Students in EMBA Class 44 spent their Leadership Residency week in St. Louis meeting with top execs in different fields to discuss current business issues across a wide range of topics. Human resources was the topic of a panel discussion that included guests from leading companies in St. Louis. Mary Ann Altergott, Principal, Human Resources Talent Management at Edward Jones; Steve Degnan, Chief HR Officer at Nestle Purina PetCare North America, and Olin MBA’08; and Steve Pelch, Organization Planning and Development and a member of Emerson’s Office of the Chief Executive, participated in the evening dialogue, sharing their extensive knowledge of HR with the EMBA 44 cohort.
A student posed this question, “Should we be taking charge of our own development, or does the company take the lead in development?”
Degnan: Maybe because people are more mobile, people are doing this on their own. That’s a good idea, to take ownership of your development and career. Nestle believes investing in people could help build employee retention and loyalty. But the onus is put on them, not the company.
Altergott: We are very clear – the associate owns his/her development; the leader’s role is to ensure there’s an environment where development can happen. We try to promote from within and offer compelling development opportunities. Development is an important investment for Edward Jones; one each of us take seriously as it helps us improve our skills and capabilities to better serve our clients.
Pelch: An employee should absolutely take the lead in developing his or her career. They should look for a company that provides the framework and structure for development, but they should not sit back and wait. Through our annual talent review discussions at Emerson, we identify high potential candidates and discuss next roles and experiences that can further develop their leadership skills. We constantly look for leaders to step forward and “raise their hand” indicating a desire and openness to lead in a new or different role.
The panelists also answered questions on mentoring, assessment tools, how they got to their positions, clashes in values between employees and company, downsizing, budget cuts, and what is lacking in the job force.
Beck Bailey, Human Rights Campaign Deputy Director of the Employee Engagement Workplace Equality Program discussed how organizations can gain a competitive advantage and improve their score on the HRC Corporate Equality Index, published annually by HRC.
