Is Your Organization a Talent Factory?

The June edition of the Harvard Business Review features an article by Douglas A. Ready and Jay A. Conger entitled “Make Your Company a Talent Factory”. It is an informative article on the subject of identifying and developing next-generation leaders. This is a hot button issue for almost every organization as demographics shift (think baby boomers) and the increasing need for knowledge workers create immense pressure on identifying, developing and retaining the talent that you will need to remain competitive.

The authors reference a survey that they conducted with human resource executives from approximately 40 companies. A statistic that surprised me is that 97 % of those that responded indicated that they had formal processes and procedures in place to identify and develop their talent. Presumably, the size of the companies surveyed would best be described as very big businesses. It has been my experience that small to medium size companies would not typically report the same level of commitment to formal development systems.

Before you panic about the fact that you do not currently have a formal talent identification and development process in your organization, all is not lost! Almost all of the respondents to the referenced survey stated that they did not have the required number of identified high-potential employees to fill their strategic management roles. So, they are currently not stewarding their procedures and processes in a fashion that allows them to mine the talent that they require. You still have time to take the tips and strategies from Ready and Conger and apply them to your organization.

Though the authors highlight two very large companies to make their point (HSBC Group and Procter & Gamble) the main thrust of developing a talent pool is still very relevant to much smaller organizations. Regardless of whether it is a company of 10 or 10,000, the most critical ingredient of a sound identification and development plan starts at the top. The passion to succeed in the talent war must come from top management and quickly become part of a sustained culture within your organization. Unfortunately, many executive teams get side tracked by competing priorities. If the commitment to obtaining and keeping the best people is not a major priority with the key decision makers in your organization then you are in trouble.

Ready and Conger suggest that to be successful an organization must do more than simply manage their talent. Their message is that they need to create a ‘talent factory’ that combines the process that support their objectives and foster the passion and emotion by management to demonstrate the commitment to development through their daily actions. The authors share that the victors in the talent war will marry functionality (processes and strategy that support objectives) and vitality (commitment by management).

Functionality

The following components are seen as key measurements in assessing an organizations ability to meet their talent needs: assimilation, development, deployment, performance management, rewards, engagement, retention and sourcing. In the case of HSBC, they implement a system of talent pools that identify and track high potential employees. They are often given new assignments (rewards/engagement/retention) and involved in regular dialogue, with an emphasis on their specific needs for meeting the challenges they are facing (performance management/development).

With P&G, high potential employees will move through a series of senior positions that challenge them to acquire new skills and knowledge in managing strategy, size and complexity in different market places (deployment/retention/development).

Both organizations place an emphasis on ensuring that high potential employees are given opportunities to work and live within different cultures (assimilation/deployment).

Functionality, as it is described by the authors, will be a challenge for many smaller organizations. The opportunity to deploy an employee to another division/department or a foreign posting may not readily exist within your group. The important things to keep in mind, while also demonstrating to your team, are:

• An easily recognizable process and related procedures for identifying high potential employees
• Meaningful opportunities for these employees to advance their knowledge and skill sets
• New and meaningful challenges and assignments
• Regular reviews (involving high potential employees and management team) to assess progress
• Appropriate rewards and recognition that reflect the needs of the individual
  

It is critical to show high potential employees that there will always be new and challenging opportunities associated with your organization. You may not have the opportunities to offer that the HSBC Group has at their disposal but you must maximize your resources in this area if you intend on retaining your talent.

Vitality

The authors describe vitality as the attitudes and mind-sets of the team members that are responsible for functionality (processes). Simply stated, vitality can be defined as developing a culture that enthusiastically supports the identification and development of high potential employees. This passion must transcend human resources personnel and be visibly embraced by the senior management team. Ready and Conger suggest that the vitality of a company’s talent management process is demonstrated through their collective level of commitment, engagement and accountability.

Regardless of size or available resources, every organization can and should make a visible commitment to their talent management process. Senior leaders or key decision makers must be assessed on their ability to demonstrate that they are actively engaged (hands on and not delegated) in developing the talent that their organization requires. Accountability starts at the top and nothing can be more important than senior management ‘owning’ the talent development process.

