Kellogg and Upskilling for the Digital World of Work

Kellogg Company SVP, Global Chief Information Officer, Lesley Salmon, reflects on what it takes to power a culture of digital excellence.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich., April 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global talent shortage is at a 16-year-high. Millennial, Gen Z, and Gen X employees make up 75% of today's workforce, and almost half don't plan to stay more than two years at their current company. That's a statistic that might keep leaders up at night and why our approach is always centered on our people and their development, as we know this is just one way to help retain our great talent.

We live in an era of exponential change with emerging technologies continuing to change the way we work. Leaders need to stay on top of these trends to understand how to take advantage of the opportunities and manage the risks that Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning bring to how we do business. Employers must embrace these trends and encourage experimentation to build a culture of continuous learning.

I'm proud to share that Kellogg Company is at the forefront of addressing these needs. Here's how:  

1. Upskilling in IT. The hybrid workplace paradigm has accelerated how we are upskilling and reskilling our teams. Intellectual curiosity, continuous learning and career development are essential for growth and the very reason we stood up a program called Year of Development Always (YODA). The launch of this program is a career highlight of mine because when it comes down to it – you're only as good as your team. 
   
   Championed by the Global IT leadership team, we are creating clear career pathing, investing in technical competencies and new capabilities, rewarding technical capability, and building breadth across our teams as well as depth to power us forward.
   
   Upskilling the Enterprise. While collaboration didn't stop when the world shifted to remote work in 2020, it certainly changed. IT was at the center of that change as we ensured our people could continue to collaborate effectively in a new way, supported by the right technology.
   
   We continue to deliver enterprise-wide digital skills learning through Work Smart – a global program that helps our people to embrace new ways of working, giving them confidence in the digital world of work, and ultimately learning to work smarter not harder.
   
   As the demand for technology applications (apps) continues to grow, we will see citizen development become the norm. Citizen development is a business process that encourages non-IT employees to become software developers using IT approved platforms to create business applications. This year we will enable and encourage our organization to develop their own apps, by building a community approach to learning and support.

Despite how digital first the world has become and will continue to get – an organization's people are its most valuable asset. As humans, we have an innate capability to understand how people feel. The narrative of workplace automation and AI is not one of pitting machines against individuals – but of opportunity. 'Digital workers' including AI, robotics and virtual reality are performing daily tasks previously done by humans, freeing us for more focused activities. AI and Machine Learning will only enhance what brands can better understand to personalize the consumer journey to drive commercial growth.

We have invited our Kellogg colleagues to partner with IT on our journey to power a culture of digital excellence and innovate with gr-r-eat digital capabilities that drive commercial growth.

SOURCE Kellogg Company