Christina Schelling: Why Treating Differences As Your Biggest Assets Is Critical For Long-Term Success

As any HR leader can tell you, crises are an inevitable part of the job. Tough situations pop up, often at the least convenient times, and these situations need to be handled efficiently yet delicately. How can companies learn to take a crisis and turn it into an advantage? In this interview series, we are talking to HR leaders who share their strategies about “How Companies Can Turn A Crisis Into An Opportunity or Advantage.” As part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Christina Schelling.

Schelling is the SVP, Chief Talent & Diversity Officer at Verizon, where she supports close to 120,000 employees globally.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to this specific career path?

I actually never planned to work in a corporate setting. I went to school for psychology and started my career as a leadership analyst with the CIA. From there, I was offered a management consulting opportunity with IBM and that was really the bridge to the work I do today. The organizational and behavioral sides of the role intrigued me so I decided to give it a shot and learn something new. Since IBM, I’ve held a variety of global leadership roles related to people, culture and organizational strategies in companies like American Express, Prudential, and The Estée Lauder Companies. Today as the SVP, Chief Talent & Diversity Officer at Verizon, I have the privilege of overseeing all aspects of our talent practices including hiring, learning, career development, succession planning, DEI and more for close to 120,000 employees globally.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Yes, as a matter of fact we are. We recently launched V Team Central, fueling a mindset shift leaning into employee empowerment and accountability. V Team Central is an HR system that powers our rockstar team. We want to give V Teamers access to the right tools to make meaningful decisions, and support their career trajectory now, and into the future. We anticipate this new program will:

• Provide employees access to a technology infrastructure to reach their full potential
• Empower employees to drive their own careers with performance-enablement tools
• Build intentional connections between employees to drive team growth
• Embrace diversity and inclusion to foster authentic collaboration

In addition to this, we also launched Talent GPS in 2021 as a direct response to what employees have been asking for decades — both at Verizon and other companies. This new digital tool empowers our V Teamers with more knowledge, insights and resources to have greater ownership over their careers.

In 2021, we launched Phase 1 of Talent GPS, which focused on our job architecture. In this taxonomy, the grouping by job attributes identifies where an employee is in their current position and it provides a path to help them pursue new growth opportunities.

Last year, Phase 2 brought a one-stop shop microsite, providing a job library to access insights on all roles within Verizon and new career exploration tools that empower and inspire employees to create and own their careers at Verizon.

Phase 3 will include the power of linking skills to roles. With this investment, skills becomes the connective tissue for employees as they understand their own strengths and qualifications, and it breeds transparency towards different jobs they may be qualified for and interested in. We are really diving into adjacencies as well, and the power it can bring to the diversity of a talent pool. Next we’ll build upon an evergreen foundation where skills operate as an empowering currency towards careers, talent marketplaces, and development.

Talent GPS is a multi-year journey and we will continue to evolve and iterate on this valuable tool. Our future depends on great talent and our most important investment is our V Team. When we set our workforce up for success — through development and opportunity — we set our business up for long-term success.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I always think of a female mentor who helped guide me early in my career at the CIA. I was new and all I wanted was to fit in. At the time, I thought this meant playing down my style and personality a bit. This female mentor saw me trying to blend in and helped me see that my differences were my biggest assets and that I needed to celebrate and leverage them. She empowered me to see my uniqueness as my greatest strength, and I’ve never forgotten that important lesson.

Fantastic. Thank you for that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview about HR strategies for turning a crisis into an opportunity. Can you share your story of when an organization you’ve worked at entered into a crisis? What happened? What did you do?

Verizon, like many companies, faced workplace challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As employees’ needs evolved, we also evolved our Total Rewards offerings to ensure we continue to care for our employees holistically. Even with the pandemic waning and during times of economic uncertainty –Verizon is evolving benefits when many companies are cutting them.

Our Total Rewards offering is more than a comprehensive compensation and benefits program. It takes a holistic approach to meet V Teamers where they are–including a $2.5B investment in healthcare benefits and services to more than 460k employees, eligible retirees and their dependents in 2022.

In addition to expanding benefits and resources, Verizon leaned into a hybrid work schedule to offer greater flexibility for V Teamers. This supported our entire workforce including caregivers and marginalized groups likely impacted by challenges that resulted from the pandemic.

Verizon also founded and launched Women’s CoLab with a number of other brand partners. Women’s CoLab is a free online development program for all women — inspired by the 5.4M jobs women lost in 2020 during the onset of the pandemic and the results from an external survey conducted in 2021, where 72% of women cited concerns about finding a job that matched their skills.

