People – Exploring the Potential

The previous article looked at idetifying The Satans of Talent – The Talent Blockers. This one looks to establish common attributes of the Talent Accelerators -The Gods of Talent in an organisation.

TALENT ACCELERATORS!

Talent Accelerators are those set of managers that contribute to fostering the organisation’s talent pipeline. They are assets to an organisation’s objective of developing a robust talent pipeline to create a sustainable competitive advantage. A Talent accelerator is adept at identifying talent and encouraging his subordinates to perform to the best of their abilities. A Talent Accelerator should be identified and commended for his performance and the practice should be cascaded to other business units as well. Certain attributes of a Talent Accelerator have been pointed out below:

Recruit and select high potentials even if they’re hard to handle

A talent accelerator is the manager who displays his intent of developing a high performance team by identifying high potential at the time of hiring in spite of being aware of the fact that there could be a need to manage high expectations of the employees. By doing so, he helps inducting hi-pots early into the organisation.

Coach for skills development & Mentor for career development

A Talent Accelerator believes in coaching and mentoring to improve the quality of his subordinates. He draws from his career and experiences to coach his subordinates for skills development and guides them with regards to the career decisions they should take to advance in their professional careers. All this, in spite of being aware of the fact that they would move on from his team for better prospects. He makes up for it by continuing this process to churn out successful professionals over time.

Give totally candid feedback on performance

Unlike Talent Blockers, the talent accelerators are candid in giving feedbacks to their subordinates even on issues that are sensitive and personal. By doing so, they not only earn the respect as straight talkers but also, result in their subordinates understanding the expectations from them clearly. On the flip side, they are open to accept critique on their actions from their subordinates.

Create stretch assignments

To develop the talent under them, the talent accelerators encourage them to take up stretch assignments to explore their potential. In doing so, they identify the talent that can be banked upon and once the talent is identified they expose the talented individuals to develop their leadership skills. This helps in creating a base of ‘ready now’ individuals to take up leadership roles in the event of talent crunches at the senior levels.

 Surrender their high performers for corporate challenges

Talent accelerators firmly believe that their subordinates belong to the organisation and not to them alone. This ideology helps them surrender their best talent to be deployed to the areas that most need their expertise. By doing so, not only do they aid the organisation’s strategic plans but also contribute to the personal development of their subordinates. They are firm believers of talent exchange process and do all in their capacity to contribute to the process.

Reference:

Talent Development, Jeffrey Gandz, Ph.D. Professor, Managing Director – Program Design, Richard Ivey School of Business, September 2006, Ivey Executive Development

Talent in an organisation is susceptible to inconsiderate handling. An ill-managed talent will always contribute to the regretted attrition levels of the organisation. The widely used saying ‘Employees quit bosses, not organisations!’ drives home this point all too clearly.

Talent in any organisation is the ability of its workforce to exceed expectations and deliver value consistently. In an era when technology, strategy or quality benchmarks can be emulated, it is the talent that provides the requisite sustainable competitive advantage for the organisation. In this ‘war for talent’ that has gripped organisations, it is becoming increasing critical to identify the blockages of talent and address them before the actual damage is caused. Conversely it is equally important to identify the talent accelerators to recognize them and reward them for their efforts in developing a robust talent pipeline with a considerable level of stability.

This article in a series, attempts to look at the ‘Satans’ and the ‘Gods’ of Talent Development & Retention in organisations today.

TALENT BLOCKERS!

 The dubious distinction of ‘Talent Blocker’ is attributed to those managers who end up in stifling talent and thereby failing to contribute to developing an organization wide talent pipeline. Most times, the talent blockers are not aware of the damage they are causing to the talent ecosystem. It is more to do with the comfort levels and the lack of mentoring and coaching from senior management in terms of fostering talent in the organization. To broadly lay down specific situations when talent blockers thrive, certain obvious areas that result in the blockage of talent have been pointed out:

Recruiting and selecting easy-to manage people

The process of talent blockage manifests at the very beginning of the employee life-cycle when managers tend to recruit candidates who they think will be easy to manage and will be ‘tooth-less’. This happens because a lot of focus is laid down by the senior management on the working relationship between a manager and his subordinates. Having recruited a candidate who will be easy to manage, the manager tends to overshadow the existence of that candidate in the organization there by maintaining a smooth relationship without any ‘ripples’. This is a sub conscious effort by the talent blocker (manager) to ensure his importance in the setup is not undermined and that he continues to call the shots.

Not coaching or mentoring effectively

 A majority of successful individuals attribute their professional success to the presence of a coach or a mentor who guided them through rough times. It is this quality that is found missing in a talent blocker. Absence of effective coaching and mentoring practices by managers results in a slow development of the talent under them and there is always a possibility of a stunted career growth for the subordinates in an organization under a manager who is indifferent to the growth and development of individuals.

