Google Ad #1 - desktop - 728x90

Google Ad #3 - desktop - 728x90

Google Ad #1 - mobile - 300x200

Google Ad #3 - mobile - 300x200

ATD_Half_Page

Googel Ad #1 - Side Bar - Content pages

ATD Footer Logo

Emma Strong is the L&D senior program manager at Veritext; estrong@veritext.com.

Emma Strong

January 2024 - TD Magazine

A change in courtreporting methods required a training initiative to upskill employees on the updated process.

Shifting With the Times

“Learning initiatives are like smartphones. They can accomplish great things, but they don’t work for long without a charger.” That’s according to Marie Daniels and Emma Weber, who piloted an artificial intelligence–based chatbot to support learning transfer for a sales manager training program at Bayer, one of the world’s largest and most successful pharmaceutical companies.Daniels, the commercial learning lead for Australia/New Zealand at Bayer, supports a busy sales team. In addition to spending time in the field, the team’s managers must also maintain processes and ensure compliance.In her role, Daniels has always recognized that even with exceptional training sessions and workshops, the managers’ different responsibilities make it challenging to sustain the effort of transferring learning into behavior. That’s why Bayer was working with a supplier, ever–Transfer of Learning, to provide phone-based learning transfer coaching in support of leadership programs across Bayer Australia.Daniels had a strong relationship with Lever CEO and founder Emma Weber. So, when Weber shared her prototype for a coaching chatbot with Daniels in 2017, the latter saw it as an opportunity to incorporate a “charger” into Bayer’s sales manager training and development program. It would serve a similar purpose to the phone-based coaches in the leadership program while staying within budget. With the support of an influential senior leader already in hand, she proposed launching a pilot of the chatbot in a matter of weeks.

Bayer: Chatbot Coaching for Learning Transfer

Clint Pulver is an Emmy Award–winning, motivational keynote speaker, author, musician, and workforce expert.A professional drummer for more than 20 years, he has played with headlining fellow musicians at venues like the Vivint Arena, the Stadium of Fire, and the Kodak Theatre (now Dolby Theatre) in Hollywood. In 2010 he founded the Utah Valley University (UVU) drumline known as the Green Man Group, which he directed for six years and went on to direct the drumline for the NBA’s Utah Jazz until 2015.Clint was featured in BusinessQ magazine as one of their top 40 under 40 list as a premier corporate keynote speaker. He has appeared on America’s Got Talent and in feature films with actors such as School of Rock’s Jack Black and Napoleon Dynamite’s John Heder.Known as the leading authority on employee retention, Clint helps organizations retain, engage, and inspire their team members from the front desk to the board rooms and everyone in between. He expertly helps audiences navigate generational complexities, communication challenges, leadership missteps, and cultural cues.As the president and founder of the Center for Employee Retention, Clint has transformed how corporations like Keller Williams, AT&T, and Hewlett-Packard create lasting loyalty through his work and research as “The Undercover Millennial.” For more than a decade, he has been a self-motivated entrepreneur who is well-versed in business start-up, leadership, sales management, management training, and helping teams grow multi-million-dollar accounts. He uses that experience to create teachable relationship and business strategies based on trust, service, support, connection, and consistent follow-through.Clint strongly believes that a single moment in time can change a person’s life. He has traveled the world speaking to a wide spectrum of diverse audiences, challenging them to dream, excel, connect, and believe—both in themselves and in the power of others. Clint has dedicated his heart, his messages, and his business to helping organizations understand the younger generation and helping the younger generation better understand themselves by living a life of significance, rather than just a life of success. His mantra: “It’s not about being the best in the world . . . it’s about being the best FOR the world.”

Clint Pulver

Jerry Wang is a faculty member at Management Concepts’ School of Federal Leadership Excellence (SoFLE). Previously, Jerry served as a diplomat, leadership coach, organization development consultant, and trainer at the US Department of State. Before that, he spearheaded EMBA and leadership coaching programs at Cornell University, consulted with Deloitte Consulting and Dalberg Global Development Advisors, managed sales enablement at Groupon, and advised sheepherders as a Peace Corps volunteer in Macedonia.Jerry’s commitment to leadership development and coaching excellence is underscored by his credentials as an ICF PCC-credentialed coach, Gallup-certified Strengths Coach, and WIAL-certified Action Learning Coach. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University, a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and executive certificates in Leadership Coaching and Organization Development Consulting from Georgetown University.

