At Gartner, we believe that nurturing new talent is critical to building a strong and innovative future. But how do leaders actually support entry-level employees in practice? And what steps can they take to ensure these new professionals thrive?
In this episode of Inner Workings, seven leaders from across the business share their approaches to fostering the growth and success of entry-level talent.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to "Inner Workings," a "Gartner Careers" podcast. We'll be talking to associates about their secrets to success, their approach to work, and how they've turned challenges into opportunities. I'm your host for this episode, Mike Kaiser, VP of University Recruiting at Gartner, based out of our Fort Myers, Florida office. I've been with Gartner for almost 14 years, and I'm thrilled to be hosting the voices of our leaders as they share their experiences, how they nurture new talent, and why that helps us all succeed. As leaders, we support Gartner's core cultural element of being humble and hungry by creating opportunities for associates to learn, improve, and grow. And those opportunities can look different for different associates. What does it look like to mentor early career talent, and why is it important to make sure this group is getting the support and opportunities they need? In this episode of "Inner Workings," leaders from across the enterprise weigh in. Let's hear more about what they had to say. - Hi, I'm Cassandra Nordland. I'm a VPTM in the marketing communications practice based out of Luxembourg, and I have been with Gartner for the last nine years. One of the ways that I support associates on my team, especially those who are early on in their career, is by asking, actively listening, and documenting, what is their long-term goal? What are their aspirations? Simply put, what do you wanna be when you grow up? Because if I know this, if I can truly understand you and what your motivations are, then I can help you identify the skill sets that you're gonna need to develop in order to be successful. So what is it? Do you wanna write a book? Do you wanna become a famous public speaker? And I don't think any dream is too big. Do you wanna go to the moon? Let's talk about the skills that you're going to need. Your interpersonal skills, your communication skills. Let's think through what it is that you need to do to get better at those things so that you can be successful in the future. When we do this for our early career talent, we as an organization are showing that we are evolving, we are adapting, and we're doing it because our long-term growth depends on it. Hello, my name is Peter Killer, and I'm a regional vice president in Ghana's global exhibitor sales team. I'm based in Eggum in the UK, and I've been with Ghana for nearly 12 years. We want our new highs to start their Ghana careers in the best possible way, which is why we aim to provide them with as much support and mentorship as we can. This is led by our sales directors and brings an input from our sales learning development team and our account executive peer group. New starters are assigned an onboarding buddy for the first few weeks, who would most likely have been through Ghana's onboarding process recently as well. And this is then followed by assigning a more tenured account executive who would typically have been with Ghana for two or more years. For our new starters, they get to learn from experience, successful associates, and for our mentors, it's an opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise, give back, and in many instances, learn or relearn new skills from our newest team members. We found this approach provides a great framework of settling in at Ghana and getting up to speed quickly. For our mentors, it's also a great learning experience, which aids their own development in our business. - Hi, I'm Kathy Rosenthal, MVP of Accounting and Global Payroll, based in Fort Myers, Florida, and I've been with Gartner for 22 years. We provide support to our early career talent and accounting by exposing our associates to various areas of Gartner's business. To learn the different characteristics of the organization, we empower our team members to get involved in stretch projects and new learning opportunities outside of their typical focus area, to expand their knowledge and build connections with team members throughout the Gartner organization. From day one of their onboarding, we encourage our associates to ask questions and stay curious. This provides an opportunity to think about the subject in a new way, spark new ideas, and build trust, which will propel the team to success. (upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Ganesh Ramachandram, VP with the consulting IT organization within RCD, based in Chennai, and I've been with Gartner for three years now. One of the most crucial responsibilities as the leader is to groom young talent in the company. Associates in the early phase of their career bring a whiff of fresh air on the team. When a business grows, the leader cannot run it alone. He or she must grow the people for the business to be profitable. Pushing someone to take on more roles helps them mature quickly and fosters a sense of belonging to the team. It is also important to create that culture of freedom and openness where a young talent can approach senior management for help and guidance. We started off with over 90% of the freshest on the current project team. And over the last two years, more than 50% of them have taken up additional roles and have been promoted to the next level. These associates who came fresh out of the college campus have now got exposure to a high voltage, high impactful and highly visible project within the consulting organization. And they see the positive impact they make on the business. It was only possible because they had the space to grow and hone their skills. - Hi, I'm Georgia Walters. I'm an area vice president in GBS HR, based in Raleigh, North Carolina. I've been with Burtner for 17 years and actually started weeks after college graduation. So early career talent mentoring is near and dear to my heart. Wouldn't be where I am today without those leaders that I followed early on in my DC Chicago CEB days. I encourage everyone on my team to think of our support staff as themselves when they started, hungry for the guidance and direction, always looking for the next step that stretch opportunity to prove themselves. The more time and investment that we can spend with those earlier career staff, the more we're going to enable them to grow and become the tenured experience staff of our future, projecting and embodying what we want them to replicate is critical from an expectation setting perspective. I want to be the leaders that they see themselves in and that they want to be at some point, knowing how to balance their time versus the stressed out ones running around from meeting to meeting. I think molding and creating this talent arm is a critical part of our future success. - Hi, I'm Peter Isaac and as Air Vice President for APEC in India. At Ghana Digital Markets, I'm based here in sunny Barcelona. I've been with Ghana for around five and a half years. My main support is usually around the mentorship to make sure people can follow the motto of seeking discomfort. Only if you actively and also consistently expose yourself to uncomfortable situations you grow. So no matter your position or your tenure, this more to make sure you develop your skill sets, know how and sets you up for success. And I'm also always available for these development focus areas and I celebrate reps and leaders which live and breathe our humble and hungry culture. As a leader, I also personally make sure I live and breathe, this seeking discomfort mindset on a daily basis and I am not afraid of exposing myself to my own gaps. I've also learned throughout my career at Ghana that if you grow personally and you expose yourself to uncomfortable situations, other people around you continue to invest into your development as well and you can grow together. - As my team works to recruit the most promising young talent into Gartner, listening to these leaders really shows how our culture can transform that talent into the incredible professional associates we have at Gartner today. Personally, I find developing early career talent valuable because they will be our future leaders at Gartner and they bring new perspectives and skill sets for solving challenges too. Thank you for tuning in. You can learn more about life at Gartner by following us on our social accounts, reading our careers blog and checking out our latest career opportunities online. Don't forget to subscribe to our channel to hear future episodes. See you next time on Inner Workings. - All content in Gartner's inner workings is owned by Gartner and cannot be repurposed or reproduced without Gartner's consent. This podcast is a forum providing Gartner employees the opportunity to express their personal views on topics related to their careers. All content, thoughts and opinions are expressly the views of the speakers and not necessarily of Gartner. (gentle music) (gentle music)
