Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: First and foremost, when you talk about career mobility, the word culture shows up. And that is really what is the change management strategy to really foster this environment. Right. So the obvious leadership support, their acceptance, their ownership to the success A1 critical and they needed to see success and the momentum it created for them really to realize how this could all come together.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Welcome to a new episode of the what Works podcast series. That was Jim Hemgen, Chief Learning Officer at Booz Allen Hamilton. In this episode, Kathy and Daris talks with Jim about tackling employee retention and skills development challenges. The two explore the strategic integration of a talent marketplace and AI readiness programs to drive organizational success.
Let's take a listen.
[00:00:54] Speaker C: Jim, welcome to the what Works podcast. I'm so excited for our conversation.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: Well, thank you. Looking forward to it.
[00:01:00] Speaker C: Well, to kick off, tell us a little bit about yourself, about your role and about your company.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Yeah, sure, certainly. So me, Jim, I've been with Booz Allen for about a combined 10 years. I oversee the talent development center of expertise. I partner closely with my talent acquisition and talent management colleagues as we shape the entire employee experience.
I've got about 25 plus years in the L and D industry having served a variety of roles and in fact I started my early career as a high school computer science and business education teacher. So still in education just got a much bigger audience with different challenges and problems that we'll talk about here today.
[00:01:40] Speaker C: Wow, that's great. Passion for teaching and supporting people to learn is certainly visible through your role at Booz Allen. So tell us a little bit more about Booz Allen and what you're working on there.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So Booz Allen, 110 years old, if you can believe that we are an advanced technology company that designs intelligent tailor made solutions to help our clients achieve their missions. Focus outcomes with speed. Booz Allen provides cutting edge technologies like AI, cyber quantum and edge computing to our customers. We employ a technical workforce, about 35,000 plus professionals that are driven by simple purpose and that is to empower people to change the world. And I've paraphrased that mission from my own talent development colleagues, which is we empower our colleagues to change their clients world one day, one employee at a time.
[00:02:29] Speaker C: So what kind of big business challenges have you seen that you were kind of working on in your role as the clo? As the head of talent development?
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So those sort of challenges, you know, in advance of this discussion, I really thought about two that stood out in recent years that I'll call upon and that really kind of Helped shape our skills based strategy as we've been moving forward. Number one, it's, you know, we've, we've had some challenges retaining employees that want new challenges within the organization. What happens then is we've discovered through some research, they're more than likely to start looking for challenges outside of Booz Allen. Several years back, you know, we took a look at the numbers and we uncovered that 60% of the employees who was searching for internal work left the organization within a year if they did not find it. That was a compelling business problem, you know, so we had to think about what are the strategies we could deploy to really support career mobility and help retain that talent. And, you know, retaining employees presents different challenges. Some examples are our clients, you know, we service customers throughout the federal government and they want to retain their consultants on their projects. Not so willing to let them go. Managers similarly, you know, they struggle to manage staff that rotate on and off and they want stability and managing maintain their teams. And another element was, as we thought about establishing a talent marketplace is really the uncertainty about the skills and qualifications for unknown colleagues. I might know of you, but I do not know really your area of expertise and what ways can we showcase that and increase your marketability in that type of scenario. The other significant challenge that we've had is we're becoming a much more technical workforce than we have been historically. So that is transformational as we really been evolving the skills profile of our 35,000 employees. And we really need to think, what do we need to do to develop and equip them to be ready and deliver innovative solutions that has really shaped, you know, our strategies that we've deployed over the years. There's multiple components to that and we'll dig into some of those as we speak to some of those solutions.
[00:04:34] Speaker C: So what did you do after you identified these two challenges? How did you come up with solutions? What were these solutions?
