Unique perspectives sharpen our thinking
Improving Health, Improving Lives
Improving Health, Improving Lives
Our “Meet Me in 5” series covers 5 people, topics or questions to illustrate how our business nurtures exceptional people, provides an energizing purpose and enables extraordinary potential in its employees’ careers.
In this article, two leaders from our Global Talent Management group shared their thoughts on our commitment to learning, the learning resources available to employees, and how to take advantage of opportunities to grow and develop – at every stage in your career.
It can be exciting to receive an offer letter, start a new position and apply your experience and job skills to your everyday work. But how can you ensure that you excel in your role and continue to grow personally and professionally? The Global Talent Management group was formed for that very purpose.
“People need to grow beyond their current job skills,” said Christine, Director, Global Talent Management at Labcorp. “Our team helps make those essential investments in professional development, enabling employees to feel more energized in their work and reach their full potential.”
As part of a leading global life sciences company that provides comprehensive clinical laboratory and end-to-end drug development services, it required careful planning to create a training program that benefits employees across the enterprise.
“We’re known as a dynamic organization with a lot of different career pathways. There are many opportunities to move across our businesses,” explained Kim, Associate Director of Global Talent Management at Labcorp. “We need to make sure people can develop skills that might not be in their current remit by looking ahead to their future.”
How should someone approach their personal career growth and take advantage of the cross-functional job opportunities? Christine and Kim suggest the “70/20/10 model” as an informal benchmark.
“You could say that about 70% of your growth comes from real-life experience in your job while 20% comes from mentoring, coaching or feedback,” said Christine. “The remaining 10% can represent more formal training through a workshop, development class, online training or even setting aside time to stretch your knowledge by reading a book.”
Global Talent Management programs in many companies address the 20/10 portion of these efforts. For example, orchestrating formal and informal mentoring, on-demand e-learning courses and virtual workshops.
“We’re also getting creative in our solutions by exploring micro-learning sessions where people can access training in smaller, self-paced units. It’s a creative way to take advantage of expanding your skills while balancing your available time for development,” said Kim.
Beyond personal growth, training also helps promote retention efforts by helping employees find their next big career move within the company.
“Here, you have the opportunity to expand into so many different areas and, if you want, you can change your career while remaining with the company,” said Kim. “If you decide to go into a technical area or decide you’d like to help drive long-term strategy, we have the resources available to help you achieve your goals. This range of opportunities is often the reason people who may have left the organization at some point in their career decide to rejoin the team.”
While the Global Talent Management team continues to expand its training opportunities and explore new ways to empower employees across all levels in their careers, the team stresses the importance of the two-way relationship in career development.
“Growing your career is a shared responsibility,” said Christine. “It is really important that each of us own our career path and development. The Global Talent Management team is committed to guiding you on your journey and providing tools that can help you develop in the areas where you have passion and interest.”
“There is plenty of support to help you achieve,” added Kim. “We encourage people to engage with their manager and HR partners. You can reflect on what is important to you and they can help you determine what makes sense for your development plan. By identifying what exposure you need to close any development gaps, your plan becomes a partnership to help create those experiences and focus on opportunities that will help you reach your aspirations.”
Learn more about our culture and career growth opportunities at Labcorp by visiting https://careers.labcorp.com/global/en/