Jerry Wang

Young professionals, particularly Gen Z, are rethinking leadership. “Conscious unbossing” is an emerging trend where many are opting out of management roles in favor of flexibility, personal growth, and work-life balance.For talent management professionals, conscious unbossing threatens already fragile talent pipelines. Without intervention, organizations face growing leadership shortages. It’s time to look closely at leadership culture and the systemic issues that could be pushing talent away.This four-stage framework will help you uncover where change is needed—before your future leaders opt out.1. Evaluate Your Leadership CultureBefore you can make effective changes, you need a clear picture of your current leadership culture.Start by observing leadership behaviors. Ask yourself:How do leaders spend their visible time? Are they constantly in meetings or firefighting mode? What behaviors are rewarded? Are leaders celebrated for strategic vision and collaboration or for grinding through long hours? Do leaders openly discuss the challenges and responsibilities that come with leadership?Assess work-life balance among current leaders. Do they model sustainable practices or reinforce burnout culture? Do they take uninterrupted time off and set appropriate boundaries? Consider how leadership is framed internally. Is it portrayed as an opportunity for growth, or as “wearing many hats” with overwhelming workloads? These cues shape how younger generations perceive leadership—if leading means sacrificing well-being, many will opt out. To mitigate conscious unbossing, talent development professionals must take an honest look at what leadership means in their organization—and what message it sends to the next generation.2. Examine Structural BarriersNext, identify institutional roadblocks that discourage leadership ambitions. If leadership feels out of reach or not worth the trade-off, it will be challenging to motivate younger, high-potential employees to fill these positions.Review promotion pathways. Do leadership roles require rigid prerequisites? Are career paths flexible enough for non-traditional career trajectories? If employees can’t see themselves advancing, they won’t try. Consider whether leadership roles are realistically designed, including workloads. Could you offer alternative models like job-sharing or rotating leadership?Evaluate compensation structures. Does the risk-reward ratio acknowledge the added stress and responsibility and make leadership appealing? Beyond salary, what incentives signal that stepping up is worth it?By removing these barriers, you can create a leadership path that young employees want to follow.3. Assess Development PracticesStrong development practices must align with what future leaders value and what will prepare them for success.Evaluate how you identify leadership potential. Do your criteria recognize non-traditional leadership styles, or are they outdated and misaligned with the behaviors that drive success? Narrow or inaccurate definitions may cause you to overlook high-potential talent. An evidence-based framework increases confidence in succession and promotion decisions. Assessments add objectivity and reveal how employees align with key high-potential factors—and where development is needed.Examine where growth and development investments go. Do programs address modern leadership challenges and teach skills young employees value? What feedback have you heard from participants? Are there opportunities to improve the programs?Audit coaching quality. Are managers equipped to guide employees toward leadership roles, including through non-traditional career paths? When young employees see that leadership comes with support, not just added pressure, they’re more likely to pursue it.4. Act on Your FindingsAn audit is only valuable if it leads to action. Based on your findings, create a plan that ranks issues according to their importance. Then, balance quick wins with long-term fixes. Making small, immediate changes first can build momentum, but strategic, systemic changes will have the biggest impact on attracting younger talent to leadership roles and strengthening your talent pipeline.Define specific interventions, like redesigning leadership roles to be more balanced, creating flexible career pathways, or reframing internal leadership narratives.At this stage, HR must act as organizational change agents. Frame conscious unbossing as a business risk affecting succession planning, rather than a talent development issue. Use data from exit interviews, engagement surveys, and pipeline metrics to build a compelling case, then partner with colleagues to turn insights into action.ConclusionTalent management professionals stand at a critical intersection between organizational needs and individual aspirations. Conscious unbossing isn’t just a trend—it’s valuable feedback about how leadership roles must evolve.The future of your leadership pipeline depends not on convincing young talent to accept outdated models, but on rebuilding leadership roles that people genuinely want to grow into. Learn more in our blog, Conscious Unbossing: Rebuilding the Leadership Pipeline for a New Generation.

Search results for 'Emma Strong'

Categories

Refine By