Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Killer Quote: "You can only deliver that business performance if you've got strong alignment all the way down the organization." – Milan Taylor
Looking to lead, grow, and stay ahead in the trillion-dollar global chemical industry? The Chemical Show - the #1 business podcast for the chemical industry - is your go-to resource for leadership insights, business strategies, and real-world lessons from the executives shaping the future of chemicals. Grow your knowledge, your network, and your impact.
Each week, you'll hear from executives from across the industry - from Fortune 50 to midsize to startups. You’ll hear how they're tacking today's challenges and opportunities, their origin story (what got them here!), how you can take and apply these lessons and insights to your own business and career.
We talk:
- Business Transformation
- Innovation
- Digitization of business
- Strategy
- Supply Chain
- and so much more
Founder and host Victoria King Meyer is an expert interviewer - who brings out the best in each guest. She gained her industry experience at leading companies, including Shell, LyondellBasell and Clariant. Today, she is a high-performance coach and advisor to business leaders in chemicals and energy, as well as the host of The Chemical Show podcast, and founder of The Chemical Summit.
Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest!
Websites:
https://www.thechemicalshow.com
https://www.thechemicalsummit.com
https://www.progressioglobal.com
Welcome to The Chemical Show, the
podcast where Chemical means business.
I'm your host, Victoria Meyer,
bringing you stories and insights
from leaders driving innovation and
growth across the chemical industry.
Each week we explore key trends,
real world challenges, and the
strategies that make an impact.
Let's get started.
Victoria: welcome back to The Chemical
Show Where Leaders Talk Business.
Today I am speaking with Milan Taylor,
who is a partner at Mercer, one of the
premier consulting firms focused on
people and talent, and that's a bit of
what we're gonna be talking about today.
Milan is also one of our key speakers
at the Chemical Summit this year,
which is on September 30th and
October 1st in Houston, Texas.
Visit the chemical summit.com
to learn more and to register because
you do not wanna miss the opportunity
to attend the Chemical Summit.
Meet Milan and other great speakers
and guests of the Chemical show and
just change your view in terms of
how you're growing, leading, and
thriving inside the chemical industry.
So Milan, thanks for joining me today.
Milan: Oh, thanks for inviting me.
Uh, looking forward to the conversation
and looking forward to the, uh,
the conference in September.
Victoria: Absolutely.
So what's your origin story?
I always love to ask people, how
did you get where you are and
how did you get interested in
this space of people and talent?
Milan: Uh, I think like so many
other people, you, you fall into it.
I don't think you, you, you, you six years
old say, I wanna be in people in talent.
So, uh, I was, running a division for
a large, multinational organization.
And, uh, I saw it firsthand just how
effective having strong people strategies
led to better business results.
And so that's the, my introduction
into, to people and talent
and, uh, very effective.
So aligning business strategies with
people strategies can drive significantly
better outcomes for organizations.
Victoria: Love it.
Love it, love it.
And tell us a little bit about
Mercer, because people may not
be fully familiar with Mercer.
Milan: Yeah, Mercer is, uh, part of
Marsh McLennan, uh, New York stock,
exchange listed organization, and at
an enterprise level, marsh McLennan.
Manages, some of the
most compelling risks.
So we have four organizations within
in the family, marsh, uh, which is,
in essence looking after asset risk.
Mercer, which is the organization that
I work for, looks after people risk,
Oliver Wyman, look after business
and strategy risk, as a management
consultancy group, and then Guy
Carpenter look after reinsurance risks.
So together it's about how
do organizations manage.
In a holistic manner, their risk profiles.
Victoria: So I would not necessarily
have thought of Mercer as helping
to manage risk, but of course people
are a big, a company's biggest
assets, opportunities, and exposure.
Milan: Absolutely.
It's, it is so critical
to organizations success.
And it's, uh, often under, under
underlooked or undervalued.
Victoria: Yeah, so obviously you're
talking to companies across the industry.
What are companies and leaders talking
about and asking Mercer about today?
Where's the focus?
Milan: Yeah.
