Melissa Lloyd
Chief Human Resources Officer
Ozarks Technical Community College
Episode 225
Beyond HR: Why Your Professional Growth Is Truly Your Own Responsibility
Current chapter: This podcast is presented by Previ. Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern among employees
Built By PeopleApril 18, 2025 · 15:41
Thesis
“Effective employee development is a continuous, self-driven process that HR leaders must strategically align with organizational goals, leveraging data and fostering a culture of lifelong learning, even when starting small or imperfectly.”
Show notes
Leadership through Self-Motivation: Melissa Lloyd's HR Journey
In this episode of the Built by People Podcast, host Dave invites Melissa, a seasoned HR executive, to discuss her extensive career in human resources, particularly in the banking industry.
Melissa shares insights about her self-motivated journey from her early roles to becoming a director at 25, and how she developed key employee development programs.
She emphasizes the importance of continuous learning, aligning professional initiatives with organizational goals, and the role of HR leaders in driving employee development.
Melissa also provides valuable advice on the significance of both personal and professional development, stressing the necessity of lifelong learning and innovation. This episode is sponsored by Previ, helping employees save on household expenses.
00:00 Introduction to the Built by People Podcast
00:16 Sponsor Message: Previ's Employee Benefits
00:39 Meet Melissa: A Journey in HR
02:07 Early Career and First HR Roles
03:46 Growth in the Banking Industry
05:10 Sabbatical and New Opportunities
06:01 Key Lessons in Self-Development
07:45 Building Supervisory Development Programs
09:17 Effective Employee Development Programs
10:33 Evolving Professional Development Strategies
12:08 HR Leaders' Role in Employee Development
13:56 Parting Advice for HR Professionals
15:33 Conclusion and Farewell
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What you'll take away
- 1Individuals are responsible for their own professional development; don't wait for your company to create all opportunities. Seek out conferences, certifications, reading, and networking proactively.
- 2Learning through teaching and mentoring is highly effective. Training others, such as supervisors, and engaging in mentorship roles deepens your own understanding and development.
- 3Development programs must be customized to fit the organization's unique needs and challenges, and continuously evolve based on feedback, organizational changes, and the external environment.
- 4HR leaders should strategically align employee development initiatives with broader organizational goals, using available HR data to identify and address pain points like turnover and employee relations.
- 5Embrace an iterative approach to professional development programs. Don't let the pursuit of perfection prevent you from launching initiatives; be willing to start, gather feedback, and continuously improve.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Perfection is the enemy of innovation: Many leaders feel programs must be perfect to launch, but Lloyd advocates for jumping in, getting started, and iterating, rather than waiting for ideal conditions.
- •Professional development is primarily personal responsibility: She challenges the notion that companies are solely responsible for employee growth, stressing individual initiative and advocacy.
- •Building programs from immediate need, not just formal needs assessments: Rather than strictly following textbook needs assessments, she started by addressing immediate project needs for supervisors, building reputation and scale from there.
In Melissa's words
“I often say that I'm really a facilitator. Adults learn best from one another. So although I might be sharing concepts with them and helping them learn new things, I'm actually also helping them learn from one another at the same time.”
Highlights an effective, collaborative approach to adult learning in professional development, emphasizing peer-to-peer knowledge sharing.
“I think that it's really important for us to realize that our own professional development is our own responsibility. You can't wait for your leaders or your company to create opportunities for you. You need to find them yourself. You need to advocate for them, and you need to lead others by being an example of why professional development is important.”
Emphasizes individual accountability and proactive self-advocacy in career growth, departing from passively waiting for employer-led initiatives.
“I think perfection is the enemy of innovation. So many times, I feel like leaders feel like if it's not a perfect program, if it's not a perfect training event, then we shouldn't do it yet. I think we need to be willing to jump in to get started. We don't have to have everything in place to be able to move the organization forward with professional development.”
Advocates for an agile, iterative approach to professional development rather than waiting for ideal conditions, promoting proactive action.
“We also have a responsibility to develop others regardless of whether we have permission to start a formal program or not. So again, no excuses. You mentor others, you coach your own employees, you create discussion, you make sure that professional development isn't just sending someone to a class.”
Stresses the continuous, informal nature of development and the leader's ongoing responsibility to foster growth in others through various means.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Many organizations lack established supervisory development programs, forcing HR leaders to build them from scratch.
- •HR professionals often report to non-HR specialists, resulting in a lack of specific guidance or mentorship for HR career growth within the company.
- •Budget constraints often limit access to external training and development resources, requiring creative solutions like leveraging free webinars.
- •Ineffective recruiting and hiring decisions stem from supervisors lacking proper training, leading to downstream talent issues.
- •High turnover and common employee relations issues indicate a critical need for targeted supervisory training and coaching to address underlying problems.
- •Difficulty in gaining buy-in for new HR initiatives, especially development programs, requiring HR leaders to build a reputation and demonstrate value gradually.
- •Stagnant professional development programs that fail to evolve with organizational changes or participant feedback become ineffective and disengaging.
In this episode
This podcast is presented by Previ. Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern among employees
Built by People
Ozabb has been in human resources for 27 years
Career Journey of an HR Director
Melissa started as a director at the age of 25, learning on her own
Melissa's journey to self-development at 25
You've mentioned working with smaller companies where supervisory development wasn't established
How to Build Supervisory Development Programs
What are the most critical elements of an effective employee development program
What are the most critical elements of an effective Employee Development Program
How has your approach to professional development evolved over your 26-year career
How has professional development evolved over the years?
What role do HR leaders play in driving employee development initiatives within organizations
How to Drive Employee Development in the Workplace
Melissa says professional development is everyone's responsibility, no excuses
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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