CLICHÉS ABOUND IN BUSINESS: OUR PEOPLE ARE our greatest asset. We invest in our people. We are looking for leaders. Our skilled employees are our competitive advantage. We’re here to help you succeed. Managers at United Electric Supply, based in New Castle, Del., say these things too, talking the same talk that managers at thousands of other electrical distributorships talk. But this company’s talent development staff, pro- cesses, tools, and results prove that it is, in fact, also walk- ing the walk. “A new hire told me that a lot of places say, ‘There’s room to grow here,’ but at United, there is a concise method for that growth,” said Bob Grayson, district operations man- ager. Grayson is himself a product of this new talent devel- opment system, having been promoted from branch man- ager to his current position in January 2017. “I’m on a path that I hope I will continue to be on. I know what I want the end result to be, and [Talent Manager] Bob Cox is here to help me reach that career goal,” he said. Cox has orchestrated the creation and implementation of this talent development system, which is designed for the express purpose of cultivating the skills and knowledge and maximizing the potential of United’s workforce. Cox is uniquely qualified for the role, which he has held since May 2016: He was a United salesperson for 10 years, then a social studies high school teacher for nine years, and, im- mediately prior to his promotion, United’s manager of tal- ent acquisition. In addition to the pivotal position of talent manager, the
A GIANT STEP
BEYOND TRAINING
Training often means logging on to an e-learning site or watching a vendor demonstrate
a new product—but United Electric Supply is doing something very different. by Jan Niehaus
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Bob Grayson,
district operations
manager (left),
and Bob Cox,
talent manager
