LEADE RS H I P I N A C T I O N
CEO, WilsonHCG
JOHN WILSON Continually engaging
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iversity and collaboration are two key ingredients to an organization’s success. Without them, growth opportunities are left on the table. The people who make WilsonHCG what it is today are constantly encouraged to voice their opinions to help grow our organization. We have many initiatives and projects in place to stimulate these ideas and facilitate the sharing process. During training, new hires are encouraged to join at least one of our many committees—or suggest an idea for a new initiative—that could not only encourage diversity internally but also within our clients’ organizations. We have formed committees to include diversity recruitment, university recruitment, and veteran recruitment, as well as employee engagement, brand ambassador, blogging program, and alternative sourcing, among others. From our veteran recruitment committee came Operation Transition, an initiative that focuses on assisting veterans transitioning their career from military service into the civilian workforce. WilsonHCG is not only passionate about hiring veterans, but also sharing our employment expertise with them. Operation Transition provides monthly group trainings that cover resume writing, LinkedIn profile creation, interviewing tips, and marketing advice. These complimentary services provide more than a way to give back; they keep our employees engaged by allowing them “DIVERSITY AND COLLABORATION to be part of something they’re passionate about. ARE TWO KEY INGREDIENTS TO AN While these initiatives and committees have been ORGANIZATION’S SUCCESS. effective, there are still challenges that arise when WITHOUT THEM, GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES managing a diverse workforce. It’s imperative, as ARE LEFT ON THE TABLE.” a growing organization, to gather our employees’ ideas and implement them to continually innovate— but it can be challenging to strategize how all of HEADQUARTERS: Tampa, Florida these different ideas work to help WilsonHCG as a whole. I EDUCATION: Grand Valley State University try to overcome this issue by holding monthly open-forum WHAT I’M READING: Emotional Intelligence 2.0 calls in which the entire company participates. I ask employby Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves ees to submit questions for me to address while on the call, MY PHILOSOPHY: Hire the best people, not the best and also give them the opportunity to bring up anything else performers. You can train people to be better at their they’re thinking about. In informal weekly emails, I let the job, but not to be better people. company know about major updates and solicit feedback for program this past year to match employees with mentors in anything we can improve. leadership positions that can help guide them. We’ve also It’s important that our leaders foster a diverse corporate established regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings with community and encourage their teams to reach their highmanagers and each of their direct reports to make sure ideas est potential. Mentoring is essential for growth and develare heard and growth occurs. PDJ opment, which is why I launched an internal mentorship
PROFILES IN DIVERSITY JOURNAL
March/April 2014
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