DDI’s Talent Management Intelligence

Our 'Stuffless' Workplace

By Barry Stern, Ph.D.

The late comedian George Carlin claimed that all he really wanted in life was a place for his “stuff”. To Carlin, our homes are mainly places to keep our stuff and most of our extra-home activities merely opportunities to get more stuff. I have developed over the years acute “stuff-radar.” It kicks into high gear with new folks I meet and happens with a few stolen glances. The 10 copies of a book that occupy the top shelf of an executives’ bookcase, the Middle Eastern décor of the New York City sales leader, the hiker attire of the senior food exec—these all accelerate my Holmesian mission to establish professional intimacy and, ultimately impact, fast. 

But our stuff sight lines have decidedly changed. With the stroke of a key we can reach our global workforces, but we can’t see their stuff. To add to the challenge, Kindles are replacing bookshelves, associates are in shared “hotel workspaces”, or alone in their homes, or—as George Clooney’s character was in the movie, “Up in the Air”—working from planes, trains and automobiles. Clooney’s character was the personification of “non-stuff”. Essentially he lived out of a suitcase, felt most comfortable in airline clubs and hotels, and his personal discomfort and lack of stuff in his own apartment palpable.

Now, nearly every aspect of human resources has a technological backbone. As the scope gets larger, our view into the realities of our associates and their “stuff,” dims exponentially. We run the risk of further alienating our already disengaged workforces. Ask yourself:

• Despite the “coolness factor” associated with technology, what steps is your company really taking to use technology to drive employee engagement? Are you even thinking in those terms? And what are you doing especially to address the younger workforce so pinned to their phones and text messages?
• What advances has your company made in deepening the organizational understanding and implications of virtual learning or meeting environments? What have you done to compensate for the missing elements of face-to-face connections?

The promise of technology is to create both deeper employee intimacy and engagement while driving greater efficiency and profit. Only through addressing these types of questions in a fearless way, will that promise be realized.

Barry Stern is vice president, Consulting Services and Delivery for Development Dimensions International (DDI). Follow him on Twitter.

Performance Management Gone Wrong

By Rich Wellins, Ph.D.

Over the holidays, I was scanning the work advice column in our local newspaper. An employee was asking for advice on how to handle a derailed performance appraisal discussion with her boss. As the story goes, her boss pointed out over a lunch-time appraisal that she was often disruptive and overly critical.  She asked her boss for an example, and he blew a gasket. If she did not improve her behavior (of which he had no good examples) she may risk getting fired.

Perhaps the story is an extreme, but examples of disastrous appraisal discussions are plentiful.  Performance management is one of the most misused management processes. The shame is that if used effectively, it can be one of the most powerful.

In my opinion things have gotten worse, not better, over the past 5 to 6 years with the advent of performance management software. While these programs may help with efficiency, consistency—and sometimes effectiveness—they account for less than 20 percent of the success of the process. Nick Graber, a former HR associate at Kodak once told me that you could do a very effective appraisal on the back of a napkin. And, a very ineffective one on a three page form. His advice: “It’s the conversation that makes the difference.”

So let’s go back to the basics for a few minutes by asking yourself:

• If a stranger was to walk up to a group of employees in your parking lot, what would they say about the most recent performance appraisal? Better yet, what would you say?
• Do employees see a connection between what they are being asked to do and how it ties to the success of the organization?
• Is your performance management process executed in a reasonably consistent way throughout the entire organization?
• Is there a balance between the “whats” and the “hows” (concrete, measurable goals and the competencies/skills needed to accomplish these goals)
• Is there any sense of fairness. Are better people getting better appraisals? Are they getting bigger bonuses? If there is not reasonable distribution, there is something wrong.
• Does you system celebrate success and strengths as well as development need and “weaknesses” somewhat equally?

Sad, but true, I fear most of us would not be in the 'yes' column.

Rich Wellins is senior vice president at Development Dimensions International (DDI).

Talent Resolution #1: Expand succession management to talent mobility

By Josh Bersin

The recession has forced many companies to make major shifts in their workforce.  Our research shows that many organizations do not have well-developed processes to move people from role to role, identify low performers rapidly (such as during a layoff), and implement organization-wide career management strategies.  In fact, our High Impact Succession Management research identified a tremendous variation in expertise in this area among organizations - well understood by some but still new and not well implemented in most.   

In 2010, I believe the conversation about succession management will shift to one of talent mobility, which we define as a major strategy encompassing career development, succession management, talent planning, and development planning.  For talent mobility to work, organizations need internal systems for talent acquisition (such as job postings and internal resumes) and career-oriented development programs, coaching, and mentoring programs.

The reason talent mobility is so critical is that no business stands still.  Today, perhaps more than any other time that most of us have experienced, economic and demographic changes have radically transformed markets.  Almost every organization I talk with is trying to restructure its products and services (and therefore internal organization) to address these changes.  

In 2010 organizations must expand their definition of succession management to consider an end-to-end talent mobility strategy.

Josh Bersin has worked with hundreds of companies to deliver high impact employee learning, leadership development and talent management.  In 2001, he founded Bersin & Associates to provide research and advisory services focused on corporate learning. Today, the firm is the “go to” source for learning and HR decision makers seeking product and market data, insight on trends and expert advice on enterprise learning and talent management. 

He is the author of The Training Measurement Book: Best Practices, Proven Methodologies, and Practical Approaches (April 2008, Pfeiffer) and The Blended Learning Book: Best Practices, Proven Methodologies, and Lessons Learned (October 2004, Wylie/Pfeiffer).

Talent Resolution #2: Quit sacrificing talent

By Mike Hoban

In the world of athletics, only the naive or the uninformed would suggest that the best athletes make the best coaches.  There are different skill sets and motivations involved. Why then, do we in business, on an all too regular basis, make the error of thinking that the best individual contributors - the best accountants, engineers or nurses - will make good managers? Some do, of course, but many don’t, and in fact some make incompetent and unhappy managers, meaning we not only “lose” our best individual contributor (IC), we compound the problem by jeopardizing the performance and the morale of the work group he/she now leads. It’s shooting ourselves in both feet. 

We’ve known for decades about that fallacy, yet like a bad habit we can’t seem to overcome, or that we choose to ignore, the practice remains. And because of limited and plateaued career paths for ICs, many of the promising ones enter the management track because it’s the only game in town. Or they go somewhere else where they feel more appreciated as a highly respected contributor. 

Organizations need to stop assuming their best performers will be their next generation of leaders. Here are some steps they can take instead:

• Expand the IC “Track” - Create extended technical ladders/professional sequences to provide pay and recognition for “mastery level” ICs that are more in parity to those of the managerial track.  In investment firms, the star traders almost always earn more – sometimes far more - than do their managers;
• Don’t Assume…- Before putting a well regarded IC’s name onto the high potential list in a talent review, ensure that someone has had a conversation with him/her to see whether he/she is even interested in a management track.  A recent DDI study found a whopping 61% of ICs surveyed indicated they had no aspirations to become supervisors or managers.  Too often it’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell;  
• Provide trial assignments - Provide temporary management-lite assignments (like handling some quasi-management duties while the supervisor is on vacation) for ICs to give them a taste of what management work feels like; 
• Assess and Test - Provide assessments or simulations to ICs so they can experience management work and so the organization can also identify individuals who score well and have the motivation to explore the management track.

Mike Hoban is a senior consultant for Development Dimensions International (DDI).

Follow the series 10 Talent Resolutions for 2010.