The Edge of Work

Rodney Evans is a Partner at The Ready, a future of work consulting firm, as well as the Co-Host of the Podcast Brave New Work. After working as a leader in HR for over a decade, Rodney has been advising organizations to think and work in new ways to adapt to a complex and ever changing world of work.During our conversation, Rodney spoke about some of the challenges organizations are facing both today and how new ways of thinking and working around HR can help us create a better world of work. She also shared some of her thoughts around how leaders and organizations that want to create a better world of work, can get started today.Links:Website: https://www.theready.com/Podcast: https://www.theready.com/podcastRodey Evans: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodneyeevans/

Cali Williams Yost is the Founder and CEO of the Flex+Strategy Group. With over three decades of experience advising companies on flexible work strategies, Cali has a keen understanding of how flexible work fuels high performing organizations. During our conversation, Cali spoke about some of the current challenges and bright spots with flexible work policies, the importance of training managers and leaders to work in flexible ways, and some of the latest research she and her team have uncovered in building high performing, flexible organizations.Links:Recent Research: https://flexstrategygroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2023-research-snapshot.pdf Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caliwilliamsyost/Website: https://flexstrategygroup.com/

Note: This is a replay of a popular episode of Season 2 From The Edge of Work with Melissa Daimler, Chief Learning Officer at Udemy, and Author of Reculturing: Design Your Company Culture to Connect with Strategy and Purpose for Lasting Success.An experienced executive in learning and people, Melissa has been a student and practitioner of culture and has seen and led cultural transformations at leading companies including Adobe and Twitter. But while designing a great culture is a good start, in a complex and ever-changing world, setting a static culture is no longer enough, in fact, companies can and should re-culture their organizations, as their people, customers, and business evolves.During this LinkedIn live, we spoke about the importance of company culture in today’s changing world of work, lessons from Melissa’s experiences at leading companies like Adobe and Twitter, and key aspects of both designing and re-designing company culture. Links:Melissa’s Book: https://www.melissadaimler.com/reculturing/

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes from Season 3 of The Edge of Work.Adam Hickman is the Vice President of Learning and Org Development at Partners Federal Credit Union, a Walt Disney Company. In addition to this role, Adam is an author and professor and writes and speaks regularly on topics related to management and leadership.During our conversation, Adam dove into some of the changes in the workplace and the implications of those changes (ex: technology) for what companies need out of their people managers so that they can have engaged and productive employees. Adam also shared some of his team’s strategy and approach at his organization around manager effectiveness, the approaches they are taking in redesign the role of the manager and develop good managers, and his own  to recruit and empower effective managers, and some of his own thoughts on how you can create a better world of work through better managers.Links:Adam’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamghickman/Al's Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsaldea/https://www.hrdconnect.com/2023/04/25/how-to-evolve-and-equip-your-managers-to-buck-the-disengagement-trend/adam-hickman-on-the-shifting-role-of-the-manager/ 

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes from S2 of The Edge of Work.Nick Holmes is the Head of Career Experience at Fishawack Health, a healthcare organization based in the United Kingdom. As the head of Career Experience, Nick’s role is to build an organization that not only attracts great employees, but develops them, retains them and provides them opportunities to grow so they can contribute to Fishawack Health. Upon taking the role, Nick had a bold mandate, which was to develop and implement a new strategy around career development and the transformation to enable it so Fishawack Health could compete for top talent in a very competitive labor market.During this conversation, Nick spoke about the “why” for going under this massive transformation. Nick also shared some of the feedback that employees provided on the new programs, technologies and pathways, how they were able to change the culture and behaviors around career development in “drumbeats, not lightning bolts.”Nick also spoke about how the various technologies and programs that were a part of the transformation engage and interact with employees, Nick’s own learnings to date from leading the transformation, as well as his advice to others who are thinking about developing and implementing a career development strategy for their organization.Links: Nick’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickholmeslandd/Profile on Fishawack Health: https://fuel50.com/2022/11/talent-experience-fishawack-health/ 

