DREAM TEAM LEADERSHIP SERIES
Understanding your people's needs for long-term success with Deon Blyan, Director of Global Talent Development at Sunwing
Deon Blyan, Director of Global Talent Development at Sunwing
After spending 17 years in corporate retail operations, Deon Blyan naturally advanced in his career while learning new skills and developing a passion for people and culture programs. While working, Deon completed his MA in Leadership and soon after was recruited by Kelly Davis, a long-time partner of Predictive Success and The Predictive Index®. Today, Deon is the Director of Global Talent Development at Sunwing Travel Group. He oversees a unique portfolio that brings talent acquisition, learning, development and engagement teams under one umbrella within the People & Culture department. This team attempts to bring aligned methods of support and a collaborative approach while maintaining divisional uniqueness where necessary within the company.
What makes The Predictive Index® different?
"When you are bringing new people into the organization you want to be sure you are matching the best candidate to the correct role, so initially PI® is a critical resource for this. Because It is a tool that allows the hiring manager to understand the drives and needs of the individual they are hiring, they can more quickly implement development planning for that person to support their ability to contribute to the team," Deon shares. Using the Predictive Index Behavioural and Job Assessments® delivered by Predictive Success, Sunwing has implemented a routine for its recruiting process. When a complex role is open, Deon shares with us that it gives the hiring team a great opportunity to have a productive conversation about the qualifications, expectations, and responsibilities for that role. Sunwing has been diving into the Team Discovery® tool available within the Design module in the software. Using the tools available in the feature, Deon and his team have created a learning and development session called Being an Epic Team. “Bringing the team together, we give everyone the opportunity to talk about their strengths and areas of opportunities, their drives, and then we talk about what it means to be an epic team,” says Deon “which helps them to more deeply understand one another and who they are together.”
Why should an organization use The Predictive Index®?
“It goes back to leaders and hiring managers. Having the additional data when it comes to hiring the right person for the role has been essential. Some leaders think this is all about gut feel, but it shouldn’t only be that… it’s more about having conversations backed by evidence and determining fit while ensuring we are being inclusive and managing unconscious bias. A number of the leaders in our organization have used the tool and are seeing its value. Hiring with The Predictive Index® tool delivered by Predictive Success and educating our leaders with it has also helped us ensure that new employees are being onboarded in a manner that jump-starts their ability to gel and contribute within the team.”
What does having a dream team mean to you?
"When a team understands how they drive the company’s purpose and the leaders work to understand the individuals within a team and ensure that everyone feels a sense of belonging, they are fulfilled through the work they do every day, and everyone understands the collectiveness of a team, that is what allows for a team to be successful. My advice for other leaders is to remember that your organizational responsibility requires you to balance three important intersecting areas, 1) managing the business, 2) leading the team, and 3) leading yourself. Leadership is a process that requires a focus on people and the key competencies for leaders to have the best impact on their people are learning agility, self-awareness, communication, and influence.”
