CCL Hospitality Group

Shannon Wesley

Shannon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from North Carolina State University and has more than two decades of experience in HR. She excels in cultivating high-performance teams through strategies that enhance engagement and foster robust relationships.

What are the notable trends, market challenges, or recent developments in the HR space

We must become more comfortable with AI and how we can work smarter with addressing labor challenges. We’ve established a partnership with Paradox, an AI company, to enhance the hourly candidate experience, emphasizing speed and ease. Our goal is to streamline the onboarding process for our frontline team members within our senior living communities. Recognizing the competition with fast-paced hiring processes of restaurants and fast-food businesses, we prioritize getting individuals through the door quickly and seamlessly.

We’ve streamlined our application process into a mobile texting process. It enables candidates to search for jobs, apply, and schedule interviews seamlessly. It is integrated with our managers’ calendars, allowing candidates to schedule interviews through texting on their phones, completing the entire process in less than four minutes.

In addition, we’ve implemented a cutting-edge hourly assessment tool that relies on image-based interactions, providing the quickest validated talent assessments in the market. This 90-second assessment can be done on the candidate’s phone and is connected to our internal hiring platform. The results seamlessly feed into our platform, which is linked to the job requisition posted. This approach serves a dual purpose: expedite the hiring process by swiftly bringing in candidates and ensures the right individuals are being considered for the job for both our organization and our clients.

"Our Goal Should Focus On Partnering With The Teams We Serve Within The Organization, Acknowledging Hr’s Role As A Critical Element To The Overall Business Operations. When Introducing New People Processes Or Initiatives, It’s Essential To Pilot Them First, Gather Feedback, And Ensure There Is Organizational Buy-In Before Implementing Them On An Enterprise Scal"

In terms of employee development, we’ve adapted our training methods to align with the contemporary attention span. Instead of lengthy multi-hour programs, we are breaking down our training into shorter, more digestible formats. This shift involves creating content equivalent to brief YouTube or TikTok videos, typically lasting less than 3 minutes. We recognize individuals often turn to such platforms outside of the workplace to learn how to do things, and we are adapting our training approach to mirror this trend. While some aspects still require a more comprehensive approach, our focus i breaking down our training and development content into smaller clips or videos. This allows individuals to view and absorb the material at their own pace, aligning with the cadence that works best for them.

In your interaction and experience with AI are there any misconceptions you initially had that or you would like to clarify for others considering a similar adoption?

There is a great deal of information around AI, and it’s important to separate the facts from the opinions as much as possible. We have an excellent Technology team that we lean on to help us maneuver through these new tools. Often, individuals unknowingly use various AI-driven features without recognizing them as such. It’s important to address misconceptions by highlighting AI as a tool or resource that enhances processes rather than portraying it as a daunting force. Tailoring the communication about AI to different audiences is crucial, framing it as a means to make the candidate experience more seamless and user-friendly.

Could you share insights into how the team facilitating this process adapted to the changes? Was the transition as smooth as assisting them in onboarding, or did it involve a learning curve?

There’s always a learning curve associated with anything new. Trust is a key factor, as individuals may question the effectiveness of the process and if it genuinely influences the intended users. Hesitancy could stem from overloaded schedules of managers and operations personnel, who juggle numerous responsibilities. The primary focus of our HR Team is presenting solutions that are impactful and not a “check-the box” solution.

Our HR team’s guiding philosophy in supporting the business is to simplify HR processes and make them more efficient. Our focus is on making things simpler for the hiring managers by reducing paperwork and increasing automation to streamline their experience.

Our approach to change management isn’t about introducing great HR tools, rather it’s about understanding our operations/ business, engaging with them, and identifying ways to streamline processes related to onboarding, retention, and employee development. It’s creating HR tools that match the cadence and the volume for the business. When implementing any new HR program, we recognize that credibility comes from testing and refining. We involve a group of operators in a pilot phase, emphasizing open communication and transparency. Only after refining based on this feedback do we implement changes, ensuring that they are genuinely accepted by operations for making their tasks more manageable and supporting them in retaining and developing their teams amidst the demands of running a business.

Any specific piece of advice that you’d like to share with your fellow peers or other industry leaders?

I believe that as HR professionals, our approach must be grounded in disruption. We absolutely should not approach our roles merely to fulfill tasks like documentation or performance planning, without critically evaluating existing processes and programs from a disruptive standpoint. It’s essential to assess these People elements from an operational perspective, questioning their effectiveness and relevance. It’s important to approach a training, resource, tool with a constant filter of how we can make it more effective, more impactful.

Our aim should be problem solving for the individuals we serve within the organization, sometimes before they realize there is a problem! By adopting this perspective, we gain that critical trust and credibility with the operators and leaders we partner and support.