TRACK SPEAKERS

Elevating the Employee Experience: Nurturing a Thriving Workforce

Mike Brennan, Partner, Mercer; Co-Founder, Leapgen

The evolution of HR Technology and Employee Experience signifies a broader shift to people-centered workforce solutions. Organizations understand that their ability to thrive depends on their ability to support and nurture a thriving workforce.

A purposefully designed employee experience considers people and business outcomes, enabling the delivery of empathy and economics at scale. This not only boosts efficiency and productivity, making it easier for employees to perform but also demonstrates care and empathy during critical moments that deeply matter to individuals.

Well done, the employee experience transforms the mere design of processes into the delivery of meaningful journeys. While processes generate data, journeys generate feelings. They allow people to truly experience the significance of a moment. Imagine the impact of this difference when delivering recognition, celebration, engagement, and feedback, or any other significant milestone in an employee's lifecycle.

Join us in this thought-provoking session to gain insights into the challenges of delivering holistic, seamless, and frictionless employee journeys within a often siloed People function.

Mike Brennan

Partner, Mercer; Co-Founder, Leapgen

Mike is a Partner at Mercer. He leads the US services organization at Mercer Leapgen, a firm he co-founded 7 years ago before it was acquired by Mercer for its digital HR capabilities.

Mike has nearly 20 years of enterprise consulting experience a strong track record for partnering with customers and building high-growth teams. He spent over a decade at Appirio, most recently as a Partner. While there, he also started and ran 2 systems implementation practices – one in the SAP ecosystem and the other in the Cornerstone ecosystem. He also spent time as an Industry Analyst with IDC, a global market intelligence firm where he consulted with solutions providers and advised bankers conducting due diligence in the HR solutions market.

Mike studied at Boston University where he obtained both a Bachelor’s of Science and an MBA.

Understanding and Mitigating Bias to Enhance Inclusion

Binnu Palta Hill, Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, Wisconsin School of Business

To understand how to achieve inclusion, we must first examine how human beings behave and interact with differences. We often make choices or decisions without even thinking about them because they are driven by our gut reactions. In this session, Binnu Palta Hill, Wisconsin School of Business's Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, will discuss the origins of implicit bias and its role in our everyday lives. Using neuroscience and psychology research, we will engage in a process of self-awareness about how unconscious bias affects us, others around us, and our ability to do our best work. Finally, we will learn strategies to mitigate the unwanted effects of implicit bias and cultivate an inclusive community.

After this session, you will better understand:

• First impressions and their impact on interactions and inclusion
• Inclusion as a dynamic process and skill
• Inclusive behaviors and strategies to make sound decisions

Binnu Palta Hill

Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, Wisconsin School of Business

Binnu Palta Hill is the Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at the Wisconsin School of Business (WSB). Prior to joining WSB in 2006, she spent over ten years in the UW System teaching, consulting, and designing programming that enhances inclusion by leveraging strategic leadership and organizational cultural dexterity. Her expertise includes developing effective communication skills within organizations via a shared vocabulary on conflict resolution, thus enhancing innovation and performance. A distinguishing factor in her approach is the combination of academic research and lived experience to dissect core issues related to identity differences. This approach is apparent in the Diversity Lunch and Learn Series she founded in 2010. Binnu also teaches inclusive leadership in the Wisconsin Evening and Executive MBA Programs.

In May 2015, Binnu represented WSB at the White House as Wisconsin became one of the first business schools to commit to best practices for increasing opportunities in business for women and preparing a culturally competent 21st-century workforce. In recognition of her contributions to UW-Madison and the Madison community, she was awarded the UW-Madison Outstanding Woman of Color award in spring 2017, and the 2018 Wisconsin Alumni Association Leadership Award.

Rethinking Performance Management to Create a Connected Experience At Work

Amy Leschke-Kahle, Vice President of Performance Acceleration, The Marcus Buckingham Company

The world of work has changed and is moving faster than ever. And yet our performance management processes, programs, and approaches aren’t designed to support the uncertain world of work nor keep up with the lightning speed of change. Completely redesigning how our companies do performance management is easier than you might think. So where do you start? In this session, you’ll be presented with compelling, data informed actions to help take your performance management approach from dreaded to loved.

Key topics covered will be:

• Simplify performance management and downstream talent processes.
• Measure the critical few employee performance factors resulting in more real-time, more reliable insights.
• The secret sauce to accelerating employee performance.

Amy Leschke-Kahle

Vice President of Performance Acceleration, The Marcus Buckingham Company

A widely recognized human resource thought leader, Amy Leschke-Kahle began her career as a chemical engineer. While her science background and people-focused work may seem like polar opposites, both focus on her strength: solving really hard problems that you can't see.

As Vice President of Performance Acceleration at The Marcus Buckingham Company, an ADP Company, Amy collaborates with clients to transform engagement and performance across the globe. Amy uses her firsthand experience to customize her approach to the unique culture of each company. She then utilizes proven techniques for measuring engagement and performance to work with clients to design integrated, sustainable solutions.

Before coming to The Marcus Buckingham Company, Amy led learning and development, HR technology and HR analytics for several Fortune 500 companies. She most recently served as Vice President of HR Services Solution Center for a large national retailer. While there, she led several HR technology initiatives, including optimizing the workforce technology systems and processes and building a best-in-class learning management system. She has also been involved in implementing global lean manufacturing initiatives, knowledge management solutions, technical recruiting and academic leadership.