Jane Sunley outlines her mission to rid the world of the term ‘talent pools’, because everyone is talented in one way or another
It’s your job to make sure you find people whose talents fit your organisation, who can thrive there. And it’s your job to uncover and harness the talents of all individuals as appropriate, rather than those of an elite few.
In short, you need to know:
- who you have working with you
- where they are now (in terms of career/ development, and also geographically)
- how well they are performing
- their talents
- their aspirations (remembering they may well be very different from what you assume)
- their potential in the context of your environment
- how engaged they are
- how ready they are for whatever’s next
- who could replace them when they move on.
There are all sorts of innovative tech tools to help you do this. It is vital that, as with any other area of the organisation, the people function can access the
right tools to get the job done as quickly and easily as possible. However, many organisations, some of them sizeable, are still labouring with paper systems or just not getting to grips with this critical stuff at all.
You wouldn’t process your accounts manually, so why put what is arguably your most important asset through a dull, tedious, over processed tick-box exercise around performance?
The talent review is, and should be, all about succession planning, creating a leadership pipeline and making sure you have the right people in the right roles, at the right time. This is exciting: it presents opportunity for your people. Don’t let it get lost among the mundane performance ‘chat’.
Reviews and appraisals
Some organisations are getting rid of the annual appraisal. Of course, managing performance and exchanging feedback should be an ongoing part of everyday business life. And systems should be put in place to make sure this happens.
However, I believe that it’s also necessary to set aside some time for a more formal, forward-focused, big- picture career discussion at least once a year.
Business pressure and human nature will dictate that ongoing review sessions will end up being mostly about ‘work stuff’; practical aspects, performance management and feedback. Yet in a fast-moving, volatile and uncertain climate, where change is the norm, to engage and retain talented people, businesses must manage aspirations fully and transparently.
It’s surely a business priority to help people develop and progress towards their potential and expectations?
The solution is to back up ongoing feedback
sessions with a robust, more formal career
conversation away from the day-to-day. The focus will therefore evolve from backward-looking, small- picture, ‘performance management’ to forward- focused, big-picture career planning. Today’s employee will both welcome and expect an honest two-way discussion about himself or herself in the context of the business and the future plans and aspirations of both.
Sadly though, for many, the traditional appraisal is a negative, backward-looking experience.
Performance must be managed – this is how people learn and grow – but it should be done on an ongoing basis, as part of daily business. Often it fails to happen due to a lack of the appropriate skills within line management: the sort of skills managers need for dealing with customers and others too; the ability to handle potentially difficult conversations, fairness, objectivity, thinking skills, negotiation and
so on… and that is relatively easily remedied through a variety of development options. For example, through on-job coaching, taking on projects, working collaboratively with those who are strong in certain areas, through self-study (online or otherwise); or you may need to run some off-job sessions to work through issues and examples, helping people to reach their own conclusions.
Ongoing performance management is a positive opportunity to:
- progress an individual’s attitude, skills and knowledge
- improve team performance
- engage people
- give positive feedback
- say ‘thank you’ for a job well done
- show gratitude for discretionary effort
- help people fulfil their contribution
- discuss development
- harness ideas and feedback
- plan for the future
- help clarify the way forward
- re-motivate, re-invigorate and re-inspire.
Reviews and appraisals are something people know they should do and sort of know how to do, but then always seem to fall off the bottom of their to-do lists. Managers almost universally dislike appraisal time and try to avoid it. They find appraisals time-consuming, daunting, with little value or tangible results. Part of the challenge is that people aren’t managing performance and other issues as they go along, as described earlier.
The point of annual, or other formal, review is to have a rich one-to-one discussion generating productive and inspiring future-focused outcomes. These goals and other outcomes must be properly recorded and easily accessible, so they are regularly updated and reviewed throughout the year. This way, the review process becomes the responsibility of the individual, not his or her manager, and it can move from a standalone annual one-off exercise to an ongoing, fluid way of progressing.
There’s much research to prove that progression is a top motivator. I’d go one step further and say it’s a basic human need. Growing the whole person, rather than just developing them to deliver the needs of the business, will reap rewards. You can’t grow people if you don’t understand them and aren’t able to treat each one as an individual.
Self review
It’s vital that people have an opportunity to review their own progress before meeting with their line manager. Both parties should do some planning and then come together to discuss the results. You can imagine how, with an online system, this would be easily to facilitate.
ROI from online talent management systems is derived from:
- reduced recruitment costs (better succession planning)
- more accurate development needs analysis
- time savings
- improved performance management
- people driving their own progress
- more focused, goal-orientated people
- activity aligned to strategy
- improved engagement and retention
- enhanced productivity
- greater trust and openness
- increased feeling of ownership
- people feeling invested in and more valued
- ideas generated
- decreased conflict/grievances
- market reputation – more job applications.
And if you incorporate your employee opinion survey that’s a cost saved too.
Keeping it simple
The important thing (and this is emerging as a key theme of this book) is to keep things simple, clear, and unambiguous. Remember, the point of the appraisal or review is to have a fantastically rich, future-focused conversation, not sweating the small stuff and box ticking.
During uncertain times, many organisations ‘put off’ performance management and talent review because they find the approach more difficult than when everything is going well. However, this is exactly when a rich and honest one-to-one review is most critical. Managers should be encouraged to continue holding reviews. In order to do so, your line managers need to be given extra support and empowered to be transparent.
Make sure they are up-to-date and informed about the latest company news or situation the business is facing, as well as coached in the skills that are required to communicate this, especially if the update is not going to be easy to give.
It may also be that managers do not feel they have the time to plan and carry out a one-to- one effectively. Or they may be feeling pretty down themselves and the will to listen to others is eroded. So make sure they are also given the opportunity to air their views and are really listened to.
No matter how tough the economy, or how foggy the future, people still need to have a chance to talk about their personal aspirations and progress. It’s the role of business owners and leaders to ensure managers can make this happen and are not afraid to do so.
The success of the organisation may well depend on them.
Once the review process is in place and working, the hard work is done. A well-crafted system will provide everything you need to carry out a first class talent review, thus planning for future business needs, making the most of the talent you have in place and enabling the necessary development, recruitment and activity required.
A quick note about salary reviews
In uncertain times, it’s no longer a given that the inflationary increase (or more) will happen every year. However, if you’re able to get right important factors such as communication, leadership, progression, development and culture, pay becomes far less important. Top that with a sound recognition strategy and you can avoid money becoming an expensive substitute for a positive culture. Of course, being aware of market rate and making sure that people are able to maintain a decent living are key. Being the ‘highest payer’ isn’t, though. Make sure that the reasons behind the outcomes of pay reviews are clearly communicated.