 Lack candor in their feedback 

Feedback is a critical tool of correction.  But it takes a lot of heart to have your subordinates critique your style of management and to give a frank opinion on the subordinates/ performances. Having said that, a manager who does practice candid feedback programmes benefits not only in improving his own management style but also improves the engagement levels of the employees reporting to him. A talent blocker on the contrary is reluctant to indulge in feedback practices as it involves giving frank opinions on sensitive and personal issues and the blocker is hesitant on issues. It requires getting feedback yourself – and this may not be welcome!

Do not reward differentially for success

Performance if not suitably rewarded will result in demotivation and dip in performance levels. But a talent blocker does not believe in this philosophy. He tends to overlook good performances and believes that such performances will sustain only if the expectations of subordinates are kept in check. This results in the absence of any incentive for the subordinates to perform for the manager or the business and in spite of having promising potential, the subordinates end up as work horses or ‘solid-citizens’ under the talent blocker and eventually quit as a result of pent up frustration.

Horde the people who get the job done

The most common characteristic of a talent blocker is the hoarding of talent and masking it from getting exposed to the talent exchange process. In his selfish bid to maintain performance, a talent blocker tends to horde the talent under him and thereby prevents their progression to lateral movements or promotions. This is the most critical blow that an organisation suffers. On the talent being blocked from further growth by the talent blocker, the subordinates (talent in discussion) tend to get frustrated and end up either as workhorses devoid of any enthusiasm or in more critical cases quit the organisation.

Reference:

Talent Development, Jeffrey Gandz, Ph.D. Professor, Managing Director – Program Design, Richard Ivey School of Business, September 2006, Ivey Executive Development

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Talent is crucial to any organisation. But how can we improve something that cannot be measured? Talent is something which is innate to an individual. It is the ability and the capability to achieve results. So it is fair to assume that talent precedes results. Taking this relationship forward is Dr.Sullivan who makes a fair attempt to measure the value of talent in this article. 

Contrary to the positive connotation given to the clichéd “Well begun is half done” this article intends to generate curiosity to look at the other half as far as talent management is concerned. Organisations all over have been openly supportive of driving a performance based culture where the best are treated the best. Talent assessment activities are being carried out on a war footing at many an organisation, taking stock of talent issues if any and drawing out comprehensive plans to improve the pitfalls. Corporate world is caught in a frenzy to identify its top-class talent and quarantine the grey areas to ensure that priorities and privileges are set realistically. Half job well done. It is the other half that bothers.

If many have not guessed yet, it is the set of activities that succeed the assessment. All the reports generated, information gathered and plans drawn are not finding the light of day thanks to the absence of robust talent development strategies at the desired levels. Organisations finding gaps in competencies and performance are lacking in developing training programs that result in an effective plugging of these drawbacks. The importance of strategic talent development is overshadowed by the day-to-day activities in the organisation today. Companies are so engrossed in tying the loose ends up that no alignment of strategic training and development with the business requirements is ever attempted in an earnest manner. Any lack of competency is nullified by ushering in requisite talent from external sources. And at what cost!

There is a visible lack of drive and initiative in presenting a sound case for developing a strategic learning and development wing at organisations to ensure the prime-mover churns out talent to sustain a long term competitive advantage.  Barring firms like Deloitte PLC (featured in the Top 10 Training Hall of Fame, Business Source Corporate, February 2009) who seamlessly integrate training programs with individual’s job requirements, there are many firms who either do not see sense in spending to develop their workforce’s competencies or develop ‘one-size-fits-all’ plans that are unable to address specific competency gaps in individuals.

The problem stems from the lack of leadership in senior management positions that can drive this initiative. There is no idea buy-in when it comes to identifying training and development as a strategic concern. Training and development (T&D) always contributes to a lag effect and thus is inadvertently thrown to the backburners. Insufficient indicators in real time that can reaffirm the importance of T&D lead to this aspect of talent management ending up in mere lip talk than action. Top thinkers and management moguls have always voiced their support in favour of talent development & training programs as an effective tool to improve business performance. So much so that, IT majors like Infosys and Wipro have dedicated training centres with world class facilities to foster training and employee development in a comprehensive manner. These efforts have paid rich dividends in developing talent bench that is ready to take up challenging assignments thanks to the developed capabilities and more importantly the developed competencies to deliver value.

There is a compelling need for leaders in senior management to focus on not just assessing the talent but invest in developing the same inside out. This will take patience, spending and a long-term view in copious quantities. 

Unemployment in the United States seems to have slowed down with the newest numbers indicating a decrease in the rate of growth of unemployment (Unemployment Still Growing, But at Slower Pace – NYTimes.com) Analysts attribute the same to a slight ease in tensions with the health of finacial institutions looking positive. How fast the public latches on o these signals given the show at the stock markets. But what does this information hold in store for the 539000 people who have lost their jobs this year? That things could get better with investments into the economy flowing back in. Dr.Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Government of India, made an interesting observation when he quipped that when the things are going bad in the private sector, the government needs to take the initiative and generate employment and opportunities for improving the economic infrastructure.This initiative will not only spur economic growth but will also create the foundation for the private sector to smoothly transit in once the turn is taken.

