For learning executives who have developed a program that effectively integrates learning into broader talent management initiatives such as employee engagement, onboarding, succession planning, recruiting or performance management.
DIVISION 1
Richard Williams
Chief Human Resources Officer, Western Union
In 2015, Western Union transferred more than $150 billion for its clients. As the company continued to grow on a global scale, the human resources leadership team led by Richard Williams consulted with Western Union executives and created a global, crossfunctional task force to analyze business challenges and identify ways to improve existing performance management.
The task force proposed the company focus on frequency and quality of conversations, future capabilities over past performance, creating a culture of contributions, redefining the role of managers and focusing on people and not the process.
In order to accomplish this, the task force replaced Western Union’s legacy performance management system with a new program called GPS — short for Guide, Perform, Succeed. The new approach eliminated HR-driven annual performance reviews and the company’s five-point rating scale and replaced them with business-driven quarterly discussions. Williams and the team rolled out a corporatewide training program to introduce the program and support staff at all levels on the new change.
As a result of GPS, Western Union posted a 42-point increase in Net Promoter Score over the traditional review process and reported greater effectiveness in managers, higher engagement and better quality relationships and feedback. One measure of actively disengaged employees dropped 9 percent in one year.
Elizabeth Talerico
Director, Dell EMC Education Services
The Global Services Associate Program designed under the guidance of Elizabeth Talerico aimed to provide a scalable, integrated approach to recruitment, on-boarding, training and mentoring talent globally across Dell EMC. In particular, Talerico and the Dell EMC Education Services team wanted to reduce the cost of onboarding and training employees, accelerate time to productivity and invest in future leaders.
The program included three stages: pre-boot camp, boot camp and post-boot camp that encompassed prework done through small, private online courses, weekly feedback through written evaluations and one-on-one coaching and an ongoing support framework.
Biannual performance and compensation reviews revealed that 52 percent of all participants exceeded expectations, 64 percent of presale associates were assigned customer accounts in under six months and 93 percent of participants achieved their certification during boot camp.
Donna Salvo
Executive Director, University of California
As part of the University of California system’s integrated talent management strategy, Donna Salvo along with learning teams at every University of California location, equipped more than 46,000 managers with resources, tools and information to develop their teams, attract and maintain high-talent individuals and engage employees in every position. Within the first six months, 2,500 people are in the process of completing the People Management Certificate program, an elective course mapped to core manager expectations, and 86 percent of participants said the course improved their work performance.
DIVISION 2
Elizabeth Collins
Director, Career Start, Suffolk Construction 
The Career Start Program at Boston-based construction firm Suffolk Construction came to fruition as the company began a period of growth and needed to expand its leadership ranks. Under Elizabeth Collins’ direction Career Start finds recent college graduates and aids them in preparing for future management positions. The goal is to have a consistent flow of new managers ready to take on a career in any number of areas in the business.
Career Start focuses on creating management consistency and improved skills through job rotations, on-the-job training, team-building activities and mentor programs. The cohort model helped to grow class sizes but also builds teamwork and collaboration. Each cohort begins with a full week at the Boston headquarters and immerses young talent in Suffolk’s vision, mission and training.
According to internal company statistics, 94 percent of Career Start participants have graduated to placement in a permanent role and 57 percent of participants have plans to stay with the company long term. Suffolk has also seen a boost in engagement to an average score of 91 percent on the annual national employee engagement survey.
Patrick Chenot
Executive Vice President and Chief Learning Officer, HAVAS Health & You 
Patrick Chenot established the Developing Leaders Program at HAVAS Health & You, a New York-based creative agency focused on using media to promote healthier lives, to enhance leadership skills, establish a network of supportive relationships, provide a wider range of connections at the executive level and create an environment where leaders pass on what they learn to future talent.
The program took place over a nine-month semester and included executive coaching, mentorship, leadership development workshops, coaching circles, peer feedback and emotional intelligence and leadership assessments. In addition to learning and development staff, participants actively engaged with supervisors and senior leaders. According to survey results, 88 percent of participants credit the program with improving their leadership skills.
Detlef Hold
People Capabilities Strategy Lead, Vice Director, PDR Organizational Development, Genentech Inc./F. Hoffman La Roche
Detlef Hold played a key role is establishing the Community of Managers Initiative at pharmaceutical firm Genentech Inc./F. Hofmann La Roche. The initiative created a knowledge network to shape the company’s culture and approach to managing, developing talent and driving business strategy. Since the program, Hold and the development team have seen a 10 percent increase employees reporting full engagement.
Marygrace Schumann is an editorial intern at Chief Learning Officer magazine. She can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.
