JOSH WHITE
Vice President of Talent Management, BrightPoint North America L.P.
Faced with increasing marketplace demands, wireless services firm BrightPoint North America L.P. sought to better optimize its human capital, enhancing employee development and talent management practices to help serve its clients and customers more effectively.
Josh White, vice president of talent management, took the reins of the initiative, which involved a near complete rebranding and marketing of the company’s internal learning, development and talent management services.
White implemented a plan to unify existing talent management programs in North America to support the new emphasis on development with a learning and development team of only two. To complicate matters, the company acquired a reverse logistics firm in 2010, doubling its North American workforce.
To tackle the enhanced focus on human capital development, White and his team developed the BrightPoint Performance Compass, a competency model to evaluate and assess talent and learning needs across the board. The purpose of the model was to capture and communicate the specific knowledge, skills, attitudes and outcomes that constitute a well-rounded performance within the company’s culture and business environment.
The Performance Compass aimed to define the characteristics of an ideal performer. White and his learning team spent four months reviewing academic literature and corporate examples on how to best design the model, which was integrated throughout all talent management and learning.
Since integration, BrightPoint said its managers and employees have increased their focus on professional development. The firm saw a year-over-year increase in its Walker Survey Employee Commitment Index, a score that indicates employees’ level of engagement and satisfaction. Further, 54 percent of the company’s high-potential employees have been promoted within the last year. BrightPoint has lost less than 2 percent of its employees to other firms in the same timeframe.
Since BrightPoint implemented the BrightPoint Performance Compass, 54 percent of its high-potential employees have been promoted within the last year.