This form of public-private partnership is what the economy needs at this juncture to keep the spirits up and the markets ticking. And for the scores of people who have been ‘culled’ by the corporate world,  its just a question of time and opportune moments round the corner.

Hewitt Associates recently announced the ‘Best Employers in Middle East in 2009′ awards and Alghanim Industries, Kuwait (where I ‘m interning currently) has been adjudged one of the 10 best employers in the Middle Eastern Region along the likes of Deloitte Touche and P&G among others. Really excited to intern in a company which is growing leaps and bounds in terms of being a desired employment destination. Read on for more.

Wonder how justified this article (Jobless Rate May Be High, but Millions Are Being Hired – NYTimes.com) is in explaining the state of America’s job market. Grocery stores and supermarkets hiring in great numbers does not make up for scores of jobs lost on the wall street and other high profile roles lost. This effort by the media to downplay the effect of recession by painting a rosy picture amidst misery is definitely incongruous and unnecessary. What the media can help doing at this point is to ensure that the common man who has lost his job doesn’t get disillusioned and help him develop his skills and competencies aligned with needs of the times which need to be ‘accurately’ reported.

A very interesting reading this:

This post by one of my professors, Dr.Madhukar Shukla from XLRI School of Business & Human Resources lays bare the indulgent practices in corporate jungle today. Recession, cost cutting or profit booking….. whatever the stimulus, HR today speaks a common language …. “Align….Optimize… Fire!!”

Have a look at HR Talks Blog to read this interesting dialogue!

Economies crashing, bottom-lines dwindling, costs spinning out of control and employees being laid off…. Does it ring a bell?? I could very well be talking about your own company. And for the larger part of the corporate world this is not their worst nightmare, it is their darkest reality. The times are bad and they could get worse. Swine flu spreading over continents only symbolizes the grim scenario we are destined with. But don’t they say that you give your best when the worst arrives?? This is exactly what every organisation worth its salt needs to believe. If all get their acts together and drive at top speeds with conviction, we may very well get home safe before its complete dark!!

The best foot forward is to stop walking and look back on the path we’ve treaded and unlearn some things and adopt some others all the same. The moment beckons change… change in the way we approach managing talent in the organisation…change in the way we measure what we have and change in the way we go about accomplishing what we aspire to achieve. These times require us to improvise and develop our talents to outsmart our economy and our competitors alike. The word competitive advantage could not get more important now than ever. Every company needs to identify what it is best at and look at how it can strengthen the parts that need rework.

The key is to believe in the fundamentals and create value in every activity that is carried out in the battlefield. If its talent acquisition, the question companies need to ask is at what cost are we creating value through sourcing our talent from the market. Are we in dire need of external talent? Is the talent within not sufficient enough to achieve our targets? If it’s assessing quality of the existing talent, we need to ask ourselves if we have the right tools to measure and assess. Are we honest to ourselves and are we open to arrive at conclusions we may not be ready for? Are we willing to identify our best and put our support behind them to get us out of this rubble? Are we willing to take stock of the bloopers and recreate the sequences? If these questions are answered then the first step to a successful transformation is well underway.

The next phase of this transformation is to quantify the issues that plague us. We need to measure the extent of any activity in affecting the organisational success. There is no place to guesstimate and take actions based on unsure information. Organisational intelligence is of prime importance to make sure that the actions we take are based on quantifiable and credible information. Dashboards of senior managements need to be reworked to identify the right indicators and use the information in real-time to take bold decisions and pursue suggested changes with unflinching focus. Review mechanisms should be set up to take stock of situation on real-time basis and managements need to have the flexibility to rework their tactics without much delay. The old school of thought that believes that every step needs to be run and re-run before being deployed is about to undergo a change. The key is to have the right people have access to the right information to act fast and act incisively. There is no room for error and there is no room for delay. It is this living-on-the-edge situation that makes it even more important to have the right minds in the right places. We need to focus on our best minds to deliver the goods. First time Right (FTR) that worked wonders in manufacturing needs to be adopted as a practice in every activity pursued in the organisation.

Extensive and efficient use of technology is the key to enable the swift decision making and actions. Implementing technology solutions to take care of data capturing and collations leaves the interpretation and decision making to the talented minds. A robust technology framework ensures that the decisions are based on unmistakable data that is easily traceable. This allows the talent to create more value than grapple with reams of data and end a major part of their work-time in collating it. Benefits of technology are known to everyone. What’s important is to identify the right technology that suits the needs of the organisation and what you want the technology to achieve for you. For everything else, there’s talent and talent will lead to value that is sustainable and deliverable at the right moments.