Strategy and Performance Improvement Coaching

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Finding, Developing and Keeping Top Talent

Overview

Whatever your business, having the right people in the right roles is essential for success. Talent management ensure that there is a steady supply of the right people with the right skills and approach.

• The benefits of managing talent
• Thought starters: establishing a talent pool and talent management process
• Talent management roles and responsibilities
• Action checklist: managing talent
• Avoiding problems with talent management
• Key questions

The Benefits

Managing Talent

The best businesses understand that talented, results-driven employees are the difference between them and their competitors. Research conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 10 countries found that talent management is an indispensable source of competitive advantage. This is because talented executives:

• Plan and execute strategy better
• Create a positive work environment and achieve the benefits of employee engagement (including greater innovation, flexibility, teamwork and collaboration)
• Ensure a stable succession plan and an ability to retain tacit knowledge

In addition, talent management increases job satisfaction and improves retention rates. This is vitally important at a time when competition for strong managers is fierce and growing. Talent management also helps improve succession planning, ensuring that firms have the right people in the right roles, at the right time.

Thought Starters

Establishing a Talent Pool and Talent Management Process

Talent management means managing those individuals who will provide your organization with the greatest benefit, recognising the fact that talented people are a vital, scarce and often neglected resource. In a business with limited resources and opportunities, and faced with intense competition, it makes sense to give priority to those with the greatest ability and potential. A talent pool and talent management process typically includes several key elements that are explained below.

Talent assessment and entry to the talent pool

This means identifying those individuals with leadership capability and potential to undertake complex roles. This assessment may be made by a panel comprising, for example, the individual’s line manager, the head of the business area, a senior HR professional and an independent consultant who provides 360-degree feedback. At the panel meeting, members make an evaluative judgement of an individual’s potential, focusing on five elements:

• Performance history
• Capability ratings
• Personal aspirations
• The ability to progress
• Readiness to move to a new role

The talent proposition

This supports accelerated career development for talent pool members and often combines a bespoke career path with specific and targeted development opportunities.

The talent contract

Membership of the talent pool confers a wide range of benefits on each member, designed to support and accelerate career progression and enabling each individual to succeed. The benefits of membership should be explained and agreed, together with details of the responsibilities and expectations. These benefits and responsibilities then comprise each member’s contract with the business.

The benefits of talent pool membership for individuals typically include: a bespoke career path with active, practical support for career progression; job roles that meet members’ specific development needs; a personal development plan providing access to a suite of learning opportunities; feedback on performance and progression that is transparent, open, honest and direct; access to senior members of staff for advice and career coaching, and the opportunity to develop a network of contacts to inform and guide career choices.

The responsibilities of talent pool membership include active career management (preparing and implementing personal development plans); receiving regular feedback designed to support and encourage a sustained level of performance that most employees do not achieve, and a willingness to undertake challenging roles and make the most of the opportunities available within the business.

Ongoing assessment and segmentation

This ensures that the talent pool’s resources are being focused on the right people in the right way to provide the greatest benefit. The goal of the talent pool (and the way in which success is judged) is to have people ready to move into vital roles as required. Assessment helps check that this is happening.

Talent pool members may be assessed as: 1) green, with their career plan on track or moving faster than planned; 2) amber, the career plan is partially on track but action is required to get back on track within three to six months, with a strong sense that this is achievable, or 3) red – when the career plan and succession readiness are off track. The individual needs to review and recalibrate their progress. If problems persist, it may be necessary to review whether their talent pool membership is still appropriate.

Best Practice

Talent Management Roles and Responsibilities

Individual	Roles and responsibilities
Talent pool member	Career management – notably preparing and implementing personal development plans Receives regular feedback Willing to undertake challenging roles Provides support to others within the organization, ‘cascading’ experience and expertise
Talent pool member’s line manager	Provides ongoing coaching Sets stretching objectives for performance and development Provides time and capacity for an individual to engage in development activities Is often the budget holder for any travel or development activities Consults with HR and senior executives before promoting or changing the talent pool member’s role Receives feedback from HR professionals about the talent pool member, and provides developmental feedback
Business unit manager / general manager	Collectively manages and provides governance for talent across the business Is actively involved with the HR team Agrees and adheres to senior succession plans Supports consistent reward principles for talent pool members Reviews and countersigns appraisals Actively networks with talent pool members and is available to provide practical support Offers mentoring Provides a line of access and communication for talent pool members Critically evaluates and coaches talent pool line managers in partnership with HR Actively considers talent pool members for all business critical roles
HR professional	Facilitates the creation of a Personal Development Plan for each talent pool member Provides career counselling and helps to create a bespoke career path for each talent pool member. This career path includes clearly identified milestones explaining what is expected of the talent pool member at 12, 24 and 36 months Explains the talent management process, proposition and the talent pool ‘contract’ and how it links with other people processes and the business strategy Understands each individual’s career aspirations and keeps the business unit manager informed Ensures senior executives’ participation at succession planning meetings and in the talent management process Advises about suitable leadership development programmes and development activities Supports line managers in managing their talent pool employees

Action Checklist

Managing Talent

There are several simple techniques used by successful talent managers – these are explained below.

