By Mike Hoban
There’s an old saw in politics you likely have heard which can be paraphrased as “If nominated, I will not run; if elected I will not serve.” It’s called the Sherman Pledge (named after the Civil War general) and it’s about publicly declaring one’s intent to not pursue a particular office. Unfortunately, in business there are sometimes talent management decisions made without first testing assumptions about someone’s aspirations and intentions to see if there is a personal Sherman Pledge that needs to be revealed. That can make for an awkward situation, a poor talent decision and some egg on a few faces.
Yet, there is an easy solution – you have a conversation. But I get ahead of myself…
I’ve personally experienced situations like the following: Rebecca, a results oriented supervisor, is seen as having the potential of being a mid-level leader and perhaps higher and is designated to be on the high potential list by a talent review committee. Or Ben, the supervisor of a software team, is seen as ready for promotion to middle management and there is an upcoming opening because of a retirement. Their respective managers then sit down with them and describe the good news opportunities and expectations and oops…
Oops, as in “I’m happy that I’m highly regarded, but, um, that’s not really what I want to do, at least right now.” For someone like Rebecca, she’s knows that the hi-po track almost always means a relocation and different assignments in order to learn other aspects of the business. It’s a good principal for development, but Rebecca is active in her community, has an aging parent in town who is having health problems and has a husband who has recently started a Ph.D. program at the state university. Oops…
In Ben’s situation, the issue isn’t anything about a possible relocation, it’s about his passion for the work he is currently doing – he loves his job. The job he has. Ben has been writing software since he was in junior high and is a gifted coder. He was promoted to supervisor after three years as a software engineer for the company and he likes very much not only leading his team and providing technical guidance and coaching, he also carries several projects which allow him to do hands-on work. He sees the next level up role as more managing and less “doing,” and moving him further away from the kind of work that he gets jazzed about. Oops…
The Rebecca and Ben situations are not purely about the classic performance vs. potential issue nor are they purely about the individual contributor track vs. management track. They are hybrid situations and suggest that peoples’ aspirations and values - perhaps today more than ever - are nuanced and don’t necessarily conform to the conventional wisdom guidelines that have served us well in the past. Work-life balances and values have shifted and upward mobility does not always have the allure it might have had traditionally.
What’s the solution? On some regular basis, managers need to ask their direct reports about their aspirations and about what drives them so they, the managers, can accurately represent those goals and values in talent discussions so that the right opportunities can be identified and person/role mismatches can be avoided. It seems simple but I’ve been in talent reviews where managers articulated just general impressions about what they think a well-regarded individual wants in his/her career. And someone at the table will ask, “Have you asked her about her specific career goals?” You can guess what the response often is. “Well, not directly…” Due diligence is part of the process, so managers need to have a safe but probing adult conversation about aspirations and career interests. It aids not only in development but in retention as well.
Of course, some employees will give the safe answers or party line in a career conversation (“Yes, I’d like to be considered for other opportunities to contribute to the company…”) so they don’t get labeled as unambitious and get black-balled for opportunities down the road. The employee needs to trust the boss and the company. Still, the time for that conversation is before one gets put onto the hi-pot list or before one’s name gets put into the hopper for a promotion, not after.
It’s common sense but for various reasons it’s not common practice.
Mike Hoban is a Senior Consultant for Development Dimensions International (DDI).
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