Best of Series - Developing Future Leaders: Building Elite Teams by Investing in Your People

CheeTung Leong: [: 00:00:00

We're going to talk about can HR be the good guys? How do we drive shared responsibility and connect people to the organization and align your elite teams? So with us in the studio to discuss this question today is Kediatou Cezaire, and Kedi is the Vice President of Global Human Resources and Talent Development at the Atlantic Council.

It's a great privilege to have you on the show with us today. Thanks for joining us, Kedi.

Kadiatou Cesaire: I'm really excited to be here, CT. I'm really excited to have this conversation. Anything subjects mattered around the people and organizational development is really always an exciting conversation for me.

CheeTung Leong: For those of us who don't know, what is it that the Atlantic Council does?

n that. Galvanizes the U. S. [: 00:01:00

So in partnership with our allies and partners, we're here to shape solutions to global challenges. And, as we know, there are many global challenges facing us today and beyond. Largely, we're here to just shape policy that will support who we're trying to be as U. S. allies and global allies across the world.

CheeTung Leong: That's such an important mission. And from my understanding, this is extremely people driven because you need good people, good negotiators who can deal with diplomats on all sides, who can do back channel communication. So you have, you really have to be at the top of your game to, to support the interest of the global and American communities

e here to inform and promote [: 00:02:00

CheeTung Leong: Yeah, that's super cool. So when we think about the organization itself the internal workings of the organizations, all organizations are made of people. And people do amazing things, but they can also do crazy stuff in any organization. So how do you go about fostering that level of alignment and shared accountability, shared responsibility between leaders who obviously are closest to the vision and the mission for what the organization does?

And employees teams within the organization and HR who kind of brokers that communication between everyone.

Kadiatou Cesaire: Very important to understand foundationally is that at the core of the success of any organization. What's most important is how we treat our people.

that there is a value system [: 00:03:00

And when it comes down to bridging the gap and creating a sense of community, as HR professionals, that's where our subject matter expertise comes into play, because we're here to help the organization grow in a substantive way by aligning those values from those individual contributors to the values of the organization that we're supporting.

in its growth to their next [: 00:04:00

CheeTung Leong: In your particular context, you're almost like a diplomat amongst diplomats. You have to have that, your communication game has to be even more extreme to be able to get your agendas through and to help everyone stay on the same page. What were some of the mechanisms that you use on a day to day basis to be able to do that?

Kadiatou Cesaire: Yeah, and you just raised a good point. It's so important that we hone in on our ability to listen and to hear the concerns of the organization and to hear the concerns of the people of the organization, while also equally still balancing out our understanding of the expectations of senior leadership so in my role, particularly, it's always important that I'm in alignment with.

ment as it currently stands, [: 00:05:00

So that way, the goals that we're trying to achieve organizationally, we understand the pathway that we need to create in order to get there based off of where our people are on that trajectory, so from grassroots essentially, what's most important is that Thank you. We listen and we listen to understand the nature of what the concerns, the challenges and the benchmarks are, and then create a pathway of solutions that the executive team, the executive office, the board can be bought into as well.

are our partners in driving [: 00:06:00

CheeTung Leong: So give us a sense of the scope of the challenge here. And how do you go about engaging and listening? To each of them.

Kadiatou Cesaire: Yeah, so working at the Atlantic Council, it gives me a different perspective as it relates to talent and to people.

Our workforce is globally based. So we have employees that are across the US domestically, and then also in other areas of the world. And even beyond that, our leaders, our managers, our. Day to day programmers, they travel all the time for conferences, whether that be our and 7 conference cop.

y, we have a little bit over [: 00:07:00

Over 300 contractors consultants that that is comprised of our people strategies. So in balancing all of those different forums of people, it's so important that there be a connecting message in terms of what we're here to drive and what we're here to do. And because we have a global global people strategy, we're able to do some really great things that always aligns to what our organizational goal is. Largely speaking, CT, I think. What's really important is that what we've been able to do so far is to understand our workforce, the generational differences, which is huge. And recognizing that the workforce has largely shifted since Cove it.

agile. We've had to be very [: 00:08:00

Our culture that we're still trying to maintain from the old and the culture that we're trying to build and create for the future.

CheeTung Leong: What has been the biggest challenge in doing that with all of these changes and having to maintain agility and resilience? What have you found to be the biggest challenge and how have you guys tackled it?

