The Edge of Work

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

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. Terence Morley is the VP of Global Talent Development at NBC Universal. Under his leadership, Terence and his talent and learning team have launched a number of key talent development initiatives to help employees develop, grow and manage their careers across the diverse business lines within NBC Universal ranging from theme park to news and media employees. During our conversation, Terence spoke about the importance of helping employees learn the critical skills for managing their careers, the benefits of this approach, and how he and his team are bringing this to life through their Talent Lab Program. Terence also shared some highlights from other leadership development programs for managers at NBC Universal and his own thoughts and perspective on how to create a better world of work.Terence's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terence-morley-cptd-5554243/

Mitch Joel is a Keynote Speaker, Author, Entrepreneur and Host of the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast. Through his podcast and keynote speaking, Mitch regularly speaks with entrepreneurs, leaders, founders and executives about the workplace, and has diverse and keen insights into the world of work. During our conversation, Mitch spoke about his own observations from his many conversations on key topics in the workplace ranging from changing employee expectations, organizational culture and the value of connection. Mitch also spoke about the expectations around remote and hybrid, the importance of continuous learning, and the opportunities for employees who embrace a squiggly career in today’s world of work.LinksMitch’s Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchjoel/Mitch’s Podcast: https://www.sixpixels.com/category/podcast/

Note: This is a live episode recorded from the Association For Talent Development (ATD) International Conference and Expo in New Orleans.Kimberly Currier is the Global Vice President of Learning at AECOM.  As a Global Leader of Learning, Kimberly has a large responsibility in shaping the talent and learning strategy at AECOM.In this conversation live from ATD '24 in New Orleans, Kimberly shared her thoughts trends on what she is following as a talent development leader, as well as her thoughts on relevant skills for talent development leaders to stay ahead in today's changing world of work.

Paul Young is the Chief Financial Officer at Liberty Bank. Established in 1825, Liberty Bank is the largest and oldest independent mutual bank in the United States. In this conversation, Paul shared how he and his colleagues at Liberty Bank began investing in apprenticeship programs in order to develop and retain talent inside the finance organization. Paul also spoke about the opportunities and business benefits that he was able to deliver as a result of investing in their workforce through apprenticeship programs, his ideas and aspirations for future plans for developing talent, and his advice for how talent and hr professionals can partner with their peers in the finance function to better invest and retain talent to drive business results. LinksPaul’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pyoungcpa/News article: https://www.aicpa-cima.com/news/article/aicpa-and-us-department-of-labor-sign-inaugural-employers-to-apprenticeship

Tiffany Poeppelman is a Director of Career Development at LinkedIn. Fresh off presenting at her talk at ATD’ 24 titled “Talent Development in the Age of AI,” Tiffany spoke to us about some of the trends and data from the 2024 Annual Work Trend Index  around AI, career development and learning. During the conversation, Tiffany also shared insights and observations about the gap between AI interest and implementation, and the need for upskilling employees, as well as some examples of how companies including Kraft-Heinz and NBC Universal are learning about AI through experimentation. Tiffany also shared her own thoughts as a talent development leader about how to elevate the Talent and learning profession.Links:Tiffany’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tpoeppelman/LinkedIn AI Upskilling Framework and access to 50 Free LinkedIn AI Courses (Until 7/8/2024): https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/learning-and-development/new-framework-for-ai-upskilling?trk=eow