Last week we attended the From Day One conference and heard from community and business leaders as well as HR and CSR employees on corporate values and culture. What was repeated throughout the day is that change is here. With the rise of digital and technology, the way we communicate, operate and feel fulfilled in the workplace is radically shifting. While all of the talks and workshops provided new insights, there were two that left an impact.
Mina Morris, associate partner at Aon, gave a TED style presentation on “Change from Within: Building a Roadmap for Future Talent” where he shared some pretty mind boggling statistics. Today, a professional skill is only relevant for 5 years. That begs the question, how can anyone, employee or company, be successful as jobs and skills need to evolve quickly? They key is to focus on these three skills: Learnability, ability and curiosity. Encourage employees to evolve and be fluid within a company in order to elevate their own potential and the potential of the company.
Mike Bailen, Vice President of People at Lever, walked through how changing the way companies hire can save money, foster culture and lead to stronger outcomes. He made a strong case for building relationships with valuable and potential hires before a job for them even exists at the company and having Recruiters act more as Marketers when it comes to “selling” employment at a company. While I found the recruiting funnel fascinating, there was an even more poignant topic within this discussion and that was in the job descriptions themselves. In order to get diverse, highly qualified people Bailen suggested moving away from the typical job requirements descriptions and instead focusing on impact roles. What qualities are you looking for to fit into your company culture? Do you need someone with an entrepreneurial spirit, a self starter or team player?
As a B Corp, we are constantly trying to learn better practices and the From Day One conference gave us a lot to think about and explore. It was inspiring to see hundreds of attendees from large corporations like FedEx to smaller companies like ours, come together in hopes of doing better business for our communities.