The Edge of Work

In this episode, Al Dea sits down with Emily Lin, Chief Learning Officer at MasterCard, and Shannon Custard, Global Head of Learning for IKEA, to discuss the latest research from CLO Lift, an organization of Learning leaders from global organizations focused on advancing the learning and development (L&D) profession. During the conversation, Emily and Shannon share their aspirations for collaborating on CLO LIFT, as well as digging into their research on securing and demonstrating the value of time, and navigating the evolving landscape of skills. Emily and Shannon share practical insights and strategies to help L&D leaders drive organizational impact and foster a culture of continuous learning in today's fast-paced work environment.LinksEmily Lin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyylin/Shannon Custard’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannoncustard/The Learning Forum: https://thelearningforum.org/CLO Lift Research: https://learningforum.substack.com/

Bruce Feiler is Best-Selling Author of multiple books. Today, he joins Al on The Edge of Work to talk about his most recent book The Search: Finding Meaningful Work in a Post Career World. During this conversation, Bruce shares his own perspective on how the world of work is changing, and how the very definition of a career is changing in a world of work that is non-linear. Bruce also shares his perspective on the importance of finding meaningful work, the various types of “jobs” people have and why most people actually have more than one job, and his own perspective on the role that leaders play in fostering a work environment that unlocks the potential and purpose of each employee.Links:Website: https://www.brucefeiler.com/Newsletter: https://brucefeiler.substack.com/

The Edge of Work has been exploring the role of the manager as well as the emphasis on manager development throughout its three seasons. During this episode, Al will cover:Why the manager is back in the spotlightThe challenges that managers face in today’s workplaceHow to Reimagine The Role of the ManagerSome best practices for developing managers fit to lead in today’s workplaceLinks:https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/stop-wasting-your-most-precious-resource-middle-managersKameko Leung and Aspiring Managers: https://podcasts.apple.com/cz/podcast/the-changing-landscape-of-talent-development/id1378433981?i=1000626064591&l=cs HBR Article: https://hbr.org/2023/11/reimagine-your-managerial-pipeline

Note: This is a reply of a popular episode from 2023.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/ 

Note: This is a reply of a popular episode from 2023Dr. Gabriella Rosen Kellerman is the Chief Innovation Officer for BetterUp Labs, as well as the Co-Author of the book Tomorrowmind: Thriving at Work, Now and In an Uncertain Future. As a psychologist, Gabriella has studied the workplace and works each day in her role to help envision and create a better world of work.During our conversation Gabriella spoke about the history of work back from the hunter-gather days until present day, as well as the challenges that leaders and employees face in navigating a constantly changing and evolving world of work. Drawing on the concepts, research, and ideas, from her book as well as from her work at BetterUp Labs, Gabriella provided us with some ideas about the key skills that leaders and managers should both develop in order to lead effectively in today’s world of work, and how they can help their employees navigate the complexities and uncertainties of a constantly changing workplace, ranging from navigating uncertainty, mattering and purpose, and developing social connection regardless of location.LinksWebsite: https://www.gabriellarosenkellerman.com/Gabriella’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grkellerman/Al’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsaldea/Book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tomorrowmind/Gabriella-Rosen-Kellerman/9781982159764 

In today's workplace, career development is critical for attracting, engaging, and retaining talent. Employees expect a job with opportunities for growth and advancement. Managers can shape the employee experience and drive team performance.In this episode, The Edge of Work Founder and Podcast Host, Al Dea shares some of the research that he and the team have been doing around how to promote a culture of career development inside of your organization.In this episode, Al covers:The importance of career development as it relates to performance, agility, and talent attracting and retentionWhat employees are looking for out of managers for supportWhat managers can do to support employee career developmentWhat steps organizations can take to create a culture of career developmentAdditional LinksResearch Highlights: https://theedgeofwork.com/people-growth-equation-career-development-report/ Al’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsaldea/

Chrissie Arnold is the Director of Future of Work Programs at Slack. In her role, Arnold is tasked with identifying and testing new and novel ways of working that can help improve the way that Slack employees work so that they can improve key business results including productivity, employee engagement and employee satisfaction. During our conversation, Chrissie spoke about some of the lessons she’s learned about experimenting with new ways of working and thinking about work as well as some of the examples of different experiments that she and her team have run to help employees work better. Chrissie also shares some of her thoughts on how leaders can challenge workplace norms, build a culture of experimentation inside of their company, and her own perspective on how leaders can think differently about work.LinksChrissie’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissiearnold/Slack Workforce Lab Research: https://slack.com/resources/collections/workforce-lab#explore-workforce-lab-research-

Dr. Michael Arena discusses intentional collaboration, social capital, and organizational dynamics. Topics include the impact of AI, creating opportunities for productive teamwork, strategic networking, and the innovative building design at MIT that fosters serendipitous interactions.

Note: This is a special episode from our conversations with talent development leaders at the ATD ‘24 Conference in New Orleans back in May 2024. Jason Hudgins is a Senior Consultant of Leadership Development at Wellstar Health. During our conversation, Jason spoke about the challenges that many hospital leaders face today, and the important characteristics that leaders need to effectively lead in complex healthcare environments. Jason also highlighted a coaching program that he helped roll out to leaders inside Wellstar, providing details on some of the key business objectives the leadership development program and coaching helped solve, and his advice to other organizations looking to leverage coaching as part of their leadership development programs.- Jason's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonkhudgins/- Sounding Board Inc: https://www.soundingboardinc.com/

Jelena Djordjevic is the Chief People Officer at Thumbtack. During the early months of the 2020 Global Pandemic, Thumbtack made the decision to go virtual first, and subsequently and iteratively implemented a people strategy that enabled its thousands of employees to work effectively in a whole new way. Three years later, Thumbtack remains virtual first, and under Djordevic’s leadership has taken a strategic and intentional approach to aligning their people strategy with their business strategy to drive results, for both the business and their people.During our conversation, Djordjevic shared her own philosophy as a Chief People Officer about how she strategically thinks about the role of the HR function in enabling business strategy. Jelena also shared some of the programs and policies that are a part of their people strategy for a virtual-first organizations, how she and her team use data to drive strategy and programs, and how she and Thumbtack thing about critical levers of a virtual first organization, such as fostering connection, in-person experiences, and the role of their managers.Links:Jelena’s Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jzdjordjevic/https://blog.thumbtack.com/two-years-in-our-virtual-first-model-is-here-to-stay-and-its-only-getting-better-18d33c443d80https://blog.thumbtack.com/new-report-finds-employees-perform-their-best-when-working-virtually-and-senior-leaders-agree-59eee67c8aac