And, and this is with a, a lens on
the chemical, uh, industry as well.
I, I do a lot of work in
that, uh, in that sector.
Look, there's a, a consistent theme.
It's, it's cost, cost, cost.
Growth.
Growth.
Growth.
And then simplify, simplify, simplifies.
So I guess enterprise wide
across the chemical industry.
From a challenge point of view,
it's all about optimization.
And I think given that we weren't
surprised to see that from Mercer's Global
Talent Trends 2025 chemical industry cut.
The number one HR priority was getting
line managers to drive performance.
Set up their people
manage this to deliver.
And so you can start to see
that how do we drive costs?
How do we drive growth, and how do we
ensure that we get the productivity gain?
So, uh, across all industries, bar one
that we, researched, getting people,
managers to do what they need to do around
driving towards, went to number one.
So it's kind of tied in with the
current economic, uh, geopolitical
volatility that we're seeing.
Victoria: Is that an implication,
that there's a view that managers
haven't been managing effectively?
Or is this a function of where we are in
the 2020s with work from home and not work
from home and the whole workplace dynamic?
What?
What's driving that?
I.
Milan: I look, I think it's being
driven by the need for organizations
in in, in tough times or, or.
The industry having a lot of
headwinds, really needing to drive
with a laser-like focus performance.
And, and you can only deliver
that business performance if
you've got strong alignment all
the way down to the organization.
So we've been doing a lot of work
with firms in the industry, ensuring
that the KPIs are actually meaningful,
measurable, and deliverable and
strongly aligned to the organization's.
Business plan strategy and, and in
essence, what they're saying to the
market of their stock exchange listed.
So if you don't have that alignment,
it can have some pretty, you
know, challenging consequences.
Victoria: That's really interesting.
And so I guess this ties into this
whole theme of how work gets done.
And I know one of the things I, as I
was doing some research before our call,
that Mercer has been talking about and
working on is work redesign, right?
And work, I guess workforce redesign.
So how does that play into this?
Milan: So I think if we, if we pivot
and talk about agility for a moment.
So, so everybody wants, I shouldn't
say everybody, business leaders want
their organizations to be far more agile
so they can pivot, far more quickly,
uh, to external challenges, that the
industry or, or the economy faces.
So, agility.
Productivity and efficiency are really
key, focus areas for, for C-Suite.
And, and I think the thing about
agility through, um, through the lens
of people is it's not just about speed.
We'd like people to think about agility
being about speed and precision.
So, skills gives you that map of
where your capability is so you
can redeploy your talent quickly.
Think of it a little bit like a Formula
One team doing a pit stop time change.
You need to do it with precision,
with speed and with intent.
And so work we design from, from
our perspective in the work we do
with clients in the industry is
about improving workforce agility.
And that's really key at the moment.
So it's the continuation
of the optimization story.
and there are quite a lot of
sort of areas to reflect on when
you think about work redesign.
And probably, the first one is where,
where does work actually get done?
Right?
And, and so we are seeing a trend
in, in more organizations offshoring.
To Global Capability Centers.
Some have done it for many years, some
have been piloting and are scaling.
Some are new into that.
And that's both for enabling roles,
you know, finance, hr, but also for
technical roles and engineering roles.
So more up the value chain, and that
that meets the cost, cost, cost mandate.
but in terms of, what work will
be done in that work redesign,
the di direction of travel is,
is broadly moving away from jobs.
To skills and, and skills we like to think
of as that, as the currency of agility.
And this sets up firms to drive far
more quickly that efficiency they want,
uh, from their workforce, and they can
staff up new projects far more quickly.
They can respond to external
market factors more quickly.
And also I think enables intentional
cross-functional mobility so uh,
employees can get different experiences.
As well, so what's in it
for them is important.
Victoria: So interest.
So two things on this.
Number one, I, I love this idea of skills
because as a Gen X kid, no longer a kid,
alas, but I mean, I always viewed my
career as transferable skills, right?
Like what is my next role?
I don't know, but I have skills that
are gonna take me to the next place.
Um, and certainly when I was
incorporated it was like,
when say what job do you want?
