The Great Reset - My story

Futurist Heather E. McGowan has referred to the evolution of the Great Resignation as a phenomenon known as the Great Reset (Leading the Empowered Workforce - By Heather McGowan (wsb.com)), something that applies to me personally, as after an 18 month career break I re-join my previous organization FIS.

Human nature is complex and the decisions we make and paths we take reflect this and one person’s experience cannot be replicated, however I’m hoping that by sharing an insight into mine it may resonate with others, as well as highlight the importance of relationships as part of a robust Talent Acquisition strategy in what is an increasingly challenging market.

This wasn’t my first career break. 13 years ago I took a 6 month sabbatical from my employer at the time (PwC), as I wanted to see some of the world while figuring out life choices. This experience was a game changer for me, resulting in my pivot away from Audit into the People and Learning space, with the space and time giving me the opportunity to be purposeful about my direction and I committed to doing this periodically.

So when I joined FIS in 2015 as Head of Global Learning, I had a 5 year plan, and having been transparent with my leader and my team it didn’t come as a massive surprise to anyone when I stepped away for my second career break in May 2021, although Covid brought a different lens to people’s reactions. Was now the right time since the world was in such flux? Wasn’t it better to wait and see how things played out? I admit these questions gave me pause, however I’ve always trusted my gut and having flexed my plans to ensure my function had successfully navigated the shift to virtual, it was definitely time. Yes it would require careful planning and flexibility around our travel goals, but this was my commitment to self (and my husband Paul) and I was excited about the prospect of having time to figure out what comes next.?

I’ve written numerous blogs around what I learned during my travels so this one will focus on the career element, which is something that has always been very important to me…a bit of a contradiction it seemed, as I had now inadvertently become part of this phenomenon known as the Great Resignation.?

When I left FIS I had no expectations re: what would come next for me career-wise, however the world works in mysterious ways and so when 6 months into my career break, the opportunity arose to contract for my old team to help create our first post pandemic in-person executive learning experience, it felt right (especially as the world was dealing with the latest version of the virus and so it made sense to ‘pause’ our travel plans temporarily) and what quickly became apparent was my emotional connection to the organization. The people are wonderful, the event was so energizing and I learned that my connections had actually strengthened with distance. The work being done continued to be transformational, despite being in the third year of Covid and the area that is my passion - People, learning, and Leadership was becoming more and more central to the strategy.?

I was proud of the team and excited for their continued evolution, while also being very aware that I had walked away and things had evolved, but it got me excited about re-entering the world of work. Then something I couldn’t have predicted happened. As with all global organizations, change occurred and I was presented with the opportunity to take on a newly established function at FIS bringing Skills, Learning and Career together. It felt so serendipitous, a growth role to connect my areas of passion in an Organization I’m hugely invested in! Only one issue stood in the way, I had already booked the Camino De Santiago (a 6 week trek across the north of Spain) as well as a long planned 10 week trip to South America (Machu Picchu, Galápagos islands, etc.)…and here is where the magic happened.?Through relationships and compromise we figured it out!

I would do handover meets before the Camino, and have amazing talent on the team step up in the interim with open channels of communication. I would then work between the Camino and SA to get up to speed on strategy, team and key deliverables and stay connected during my final trip, leaving Paul to travel solo for a two week window as I headed to our HQ in Florida for critical delivery, then fly back to meet him to wrap up my travel to start back full time in November. Pretty incredible and only possible due to trust, loyalty and a desire to make things work.?

Benefits for me - achieving my commitment to self with my time out, while going back to a hugely rewarding role with a renewed sense of energy and commitment to FIS and our people.

Benefits for the Org - Boomerang hires (another inadvertent group I’m now part of) are proven to be quicker to create value and more likely to stay with an organization than non-boomerang counterparts, plus the hiring process is cost advantageous.

So that’s my story - a career with twists and turns in skill set and role which is something I’ll be considering as we build out our Career Experience framework, which is grounded in anticipating future skills and empowering our people to lean into their Strengths to learn new skillsets while carving out career paths within FIS.

Finally a massive shout out to my inspirational leader Denise Williams , thank you for your trust in me. I know we’ll make great things happen in this space. And to my amazing team…You totally rock! Thank you for holding the fort with special call outs to Alan Kather and Sharahn Monk for their leadership in my absence and to my new directs and all the talented Subject Matter Experts who have been driving our strategic agendas forward. I’m so excited to be partnering with you to continue to evolve our People offerings and I couldn’t be prouder to have you all by my side as we take Skills, Learning and Career development at FIS to the next level!?