Corus Entertainment’s EVP explains how to use workplace “influencers” to achieve success
What’s the key to finding and holding onto the best people in your business?
Instead of copying other organizations’ successful efforts, know your own company and what it needs, then focus on achieving that, Corus Entertainment’s EVP of people and communications Cheryl Fullerton says.
“It’s about really good rigour on defining what the needs are for the time and business, and trying to figure out in advance what effect you want to see, and when you want to see it, and trying to measure that.”
Over the past 18 months, since Corus acquired Shaw 18 months ago, Fullerton and her team have put that into practice, with a new talent management strategy and initiatives “very much tailored to what this new company needs to be and where we need to go.”
The company is utilizing “natural connectors – people that know a lot of people, they influence a lot of people, they talk to a lot of people” to help other employees make sense of the new company and their role in it.
The program began shortly before the acquisition, and Fullerton and her team “quickly pivoted” to upskill those connectors on change management, communication, and understanding the new business so they could assist with the transition process.
“We developed them and used their new abilities and their recognition of how they could influence others, in order to help us with our change management. It was an extremely great alignment of developing people and achieving business results at the same time.”
Fullerton adds that it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, and HR professionals should be “very surgical” about what their own company needs, then choosing the right solutions, taking their business, industry, time and market forces into account.
“Have a really clear vision of where you want to go. I find with HR professionals, sometimes we have a hard time with that, and some HR teams that I’ve worked with – before you talk about programs and tactics, and off-the-shelf or best practice, we have to improve our ability to recruit, or succession planning.”
She suggests sitting stakeholders down and saying: “let’s go two years, three years, four years, whatever years, into the future, close your eyes and just think about walking around this building, and what will it feel like, what will you see people doing, what kind of conversations will you hear, what kind of things will people be talking about, if there’s a problem, how will it be solved?”
Therein lies the solution, she says, adding that trying to picture what could be different, and what success should look like, “can be a really hard thing to do”.
“Start with the end in mind, figure out what the biggest, marked differences are, and figure out how can you possibly measure that, and then come back and say ‘what program is most likely to affect that measure’.”
Cheryl Fullerton will be speaking at HRD's upcoming HR Leaders Summit in Toronto on November 13th and 14th.
Related stories:
Are you prepared to lead change?
How HR leaders adapt to change
Instead of copying other organizations’ successful efforts, know your own company and what it needs, then focus on achieving that, Corus Entertainment’s EVP of people and communications Cheryl Fullerton says.
“It’s about really good rigour on defining what the needs are for the time and business, and trying to figure out in advance what effect you want to see, and when you want to see it, and trying to measure that.”
Over the past 18 months, since Corus acquired Shaw 18 months ago, Fullerton and her team have put that into practice, with a new talent management strategy and initiatives “very much tailored to what this new company needs to be and where we need to go.”
The company is utilizing “natural connectors – people that know a lot of people, they influence a lot of people, they talk to a lot of people” to help other employees make sense of the new company and their role in it.
The program began shortly before the acquisition, and Fullerton and her team “quickly pivoted” to upskill those connectors on change management, communication, and understanding the new business so they could assist with the transition process.
“We developed them and used their new abilities and their recognition of how they could influence others, in order to help us with our change management. It was an extremely great alignment of developing people and achieving business results at the same time.”
Fullerton adds that it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, and HR professionals should be “very surgical” about what their own company needs, then choosing the right solutions, taking their business, industry, time and market forces into account.
“Have a really clear vision of where you want to go. I find with HR professionals, sometimes we have a hard time with that, and some HR teams that I’ve worked with – before you talk about programs and tactics, and off-the-shelf or best practice, we have to improve our ability to recruit, or succession planning.”
She suggests sitting stakeholders down and saying: “let’s go two years, three years, four years, whatever years, into the future, close your eyes and just think about walking around this building, and what will it feel like, what will you see people doing, what kind of conversations will you hear, what kind of things will people be talking about, if there’s a problem, how will it be solved?”
Therein lies the solution, she says, adding that trying to picture what could be different, and what success should look like, “can be a really hard thing to do”.
“Start with the end in mind, figure out what the biggest, marked differences are, and figure out how can you possibly measure that, and then come back and say ‘what program is most likely to affect that measure’.”
Cheryl Fullerton will be speaking at HRD's upcoming HR Leaders Summit in Toronto on November 13th and 14th.
Related stories:
Are you prepared to lead change?
How HR leaders adapt to change
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