Mid-level managers are sandwiched between pressure from business leaders to retain employees and rising employee expectations for personalized support and communication. In this Talent Angle episode, former Kimberly-Clark CHRO and member of Gartner’s CHRO Global Leadership Board Liz Gottung encourages organizations to rethink their expectations for mid-level managers or risk losing these critical managers to burnout and fatigue. She suggests organizations use technology and rethink role design to free manager capacity for more high-impact work.   After a 35-year career with Kimberly-Clark, Lizanne (Liz) Gottung retired as senior vice president and chief HR officer in 2017. At the time, Kimberly-Clark was a $20 billion global company with nearly 45,000 employees in more than 63 countries. Under her leadership, Kimberly-Clark’s talent strategies were widely recognized for excellence and innovation in HR management, winning multiple global awards for diversity, equity and inclusion; succession and development practices; and Kimberly-Clark’s employer brand. Liz has been a member of the board of directors of the Louisiana Pacific Corporation since 2006 and is chair of the governance and corporate responsibility committee. She joined the board of Sylvamo Corporation in 2021 and chairs the management development and compensation committee. Liz works with a number of non-profit organizations in the Atlanta area, where she lives. She is also a member of Gartner’s CHRO Global Leadership Board.   Peter Aykens is Chief of Research in Gartner's Human Resources practice. Mr. Aykens is responsible for defining research coverage within the practice and building and leading research teams addressing client's key initiatives. In prior roles at the firm, he spent over 25 years leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channel, marketing, customer experience and product issues in financial services. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from St. Olaf College; a MSc.(Econ) degree in International Politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; and a MA and Ph.D. in Political Science from Brown University.

Conflict management is an increasingly essential skill for individuals in leadership positions. However, it is a topic that often makes people — especially leaders and managers — feel uneasy. As leaders are responsible for handling conflicts between their employees, teams, and peers, it is crucial for them to have effective strategies for conflict management. Amy Gallo, the author of “Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People)," joins the Talent Angle podcast to provide valuable insights and strategies on how to effectively manage conflicts and transform them into productive dialogues within your organization.

Amy Gallo is a workplace expert who writes and speaks about gender, interpersonal dynamics, and difficult conversations. She’s the best-selling author of “Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People)” and the “HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict,” as well as hundreds of articles for Harvard Business Review. For the past five years, Amy has co-hosted HBR’s popular Women at Work podcast, which examines the struggles and successes of women in the workplace. Her advice has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, BBC, and NPR.

Caroline Walsh is a managing vice president in Gartner’s HR practice. Her teams help HR leaders build and execute talent, diversity, rewards, and learning strategies and programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.

 

HR leaders are still experimenting with ways to support collaboration, connectivity and performance in response to a transforming global work environment. Martha Delehanty, Chief People Officer at Commvault, joins the Talent Angle and shares insights on how to equip employees for ongoing success to help leaders sustain high performance across the organization. She identifies the opportunities and challenges brought on by shifts in the nature of knowledge work. Martha explains how one-size-fits-all approaches can fail to unlock true capacity expansion and discusses habits HR leaders can adopt to declutter work at their organization.

Martha Delehanty is the Chief People Officer of Commvault. Martha uses her decades of human resources experience at Verizon Operations and Verizon Wireless to guide and coach Commvault team members to build fantastic, life-changing careers — all while helping ensure that Commvault is a naturally relevant contributor to customers’ value chain. Martha earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Mount Holyoke College and master’s degree in business from the University of Texas.

Peter Aykens is the chief of research for Gartner’s HR practice. He is responsible for building and leading research teams within the practice to address clients’ key initiatives. Before his current role, he spent over 25 years at Gartner leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf College; a master’s degree in international politics from Aberystwyth University (formerly known as the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth); and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

From the emergence of GenerativeAI to widespread adoption of hybrid work, HR leaders are increasingly called upon to lead their organizations through uncertainty. Authors Nathan Furr and Susannah Harmon Furr join the Talent Angle to explain why uncertainty should be associated with opportunity, not anxiety. They detail how organizations can navigate uncertainty to drive transformation and innovation, and offer tools to help HR leaders develop the “uncertainty ability” in leaders and managers.