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Yeah, certainly. So the first one is really how do we enable career mobility? Right. So many the past few years have dug into that and established what I would call talent marketplaces. Right. And there's a variety of educational products and tools that can support that experience. So we spent nearly a year really thinking and devising our career mobility initiative. We decided to focus on the five most critical job families that we needed to retain. So we started with that, and then there were a variety of components that kind of shape this marketplace, that pull it together. First and foremost, when you talk about career mobility, the word culture shows up. And that is really what is the Change management strategy to really foster this environment. Right. So the obvious leadership, support, their acceptance, their ownership to the success. A1 critical and that was not easy, to be honest. It took a lot of time to get them onboarded and they needed, I would say, even after we started the initiative, to see success and the momentum it created for them really to realize how this could all come together. The other is we even created some roles to support the talent Marketplace example. We created some functional talent leads that manage the supply and demand of the roles across the marketplace. And you got to think about that, if we have a thousand employees entering the marketplace, they need to see gigs or projects or opportunities across the business to match that. You need to have some level of equilibrium for that to be successful. And the other big piece was then, as I mentioned, I say trust within the marketplace. And that is truly this, what I would call skills validation. And that was the impetus then for us to launch our Booz Allen badging program. And we felt there was a need to help demonstrate one's proficiency for some very specific skills within their profiles. So listen, we partnered with some industry experts, you know, we spoke to leadership at IBM, Erstin Young and others who've been down this path, who gladly shared some of their best practices to Booz Allen. We synthesize a lot of that and then, and then we really thought about what works best for us. So we created what we call skills based badges. And we focus on three different proficiencies which was foundational, practitioner and expert. And then we had to think about the ways in which we could truly measure one skill. So we started to partner with other tech providers who could bring in those assessments. It had to be more than simply somebody taking a course and saying, I'm an expert in Python. We truly had to put you in an environment and ask you to program and assess your programming skills, compare that against the benchmark to see where you are in that proficiency. So there are a variety of companies we had worked with initially at that initial phase. You know, we worked with, with Udemy to capture the Udemy Pro product. We worked with HackerRank. We then partnered with with Work Era to bring in their AI skills assessments. So we leveraged those tech and tools. And then some instances we also had to build and create our own assessments if there wasn't anything out there currently, we also experimented with reward methods for those who achieve certain credentials. So that was associated with compensation. So it's kind of what's in it for me. What were the incentives? Right. So that was another component from Compensation perspective that we added into what we call the tech talent system to relaunch this.
And we had great success within the first year. We had several thousand people that went through a variety of these assessments. And what happens once they get earned the badge? We partnered with Credly, we would issue them the badge. It would show up in their profile within the workday talent management system. And then that really, as I mentioned, then allowed those who are looking for employees to understand what skills they had and to what level of proficiency through our assessments.
[00:08:25] Speaker C: Wow. Now you said so much. So I want to go deeper into some of these areas because I think it's a really interesting solution that I know our listeners want to learn more about. So first, you talked a little bit about the manager piece. It's very hard to let your best people work on something else rather than on your own things. Right. So when you think about mobility, there's always the notion that managers want to retain their best people rather than send them out to work on something else. So how did you overcome that?
[00:08:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, you're zeroing in on what probably is the single greatest challenge I think we faced. And as you mentioned, I think all others from a cultural perspective. So first is as we established a role of functional talent lead. We had a talent lead from all our different sectors. That individual was then to be the champion, to work closely with all those other leaders to understand their hiring needs and requirements. And listen, the end game was this. As they were creating job requisitions or had gigs or what we call internal projects, their number one goal needed to be focus on internal hiring first. Instead of starting with looking outside, how do we shift the mindset, focus on looking internal and capturing talent. So for a professional services organization, we always have some percentage of employees that may be in between projects. We might say they're on the bench, tap into that pool of talent because they're. They're at their ready now. Again, the other thing I mentioned is now we need to know, do they meet the skills and qualifications for my projects? And we try to create the views which allow that to occur.