In the season finale,  Al shares some of the research HR, talent and the future of work that he's reading this holiday season, highlights and insights from season 3, and some ideas about what's ahead for season 4 in The Edge of Work. Happy Holidays!Resources Mentioned in this episode:- Gartner HR Trends: https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/trends/top-trends-for-hr-leaders-cpc? - I4CP 2024 Priorities and Predictions: https://www.i4cp.com/predictions- Lattice People Strategy Report: https://lattice.com/state-of-people-strategy-report-2024- Culture Amp 2023 Manager Effectiveness Report: https://www.cultureamp.com/resources/report/state-of-the-manager-2023-report

Steve Hunt is a chief expert at SAP, an organizational psychologist, and the author of "Talent Tectonics: Navigating Global Workforce Shifts, Building Resilient Organizations, and Reimagining the Employee Experience."With his background in organizational psychology and extensive experience working with various diverse organizations and industries, Steve has a keen understanding of how the workplace is changing, and what organizations can do to craft better work experiences that attract and develop talent, and unleash the purpose and potential of each employee.During our conversation, Steve shared his perspective on how two key shifts are reshaping the world of work, and what that means for organizations. Steve also went into detail on how organizations can create a better workplace for their people by improving the way we design jobs and create better organizational environments. Steve also spoke about the importance of leaders truly understanding the experiences of their frontline employees, the role of managers in the employee experience, and the importance of equipping managers with the right support and tools to help them better engage with their own employees.Links:Steve’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steventhunt/ Book: https://talenttectonics.com/ 

Rose Sheldon is the Chief Learning Officer at KeyBank. With 20+ years in the financial services industry working in roles across functions and departments, Rose understands how technology, innovation and customer preferences require organizations to rapidly adapt and evolve to a changing world of work. In her role as the Chief Learning Officer, Rose sees the importance of creating an organizational culture that enables a company to sense and spot emerging trends, and help employees from the front line to the executive level build the skills and capabilities the organization needs to be successful in a changing world of work.During our conversation, Rose spoke about how she has helped guide Key Bank to driving performance in a changing world of work by focusing on a culture of lifelong learning, and dispelling common myths about how learning works in an organization. Rose also spoke about how in her role as Chief Learning Officer, she thinks about aligning her own learning and culture strategy to the business strategy, the importance of change agility,  and how other organizations can think about intentionally and strategically using learning as a driver of organizational success.LinksRose Sheldon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-sheldon/

Jen Fisher is the Head of Human Sustainability at Deloitte, a Best-Selling Author and TEDx Speaker. As one of the leading experts on well-being, Jen has spent the most recent part of her career helping leaders think differently about how they can improve the performance of their people through investing in the well-being and relationships of their people.During our conversation, Jen shared her perspective on the state of well-being, as well as the definition of human sustainability, and why it’s critical to any leader who wants to create an organization that drives high performance.  Jen also spoke about her own journey with well-being, success, and high performance has informed her views on human sustainability, what leaders can do to prioritize human sustainability, and Jen’s ideas about how we can create a better world of work by focusing on our people.Note: This is a recording from a LinkedIn Live.Links:Jen’s Book: https://www.mhprofessional.com/work-better-together-how-to-cultivate-strong-relationships-to-maximize-well-being-and-boost-bottom-9781264268122-usa Jen’s Newsletter: https://jenfisher.substack.com/Jen’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-fisher-cwbo/ Jen’s Articles: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/multimedia/podcasts/the-problem-with-employee-wellness-programs.html 

Vincent Stanley is the Director of Philosophy at Patagonia, and the Co-Author of the book, The Future of The Responsible Company. In order to create a better world of work, it’s clear that organizations, and leaders specifically have a role to play in creating cultures and environments that drive performance and empower people. Patagonia has long been viewed as a leader of companies who are trying to blend people, purpose, and profits, and “do well while doing good” but the journey has not always been easy nor straightforward.During our conversation, Vincent spoke about the history of Patagonia, and how they think differently about their role as an organization, in the world, in their community and with their customers. Vincent spoke about some of the ways that Patagonia views their culture, their secrets to creating work that fuels their people, and his guidance on how other organizations can embrace becoming a responsible organization.Linkshttps://www.patagonia.com/product/the-future-of-the-responsible-company-paperback/BK235.html?dwvar_BK235_color=000&cgid=books