Dolby Laboratories has long been known for its innovative audiovisual technologies. Dolby brings movies, television, music, and games to life. But even superstars need help sometimes.
Dolby’s human resources department was bogged down in administrative work and unable to help the company thrive. The company needed to fill several vacancies quickly, but also needed a complete HR transformation. The technology world is fast-paced and Hudgens knew they needed to move quickly and think more strategically about talent. But the immediate problem was that Dolby needed to fill several vacancies quickly. Hudgens turned to the consultants at Gig Talent.
Hudgens quickly discovered that his Gig Talent consultant was able to provide so much more than just a quick fix. As Hudgens puts it,
“The consultant started to become integral to our transformation and almost by accident became the leader of the business partners as a non-employee, which is very unusual.”
Hudgens went on to say,
“When the consultant got here, we were on fire, just triage mode. And now on the other side, we have a transformed team that’s operating at a strategic level like never before. So it really is a home run success story. We didn’t have that plan, it kind of just happened because of her excellence.”
That’s not to say it was an easy road. Hudgens knew Dolby’s HR department needed a complete transformation. Luckily for him, Gig Talent consultants bring the benefit of not only their skills and experience but also a fresh perspective. That’s what Dolby Labs really needed – someone to challenge the status quo.
With the consultant’s help, Dolby went from having an HR staff of generalists to a strong team of strategic business partners. Said Hudgens, “She really sussed out the people that had the right combination of business acumen and strategic thinking. That’s what really helped us succeed.”
Part of the challenge was retraining the executive team to think of the business partners as specialists. There was a mind-shift needed in order to make the new structure succeed. Hudgens described it as the consultant holding the team’s hands and walking them through it instead of just informing them of the change.
Hudgens described the final result: “We’re leaning into the future. Before we were very reactive. Now we’re ahead of things … We’re lucky at Dolby. The core is there’s a belief that we are innovation, and then it’s about creating this really beautiful environment that allows people to create and innovate. We didn’t have the people, the capability to be able to go there. Now we do.”
Hudgens plans to continue to keep Gig Talent on reserve. They are an elastic workforce that is a key component of a modern talent strategy. In Hudgens’ words, “If we have a big situation and we need to call in the cavalry, Gig Talent is the cavalry.”
– George Hudgens
Jeanette Stalboerger – Retained HR Search Candidate Placement