Session Focus: GE Digital case study upskilling HR to make progress with a capability-based talent strategy.
In this insightful session, Megan Bickle, former leader of culture, engagement, and employee listening at companies like Western Digital, Dropbox, and GE Digital, shared GE Digital's pioneering journey to build an integrated capabilities framework from 2013-2017.
The key takeaways were:
1) Build a capability/skills framework aligned to your talent processes like hiring, promotions, learning etc. to enable consistency and data-driven decisions.
2) Get buy-in and involvement from influential leaders and subject matter experts - don't make it just an HR initiative. Constantly sell the value.
3) Integrate the framework into your culture and employee/manager conversations. Provide a shared skills language.
As Megan stated: "It was really through that lens of how are we growing Talent, how is Talent, what are the capabilities that people are taking with them when they leave new talent that we're bringing in, are they a good fit for their role and how do we grow them"
GE Digital's pioneering work predated much of the modern skills cloud technology. Despite being very labor-intensive upfront, their integrated approach transformed how they hired, developed, promoted, and planned talent needs. It enabled better coaching through a shared language around capabilities.
However, new leadership's lack of buy-in led to its dismantling by 2021 as GE split into three companies. This case study highlights the potential impact but also the challenges of undertaking an integrated capabilities approach in today's skills-based landscape.
