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In a conversation with HRO's Tracy Chan at the debut Transform Talent in Hong Kong, Emmy Kan, the first home-grown President of Starbucks Asia Pacific, explained why this transition would be a win-win approach for both employees and the business.
In a world where job roles rapidly emerge and vanish, a traditional job-based approach can no longer sustain the ever-evolving business needs. This, therefore, has given traction to the skills-based approach, which prioritises capabilities over qualifications.
“The evolution to a skills-based organisation is imperative to enable organisations to have the agility to deploy talent with the right skillsets in the right place and in the right role to adapt to a dynamic and rapidly changing marketplace, to meet evolving customer needs, and drive positive business outcomes,” asserted Emmy Kan, Former President of Starbucks Coffee Asia Pacific, at the Transform Talent conference held on 11 June 2025 at Hotel ICON, Hong Kong.
Sitting down with HRO’s own Tracy Chan, Senior Journalist - North Asia, Emmy shared how a skills-based approach can be applied throughout employees' journey, and how it was implemented at Starbucks, where she was overseeing 15 diverse markets, driving retail growth, operational excellence, and digital innovation in the company’s fastest-growing region.
She emphasised that a fundamental principle of the skills-based approach is cultivating a growth mindset, which means abilities can be acquired through focused work and learning.
“For example, in hiring for an HR business partner, instead of looking for candidates with similar job titles for a certain year of experience, a skill-based hiring approach would evaluate critical skills like stakeholder management, change management, talent planning & engagement, coaching & conflict resolution, data driven decision making etc.,” she said.
Furthermore, Emmy noted that by adopting a skills-based development approach, talents are encouraged to build transferrable skills through continuous learning and upskilling, therefore organisations can deploy internal talent across cross-functional projects or roles based on skills, ultimately driving business performance.
To uncover hidden or underutilised skills within their existing workforce, Emmy stressed the importance of the leadership team identifying and developing talent collectively, extending beyond their own functions.
“This approach helps us to identify the best talents through a more holistic perspective not limited to functional expertise, uncovering hidden skills. Also, it ensures leaders have the willingness and agility to rotate the best talents across functions or geography to unlock talent’s potential and meet critical business needs.”
She outlined some practical methods for leaders to uncover hidden gems in their teams:
- Use performance evaluations to discuss employees' strengths and potential areas for growth.
- Foster a culture where employees take ownership of their career growth and development, sharing their career aspirations, existing and emerging skills, and stretch interests with their managers.
- Provide regular and constructive feedback and coaching to help employees recognise their hidden potential, and develop strategies to enhance their skills.
- Intentionally create unique and rewarding development opportunities for talent.
When asked about aligning skills development with broader organisational goals, Emmy identified several key points:
- Collective ownership and engagement from the leadership team are imperative.
- Embed organisational and talent planning, as well as performance management processes, into the business planning cycles.
- Ensure regular communication between the leadership team and HR team.
- Conduct skills gap analysis.
- Support employees in creating personalised development plans and learning paths.
- Leverage a mentorship programme.
- Foster a culture of continuous learning and emphasise a growth mindset.
- Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of skills development programmes against organisational goals.
Also, training and development programmes should focus on cross-functional capabilities, not just siloed expertise. Peer-learning cohorts, cross-organisation exposure, and investment in digital and AI tools help build enterprise-wide agility.
Finally, Emmy advised HR and business leaders who are starting to explore or pilot a skills-based approach that the transition requires significant change management and sustained leadership support, involving new mindsets, new behaviours, and new ways of working.
She offered three suggestions:
- Encourage your leadership team to role model continuous learning behaviours and openly share their development journeys to create psychological safety from the top.
- Provide the right tools and support to people managers to help them develop the skills to identify current talent and anticipate future and evolving skill needs within their teams.
- Recognise employees who practise a growth mindset, celebrate successes that result from skills development efforts, and link skill-building to career progression.
Interested in being part of these game-changing conversations? Join us for our flagship conference, Inspire HR 2025, on 16 September 2025, to explore the future of work with industry leaders and subject matter experts. Click here to learn more details.
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