Explain why talent management matters

Cultures that nurture talent have several valuable characteristics. Ensuring that these are understood enables people (employees and leaders) to buy-in to the need for talent management and begin to understand what they need to do.

• Teams are highly cohesive
• Authority resides with expertise and ability, not status
• Talented individuals acknowledge the support they receive from others
• Talented people possess skills of critical analysis; they challenge
• Leadership is highly respected
• Talented teams display freedom, autonomy, space, flexibility, openness and trust
• Risk-taking is encouraged
• Success for talented people goes beyond the bottom line

It is important that succession planning is actively embraced and valued by senior executives. It should be integrated into training and development activities, and the board should oversee the management of the process and the progress being achieved. Executives should be encouraged to get to know successful, high-potential individuals; they should be able to gauge the likely effectiveness of the leadership pipeline and they should provide individuals with the benefit of their time, insights and experience.

Develop and communicate guiding principles for talent management

Several guiding principles are valuable when establishing a talent pool. Each organization needs to develop their own but it may be useful to establish the following principles:

• Rigorous, standard procedures for assessing and developing talent (including personal development plans)
• A consistent approach to engaging and supporting talent
• A meritocratic approach that recognizes the value of diversity
• A globally consistent standard for recording and reporting data
• A clear, practical framework to measure success

Invest in teams and make them stronger

It is often said that individuals don’t leave an organization – they leave a boss. There is a more positive aspect to this: if you make an individual’s team situation more interesting then they will be more inclined to stay and give their best. People are loyal to their groups, so make these groups stronger.

Differentiate free agents from loyalists

It is tempting to assume that everyone is a free agent – ready, willing and able to move jobs at a moment’s notice if they are dissatisfied. This overlooks the fact that some people feel little or no ties to the organization while others greatly value loyalty, community and being part of something bigger. It makes sense, as far as possible, to understand the preferences of loyalists as well as free agents, and not to confuse the two. After all, people with the greatest affiliation to the organization are likely to be more engaged, motivated and, as a result, effective.

Manage the head, heart and hands

Talent management requires a rational, consistent process that clearly engages with each individual’s intelligence and their ability to learn and develop. Two other elements are also important: first, the heart – the need to appeal to a person’s passions and intrinsic motivation, and also the hands – the ability for an individual to take what they know and control and shape it. Building an environment that encourages these three elements simultaneously can be accomplished in several ways.

• Carefully match employees with objectives, projects and the work they are doing. Give them a challenge at the top of their skill level, so they will continue to develop
• Provide adequate resources – enough to ensure that plans can be implemented
• Empower them with freedom and control over their work, as well as the time and latitude to pursue their ideas
• Send the right signals, recruiting the right type of people and allowing people to work in their own way, even if it is highly individual

Provide development opportunities

Make sure that development programmes match the company’s skills requirements, identifying current and future gaps, so that there is strength in depth for critical positions. This can be achieved, for example, by shuffling rising stars throughout the company, making sure that people of the same calibre are exchanging roles.

Also, HR professionals should create the best tools and facilitate their use, but the business units need to own the leadership development activities.

Finally, ensure that leadership development activities closely reflect the company’s strategy, reinforce the brand and have employees’ support.

Provide talent pool members with career counselling and support

It is valuable for managers and HR professionals to provide career counselling and help to create a bespoke career path for each talent pool member. This career path should:

• Include clearly identified milestones, explaining what is expected of the talent pool member at 12, 24 and 36 months
• Take full account of each individual’s career aspirations
• Be explained to the individual’s line manager (and their business unit head, if different)

In addition, it is valuable for an HR professional to meet at regular, agreed intervals with each member of the talent pool to provide support. This may include brokering leadership development programmes and scheduling development activities.

