When Lysa Sanchez interviewed with EY for an auditing role in her early 20s, she quickly realized that while her college major wouldn't do much to help her,
"During those [initial] conversations, the mindset [was] they were hiring for potential and work ethic," Sanchez says. Any skill and knowledge gaps would be something they would work on together, her new employer explained.
Sanchez embraced the belief that employees' learning paths
Read more:
This role does come with a unique set of challenges, she says: Not all leaders are excited to lose talented team members to a career shift, even if it's internal. Much of Sanchez's work centers around changing this mindset for the good of employees and the business as well. EY's reputation for offering internal growth opportunities has made this one of the top reasons people accept a position with the company, she says.
"Our people no longer need to leave to pursue new experiences," Sanchez says. "They may need to leave a business unit for a short period of time. They may want to do a rotation and transfer and learn more and come back with a much richer mindset and richer tool kit, but they can pursue all of those experiences at the firm. At the end of the day, this drives the bottom line."
Sanchez shared more details about her approach to nurturing talent — how a company-wide focus on employee growth builds relationships and confidence in the workplace, and what helps her sleep at night.
Why is it important for all departments in the company to collaborate on employee growth and development?
Diversity plays very well; my background is different from [other department leaders], and the opportunity for us to sit at that table with a very clear, consistent message, and then working together to make sure our solutions are aligned, is going to get us to results that are aligned. We make it very clear that in talent, our focus is to enable the business to ensure people can really shape their future with confidence.
Read more:
How does this consistent, vocal approach among leaders build trust and confidence among EY's employees?
We really want to leverage storytelling to the extent that we can. If we can demonstrate and tell the story so that what we say cascades down throughout our entire organization, we're actually showing it and delivering it to our people, regardless of where they sit. That's how you really get the ball rolling.
In our firm, people progress fairly quickly, particularly at the earlier ranks. When I have the opportunity to have a manager that lives that career agility story, has different experiences, and then they become a senior manager or a partner, then we're in the full circle where hopefully more and more people have not only seen and experienced it, but now they get an opportunity to do it for others. And it's not just going to be something we promise to deliver or promise and then we deliver for some; it's part of who we are and how we execute on a day-to-day basis.
When leaders communicate their own growth stories, how does this help encourage employees to pursue their own?
[When] you come to my office, you know that the leadership structure is taking advantage of every touchpoint and opportunity that [they have] to encourage allyship, talk about career paths and about leveraging our business resource groups.
I'm a transparent leader. I want everyone to know where they stand and how they can get to where they want to be, and if my perspective can help them in that journey, I want to be part of that, and I want to do that, and that's how I lead on both sides, with my clients and with my talent teams. And I love it. It helps me sleep well at night knowing that I bring my true self to work every single day in a room with current and future leaders.
Read more:
What advice do you have for other people leaders?
I encourage all of us not to overcomplicate it. Our professionals are asking for an opportunity to really build their career, and they want to build it with us. They don't walk in saying, I'm going to stay here until I retire, but they don't walk in saying I'm leaving in a week. They want a career journey, they want to have that career playground where they can see different things and experience different things to develop, why not offer them that opportunity?
[Leaders] also deserve career agility. We also deserve development and to have a journey that's meaningful. So embrace that. As leaders embrace it, we'll again be more comfortable paying it forward because we will see the true benefit of what that brings.
And finally, there's so many opportunities to mentor and develop others that will literally change their lives. It's exactly what happened to me, and don't underestimate or underplay that. Don't just think that employees want you to be the boss and deliver on the numbers and tell me what to do. Sometimes our employees just want to be heard, want to be understood, and want someone with our level of experience to help them navigate this, and it really is going to pay dividends.
