In 2023, UScellular, the nation’s fourth-largest wireless career, is marking its 40th anniversary. It’s also a momentous year for newly appointed top HR exec Kevin Lowell, who is celebrating two decades with the company. It’s a journey that has given Lowell a well-rounded experience of the entire business—from tech to talent.
Lowell started in 2003 as senior director of engineering and network operations and held a number of tech leadership positions, including, most recently, senior vice president of IT. In January, he became executive vice president, chief people officer and head of communications—focused on integrating HR and comms to advance UScellular’s business strategy.
His diverse career path in the organization provided him with a deep understanding of that strategy—which, he says, is pivotal as he now seeks to evolve how UScellular’s talent focus advances its business objectives. He recently shared with HRE how he plans to do that:
Lowell: The biggest mindset shift I’m making involves pivoting my focus from technology roadmaps to talent roadmaps. There are obvious differences between the two, but there are key similarities. The differences include what I’ll call the “building blocks” of each. By definition, technology roadmaps include technology platforms, infrastructures and architectures. These roadmaps identify options and opportunities for future technical capabilities. Talent roadmaps, on the other hand, lay out the path forward for the ongoing identification, attraction, development and succession of the talent in the organization—the people—in ways that will best serve the future state of the business.
As I mentioned, there are similarities between the two roadmaps. Both require that we couple a deep understanding of the current state of the business with a strategic view of what we believe the future holds. Notably, the technology roadmap and the talent roadmap share the same purpose: Create a path toward achieving a specific future state.
In the end, leadership in both domains requires a strategic understanding of the business.
HRE: In what ways are you leveraging your extensive engineering and IT experience to improve the people function at UScellular?
Lowell: My challenge isn’t to “improve the people function.” Rather, I’ve been tasked with helping evolve the HR function in a way that reflects today’s environment and that enables us to meet the challenges of tomorrow. It’s a work in progress.
A few ways that I’m leveraging my engineering and IT experience in my new role:
I have many past examples where a team spent a lot of money, time and effort, only to find out that we weren’t solving the right problem. There’s nothing more discouraging and frustrating to a team than to be told after months of hard work that their efforts haven’t addressed the right problem. By working quickly to determine what the true problem is that you’re trying to address, it pays off in the end.
The value of measuring—understanding and quantifying the value of the work we do is invaluable for both HR teams and business partners. We need to be careful: Metrics are not objectives. Metrics describe a current state. We need to get clear on the value of the outcome, the deliverable or the project, and then use data to track, measure and communicate the value we’re delivering.
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HRE: What do you anticipate will be the biggest change you’ll bring to UScellular’s talent strategy in your first year as CHRO?
Lowell: I’ll continue evolving our talent development process. As I see it, talent development begins the day we decide to recruit talent. It starts with how we show up in the talent marketplace and how we articulate our employment value proposition.
The way we show up goes beyond deliberate recruitment strategies. Specifically, it includes how we engage and continue to support our communities day in and day out. Most people today expect companies to demonstrate a commitment to supporting the communities they serve.
Our talent development process progresses through talent attraction to retention and talent reviews and talent succession. I’ve written about how talent development is a two-way street: The leader and associate have to be fully engaged. We’ve all heard the phrase, “You own your career.” I believe this to be true, as no one will ever work as hard at your career as you will. At the same time, anyone who is a leader must commit and invest, too. We have several valuable tools and approaches at our disposal: written development plans, mentoring and reverse mentoring, feedback and stretch assignments, to name a few.
At the heart of it all is the importance of caring, and it’s at the heart of the changes I bring in my role as CHRO at UScellular.
HRE: How is the company experiencing the recruitment and retention struggles that so many today are facing?
Lowell: It’s a very interesting time in the talent marketplace. Despite the economic and environmental pressures we’re all facing, unemployment is still near a historically low level. For example, frontline workers are in high demand, and they have ample choices. This means two things to us: First, we have to offer what today’s job seeker wants: career experiences that allow them to achieve their full potential for a trusted company, coupled with the rewards and benefits that empower them to fuel their aspirations.
Second, we must attract and onboard them faster than ever before. Clearly, job-seeker behaviors are changing within a tight market. Platforms like LinkedIn provide features for users that bring opportunities right to their inbox, so we know that we need to make the right offers and have efficient hiring processes to attract the right talent for our business.
HRE: And what is the most innovative approach UScellular is taking to both attract and retain top talent today?
Lowell: At UScellular, we believe in meaningful connection. Our business is built around connecting people to what matters most, and that’s exactly how we think about our talent too—connecting our associates to what matters most. The pandemic taught us that, while our associates want more flexibility in how, when and where they do their work, they also value being able to collaborate with their peers and leaders. We know that having both hybrid and in-office experiences are important to keeping our culture strong.
A “one-size-fits-all” approach doesn’t work. For example, we have frontline workers who need to be in our retail locations for our customers each day, and we also have workers who traditionally have spent their workdays in an office environment. We need to increase meaningful in-person connections while also providing the flexibility that associates are looking for. For us, that involves prioritizing in-person experiences that enable innovating for our customers and bringing our teams together to build social capital, cultural competence, and mentorship and development opportunities.
HRE: What is the biggest challenge facing CHROs in a post-pandemic world?
Lowell: I believe that more than ever, the biggest challenge facing CHROs is to recognize and consider the whole person in the talent equation.
Today, the challenge goes way beyond simply shifting our focus from jobs to skills. It goes way beyond striking the right balance between in-office work and remote work. In today’s world, the challenge for CHROs is much more about recognizing and applying the value of diversity—that cognitive diversity and thought diversity that’s the result of a person’s lived experience. And of course, this includes identity diversity and education diversity.
Every generation has faced challenges that were unique in their day. In that regard, today is no different. As with the challenges that faced yesterday’s CHROs, today’s post-pandemic world presents challenges that require creative thinking. For us, today, the data clearly shows that we get more innovative solutions when we include diverse voices in the dialogue.
HRE: Outside of work, what gives you motivation?
Lowell: There are so many things that motivate me.
Nature. The magnitude of the biodiversity of nature is staggering. The interconnectedness is nothing short of amazing. When I walk in the forest or I swim in the ocean, I’m reminded that there’s beauty and complexity and mystery all around me. It teaches me humility and hope at the same time.
Reading. I love to read: fiction, non-fiction, history, biography, poetry, science fiction—you name it. I’m reminded that there’s a richness in thoughts and ideas that we will never exhaust. We only need to go looking.
People. People’s stories inspire me. Everyone has a story. Everyone has greatness in them. Listening to these stories—family, friends, colleagues, people I meet when I’m traveling—listening to these stories, really hearing people’s stories, is a never-ending source of wonder and inspiration for me.
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