perspective of all people on your team and be able to pivot to their individual needs while keeping DEI top of mind.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Caroline Faulds about applying skills and competencies to Performance Management. Caroline leads People Operations at Canada Pooch.
Key takeaways from this episode:
Take more of an agile approach to performance management and goal setting. One way is to make performance management more dynamic through ongoing coaching, one-on-one meetings, and goal setting, rather than doing this once a year.
One great way to measure performance is using a balance of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and competencies. What is great is that OKRs get at the “What” needs to be accomplished, while competencies get at the “How” it gets accomplished.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews PJ Rovinelli Jr about applying skills and competencies to leadership development. PJ is the Director of Talent Development at Ewing Irrigation & Landscape Supply.
Key takeaways from this episode:
Leaders need to spend less time on x’s and o’s and strategy, and more time with their people. Leaders should strive to create a culture of feedback, through effective team meetings, engaging with people one-on-one, and holding regular meetings to enable coaching conversations.
Three competencies that are critical for leadership right now include:
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emotional intelligence – having self-awareness and leading with empathy.
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Communication skills – continually communicate in an effective manner. Asking good questions, and listening to others.
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Emotional endurance – putting in the emotional work and energy to lead each individual differently, in the way they need to be led.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Avelia Stewart about how unconscious bias impacts leadership. Avelia serves as the Diversity and Inclusion Lead at Western Financial Group.
Key takeaways from this episode:
Unconscious bias is very prevalent, and most times happens without people being aware of it. These biases can impact who is hired or who is promoted.
To combat unconscious bias, leaders need to be able to identify biases, assess which biases impact them and their organization. Implement structures that can help to minimize biases. Example structures include recruitment processes or tools, and promotion processes or tools. Accountability is also critical. Hold each other accountable. Call bias out when you see it. Create opportunities for discussion and dialogue around these biases.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Leah Merli about applying skills and competencies to hiring. Leah is the Head of Global Talent Acquisition at McCain Foods.
Key takeaways from this episode:
Skills or competencies that are important to hire for right now are those needed to help guide transformation. Skills like problem solving, agility, and change management are critical, especially during these quickly changing times.
In order to make sure you are hiring for the right skills, it's important to understand your internal and external talent market. Workforce planning is key to clearly understand what you will need, and when you will need it.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews J.D. Slaughter about applying skills and competencies to leadership development. J.D. is Vice President of Talent Management at Huge
Two leadership skills that are critical right now are:
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Managing change and ambiguity. Not just managing change for yourself, but more importantly for others – teams, departments, organizations. Helping people see more clearly is mission-critical right now.
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Developing others. It's critical to actively develop your people, align them to career-defining experiences, and help them to accelerate their careers. If leaders don’t do this, they will lose their talent to other organizations.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Darren Jones about applying skills and competencies to cybersecurity.
Darren is an innovative and creative IT leader with over 30 years of experience in a diversity of roles – in the public sector, in the capital markets sector, as a consulting leader, and as a start-up operator and investor. Today, Darren is the National Director, Cyber Strategy and Academic Excellence at Summit2 Corporation, and Darren is helping Willis College to cement its position as the leading provider of cyber education in Canada.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Nancy Tavares about applying skills and competencies to learning and development. Nancy is a Director of Learning and Talent Development and an instructor of HR Management at George Brown College.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- There is an increasing demand for online learning.
- There are 3 key accountabilities for a successful learning and development program. Employees have to be accountable for their own development. Managers play an important role. The organization has to have systems in place for employee development.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Lindsay Raduka about applying skills and competencies to talent planning. Lindsay is the head of people and culture at Victory Innovations.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- All business problems are people problems. Ask questions to understand the business, which can provide insights into how people fit into the solution, objective, or strategy.
- Critical skills required to develop a strong talent plan include business acumen, creativity and innovation, and adaptability.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Allie Moss about applying skills and competencies to career development. Allie is a leader within the learning and development space who has focused on this work for over a decade.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Self-guided learning is critical right now because it enables employees and companies to remain agile. It also allows people to align their passion to their work.
- Many of the key skills the employees need right now are related to resilience and a growth mindset. Skills like remaining curious, giving and receiving feedback, setting and tracking goals, are critical right now.
- L&D professionals should strive to get real insights into what people need and where the gaps are. This can be done by asking open-ended questions (surveys or focus groups) about what people are looking for to grow within the organization
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Anna Boshoer about applying skills and competencies to hiring. Anna is an HR professional with a background in education.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- For many organizations, hiring is almost 100% remote right now, which brings many unique challenges for both interviewers and job seekers. Companies need to be mindful of some of these challenges, and not judge candidates on irrelevant factors related to a virtual interview (e.g., familiarity with Zoom; technology breakdowns).
- Transferable skills (e.g., work ethic, collaboration, communication) are critical right now for organizations to hire for. These are particularly important in a virtual world right now – being able to collaborate and communicate virtually.
- Make sure your job descriptions are clear and transparent. This is really helpful for both your hiring managers and for candidates.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Tricianne Kasubuchi about applying skills and competencies to change management. Tricianne is the director of global learning and talent development at Ritchie Bros.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Change is no longer the exception, it's how we all do business now. As such, organizations need people who thrive in changing environments.
