Where They Went Next — Kelly Henderson

Hiring

Hiring decisions I was part of

On my own team and on panels for other leaders.

People I recruited, interviewed, and hired

Over 17 years at Waterloo Works.

Early-career hires

Fewer than two years of experience when they started.

90%

Team retention

People stayed, and when they left it was for a bigger job.

What happened to them

10+

Promotions into roles with greater responsibility

Off a team of five.

Converted to permanent positions

Students and contingent staff moved onto the payroll.

90%+

Successful employment placement

After graduation or the end of a contract.

Employees I was selected by fellow managers to coach

All four earned a promotion or a full-time role.

“One was still a student, and I handed her work that belonged to a full-time role … I trusted them with real pieces of it and coached them through, and both were hired on permanently after the event. Years later I was sitting across the table from one of them as a peer.”
From a 2026 cover letter

5 full-time direct reports 43 contingent tour guides and store clerks 48 people on the team 6 levels I moved through myself, administrative assistant to manager of communications, community and visitor services, on the executive leadership team

How it actually worked

I hired for what was missing, not for what was already in the room, and I used DISC as the framework for doing that on purpose. You do not want everyone the same. All high-I and you have energy and big ideas with nobody closing the loop. All high-C and the strategy is airtight but nothing ships. Every direct report got one hour a week and they ran it, not me. It could be a project, a development goal, something personal, or nothing about work at all. That was the point.

Hired a production-floor employee into an open graphic designer role. I ran the same process for every candidate and he had the eye and the skill we needed, so he got the job. He is a full-time graphic designer at John Deere today.
Two people came out of the 175th anniversary, a multimillion-dollar employee, retiree, and family event. One was still a student and I handed her work that belonged to a full-time role. The other was a fresh graduate on a contingent contract. Both were hired on permanently after the event.
Fellow managers picked me to coach four of their own people, entry-level employees and part-time students outside my team. All four earned a promotion or a full-time role.
A factory manager saw something in his admin, so I brought her along with my own team to a communications conference at corporate to see what was available to her.
Took the team to corporate so a factory-floor group could see the other side of the building. We talked about the difference the whole way back.
Mentored a college sophomore who took a chance on herself. Years later I was sitting across the table from her as a peer.

Coaching did not wait for a review cycle. It happened in the parking lot after a hard meeting, in a one-on-one that ran long because something mattered, and in the moment somebody was finally ready to hear a thing they were not ready for the week before.

When someone left my team, I told them the same thing every time, that I could not wait to see their story unfold.