Well, I can't tell you the title, but I
can tell you what it should compose of.
So that's, that's one piece of it.
The second piece on this,
this is my cynics hat, comes
onto this workforce redesign.
'cause I spent a big part
of my career at Shell, and.
It was like every 18 months we reshuffled
the deck chairs, threw them up in the air
and said, Hey, go post for your job again.
And that doesn't feel very agile,
or encouraging for the employee.
I'm, I assume the company got out of
it what they wanted to get out of it.
But I guess maybe the question then
is, and, and I don't wanna, you
know, I can point fingers at them.
I'm not asking you to point
fingers at anybody else, but.
What's the characteristics of a
good workforce redesign and how
should it feel to the organization
and to the people involved?
Milan: So there's, there's
two things here, Victoria.
One is, how does work get designed
and what is the composition
of your workforce, right?
So organizational, restructures
and corporate life.
I'm sure many of the listeners or
views will be familiar with the,
the cadence of how that flows.
I'm gonna pivot a little bit to how do
organizations change the way that work
gets done to drive better outcomes?
I'm gonna give you an example, 'cause
I think this will clarify this.
So it is some work, uh, that we
did for an oil, gas, organizations.
So, um, uh, an aligned industry.
To, to chemicals that petrochemical end.
And so we went in and then
we, we deconstructed jobs
to their core tasks, right?
So we said, this is the job, but here
are the tasks and here are the skills.
And then we worked through what
the impact of centralization of
technology meant to those tasks.
So think, increased use of
sensors and remote monitoring.
And then we said, right, where
could those tasks be done?
So in this organization, maintenance moved
from, um, permanent on staff, on staff
site to a shared services team that drove
flexibility and efficiency tasks that were
repetitive or transferred to automation
or, or robotics that got the work done.
Then we then reconstructed those jobs,
through the lens of, of tasks and skills.
Uh, and in this example of how you, you
redesign No, no roles were eliminated.
But instead the workforce was upskilled.
and for me it was in the results, right?
So it, it, it's, it sounds like
great HR consulting, right?
But what's the business benefit?
And in this instance, that firm saw
a 45% improvement on profitability
driven by reconstructing their
jobs and thinking about how things
could get done in a different way.
So instead of just looking at your
organization and the, well, we've been
doing this for five, 10 years, it's.
Take it down to the granular, understand
what is repetitive, understand what
adds value, and then reconstruct
that and create the organization to
drive that, and that that will drive
flexibility and efficiency as well.
Victoria: Yeah, I could totally see that.
In fact, you know, within my own
small business, I've been doing
this recently because I think this
aspect of as a business grows and
evolves, you just add stuff on.
Like, oh, I can do that.
I, and the right person may
not be doing the right thing.
Maybe it could be outsourced, maybe
it could be shaped differently.
Even to the extent that it's like.
The business processes we were following
four years ago may not make sense today.
Or the tool that we're using has evolved.
Have we evolved in terms of how we're
using that tool, uh, and that technology.
Milan: and and that's
upskilling and reskilling.
Right?
And can you think, you know, just
think about doing that on an enterprise
wide level with 25, 30,000 employees.
And then think about the advances
in AI and all the technology
that's being invested, right?
And that you have to keep up to date.
It's a significant investment.
That organizations are making and
that upskilling and reskilling just,
it's not a one-off event, right?
You have to keep up with software,
uh, releases and understand how
this all works together within
your, your technology stack.
Victoria: One of the other pieces of
challenge I see, especially when we
talk about a big organization, whether
it's a thousand people or 20,000
people, is the work doesn't stop, right?
So.
Regardless of what I'm doing today,
it needs to continue to be done.
Um, and I can't pause and say, okay, we're
gonna take a day and we're all gonna swap
stuff around before we get going again
because your plans will shut down, your
customers will be unhappy, et cetera.
How do you navigate that
aspect of evolution?
Milan: Yeah.
So look, I think, I think it's about
strong project management and also a,
a, a strong dose of realism, right?
