A Future-Proofing Approach to Talent and Change Management

Heather Wheaton, Senior Director of Human Resources at Kellanova

Heather Wheaton, Senior Director of Human Resources at Kellanova[NYSE:K], brings over 16 years of experience across retail, medical device, pharmaceutical and consumer goods sectors. She has a bachelor’s degree in behavior psychology and a doctoral degree in management organizational leadership. Currently, working as senior director of human resources, she acts as a strategic business partner to our commercial and manufacturing sites, bridging the gap between the current state and the future goals through the most valuable asset— people.

This exclusive interview highlights Heather Wheaton’s visionary leadership and corporate excellence in driving business success. It explores the major issues HR faces today, including effective change management, enhancing employee engagement and navigating the evolving talent landscape.

AT A GLANCE:

● Explores key challenges such as effective change management, enhancing employee engagement and navigating the evolving war for talent.

● Discusses the need for both baseline leadership skills and individualized development opportunities to prepare current and future leaders.

● Describes the shift towards Agile HR, which enhances flexibility, collaboration and responsiveness by applying agile principles to HR functions.

 The Big Three Emerging Challenges in HR

Change Management: Change is the only constant, and we don’t have the luxury of time to develop extensive change management implementation plans. Therefore, we are focused on identifying consistent methods and communication avenues for all changes, whether small or large-scale. This consistency is crucial to ensuring employees know what to expect and where to find information, minimizing surprises. Change management and effective communication are now responsibilities for everyone, not just HR.

Employee Well-being and Engagement: Ensuring employee well-being and maintaining high engagement levels are critical, especially with increasing awareness of mental health. What our employees say they want and what is used are often two very different things, so managing the ask while ensuring effectiveness is crucial. As the company evolves, we recognize the need for multiple layers of engagement—at the company level, regional level, function level and team level. It's important to identify and implement the appropriate types of engagement at each layer.

The War on Talent: The work environment is continuously evolving, both in terms of location and the way we work, especially with the integration of AI and other technologies. To stay competitive in the ongoing war for talent, we must be creative and proactive in how we approach this changing landscape.

Tough Decisions in HR: Lessons from the Field

During my time in the business, I was responsible for finding efficiencies and cost savings, analyzing P&L statements and understanding how our organization generates revenue. I also led large populations of both hourly and salaried employees. Through these experiences, I learned the importance of being genuinely curious about what is happening both externally and internally within the business. My business peers need to know that I care just as much about delivering results as they do and can support them in achieving these results through our people.

“Being genuinely curious about both internal and external business dynamics helps build credibility and results. It’s crucial for business leaders to see that HR is equally invested in achieving business outcomes.”

One thing I’ve noticed in HR is that many professionals spend their entire careers within the field. Unlike in other areas, like marketing, where someone might temporarily take on sales or commercial strategy roles, HR professionals often grow up in HR and stay there.

Spending time in the business has really helped me build credibility with my business leaders and develop strong commercial and business acumen. I made a conscious decision to step out of HR and into the business, taking on responsibilities that our leaders handle every day. This experience allowed me to truly understand and respect what they do and allowed me to emphasize this with my leaders.

Preparing Today’s and Tomorrow’s Leaders

When we think about leadership development, there are baseline skills that every leader needs to carry. These include leading with empathy, managing workload while inspiring others and other essential leadership competencies. It's crucial to identify the skills that every leader, regardless of their role, needs to be successful.

We also need to consider both current leaders and those who aspire to leadership positions in the future. How can we start preparing these future leaders before they officially take on leadership roles? This could involve providing them with experiences like mentorship, leading projects, or managing interns—opportunities that help them develop the necessary skills for leadership. At the same time, leadership development needs to consider each individual's distinct nuances. While baseline competencies are important, there are specific areas where an individual might need additional support.

Lessons from a Successful M&A Integration

Early in my career, I learned that mergers and acquisitions are among the most challenging processes, as they significantly impact people's professional careers and can have personal implications as well. I was lucky to gain experience in this area early on, working with my L&D peers to facilitate the integration of a manufacturing plant in Turkey into the same division in North America.

We began by creating an experience journey map, which helped us define the feelings and outcomes we wanted both teams to take away from the experience. We developed cultural and historical training for both leadership teams, understanding key vernacular and cultural differences, identified critical moments that mattered and established conflict resolution processes and listening strategies to address concerns early on.

I learned to start with the outcome first and work backward. This way, you will make sure all the processes are done, like changes in benefits, payroll, etc. However, you may miss the most important aspect, which is how you made someone feel in the process.

Unconventional Technologies and Trends in HR

We have explored technologies like virtual reality methods to see if there is an opportunity to leverage in HR, perhaps for onboarding and other training purposes. Sales teams, for example, have used this method for years for their training purposes. I think we often overlook technologies being used in the business and don’t realize there could be a broader implication or benefit.

Shaping the Future of Human Resources

I see a growing effort to move towards Agile HR, which applies the principles and practices of agile development to HR functions. This approach provides greater flexibility, enhances collaboration and allows HR to be more responsive to dynamic shifts in the market. Traditional HR processes can often be slow and cumbersome, but the goal of agile HR is to deliver solutions and improvements in more manageable increments.

Key to Unlocking Successful HR Leadership

I talked about the importance of collaboration between HR and the business. Often, there’s a clear separation. The business focuses on operations, and HR focuses on people. But what I’ve seen—and what’s becoming a trend—is a growing understanding that both sides need to care about each other’s areas of expertise. When we adopt this mindset, it changes how we operate.

Another piece of advice for HR leaders is to be genuinely curious. I’ve mentioned this before, but I believe it’s crucial. Asking questions and not just being task-driven all the time builds credibility and effectiveness in HR.

When you're in a room full of business peers, it should be challenging to distinguish the HR professional from the business professional. This means that everyone should understand the business strongly and equally consider how decisions impact our people. When you have that level of commitment as a team, the sky is the limit because you all have the same priorities—grow the business and care for our people

Agile

Retail

Virtual Reality

Pharmaceutical

AI

Marketing