What was your mindset during such a challenging time? Where did you get the drive to keep going when things were so hard?

I think it’s safe to say that I joined Verizon during a challenging and pivotal time in the tech industry. People in the world were relying on companies like Verizon to help connect with one another and trusted our leadership in tech to make it happen. I joined an incredibly effective and focused V Team and was able to draw from Verizon’s credo, which is the foundation of all that we do. I was, and still am, so inspired by the way that V Teamers really live our credo.

Here is the main question of our interview: Based on your experience, can you share five actionable pieces of advice for HR leaders about How Companies Can Turn A Crisis Into An Opportunity or Advantage?

Regardless of what we face at Verizon, our Credo is at the foundation of all that we do. Through our Credo, we always remember the following anchors — integrity, respect, performance excellence, accountability and social responsibility.

As a starting point, here are five steps you can take to turn a crisis into an opportunity.

1. Have a plan in place: Every crisis is unique, but having a crisis framework in place will make the minutes, hours and days into a crisis go much smoother. Clarity around specific goals is critical. Identifying and aligning on a set of guiding principles early on will serve as a north star and help when you need to make tough calls. Make sure your culture reflects an ongoing investment in talent and leadership — you don’t need to get ready if you stay ready! Highly capable leaders focused on the same goals, embracing the same values and ability to execute is game changing. And be ready to pivot. Even the best laid plans need adjustments for different situations.
2. Listen: Understand how the crisis is impacting all aspects of a company — the employees, the customers and suppliers. Make sure every stakeholder’s voice is represented. Take that feedback seriously and take action. People are always willing to give feedback if they know that you are really listening and will act on it.
3. Be clear and transparent: We must address crisis moments with as much transparency as possible. This will help maintain trust and keep employees focused on the matter at hand. When messages to employees are vague or misleading, it can cause more disruption. People may disagree with the message, but they will appreciate and respect the candor.
4. Put people first: During a crisis, the emotional wellbeing of employees is paramount. Without it, the business will suffer. When we put employees at the epicenter of our crisis plan, the crisis can be contained and overcome. Alternatively, if employees are left feeling isolated and forgotten, the crisis could become more difficult to manage.
5. Reflect: Take time to understand why and how this crisis happened. What did we learn? What did we get right and what did we get wrong? Were there signs that indicated a crisis was brewing and not addressed in time? This enables an ongoing learning culture where we test and learn and grow together.

What are a few of the most common mistakes you see leaders make when their company hits a crisis? What should be done to avoid them?

Tackling a crisis isn’t easy but there are a few steps companies can take to help minimize damage. Here are a few common mistakes that leaders make when companies hit a crisis and how they can be avoided.

Mistake #1: Speaking in ‘absolutes’ and ‘finite’ language

In a crisis, you don’t know what you don’t know. Setting the tone early on and being clear that you are learning and adjusting as you go is important. It engages and brings the organization along, allowing for the inevitable shifts as the situation evolves. You’ll also establish a sense of credibility when the stage is set early for changes in direction when unanticipated situations inevitably arise. When it feels more like a journey we are navigating together, as opposed to an ill structured plan that keeps missing milestones and changing direction completely, you will build more trust and confidence throughout the organization and the process.

Mistake #2: Waiting too long to respond

It’s important to understand the important details of the crisis before communicating to employees. But waiting too long for every last detail can also backfire. Responding quickly, with the facts available, and being transparent about what you may not know, will help prevent the crisis from spiraling out of control. What’s critical in the first hours and days of a crisis is letting employees know it’s being addressed. And continue to make adjustments as more information becomes available.

Mistake #3: Not fully leveraging your network

It is important is to leverage your full network, including external peers. Many times other companies are either going through something similar or have so in the past. Benchmark. Connect externally and solve together — you don’t have to go it alone.

What advice would you give to HR leaders and organizations who have yet to hit their first real crisis?

Show up as a human, not just an HR practitioner. Listen, learn and be the voice of the employee. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room — most of the time everyone is doing the best they can in crisis situations and it’s often new for everyone. Rely on your team — solicit diverse expertise and experience to make the best collective call.

How can our readers continue to follow your work online?

You can find me on LinkedIn and Instagram, but I also encourage readers to follow Inside Verizon on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter to get to know Verizon and our V Team. You can also check out our career opportunities at verizon.com/about/careers.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

About The Interviewer: Finn is the editor of People Managing People, an indie media publication on a mission to help build a better world of work. He’s passionate about growing organizations where people are empowered to continuously improve and feel fulfilled in their role. If not at his desk, you can find him playing sports or enjoying the great outdoors. To learn more about Finn’s work please go to https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/