There are, probably certain times
in the year where you wouldn't start
doing these types of transformation
programs, and there are probably
certain environments where you wouldn't.
I'm a big fan of piloting, uh, and,
and taking, discreet areas of the
business, and, and driving through.
To see, you know, how easy or or
otherwise, uh, a transformation of
of, of something like work design.
I think what's what's different though,
in what, you know, could be perceived
as a a, you know, a challenging business
transformation is, um, you've got,
you've got technology, which, you know,
platforms that will do pretty quick
assessments of, of tasks, giving you
a view of, of how easily they can be
automated, how much time is saved,
what is the productivity improvement.
And a lot of data.
So for example, Mercer, my organization
has a deep, rich skills library, that
has, skills and competencies, uh,
and what qualifications are required.
That just allows organizations and
our, our own consultants to really
navigate very, very quickly, what
makes sense and what doesn't is you're
looking at this type of work redesign.
Victoria: Yeah.
What's the role of technology in all this?
So you started referencing it and I think
about, the workforce of the future is
certainly different than the workforce
of the past and the way we do it.
Um.
And, and when I talk to companies,
they're struggling a bit with
how and where to adopt technology
appropriately, particularly ai, right?
So, I mean, I think AI is scaling quickly.
Nobody even knew how to spell
it two years ago, and now we're
worried about it replacing our jobs.
I don't think they're ever, it's
ever gonna actually replace jobs
because people still need people
to think, create, et cetera.
But how does that participate in this
and what are you seeing and hearing
from companies and clients and leaders?
Milan: Yeah, it is still an emerging.
It's still an emerging technology.
Organizations are still working
through how best that they can
drive that technology into their
workflows and their processes.
But I'm, I'm not sure that you
can just throw AI at a team
and go figure it out yourself.
Right.
I think, I think there needs to be about
a bit of discipline there that goes
well, if we look at our workflows, uh,
and the way that this team delivers.
Where does it make sense to insert
AI as part of that workflow?
A and what sort of due diligence
or peer reviewed do you need to do
to ensure that, that the AI is, is
giving you that right data as well?
So I think it, it, you, you, if
you want to really drive those,
those levels of productivity and
efficiency, you've got to really
again, embed it in a pretty granular.
Way.
And, and you know, I still think, you
know, I speak to a lot of organizations
and they say, yeah, we are using ai.
We, we've got copilot.
And, and that is a true statement,
but I think the evolution of AI will,
will, will lead that statement, you
know, to dust in the next, you know,
x number of months as organizations
start to figure out how they can really
drive the power of this technology
for their commercial benefit gain.
Victoria: Yeah.
Well, and in fact, I, I spoke
with or had a, member of Marsh.
So one of your sister companies, I guess,
um, talking about AI and uh, and the risk
of it, and so it was around this aspect
of, um, companies need clear policies
actually in terms of how to utilize that.
Where do you see this fitting?
Where do you see kind of the decision
on how to use I ai, how to, organize
those policies fitting and aligning?
When I think about hr, is it in.
It.
Is it someplace else in the business?
Is it a combination thereof?
I mean, when you know what's
the best practice here?
Milan: yeah.
I mean, again, it is still emerging.
Um, my, my view would be that it's,
it is probably owned by some senior.
Stakeholders on, on executive committees.
I think, uh, HR teams hold an inordinate
amount of sensitive personal data of
their employees, uh, and you would want
to ensure that that is kept, safe as well.
So, I think a lot of organizations, that
I work with, consult with, uh, have got
their own proprietary, uh, platforms.
That creates that level of security.
But we have data also that suggests
that, you know, HR leaders still see
the use of AI as, as increasing the
risk in their organization and, the
industries, chemical oil and gas,
traditionally, you know, quite cautious
industries for very good reasons.
And so I think they're
probably adopting a, you know.
A thoughtful introduction
of the technology.
So more on that.
I mean, we, we, as part of the
research that we've currently engaging
in the market for energy and, and
chemical HR leaders, we, we are
asking the question of, of their
personal usage of ai and then also,
where their HR teams are in terms of.
