design thinking story
Nicole Dessain
Why Talent Tales?
Why Talent Tales?

human resources

Scaling Capability – A Conversation with IBM’s Damon Deaner

Scaling Capability – A Conversation with IBM’s Damon Deaner

In this Talent Tales episode, talent.imperative Founder Nicole Dessain had the honor to interview Damon Deaner, the Director of Employee Experience & Design at IBM.

Damon’s superpower is blending design and technology. He now applies his superpower by using design and tech to enable people experience.

Damon started his journey in design thinking in 2012 when IBM announced that they would bring design back and build a culture of design thinking. Damon joined the newly formed design organization and helped bring developers, engineers, and designers together to use design thinking. From there, he ended up leading all design talent at IBM and conducted several employee lifecycle projects. That caught the attention of the CHRO and eventually Damon was asked to join the HR team to build an employee experience practice.

Navigating Through Crisis – A Conversation with UChicago Medicine’s Tyler Carroll

Navigating Through Crisis – A Conversation with UChicago Medicine’s Tyler Carroll

In this Talent Tales episode, talent.imperative Founder Nicole Dessain had the honor to interview Tyler Carroll, Executive Director of Organizational Climate at UChicago Medicine.

Tyler’s current superpower is (or at least she aspires to it) to stay awake for 24 hours to get everything done that needs to be completed – both a work and at home. BAM! I think many of us wish they had that superpower right about now…

Tyler’s career story is marked by progressing in the field of change management across various functions and organizations. She joined UChicago Medicine six years ago leading a team that is responsible for making this purpose-driven healthcare organization an even better place to work.

Tyler was first exposed to human-centered design when she realized that HR communications were very functional and not so much crafted with the user in mind. She realized that the greatest HR programs can be ineffective if the message is lost because it was not tied to the employees’ experiences.

Nudging for Benefit – A Conversation with GreenPath’s Danielle Crane

Nudging for Benefit – A Conversation with GreenPath’s Danielle Crane

In this Talent Tales episode, talent.imperative Founder Nicole Dessain had the honor to interview Danielle Crane, Chief Talent Officer at GreenPath.

Danielle’s creative superpower is connecting humans and ideas.

Danielle describes herself as “the girl who almost didn’t enter HR”. She quit her first HR internship after 48 hours. Her career counsellor challenged her to try for another internship and encouraged her to help design what HR might be versus the reactive function she initially experienced.

Danielle was first exposed to design thinking by her CEO who had used it previously and brought it with her when she joined GreenPath. Danielle was intrigued by how she might apply this method for complex problem solving with her internal customers – leaders and employees.

In her own practice, Danielle combines design thinking with behavioral economics principles when designing HR programs at GreenPath.

Crafting HR Strategy – A Conversation with Centro’s Elles Skony

Crafting HR Strategy – A Conversation with Centro’s Elles Skony

In this Talent Tales episode, talent.imperative Founder Nicole Dessain had the honor to interview Elles Skony, Vice President of Talent Management at Centro.

Elles’ creative superpower is “communication”. She believes that HR can come up with the best programs or initiatives but if they are not articulated in an engaging and humorous way then they are not going to be embraced by employees.

Elles is passionate about enabling every HR professional to become excited about the employee experience. One of the ways she fosters this is by networking with other HR professionals of mid-sized start-ups in Chicago. While there is competition for talent, this collaboration encourages taking a systems perspective towards making people’s work lives better by sharing best practices and lessons learned.

Elles leverages design thinking as a framework to prioritize HR initiatives at the beginning of each year and to define the employee experience at Centro.