An International Trip to London and Amsterdam

I wrote this note on a plane back from Amsterdam to Chicago I am reflecting on my travels after my visit to see my corporate and International Zone colleagues… This trip wasn’t “a jolly”, despite what my friends often think! It was to forge stronger relationships and build the power of collaboration. Let me tell you a little more.

#HereAtKraftHeinz we commercially operate across two zones. North America and International. The TA models between both zones are distinct in delivery models, but parallels transcend border lines, culture and language.

In the 21 years that I have served in Talent Acquisition (I am getting on a bit!), I have hired talent in many countries, from UK to Ghana to Argentina to China to USA… despite the technological innovations and gains in CX, the fundamental “bricks” of hiring remain consistent. The “cement” between these bricks is often where we see the nuisances. The art and science of TA - This where we can learn, innovate and drive efficacy.

This was the essence of the trip: Collaboration, innovation and ween out any unnecessary bureaucracy as we “build” a better experience for our candidates (consumers), customers (the business), the team (Recruiters) and other stakeholders (e.g our creative and technology partners). So, here are some meditations from my trip

The Team

We can be better. We want and need to be. Right now we operate too distinctly and the teams globally can be better connected. An output of this trip was to develop connections and to ensure that we are developing our talent less vertically and more laterally with topics. Our hope is that this will drive further collaboration, development and strength as we exercise the 'Power of WE' - whilst removing duplicative learning and rooting out new learnings. Learnings that I hope are developed by the TA professionals themselves, not always leader led.

Thank you to Rodolfo Camacho for leading this and being such a thoughtful and inspiring sponsor.

The Brand

Wow. We have come so far with EVP and the talent brand. Much of this is down to my predecessors and colleagues within HR and Communications. Most evidently my team - meg poulelis and Natalie Hartrich .

A powerful part of the success has been down to an outstanding partnership with our global creative partner - Wiser. We have been partners since 2019 and the synergy and strength of the relationship is a beauty to behold. The energy, invention and relationship is good standard. In 2023 and beyond we will better connect employer engagement whilst entangling more products to the power the talent brand.

We spent several hours with the Wiser team. They are helping us build new internal and external employee communication platforms and content - I am most excited about the careers site as we blow up and disruptively renovate the experience for candidates online. Our career site builder and wiser will create magic for us.

Customers

When visiting both corporate offices, I got to meet customers and the main man himself in Rafael Oliveira . Time spent listening to customers and understanding their business priorities and challenges is essential to HR and TA. In TA, principally, our job is to find the best talent to make things great. Doing so without context merely will yield less quality in solution design and delivery. Thanks to Rudzinski Pawel Fabio Kapitanovas and Victoria Sjardin for spending a little time with me during the visit.

A big mention goes to Lucy R. who spent a few hours with me and my team explaining the Northern Europe Food Service model (Those Away from Home products) and we got to learn how crucial local markets (like Borough market) are to exploring and learning how new flavours and tastes emerging with consumers and chefs.

We got to eat at a fairly new restaurant chain at Honest Burger and the chicken truffle burger was delicious! Especially with fries and my own mixture of Heinz mayonnaise and tomato ketchup. I love to see how we are working with smaller restaurants that become chains - growing, learning and creating new flavours together!

I also got to see Heinz Beanz in all shapes and sizes. From giant props to coffee mugs to lampshades. #BeansMeanzHeinz

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Partnerships

Allison and I met a couple of search partners to better understand the external talent market perception of my company, as well as how we can learn from using our network to openly innovate beyond the walls of Kraft Heinz. I remember being on a 'mini MBA' course at Caterpillar at Cambridge University and first learned the term “open innovation”. Those partnerships have been so evident in how we have growth as a business. Look at what we have done with Not Co, Ed Sheeran and Absolut.

These are pioneering in our industry and we need to channel this energy more within TA and HR at KHC. We have some ideas here… more to come.

Those partnerships are internal too so meeting colleagues face to face is special - Pieter Schalkwijk , ALINE EGER , Rosa De Simone , Lydia Stolte , Ashhish S Kumaar , Riccardo Falconi and Marloes Winkels Thank you for your time and we will do great things together!

Finally….

A special thanks must to Allison Corry Carl Sobers and Angus Nú?ez Martos for being outstanding hosts during our visit to London. Thanks to Rob Twigg for spending time with explaining the DEIB strategy to drive significant gains in women in leadership in Northern Europe.

Thanks to Angela Huber , Meg and Natalie for accompanying me for much of this trip and being so committed, engaged and leaders on mindset trip and let’s continue to lead with a growth mindset.