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HR pro Denver Ritz says, ‘the challenge is the fun part’

They lead performance management and talent development at Hormel.
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Denver Ritz

· 3 min read

Here’s another installment of our 1:1 with HR Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Denver Ritz is willing to admit that they suffer from imposter syndrome. Whenever someone tells them they can’t do something, “I’m going to do it twice, and then I’m going to show you how I did it.” This has served Ritz well over their career as a trainer and later performance management coach and talent development pro. They’ve been with Hormel for nearly two years, joining the food processing company to overhaul its talent development approach as a pair of “outside eyes” making sense of a new system.

What’s the best change you’ve made at a place you’ve worked?

[In] 2022, we completely overhauled our performance management approach. We made things smoother…and eliminated about seven weeks of administrative time. There was a lot of administrative wasted time that didn’t really produce any results. And so we cut a lot of that, and then we streamlined the approach.

What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?

That HR is bad. I always say that I am the “fun” part of HR. I get to help our people grow towards their aspirations while strengthening our organization’s talent [base].

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

I absolutely love facilitating 360 insight sessions. This is where I get to collect data from a leader’s peers, team members, their leader, and others they frequently collaborate with. I assess the info, and present it back to them in a conversation that inspires insights to increase their leadership perceptions and abilities. I also geek out on coaching and mentoring, especially from the neuropsychology perspective.

Feedback is a gift, even when it stings, because somebody is trusting you enough with this to hope that you take action or see this part of yourself…I want [leaders] to have that aha moment where they’re inspired to take further action, and then from there, we actually build a development plan—what call-out areas do you see [and] where do you want to focus your attention—and I really focus them on capitalizing more on their strengths…because you’re gonna make the most change when you capitalize on your strengths, [rather than doing] a complete 180.

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What trend in HR are you most optimistic about? Why?

Continuing to move away from managers to leaders who engage and coach. I think of a manager’s work, and we definitely have to have people that can manage the work and make sure that we achieve results. But there’s a bigger component there being a leader: How are you leading your people? How are you building connections, creating that sense of belonging, and where are you developing your talent?...We challenge our leaders to be in this leadership and coach mindset, developing others and the work. We know [that] team members who feel like they’re being invested in…are happier, more productive team members and they provide greater value to our organization or enterprise.

What trend in HR are you least optimistic about? Why?

The tight labor market. I see this being a battle for the next few years. (My hat is off to all our talent acquisition leaders!)

Tell us one new or old HR tech product or platform that’s made your life easier, and why.

I think it’s more about being able to host all things HR in one platform, a single source of learning, engagement, succession, performance, records, pay, benefits, etc. We integrated Oracle two years ago and are still learning how we can better leverage it.

Quick-to-read HR news & insights

From recruiting and retention to company culture and the latest in HR tech, HR Brew delivers up-to-date industry news and tips to help HR pros stay nimble in today’s fast-changing business environment.