Managing talent

The talent pipeline

Main topics

• The importance of strategy

• Identifying the profile that you're looking for

• The importance of brand

• Elements of a recruitment plan

• Finding candidates

• Internal talent sources

• Selection methods

• Onboarding and retention

Selected notes

Recruitment decisions should start from your strategy. What positions and types of people do you need?

Brand is important for recruitment. It will be easier to attract applicants if it's clear to them what you stand for. Why should someone want to work for you?

Applicants talk to each other and to potential applicants, so it is important for future hiring that both accepted and rejected applicants leave with a positive impression.

Research highlights intelligence tests, integrity tests, and behavioural interviewing as some of the most effective methods for selecting applicants, but these are not always culturally appropriate, and giving employees tests can leave them with a negative impression of your company.

After putting so much effort into hiring someone, it makes sense to invest time in the onboarding process. A lack of clear job expectations/guidelines and a lack of effective training are two of the most commonly-cited reasons for leaving a job.

Managing performance evaluation and feedback

Main topics

• Why performance evaluation should be structured

• Disadvantages of poor performance management

• Absolute ratings, forced distributions, and peer ranking

• Disadvantages of forced distributions

• 360-degree feedback

• Common rater errors

• Approaches to reducing rater errors

• Stereotypes and unconscious bias

Selected notes

Keep running notes on performance for each employee rather than leaving it until the appraisal is due, otherwise you might not remember everything and could overweight recent performance. Feedback should still be given as close to the time of the behaviour as possible.

Most companies use rating scales with somewhere between three and seven categories. Apparently research indicates that five-point scales can be more motivating than three-point scales, though nothing was cited. A seven-point scale is probably overkill.

A study was presented showing better performance under forced rather than unforced rating systems. In the absence of forced rating systems, managers tend to assign more generous ratings with less differentiation between employees. Moving from a non-forced distribution to a forced one can be demotivating though, hurting longer-term performance.

With 360-degree feedback, it is important to preserve confidentiality so that people aren't afraid to be honest.

A study was cited that found that around half of the feedback received in 360-feedback was unexpected, with about two-thirds of the unexpected feedback being positive (hidden strengths) rather than negative (blind spots).

A rule of thumb for inter-rater reliability of 360-degree feedback is that you want the intra-class correlation to be at least 0.5.

It's important to avoid the halo effect in ratings. Different dimensions of performance should be assessed independently.

Rater-error training is useful for reducing halo error and leniency error, while frame-of-reference training is particularly useful for improving rating accuracy.

Developing and coaching your people

Main topics

• The importance of talent development

• The Assessment, Challenge, Support model

• Features of a developmental experience

• Diminishing returns to challenge and strategies for mitigation

• Building a personal board of directors

• Structured vs. unstructured reflection

• Effective coaching

Selected notes

Start by assessing what you want to improve. There doesn't seem to be consensus on whether you should focus on developing weaknesses or developing strengths.

Features of a developmental experience:

• Is it novel?

• Is it high-stakes?

• Does it involve significant change?

• Do you have to work across organizational boundaries?

• Does it expose you to diverse thinking?

One way to use this list is to mark a person's current job against it to understand what modifications could allow greater growth.

There are diminishing returns as the level of challenge increases, potentially turning negative at a sufficiently high level of challenge, so you don't necessarily want to max out all the questions. This can be offset by a learning orientation and availability of feedback.

Too often learning and talent professionals think, “OK – so the on-the-job learning happens anyway, let’s focus on the parts we can actually plan like coaching and formal training.” The first problem with just letting the 70% “happen” is the lack of focus on getting the right experiences, particularly those that will stretch people to gain new skills and competencies. The second problem is that the “20” and “10” parts are often disconnected from on-the-job experiences.

To address both problems, development should start from the 70%. On-the-job learning should be a very deliberate exercise in choosing experiences that help a person grow capability by planning job situations beyond his or her comfort zone.

From Getting the Most Out of 70-20-10.

It is beneficial for employees to have links with more senior people and with people in different roles, departments, or industries.

Roles in a personal board of mentors:

• Sponsors: people who will advocate for you

• Mentors: people you can go to for feedback, advice, and coaching

• Stretch: people who will challenge you to think in new ways

• Support: people who will provide emotional and social support

Structured reflection is much more effective than unstructured reflection. Principles of structured reflection:

• Close to the event

• Structured set of questions

• Use "what if?" questions

• Develop "if-then" implications

• Establish public accountability for change

An example structure can be found in DeRue, D. S., Nahrgang, J. D., Hollenbeck, J. R., & Workman, K. (2012). A quasi-experimental study of after-event reviews and leadership development. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(5), 997.

Example coaching questions:

• What are the most important activities you should be spending your time on right now? How do these activities create value?

• What result do you want to create? What should you do more or less of to achieve that result?

• What does your team need from you to be successful? How are you meeting these needs today? How might you better fulfill those needs tomorrow?

• What do you want your legacy to be? How might you change your behavior to achieve this legacy?

• What inhibits you from doing more of the things you believe you should be doing? How might you minimize non-productive work?

• What are your greatest strengths? How might you put yourself in a position to better leverage those strengths?

• How can I help?

Creating and building a robust talent pipeline

Main topics

• A3E2 model of talent

• What is talent management?

• Developmental opportunities

• Reasons for staff turnover

• How to engage people

• Succession planning

Selected notes

Dimensions of talent:

• Ability/capability

• Learning agility

• Aspiration

• Emotional intelligence

• Engagement

It's important to have a plan for each employee to develop on these, including through work tasks, coaching/mentoring, and formal learning.

One potential aspect of succession planning is a talent audit, which is a regular meeting that looks at the key positions in the company and the people that might be able to fill those positions.

Communicate!