On the Path to Career Excellence
When Aspire began reorganizing its structure last year and focusing on alignment, it was the perfect opportunity to look at gaps within the organization.
“When we were doing a needs assessment, one of the things we noticed with the new generations coming into the workforce was that the life cycle of an employee is now only about two years,” says Aspire Senior Director of Staff Training and Excellence Dr. Sarah Dross-Gonzalez.
Dr. Dross-Gonzalez highlights research from Aspire Chief Culture and Health Equity Officer Dr. Gina Forrest, whose work on the generational differences in the workforce shows the workforce in 2030 will largely consist of Millennials and Generation Z — generations more focused on working with an employer, not for, and whether or not their needs are being met.
“The newer generations in the workforce are education hungry,” Dr. Dross-Gonzalez says. “They also want to know what they can get from their employer — and that’s not always money. It’s often more about personal growth and development.”
Extending the Employee Life Cycle
“We wanted to extend the life cycle of our employees here at Aspire, so we decided on a two-fold approach to focus on both career pathing as well as leadership development,” Dr. Dross-Gonzalez says.
The creation of Team Career Excellence reflects a dedication to strengthening our leaders and engaging new Aspire employees sooner in order for them to continue to journey forward with the organization.
Jade Williams is Aspire’s new career pathing specialist. A Purdue graduate in organizational leadership and supervision, Jade joins Aspire from Girls Inc., a nonprofit organization known for being the longest-running girls’ leadership program since 1864.
Her role at Aspire involves the development and implementation of comprehensive career pathing strategies that can enhance growth and retention. She also researches initiatives in the career pathing industry to find out what other companies are doing and how Aspire can take it to the next level.
“We want all Aspire team members to know that if they are happy with their current role, there are still ways to grow and develop within that role and within the company,” she says. “And if you aren’t happy with your role, we want to discuss what else you might like to do and take the necessary steps to do that while still keeping you engaged at Aspire. There are so many different departments and things to do within this organization.”
Developing Leaders
A review of Aspire’s previous Success Through Synergy group revealed what leaders at Aspire felt they were lacking — the tools to be able to learn, grow and better serve their staff.
“Our needs assessment identified that our leaders might be moving up, but they don’t necessarily have the tools to effectively perform the roles we’re giving them,” Dr. Dross-Gonzalez says.
So enters Qiana Robinson, Aspire’s new leadership development specialist. With her bachelor’s degree in business from Indiana University, her master’s degree in business administration from Indiana Wesleyan University and an Associate Professional in Talent Development (APTD) certification, Robinson has served more than 20 years in the workplace learning and talent development industry.
“I’m passionate about helping people grow and learn in their roles,” she says. “My job at Aspire is to design, implement and evaluate a leadership development program that will enhance the capabilities of our current and future leaders.”
Robinson has been looking at the competencies in leadership and figuring out what types of skills we want our leaders at Aspire to have.
“We’ve completed the framework identifying those skills, and now we’re building them into some modules to start the program.”
Team Career Excellence is focused on both the quantity and quality of each employee’s time at Aspire.
“We want to increase the time we keep people,” Dr. Dross-Gonzalez says. “And we want to increase the quality of their experience.”