- Organizations need people who are resilient, flexible, can navigate ambiguity and are comfortable working in the grey area with many unknowns.
- Educating senior leaders on the importance of change management is important to make change management approaches more effective.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Rickey Simmons about applying skills and competencies to talent acquisition. Rickey is the Director of Talent Development at Stevens Transport
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Transferable skills, such as communication, leadership, and self-management, are critical right now. These skills tend to be harder to learn. Job seekers should strive to develop these transferable skills, and organizations should aim to hire for them.
- Technical skills that are more specific to the role can often be learned easier on the job.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Dave Paczkowski about diversity and inclusion as it relates to talent management. Dave is the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Business Partner at Lyft.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Inclusion and Diversity are not about what we do, it's about how we do it.
- Change management, flexibility, continuous learning, and effective communication are critical competencies needed to ensure diversity and inclusion. Organizations should value these four competencies.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Emma Hunt about applying skills and competencies to hiring. Emma is the head of people at Bonsai.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- To hire people with the right skills, it’s important to have a hiring process that is structured and includes interview questions and work samples that focus specifically on the skills needed for the job.
- Using a structured hiring process and using multiple interviewers is a great way to combat bias during the hiring process.
- It’s critical to ensure a good candidate experience throughout your hiring process, particularly when there is a broad and competitive talent pool.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Kara Scovitch about applying skills and competencies to talent acquisition. Kara is the Senior Director of Global People Operations at The Knot Worldwide, primarily overseeing Total Rewards, People Infrastructure, and Office.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Having competency profiles and using them for recruitment and selection is a great way to ensure you are hiring the right people with the right skills.
- One competency that is critical right now is adaptability - being able to quickly adapt to new business goals and all the shifts caused by working remotely.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Sachin Jain about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Sabina Sulat about applying skills and competencies to learning and development. Sabina is an accomplished Talent Management/HR professional and has been privileged to have learned and contributed to the work of multiple organizations including AstraZeneca, Biologics, and the US Federal government.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- People learn best by doing. The application part is key.
- An important skill to develop right now is introspection and self-reflection. This skill enables people to take ownership of their own learning.
- It is critical to have leadership buy-in for L&D. Leaders need to cultivate a culture for L&D and give people the time and resources to make it happen.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Jaafar Jabbar about applying skills and competencies to recruitment and selection. Jaafar is a Recruitment and Operations Specialist currently working at Hatch Coding.
Key takeaways for recruiters and hiring managers from this episode include:
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Stop searching for unicorns
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Stop using a complicated application process
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Stop ghosting candidates
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Stop using years of experience as an indicator of performance
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Take the time to train your recruiters and hiring managers
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Don’t forget to humanize the recruitment process
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Sascha King about applying skills and competencies to onboarding. Sascha is the Director of Talent Acquisition & Employee Experience at Spin Master. She shares some great insights into how onboarding has changed given the current world of work.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Clara-Ann Ruiz about applying skills and competencies to recruitment and hiring. Clara is a recruitment and team culture leader currently working at Generis Group, a B2B events management company. In this episode, she makes some great points about diverse hiring.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Simon De Matteo about applying skills and competencies to hiring. Simon is currently the head of talent acquisition at Goodfood Market, a rapidly growing Canadian insurgent in the lucrative online grocery market. He shares some great insights into the evolving world of recruitment and hiring.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Marc Rishor about applying skills and competencies to learning and development. Marc is Head of Talent Management for Mondelez Canada Inc, the second-largest snacking company in Canada.
Key takeaways from this episode:
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Be selective in what you offer as on-demand learning.
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Modular learning is in right now.
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It's essential to include experiential or on-the-job learning in addition to more foundational learning.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Nicole Patey about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Karlin Clayton about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Lawrence Price about applying skills and competencies to leadership development.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Tracey Smith about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Megan Bickle about applying skills and competencies to succession planning and talent reviews.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Kelly Watson about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Helen Ashton about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Tony Chimera about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Gregory Gills about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Véronique Boutin about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Carla Reale about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews André Rüegg about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Jonathan Talman about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Julia Murphy about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Darlene Pinto about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Jen Langer about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Michelle West about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Andre Jones about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Amy Hile about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Jeremy Lane about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Kim Puchala about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Rakhi Ihiga about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Svetlana Yedreshteyn about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Perla Terrero about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Chrissey Hayes about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Hawley Kane about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Christine LaRochelle about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Kacie Walters about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Ayesha Bahukhandi about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Anjali Menon about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Noor AlSaidi about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Kris Zilliox about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Jennifer Anglehart about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Laura Gleason about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Morgan Bello about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Marie-France Lechasseur about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Paul Love about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews George Finney about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Lesley Forneris about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Christopher Ward about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Tammy Klotz about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Lauren Adams about the skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Aaron DeLong about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Tanya Janca about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews David Hayes about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Eric Adams about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Mark Potter about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Vince Spiars about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Sonia Arista about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Dr. Helen Tang about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Dipanshu Parashar about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Nour Laaroubi about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Andrew Kozma about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Dan van der Werf interviews Vinay Puri about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Paul Skinner about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Will Lassalle about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Christine Lamothe interviews Rima Aristocrat about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.
In this episode, Andrea Butler interviews Sherif Nehma about the cybersecurity skills and competencies needed to face the new realities of work.