Nathan Furr is a Professor of Strategy at INSEAD, where he teaches innovation and technology strategy. Nathan earned his PhD from the Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford University and has written five books and over seventy articles on innovation, technology, and transformation.

Susannah Harmon Furr is a designer and art historian and founded a women's clothing line inspired by her research. She is currently creating a hope accelerator in Normandy, France to teach regenerative ecosystems and transformation for individuals and families. Nathan and Susannah are coauthors of The Upside of Uncertainty (HBR Press July 2022).

Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives’ most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.

Organizations today are grappling with how to manage the merging of peoples’ work and personal lives. With many organizational processes and structures not fully accounting for the human impact they have on their employees’ lives, organizations are now looking for a better approach to the way we work. Peter Aykens and Sari Wilde, two leaders of the Gartner HR practice, offer a new, human-centric, approach that they argue will foster creativity and engagement among employees, ultimately delivering the best results for their organization.

Peter Aykens is the chief of research for Gartner’s HR practice. Peter is responsible for building and leading research teams within the practice to address clients’ key initiatives. Before his current role, he spent over 25 years at Gartner leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf College, a master’s degree in international politics from Aberystwyth University (formerly known as the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth) and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

Sari J Wilde oversees peer and practitioner research in the HR practice. She holds a bachelor's degree from Barnard College, Columbia University and a master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology from New York University.

Caroline Walsh is a managing vice president in Gartner’s HR practice. Her teams help HR leaders build and execute talent, diversity, rewards, and learning strategies and programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.

The mandate for and position of HR have evolved since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and these trends are only accelerated by continually shifting employee expectations. Lynanne Kunkel, chief HR officer (CHRO) of Vail Resorts and member of Gartner’s CHRO Global Leadership Board, shares her vision for how the HR function can strive for excellence while facing ongoing pressures in this new environment. She urges HR functions to develop capabilities like change leadership and human-centered experience design. She also discusses how HR can engage with other business leaders to become more integrated and aligned to strategic business outcomes.

Lynanne Kunkel is the CHRO for Vail Resorts. Prior to joining Vail Resorts in 2017, Lynanne served in various executive positions for Whirlpool, most recently as senior vice president of global HR. Throughout her career, she has led all aspects of HR to deliver enhanced business performance in areas that include business HR, talent acquisition, talent management, leadership development, organizational effectiveness, diversity and inclusion, and talent analytics.

Peter Aykens is the chief of research for Gartner’s HR practice. He is responsible for building and leading research teams within the practice to address clients’ key initiatives. Before his current role, he spent over 25 years at Gartner leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf College; a master’s degree in international politics from Aberystwyth University (formerly known as the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth); and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

There are three key changes impacting today’s labor market – a changing workforce composition, evolving attitudes towards work, and new tools and technologies to empower employees and candidates. HR leaders must understand the implications of these changes as they set talent strategies and build out capabilities for their organizations. Gad Levanon, Chief Economist of the Burning Glass Institute, joins the Talent Angle to discuss evolving dynamics in the labor market and offer practical recommendations to HR leaders. He explains how organizations must pull a variety of levers, from technology to rewards and learning programs, at the same time to gain an edge in the talent market.

Gad Levanon is Chief Economist of The Burning Glass Institute. Previously, Gad was with The Conference Board where he was founder of the Labor Market Institute and led the Help Wanted OnLine© program. His research focuses on trends in US and global labor markets, the US economy, and their impact on employers. Prior to The Conference Board, he worked at the Israeli Central Bank. He received his PhD in economics from Princeton University and holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from Tel Aviv University.