In the perfect world, the connection between functionality and vitality would be seamless. The talent management process takes a great deal of commitment at all levels, but it is worth it! Organizations that are capable of putting the right people in the right places have a competitive advantage in their market. Will that be your organization?

In August, we will discuss the issue of leadership as a brand, stay tuned………

To Be or Not to Be......

It seems that employee engagement is the one component of an effective workforce strategy that gets very little air time. Now, at least from my point of view, it would seem that a focus on employee engagement would be a great place to start when contemplating the first steps in implementing an effective workforce strategy. Why engagement?

Engagement focuses on current team members (sort of a bird in hand philosophy) and allows the owner/manager to assess the alignment within her organization. Employee engagement can be defined as one’s passion and commitment – the willingness to expend one’s discretionary effort on the employer’s success (see my previous post on a Perfect Storm). So where does your organization stand?

The statistics on employee engagement are not stellar. Even with an improving economy, the level of employee engagement is not improving. A full 17 % of Canadian employees are highly disengaged while the equal amount is highly engaged. The middle group is, at best, moderately engaged or worse. So, what are we looking for when we are assessing the level of engagement that is being demonstrated within our organizations or work teams? Engaged employees …

• Understand the business/organization and their role in its success
• Trust leadership and believe they are making decisions with the best interest of the business and the people in mind
• Work towards making a difference in their jobs each and every day
• Feel valued and appreciated
  

For many of you, discussion on engagement will be very new. A starting point for you could be a discussion with your team members (best done one-on-one) to gauge just how effective you are in capturing their hearts and minds. Some things to look for…Are they:

• Motivated
• Connected
• Understood
• Valued
• Developed
• Confident
• Energized and enjoying their work
  
  

Perhaps this seems like a lot of effort to you. You are already in fifth gear and barely able to keep up (if you are keeping up) with the demands on your organization and recruiting the people that you minimally need to keep treading water. Well, good news! Highly engaged work groups are :

44 % higher in retention
56% higher in customer loyalty
50 % more productive
33 % more profitable

Clearly, enhancing the level of engagement within your team will have an immediate and significant impact on your organization. Towers and Perrin report that a key piece of engagement is senior leadership interest in employee well-being. I caution you to ensure that you determine whether what your organization is experiencing is employee satisfaction rather employee engagement. Perhaps this is a little confusing (you are saying, I thought I wanted satisfied employees?), you will soon understand why satisfaction is the enemy of engagement.

Satisfaction versus Engagement

When we are considering employee satisfaction, what we are really looking at is the level of sufficiency that they are currently experiencing. Is there enough pay? Are the benefits enough? Are they being treated fairly? Is there enough flexibility in my life balance as it relates to work? The satisfied employee will likely describe their work experience as ‘okay’ or ‘likely better than they might find elsewhere’. Is this what we are really looking for?

Engagement is an indication of how well employees are aligned with their organizations. It is measured by assessing a worker’s commitment, pride, advocacy and satisfaction both in regard to their current job and to the organization itself. Engagement reflects a sense of passion and commitment by the employee. This kind of staffer sees each day bringing new challenges that they desire and when asked will describe their days as ‘speeding by’. This attractive group understands their business and completely understand the functions that they are responsible. They are very enthusiastic about their work and their workplace and this enthusiasm has a tendency to positively impact their co-workers. For this kind of employee it is not about the salary, the benefits or flexibility in work parameters. These individuals are rewarded by the nature of the work they do, the energy within the workplace, engaged colleagues and the opportunity to demonstrate their passion.

The first step is to measure the level of engagement in your organization. There are a number of tools available to organizations including:

• Gallup Organization’s Q 12
• Employee Engagement Survey Program by ITS

I utilize the Workforce Analysis Profile. This comprehensive survey provides a measure of employee engagement and their overall workplace experience. An added piece is the segmentation that is also included in the survey results. This component provides detailed information on the kinds of employees that you have in your organization and specific traits and characteristics. This is valuable information for a key decision maker to have at their disposal.

If you are interested in more information on Engagement, check out Tamara J. Erickson, co-author of Workforce Crisis, as she discusses the issue.

Interesting Articles...

A couple of recent articles from Canadian newspapers piqued my interest; one discussing the importance of leaders maintaining and managing their profile and the other focusing on coaching to address succession planning challenges.