So that was number one. And the other aspect of this thing was storytelling. As this started to take shape, was then telling the story of where we had pockets of success, because there's always resistors. And sometimes you got to bring those resistors along by showing success in other areas and get them to slowly come around and kind of change their own hiring behaviors. And again, that is a journey. And that literally, I would say it took about 18 months to really drive the adoption and see that a level that we felt comfortable with.
[00:10:33] Speaker C: Wow. And those functional talent leads, I think are really important. So those were business people, right?
They were actually business people. So. And they really owned that. Which is really key because I think we can always try to lead this from an HR learning perspective. But if the business does not like, can't tell those stories and can't explain to other business leaders why this makes sense, sense in their area, it's always going to be an uphill battle. So that kind of business ownership really key on that.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: Got it. That is the buy in and you secure, you secured that. And that is an investment on their part. Right. To contribute resources into those roles.
[00:11:14] Speaker C: Yeah. But the outcome, the results I'm sure are favorable to that. Right. So it really paid off at some point. It probably took a little bit of time, but it paid off at some point. What results did you get from all of this? How is it working?
[00:11:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, so in terms of the results. So there's a couple of things we saw there. One is we saw some differences in terms of results in employee experience scores and there are some very specific questions. We run an employee experience survey every single year. Allows us to give us a trend analysis. So when we zeroed on specific questions for the population that went through here, we looked at questions such as, am I supported in my professional development? Do I have access to new experiences in the firm? We have opportunities to build relevant skills. Are my career aspirations supported by Booz Allen? So we looked at those scores and to me, if we saw the uptick there, that's a leading indicator. Right. Which then affected the lag. So the lag were two different things. One, we saw a reduction in the workforce that were sitting on the bench. So a definite decrease there. We saw an increase in the number of internal hires versus external hires. And then lastly a reduction in our attrition number. So all those dots connected over time, which then address what we spoke to initially, which was the initial business problem was seeing many people's flee looking for opportunities outside the organization. So all these factors came into play and now we're seeing the results of that. And again, it didn't happen in one year, but the lag about two, three years into it, we're seeing all these results that I'm speaking to now.
[00:12:55] Speaker C: Yeah. So you have to play the long game. Right. This is not a quick fix, obviously, but it's a very strategic fix. And I'd imagine you also increase the technical capabilities of the people. Of course, that you were talking about before, like including AI skills? Of course, as well. Every organization, I think, needs to now think about how do they make their whole employee population AI ready, as we call it. Right, right. Because applying AI, working together with AI, it's key to organizational success. One big component of superworkers, which are basically people that amplify their performance and contribution using AI is giving them and providing them with the resources and the capabilities to actually be AI ready, as you call it. So this is a really important notion, I think, for anybody to think about. How can we make people AI ready? And is your goal to have every employee in Booz Allen to be AI ready? Is that kind of the overarching goal?
[00:13:55] Speaker A: I'll be candid with you. Can I sit here and mandate it for all 35,000 employees? No, I can't go that far. But I will say this, that within my own team, I made it a goal. They all need to achieve this credential by the end of the fiscal year. We have another badge we're releasing soon on data literacy. I'm looking at that. Similarly, you need to obtain that. Why? These are critical to do your job right. So at least I can drive their professional development and steer their focus to those specific areas. And similarly, all the other leaders across the organization are doing that. So that is what's really helping get us the large numbers that we're experiencing.
[00:14:33] Speaker C: That's great. What numbers do you have? What percentage of people do you have right now?
[00:14:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Where a third of the organization has achieved their credential.