Coach talent pool members using the GROW model

Coaching has four main phases:

• Set goals both for the overall coaching relationship and for the individual session
• Explore the current position of the learner: the reality of their circumstances and their concerns
• Generate strategies, action plans and options for achieving the goals outlined above
• Decide what is to be done, by whom, how and when

This is aptly known as the GROW model (an acronym reflecting the Goals, Realities, Options and What/Will phases of the process). The central element is that responsibility for setting the goals ultimately rests with the learner. Goals set by others are more likely to be wrong, inappropriate, set too high or low and lack the commitment of the learner.

The main objective of the mentor or coach is to help the learner through this process, chiefly by using effective questioning, rather than by instruction or reminiscing. The goals established should cover both the long-term (what the learner hopes to achieve in the next twelve months with the coach/mentor’s support) and the immediate purpose of the coaching/mentoring session, i.e. what can be achieved during the session.

Support personal development planning and use the self-development cycle

The self-development cycle is a method of focusing, planning and undertaking development activities in a rigorous, thorough and practical way. The success of the personal development cycle depends on repeating the planning process regularly (at least every year, preferably every six months or when circumstances change, such as taking on a new role). The seven stages of the cycle are:

• Establish the purpose – keep the overall aim firmly in mind.
• Identify development needs – those skills needed for current and future roles.
• Look at your opportunities for development, this may include a mix of formal and informal methods and should take in to account an individual’s learning style.
• Formulate an action plan and consider how the development process will be supported, perhaps by a mentor.
• Undertake development and consider specifically how the results will be integrated into workplace activities.
• Record outcomes and assess results.
• Review and evaluate the usefulness and impact of the development activity.

Avoiding Problems

Talent Management at Work

Potential problem or challenge	Possible Solution
People outside the talent pool may feel overlooked, under-valued or resentful	Research suggests that this is not as common as people expect. The solution is to be open and transparent. For example, explain what talent pool membership means for the organization, why it is important and what it means for the talent pool member – their responsibilities as well as the benefits. Also, find ways for talent pool members and non-members to work together on projects, sharing their expertise and building strong personal networks.
A talent pool member may fail to show the progress expected	Be clear about what is required – a ‘contract’ is a useful way to manage expectations and avoid misunderstandings. Also, find out where the difficulties lie, provide targeted support and consider getting the line manager to provide support as well.
Senior managers may not be adequately engaged with the process	An example of this is business unit managers being parochial, refusing to share their most talented managers or simply refusing to get involved. The solution is to explain clearly what is required, find out why they are being unsupportive and selling the benefits of the process. If difficulties still persist then refer the issue to a more senior executive.
Line managers may not provide sufficient support	Find out why, offer support, reaffirm the importance of the process and its objectives and, if necessary, ask the business unit manager for their support.
Succession plans may be contentious, or there may be a lack of suitable opportunities	The key is to be open and honest with the talent pool member – explain the situation. Also, be prepared to think laterally: secondments and project teams are good ways to broaden experience while waiting for new, permanent opportunities to emerge.

Do:

• Involve line managers and senior executives in identifying and managing the most talented people
• Be clear about the skills and behaviours needed for the organization’s long-term development
• Agree a ‘contract’ for talent pool members
• Be patient and manage expectations
• Integrate talent management with succession planning, and ensure that both directly support the business strategy
• Maintain top level support for the talent pool and succession plans
• Invest in talent management – it is vital for the future

Do not:

• Ignore individual performance issues among talent pool members – find ways to resolve them
• Be inflexible – a contract is vital but it should also have the flexibility to adjust to specific circumstances
• Forget the rest of the business. Pre-empt resentment by communicating and providing opportunities for talent pool members to share their expertise and build links
• Leave failing or ‘plateaud’ performers in the talent pool. Take action to ensure that the talent pool remains relevant and effective

Key Questions

Succeeding with Talent Management

Recruitment and selection

• How do you identify and select the right people?
• Do you clearly understand the skills and experience required now and in the future and do you get the best available people?

Managing performance, development and remuneration

• Are you actively managing performance, giving feedback and coaching employees to improve?
• Do you have adequate resources, processes and tools to develop your employees?
• Do all employees have a personal development plan to improve their skills and maximize their potential?
• Are you properly rewarding your employees?
• Do your bonus schemes encourage and reward the desired behaviours?
• Do you have succession plans for key roles?

Diversity, compliance and procedures

• Does your workforce reflect the customers and markets you serve?
• Are you meeting your legal obligations?
• Are you engaging with key stakeholders and handling employee relations?

Corporate culture

• What are your priorities?
• Does your organisation have the desired identity and culture?
• Do all of your employees understand your vision and core values?
• What keeps your employees coming to work each day?
• What affects employees’ attitudes and behaviour with your customers and with one another?