We spoke with Rafael Herrera Garland, Leadership and Talent Analyst, Heineken (Spain).
In this series, we introduce the next generation of positive and mindful leaders who are taking positive action to foster flourishing work environments.
Rafael, tell us more about your background.
I was born in Lima, Perú and there I majored in clinical psychology. Afterwards, I studied for a Master’s in Cognitive Psychology and another in Couples Counselling and Human Sexuality in Barcelona. When I graduated, I returned to my home town and worked as a counsellor and teacher in a university. Nevertheless, I had a feeling that I wanted to learn more and there was an area of life in which I had very little knowledge: this was the business world, or in my case human resources. So when I turned 30, I went back to Spain, this time to Madrid, to study for a Master’s in Talent Development and Human Resources.
What are your current roles and tasks?
Nowadays, I work in human resources for Heineken Spain, in an area called Talent & Leadership. This area, put simply, is the one that takes care of the people who work at Heineken. We take care of the employee branding, talent acquisition processes, onboarding, performance management, development and succession planning of the talent pipeline.
The roles that take up most of my time are talent acquisition and performance management. For the first, I have to speak with business partners and managers to learn what they need regrading talent and ensure that the KPIs of the hiring processes are on point. In some cases, I assist managers in creating accurate job descriptions and interviewing. Regarding performance management, in the company we have a yearly process with various stages for all employees. I teach new managers how to use our software and make sure that all employees and managers are setting yearly objectives and getting continuous feedback. We also train managers on how to have difficult conversations and provide constructive feedback.