Kadiatou Cesaire: Yeah, I think the biggest challenge, especially over these past 3 years has been managing the change the change management component of things recognizing that some people are more adaptable to change than others within an organization. You have to really have a pulse on who are your influencers.

ying to trying to have as an [: 00:09:00

As people of our organization. So it's so important to get the buy in of staff of employees. And how we do that is by 1. Listening and understanding what their concerns are, what challenges we might face in terms of change management and adopting a strategy. That will help us overcome and mitigate those challenges and those risks and then, recognizing that this is going to be an iterative process, meaning we may not get it right the 1st time, but what we will come from or what we will understand coming from the 1st time is what are the pitfalls?

ity for us to be successful. [: 00:10:00

But what's most important is that. In order to successfully create change within an organization, you have to have a strategy. You have to have buy in from key leaders, key organizational drivers, and you have to check in consistently to see how that change is taking form to make sure that we're hitting the targets that the entire process was designed to hit.

CheeTung Leong: At the center of everything that you're describing, it sounds like there's a lot of that active listening component, which you mentioned earlier, where you need to take in where all the different stakeholders are coming from and processing that and synthesizing that and matching that with what the people need and want to be able to execute on the mission.

How do you practice this? Yeah. Active listening and problem solving better to be good mediators within the organization

Kadiatou Cesaire: That is an amazing question. And it couldn't have been more timely.

[: 00:11:00

Successful practitioners within the organization, and the best way you do that is through training through proper feedback channels and through consistency and accountability are probably. In my mind, heavier keys to success in this aspect than anything else, even past the training.

And in order for training in [: 00:12:00

And a part of that training that we've completed this year leads us into where we're actively at right now, which is our year end review process, our annual review process. And in addition to us, administering this process, what we're also additionally providing is more training to help leaders understand how to navigate these types of conversations during this period.

And CTA, I'm sure you largely know this as most HR practice. Practitioners do as well. Annual reviews, media reviews are probably the hardest time for leaders and managers because it's during that period where managers and leaders oftentimes have to give the most constructive.

[: 00:13:00

forward advancement around successes and also areas of opportunities tied to weaknesses and challenges specific to the individual. And so creating space and supplying training and supplying a systematic approach to accountability is so important for an organization. To have in place those structures in order for there to be a culture of learning, a culture of understanding and a culture of connecting the organizational strategy to the people strategy.

ce here is active, listening [: 00:14:00

Then we'll become a better organization where it's. There's no negative connotation tied to conflict, no negative connotation tied to challenges tied to critical feedback. There's always room for growth. As organizations grow, our people grow too, and we need to create space where we're comfortable having a conversation around growth and what does that mean for the individual within the organization.

nd you're preparing them for [: 00:15:00

Because I can imagine this is a lot of investment in your people.

Kadiatou Cesaire: You just said it it's us investing in our people taking an intentional approach to investing in our people. A lot of times we have the tendency to promote from within, which is great, but we don't oftentimes.

Take the time needed in order to prepare individuals to step into positions of management. And so within our organization, what we've identified is the fact that we have leaders across the board, whether they're at the management level or not. We have project program assistants, assistant directors, associate directors who are managing

fforts. And we start that by [: 00:16:00

Leadership look like? What does successful management look like? And here's how we approach it organizationally. So we used to only offer management training for our most senior leaders. But again, once we recognized that we have people leading teams, projects. Interns are young global professionals. Once we recognize that leadership doesn't just start at the top that it's developed throughout the organization.

We recognize the importance of additionally providing management training to those individuals as well. So now we offer management training for individuals starting at the associate director level, deputy director level, our initiative director level, senior directors, VPs and above.

CheeTung Leong: Oh, that's incredible.

And at the time that they're offered this training, they are not yet people managers, correct?

ld love to say that we catch [: 00:17:00

Positions to manage other individuals even beyond HR's awareness sometimes. And so what we try to do is ingrain in our managers and in our leaders the importance of once they've identified that one of their individual contributors will now be overseeing a project, which will include the managing additional individuals.

At that point, they connect with hr and then we determine the type of training that is needed in order to equip that individual to carry out and be successful in the duties that they're taking on, tied to their overseeing or management of other individuals, including portfolios as well, and external external partnerships too.

CheeTung Leong: And what are these foundational skills that associate directors, uh, get trained on at that very early level?

