In this Honeit podcast, we speak with Kate Donn, a talent management leader who built and scaled internal mobility programs at a global management consulting firm centered around its people and human capital. In management consulting, retention is a strategic and competitive business advantage to keep the best employees, consultants, domain experts, and clients.
Kate shares the importance of meaningful human conversations for retention and internal mobility. When hiring managers are too busy to discuss growth, professional development, and career trajectories outside their team, HR must take the initiative to talk to employees about their interests and future career goals. Some employees are happy in their current roles, some want up-skilling, others want to move laterally, and some want to move into people management.
A word of caution… If you’re not speaking with top employees about their career goals, they will likely look externally for growth and career opportunities.
Summary:
Kate shared insights on the internal mobility and employee experience programs she built at a global management consulting firm. The conversation covered the importance of early career programs, mid-level mobility, and senior management development as part of a cascading succession plan to retain and engage top talent. Kate emphasized the significance of meaningful conversations for career development, the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods to identify high performers and the challenges and opportunities presented by AI in upskilling and reskilling employees. The discussion also delved into the process and structure of implementing and scaling these programs, including using technology to facilitate internal gig platforms and the crucial role of leadership and coaching. Additionally, Kate reflected on her observations of the current state of recruiting and the candidate experience, highlighting areas for improvement in efficiency and human interaction.
Episode Highlights:
- Kate Donn discussed her background in internal mobility and building programs to help retain and engage employees.
- Internal Mobility programs focused on early career development, mid-level mobility, and preparing senior managers for executive roles through a cascading succession plan.
- Importance of meaningful conversations with employees to understand their career aspirations and align them with the right opportunities.
- The process of identifying high performers involved both quantitative performance data and qualitative insights from leaders and coaches.
- Challenges in scaling the programs globally included finding open-minded leaders to sponsor or coach employees and leveraging technology for efficient deployment and tracking.
- The conversation touched on the current recruiting landscape, with Kate sharing her personal experience and noting areas for improvement in the interview and selection process.
- The discussion concluded with reflections on AI’s potential impacts on HR and the importance of focusing on high-value, human-centric activities in talent management.
About Honeit:
From intake calls to screening calls to internal mobility conversations and exit interviews, Honeit‘s award-winning talent communication platform turns meaningful human conversations into valuable talent intelligence to recruit, hire, and retain the best talent.