Staying on Top

Wallace Immen penned an article in the Globe and Mail in which he positioned the recent dismissal of Ottawa Senators General Manager John Muckler by team owner Eugene Melnyk as an example of the importance of leaders staying in the loop. Immen points to the importance of the leader ensuring that they understand and deliver on the priorities of the higher ups; whether that be an owner (as in Melnyk’s case) or a board of directors.

Immen shared a list of tips that experts say will ‘keep you at the top of your game’:

Get clear on expectations.
Defend talent.
Groom a successor.
Seek regular feedback.
Confront issues.
Listen to everyone.
Nurture relationships.
Celebrate your successes.
Defuse tension.
Don't get sidetracked.
Don't take it personally.

The situation with Muckler was relatively clear. Muckler was reveling in a successful 2006/07 NHL campaign and was, at the time of his dismissal, looking forward to carrying on as the Senator’s GM. Muckler either down played the management conflicts that he was having with the teams head coach over player decisions or (and this has been the failing of many leaders) he felt so secure in his position that he could afford to ignore the issues.

Melnyk was looking to Muckler to identify a successor in order to ensure that the team could continue to enjoy success and quickly attain the holy grail of hockey, Lord Stanley’s Cup. So where was Muckler on this issue? He missed this important piece (Get Clear on Expectations) and carried forward with his own agenda. Sources close to the issue suggest that the relationship between Muckler and Melnyk was strained. As a leader you can never afford to ignore the importance of nurturing the relationships that you have with key decision makers in your organization. If you fail to feed those relationships in a meaningful and consistent fashion then you risk the appearance of being aloof and disconnected from the priorities of the organization. This was clearly the case for Muckler. The message is clear understand AND execute on the priorities and maintain communication and relationships.
My experience suggests that leaders should consider one further tip. EXECUTE! It is critical to be doing the important things rather than the appearance of keeping in the loop. My list would have execution as the top priority!


Coaching Supports Change

The June 23, 2007 Calgary Herald featured an article by Derek Sankey profiling the coaching initiatives being undertaken by Encana Corp. and the importance the company places on coaching. Corporate coaching is indeed becoming well entrenched in the resource sector. Coaching demonstrates to staffers that the organization is committed to their development and that they have a future opportunity within the corporate leadership plan. Implementing a coaching program requires real commitment. The challenge is that there is often less than a clearly tangible return on investment that the typical senior manager uses to assess the relative success of an initiative. There really is only one question that a key decision maker needs to ask themselves when assessing the importance of championing a coaching initiative within their organization and that is ‘Will my company/organization be more successful with a group of new leaders that have been coached and developed with the input of professional coaches and senior decision makers or by a cadre that were elevated without the benefit of this support?’

Encana have embraced coaching and this can be seen at all levels of the organization. The company received a Prism Award by the local chapter of the International Coach Federation for achieving excellence in performance and leadership through coaching. Clearly, Encana gets the importance of a commitment to coaching to foster development of future leaders and meet the needs of a strategic succession plan. Vicki Reid, corporate human resources leader for Encana indicates that the company utilizes coaching in tandem with custom training programs to address several challenges that Encana was facing in the tight labour market. Well done!

The importance of screening coaches was mentioned a couple of times. Qualified coaches with relevant experience are critical. So is the screening and selection of staffers that are being identified for development. Companies must get the identification process right if they are to be successful in the future. Getting the right people to the leadership development circle is more important than the potential impact of a coaching program. Get that wrong and what are you left with?

Invest in an objective process to gauge the appropriateness of an individual to assume a greater level of responsibility. This process should include:

1. Current position profiles
2. Benchmarks (if it is important to the organization then measure it. Are you looking to attract high performers… benchmark to assure job fit!)
3. Assessment tools to assess thinking style, behavioural traits and interests
4. 360 degree evaluations of performance
5. Performance planning and measurement

Start by developing an inventory of benchmarks for each of your key positions. Utilize the current high performers in those positions to establish a representative benchmark of the kind of performers that you are looking for in your organization. An excellent tool for achieving this is the Profiles XT from Profiles International, Inc. the recognized world leader in employment evaluation and human resource management assessment tools.