Kadiatou Cesaire: Yeah, [: 00:18:00

Inclusive of different perspectives. So unconscious bias training again complex management training management training across the board. Managing leaders and managing up and managing down as well and also partnership. How do you manage from a place of partnership and collaboration? These are the different types of trainings that we provide internally, but also to even beyond that, we recognize we have 16 programs and centers.

ery leader and every manager [: 00:19:00

We start to do now, and I'll talk a little bit about this later, but we've started to take a more tailored approach tied to individual development plans, meaning what types of skills attributes, what types of capabilities are needed for this person to be successful in their role and based off of what's understood between their manager and that individual.

We then tailor A performance plan, we then tailor a development plan and performance plan that allows them space. An opportunity to really hone in on those types of skills that they need to have developed and we stretch them. We provide them with opportunities to demonstrate the adaption of those skills that they're learning and we're preparing them.

as a startup which having an [: 00:20:00

And let's take an intentional approach by. Taking a look at our high performers, our high potential individuals internally and figure out how do we stretch their capabilities? How do we put them in positions that hones in on on their strengths and their high capabilities and the areas that they have proven and demonstrated to be really successful as an individual and has also helped shaped our wins organizationally too.

back loop with your specific [: 00:21:00

And in doing that, we are then setting ourselves up to decrease our turnover, increase our retention increase employee satisfaction across the organization, and ultimately succeed in our strategic goals as an organization, so it's a win for all parties involved, but we have to take a systemic approach to how we're how we're doing things and how we are really looking at our people and our internal talent.

CheeTung Leong: That's awesome. How do you go about being that mediator between building up management, working with them and translating what they have, and at the same time helping to be that voice of the people to management? What is your secret sauce for being able to maintain trust on all sides?

nt to me and what I think is [: 00:22:00

All have trust in you and they all believe in your capability to help them navigate their work world. From a executive standpoint from a CEO standpoint, it's very important that the HR leader is connected to the mission of the organization and is in lockstep with the CEO's vision as well.

e people of the organization [: 00:23:00

And I recognize that my approach may not work for everyone. I've grown with my organization. So with that growth, I've been able to connect largely with. A large percentage of of the Atlantic Council on a 1 on 1 basis. So I know by 1st name, by, by personal ability I have a real good connection with the majority of staff.

And so relationship building is. So important because what that does is it creates the trust in an organic way. You can't buy it and you can't expect it to just come. You have to work for it and in working for it, what's important is that you create space for there to be connection. And when I say creating space for there to be connection, that means monthly check ins with different teams.

ng, asking them what issues, [: 00:24:00

And what I mean by that is we've had to show our people. That we're concerned and that we care about them. So now we're at a point where the EQ, the emotional intelligence piece tied to human resource management is the most critical component of our success in our role more so than it ever has been and how we tap into EQ and being more of an empathetic leader is by.

challenges and the goals to [: 00:25:00

So we have a good pulse and a good read of the challenges that are there. And then. By our ability to get the real time feedback by the people of the organization were then able to communicate in a very diplomatic way, meaning we're not sharing with our leaders, the names of individuals that are sharing concerns.

strategy and how you want to [: 00:26:00

Or let's forecast your recruitment strategy for 2024. I recognize that you received a large funding opportunity, which is going to call for you to have to hire three to five more individuals. Let's talk through how to scale that out. So that way as we're bringing people on board, we are setting them up for success and we're scaling out the responsibilities and, deliverables tied to those.

specific projects. So again, connecting with the leaders and ensuring that as you're messaging to the leaders, what's needed from a people standpoint, you're also equally reinforcing the culture of the organization and how we're approaching the different challenges that are there. That way we're not losing culture, but we're reinforcing the culture of our organization. And we're not losing people, but we're reinforcing what we're hearing from the people of the organization to ensure that there's synergy again, created across the board.

e coming close to the end of [: 00:27:00

We've talked a lot about building up managers. People leaders, even before they are in the jobs of being that proactive. people developer. And then now we're talking, we've just covered what it takes to reinforce culture, what it takes to create space for different points of view and different needs in the organization.

This is all great stuff, Katie. It, if people want to find you to talk a little bit more about some of these issues, what's the best way for them to do

ing to navigate how to shape [: 00:28:00

That is taken into account. Our people and is also driving forward the mission of our organization. If ever there's a desire to connect LinkedIn would be the best place to find me.

CheeTung Leong: That's wonderful. Thank you so much for being a guest on the show today, Kadi and all of you who are listening.

Thanks so much for listening. I hope you found this useful and head on over to www engage rocket.co/hr impact. to check out this episode and other resources for our HR Impact community. And do feel free to join that community for more insight. It's been wonderful speaking with you today. My name has been CT and thanks so much for listening.