Proficiency of using, AI and, and what
they think that looks like, and also
their confidence in the responses they're
getting back from external platforms.
So I, I can share that with you
in, in Houston and September
at the conference as well.
It should be interesting to see
where
that, uh, where that lands.
Victoria: Yeah, that'll be great.
'cause I do think, uh, you know, I'm
not sure anybody claims to be fully
proficient, but maybe somebody does.
Um, and, and what's even interesting,
I've spoken with, leaders at some of
the biggest chemical companies and
energy companies and, and had this
conversation probably about a year ago.
In fact, the one that I'm specifically
thinking about, about the use of,
for instance, chat GPT, right?
That's our our thing.
In fact, I've talked to a number of
leaders who say, well, I can't use
it on my corporate computer, but I'll
pull it up on my personal iPad to do.
Research on a company or do
whatever, whatever tactic it is.
And so I think it's an interesting,
um, it's fast moving, but
companies need to figure this out.
In terms of, you know, there's
this whole control aspect.
You certainly, hopefully people know not
to put corporate data in a public system.
But again, not everybody
knows and recognizes that.
But this whole alignment of,
okay, we, you know, get with the
program or you're gonna miss out.
Um, and, and that's a little bit of where
it feels like from an AI perspective.
Yeah, so, so you're doing, you've
talked about doing this survey with,
um, of HR priorities for energy and
chemical leaders, and I'm super excited
to hear more about that at the summit.
What about employees?
What are employees asking for these days
and what's, because I feel like there's a
little bit of misalignment at the moment,
but I don't know what you're seeing.
Milan: Yeah.
So, Mercer conducted, a US survey
called Inside Employees Mines.
And we cut the data by roll holders
across all industries in the us but those
that were involved in manufacturing,
construction, skills trade, and the
top factors, that attracted them
to their current employer, right?
So this is about how I get that
talent through the door was pay
Victoria: Hmm.
Milan: probably no surprise.
And then.
Victoria: pay me.
Milan: Then, then healthcare benefits
in US perspective, no surprise.
But there was quite a significant
delta between those two.
So pay was strongly number one.
So it's, it's all about, the,
the salary, the remuneration.
And I think that still holds true,
but when we asked that the same
group, uh, what aspects of the
work package they found attractive,
so I guess that's as they were.
In the organization rather
than joining the organization.
The top three by rank were pay and
number one, healthcare benefits, number
two, and retirement number three.
But what we did notice is that huge,
significant lead that pay had as they
were coming into the organization
dropped quite significantly.
So I think there's probably something
there about organizations where
they're attracting talent emphasizing.
What the value is of their healthcare
benefits and their retirement
programs as well as the base salary.
And then just to finish this one off,
we then ask that group what would cause
them to leave their current employer.
And no surprise, number one,
pay number two benefits.
But number three, and I think this is
really important, it speaks to what
it is that that employees across.
Industries are thinking about was being
burnt out because of demanding workload.
And so there's something here.
So remember we went right
back at the beginning.
We talked about the importance of
line managers driving performance,
performance management being key.
Simplify, simplify, simplify, grow,
grow, grow, cost, cost, cost costs.
I think what you're starting to see
in that is, is you know, that constant
transformation, that constant pressure,
that constant change in organizations
as they navigate these economic times,
is starting to be seen through that,
that sense of, um, workload, um,
employee wellbeing, um, potentially
some mental health challenges there.
I thought, well, maybe there's
something some other data.
So I, I, I looked into our
data sets and there was a North
American healthcare, survey.
Mercer did.
And I looked at the North American
Chemical data cut for that.
And, we asked the jobs, were
these employees, uh, actively
looking for a new job, right?
That also speaks to how happy they
are, what, what, what they value.
And only 30% of chemical employees
reported that they were not
actively looking for a new job.
So, um, I think there's that
Victoria: So you're saying
70% are actively looking.
Milan: so yeah, 53, uh, were
actively looking at and 17%
sat on the fence, right?
Victoria: That's a big
Milan: that, that is a big number.
Right.