[00:14:41] Speaker C: That's great. That's good. That's awesome. So what's next for you? Where are you going next? Yeah.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: So as we look at the horizon, you know, a couple things come to mind. Right. As we talk about AI as we continue to mature, I'll say our tech ecosystem, it's really going to further and enhance alcohol, the personalized learning experience. And I mean this in two ways. One is really in supporting targeted upskilling campaigns. You know, recently you had a guest on Kendra Goblets, who's the head of learning from PayPal, and she spoke to what I call what she called precision development, which was in the context developing leadership behaviors. I subscribe to the same line of thinking. That is to focus on very specific skills as we've been talking about. That allows us then to steer an employee's professional development investment into impactful capacity building needs. And then the other component, I will say too is we enable, while we can enable targeted alerted upskilling initiatives, we Enable self directed learning experiences all day. And this is where I really think we're going to revolutionize learning experiences by delivering personalized learning paths that are really tailored to the individual skills, experience and goals. Again, this will allow us to maximize their engagement, accelerate skill acquisition, align to their professional aspirations. And again, the AI will really help automate that. The connective glue or tissue is understanding their skills, what their profile looks like as well as what their proficiency is. That further shapes what it serves up and suggests the last piece to this. Where I really think, where I see evolution is think about the role of people leaders. We can give them skills, insights. Imagine the power of having skills, intelligence about your teams and where they are. My ability to kind of set goals and targets, right, that allows you to naturally to kind of see the gaps, where are they in this continuum. If we could really bring those tools and capabilities to the frontline leaders, that will go a long way in their ability to truly be a career coach because they have that level of information.
[00:16:48] Speaker C: Wow. Very powerful. And I think with AI tools and with the tools that we have today, we're very close to actually making this a reality. Right. It used to be very hard, I think, to get these kind of both personal insights, precision insights or support managers with insights where their people were going or where they wanted to go. It used to be lots of like, I don't know, legwork and manual stuff, as we both know. And now today I think it's getting easier and easier to actually provide this. So very powerful.
Well, last but not least, tell us a little bit more about what lessons did you learn through all this journey. I mean, you've worked on this for a few years now and I'm sure you learned tons of things. What would you tell our listeners about that?
[00:17:33] Speaker A: Yeah, as I, as I reflect on that, I would say something we say within the walls of Booz Allen Hamilton is never go it alone. Right. And never be afraid to ask for help. I will tell you this. I asked for lots of help and got involved in a lot of conversations. So a couple examples.
When I'm going to conferences, I'm connecting to industry colleagues and talking about their challenges jointly and then we're connecting by phone in between. I've joined several groups that grant me access to listen to others. You heard me talk earlier about as we started our on a badging journey. I knock on the doors of several companies that are down that path. You know, all of the leaders from all those organizations freely offered up their best practices and they were happy to share Right. You know, so for me, paying it, paying it forward as well. Happy to share my experiences with others. So you gotta be in the conversation. So that's super critical. The other is our portfolio of tech partners. I invited them into the conversation two ways. One, I needed to understand their product roadmap, where they're heading. Two, I needed to help shape it. They needed to understand my requirements, some of the challenges we're facing, things that we were thinking about. And I'm starting, I'm seeing the, the outcomes of that where they're starting to create features and capabilities that map to what we truly need. So it is about the conversation and accelerates your learning curve if you would as you can collect that information. And it's listen that the changes are happening so fast and furious. It could really hurt your head when you take it all in. But so don't go it alone. You know, share the knowledge with others and collaborate.
[00:19:14] Speaker C: What powerful learnings. And I think we could apply them to so many different situations beyond that. Right. This is very powerful. So, Jim, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time. I know we had such a great conversation and can't thank you enough.
[00:19:29] Speaker A: It's been my pleasure. Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure.
[00:19:36] Speaker C: Thanks for joining us on this insightful discussion with. With Jim Hemgen, the CLO of Booz Allen Hamilton, we explored the power of career mobility and skills validation in developing employees and supporting organizational priorities. A fantastic example is the company's AI Readiness Program. It addresses organizational and individual needs in a differentiated way, providing targeted learning experiences for employees tailored to their role, their skills and their careers. Your aspirations. These strategies increased employee retention and created a much better employee experience. And they also help prepare the company for the future, enabling every person to become a super worker. Until next time, keep innovating and exploring what works in the new world of work.