Dion Love is a vice president of research and advisory services at Gartner. He’s a labor market expert, focusing on global labor market trends and what they mean for organizations’ talent and business strategies, as well as broader social and economic issues. In his work at Gartner, Dion advises clients on key aspects of talent acquisition, including talent acquisition function planning and management, talent needs definition and internal recruiting, employment branding and recruitment marketing, and talent sourcing and selection. He has co-authored more than 12 strategic research studies at Gartner. His work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review and industry publications, as well as Gartner HR Leaders Monthly and Smarter With Gartner.

The proliferation of remote and hybrid work has forced managers and HR leaders to rethink how they keep tabs on workforce productivity. Meanwhile, emerging technologies like Generative AI have raised expectations for what future productivity can look like. While productivity has always been elusive to define and measure in the context of knowledge work, today’s environment has further challenged organizations to develop new strategies. Paulo Pisano, Booking Holdings CHRO, joins the Talent Angle to offer his perspective on HR’s role in boosting productivity. Touching on the linearity of work and the relationship between stress and performance, he shares actionable guidance for HR leaders looking to harness the full potential of their workforce.

As Chief HR Officer for Booking Holdings, Paulo is leading the company’s efforts to develop an integrated long-term strategy in the People, Organization and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion spaces. Paulo and team are committed to fostering a workplace environment where every employee can do their best work. Paulo joined in 2020 as Chief People Officer for Booking.com and was previously Chief People Officer at Galp. In the last several years, he has been actively engaged in the fields of learning and education through board and advisory roles in organizations such as Singularity University, Teach for All and Stir Education.

Peter Aykens is the chief of research for Gartner’s HR practice. Aykens is responsible for building and leading research teams within the practice to address clients’ key initiatives. Before his current role, he spent over 25 years at Gartner leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf College, a master’s degree in international politics from Aberystwyth University (formerly known as the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth), and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

The rapid proliferation of HR technology has presented exciting opportunities while forcing HR leaders to make some difficult choices. Marcia Morales-Jaffe offers a path forward and shares insights from her experience as the former chief people officer of PayPal and World Fuel Services. Morales-Jaffe outlines how HR leaders can make the most of their technology investment and discusses the role that manager development, culture and change management play in the success of HR technology.   Marcia Morales-Jaffe is a retired chief HR officer (CHRO) and emeritus member of the Gartner CHRO Global Leadership Board. She currently serves as senior advisor at McKinsey & Company’s People & Organizational Performance Practice. Until 2017, Marcia was SVP, chief people officer at PayPal, where she played an integral role in shaping culture and advancing its transformational business vision and social mission.   Peter Aykens is chief of research in Gartner’s HR practice. He is responsible for defining research coverage within the practice and building and leading research teams addressing client’s key initiatives. In prior roles at the firm, he spent over 25 years leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channel, marketing, customer experience and product issues in financial services. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from St. Olaf College; an MSc.(Econ) degree in international politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; and a Master of Arts and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

According to the 2020 Gartner Well-Being Benchmarking Survey, 70% of companies have introduced new well-being benefits or increased the amount of existing well-being benefits in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To sustain momentum in developing a healthy workforce, organizations must continue to create an environment where employees value well-being. Dr. Richard Safeer, author of “A Cure for the Common Company,” joins the Talent Angle to make the case that organizations should go beyond well-being programs to create a culture of well-being. He offers practical guidance to help HR leaders establish the norms and environment that supports workforce health.

Dr. Richard Safeer, MD, currently serves as the Chief Medical Director of Employee Health and Well-Being for Johns Hopkins Medicine, where he leads the Healthy at Hopkins employee health and well-being strategy. Richard released “A Cure for the Common Company: A Well-Being Prescription for a Happier, Healthier, and More Resilient Workforce” in January 2023 with publisher Wiley. Previously, he was the medical director of preventive medicine for CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in Baltimore, Maryland.

Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities for addressing HR executives’ most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.