And so, they, they join you for pay.
That's what they say.
They stay with you for
pay and benefits and
retirement
Victoria: benefits, right?
The
Milan: There Retirement benefits.
Victoria: you there.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Milan: they, they, they see in
themselves, , that the, the, the
levels of pressure and overwork.
Could lead to burnout.
We, we see this in other studies
that we do at Mercer as well.
And then you see this propensity,
potentially to leave organizations.
Right?
We also asked that, that group from
the Mercer, healthcare and Demand, uh,
so again, chemical Institute, we, we
ask them, whether they felt stressed
most days at work, because that kind
of gets to how big or not an issue
this is, and 53 agreed, or
strongly agreed that they were.
And um, so again, over 50% were
saying they were stressed at work.
So, The industry.
Has always been so conscious about
safety, um, health and safety,
ingrained in the DNA and, and, but,
but I, I do look at these numbers
around employee self-reporting.
The, uh, the likelihood.
They're not saying they're going
to be, but the likelihood of being,
uh, burnt out or, or levels of
stress on a daily basis, and all
the other things that are going on.
Plus, you know, the business as usual.
And I just wonder if organizations
are doing enough to manage that
wellbeing and that health aspect,
Victoria: You know, there's, there's
so much that we can unpack here and we
don't have time to unpack all of it.
But the couple of things that strikes
me and, and I've heard the stories
recently, so first of all, I'm a
believer that people leave people.
So you get attracted in, to the
company for a variety of reasons.
It's the external lens that brings people
into a company and it's pay, and it's
what that company looks like and what you
think the value proposition is, et cetera.
And then you get inside
and you're living it.
And pay may not be enough, especially
if you can leave and get the pay.
So, you know, let's just assume
those basic needs are met.
And then it is the people and
the people are driving the
workload and the expectations.
, And I think this is so true
across all industries, chemicals
and others, um, I was, uh.
Spent some time last week with a
couple of my sisters and one of whom
was stressed out on work even though
she was on vacation because her top
employee left because there's a sales
role and the targets kept getting
so high and he was already the top
performer and as the top performer.
What happens when you're a good performer?
They just set the targets even
higher and higher and higher, and
it became untenable and he went to
a company that wasn't gonna hold him
accountable to those same kind of.
Untenable targets, and was able to get
his bonus without egregious sales goals.
And so I think that's an example.
And she's like, and I'm telling my
organization this is what's going on.
They're like, that's okay.
Here's your new goals.
Go meet them.
She's like, you're not hearing me.
You're
Milan: so so work, work life
balance is important, right?
And And that's a great example that
you just gave, but also it goes
down to KPI setting rights and.
Victoria: Yeah.
Milan: That's something that we've
been working with organizations
on, what are the right KPIs to
drive the right performance?
What's the right KPIs that drive that
bonus outcome, but also allow the
organization to meet its its goals
for its stakeholders and shareholders.
So you've gotta get those things right.
Right.
It you just, it's not as, you just
can't keep loading and loading you.
You have to think about how
you calibrate this and how you.
You balance it and, and, and you
know, again, it, you organizations
have a responsibility for the
health and wellbeing of their
employees, um, in a holistic sense.
And look, I think the industry does
a, a, a relatively good job of that,
but, um, I think it needs to keep
on top of it, on a regular basis.
Victoria: Yeah.
So one of the questions I had for you,
Milan, is around this whole talent
aspect talk about, the workforce
redesign and driving people towards
skills and realignment, the, this whole
aspect of agility and performance.
And then from a people perspective, one, I
do believe people wanna continue to, most
people wanna continue to grow, develop,
improve their skills, achieve the next
level, whatever that looks like for them.
sometimes it also feels like the
opportunities, the o the development
opportunities, the ability to go from, to
develop these skills or to get promoted
or to get cross-functionally trained, et
cetera, really favor the big companies.
And yet we know the vast majority
of companies across the chemical
industry are small to midsize.
So.
Milan: Yeah.
Victoria: However you wanna categorize
that, but you know, there they're
less than a thousand employees
or less than 2000 employees.
Milan: Yeah.
Victoria: How do companies who have
a smaller number of employees, a
smaller platform, a smaller scope,
really get the same results for
themselves and for their employees?
Milan: Yeah, I mean, it
is a challenge, right?
But I think, if organizations,
with a smaller number of employees,
I think they have to be far
more intentional in this space.
They just cannot leave
it to chance, right?
So I think they should, emphasize,
uh, skills growth, thinking about
judiciously, adding on additional
responsibilities to the role.
Look for ways to allow for
cross team collaboration, um,
short term rotations, right?
So somebody in finance might be
interested in health and safety.
Is there a role there?
Can they move in one day a week for a
couple of months, help on a project, get a
flavor of, of what that, , can look like?
. And that also can allow for some agility.
You've gotta get that balance
right, but you can team up for
short term projects, that way.
I think being purposeful around
mentoring and also reverse mentoring.
So, just because I guess my, my point
of view is just because organizations
are small, doesn't excuse 'em from
developing and nurturing their staff.
Right?
So, I, I think it's about intentionality.
You may not have these big.
Full scale programs of an organization
that has 50,000, but that doesn't stop
you from creating something that's
quite unique for your organization.
So I guess, look, small companies, they,
they can't, by their very nature promise
the next, uh, rung up the ladder, right?
But what's the next best
thing they can probably do?
I think they can help, uh, their
employees by offering them the, the
hammer, the nails, and the freedom to
build the next rung themselves, right?
So it is about that collaboration
between employer and employee
and, and, and making it.
Very granular and very real
in a small organization.
I'm, look, I'm not saying it's easy,
but I think with that purpose and
that intent, you can drive some,
some good outcomes for employees.
Victoria: Yeah, makes sense.
I, and I agree a lot with that.
I think this whole, I like your
idea of even just one day a week,
working in a different space.
Because frankly, um, you know,
you can give up that person, the
other group can use the support.
Um, it's a manageable construct.
Milan: Yeah.
It, it, it, yeah.
It, it, it, it is pragmatic,
Victoria: yeah.
Milan: is always important.
Victoria: Absolutely.
So, okay, I've got two final
questions for you, Milan.
So, number one is, you know, if, if.
Somebody's listening to this.
If you're a leader leading people,
hopefully all people are leading people
in one way, shape, or form, right?
Whether it's a formal or informal.
What's one thing that leaders
can be doing today, to improve
agility, workforce, et cetera?
Milan: I would suggest two things.
One is if you are not doing, uh,
employee engagement surveys, if
you're not getting that real and raw
feedback from your employees, get onto
that, uh, and get onto that quickly.
Because I think organizations that
create, programs based on what they think,
, rather than what the data shows them.
Could be misguided in, in, in,
in how they spend their money
on developing their people.
So I think that's number one.
And two, if they're seeking that agility,
think about, piloting, uh, some of
those, jobs to skills that I referenced
and unsurprisingly, Mercer is, is
big in both those employee engagement
spaces and, and through the work of
our transformation teams, uh, helping
organizations move from jobs to skills.
Victoria: Good.
Alright.
And then my question number two
is, um, I love to ask people, you
know, the leadership question, which
is a little bit more about you.
So Milan, if, um, you were
advising a young Milan Taylor
just early in his career about.
Some keys to success to help you get from
where you were to where you are today.
What's your advice?
, Milan: Authenticity.
Number one, always be true to yourself.
People will see through you if you're not.
Two, always be honest because people
will not forgive you if they find that
you've been, uh, anything but that.
Uh, and third, take the time to
understand the people that you work
with and the people that you work for.
It'll pay you back in dividends
throughout your career.
Victoria: Love it.
Perfect.
Milan, thank you so much for this.
I appreciate your time today
and I'm really looking forward
to seeing you at the Chemical
Summit at the end of September.
Milan: Me too.
Thank you so much.
Victoria: Thank you, and thank
you everyone for joining us today.
Keep listening, keep following,
keep sharing, and we will
talk with you again soon.
I.