Chapter 7

Talent Management beyond
Boundaries at Ciena

Jim Caprara, Vice President, Global
Human Resources Development

What’s in this chapter?

• The challenges of talent management
• How Ciena developed its talent management philosophy
• Keys to talent management success

    

In today’s economic environment, perhaps more than ever before, the definition of talent management must remain fluid, based on the needs of the business unit or function being served. As a learning industry, our desire to define talent management and neatly package it should never overshadow our most basic goal. The role of talent management in any business unit or function is to bear the responsibility for the readiness of the organization to perform. Accepting this responsibility means understanding that the definition of organizational readiness can vary, depending on the characteristics of consumers of talent, their strategic goals, and the metrics used to determine a successful return-on-investment.

In each company for which I have worked, I found both key constants where talent management will always prove valuable, such as leadership development and succession planning, and those nontraditional interdependencies that, when leveraged, truly accelerate business connectivity and the effectiveness of talent management overall. Examples of nontraditional roles for talent management become most apparent with a learning organization’s heightened awareness of where the development of human capital, organizational mechanics, and business targets and metrics converge.

In 1999, while working for Sears Roebuck, I founded the Sears Technological Institute. At that time, the institute was the first fully accredited corporate learning institution in the United States. Although the creation of a school with 122 satellite training locations was a true benefit to our development strategy overall, it was made practical by addressing core business challenges. Sears, which was supporting the world’s largest and most-experienced technical repair fleet, was at a near standstill in recruiting high-quality technicians. Simultaneously, the long tenure of the existing staff presented huge staffing challenges because a large percentage of them was approaching retirement eligibility. Conversely, most potential candidates emerging from technical schools wanted to repair jet engines—not washers and dryers.

The creation of a fully accredited school allowed us to develop mutually beneficial partnerships with vocational organizations and with strategic vendor partners like Whirlpool and General Electric. It also enabled us to offer scholarships to technical school graduates who agreed to further their education while working for Sears. Existing technicians, many of whom lacked formal technical training, found that they could gain from participation as well.

The Challenges of Talent Management

The challenge often faced by those undertaking talent management efforts is that a traditional approach may address a problem head on, and be reactive or even proactive, but be limited to the challenge at hand. Here we may fall short of our greatest potential value. A talent management organization has the ability to influence and provide value at every point in both the employee and customer life cycles. Understanding that there is no barrier to where talent management does or does not play becomes a strength and allows a talent management organization the freedom to interface and influence at business levels more commonly left untouched.

While working at Nextel Communications, I found that a key challenge was the ongoing development of our internal and third-party partnered sales force. Specifically, with the accelerated introduction of new products and technologies, Nextel had as many as 400 projects in play at any given time. Frequently, new applications were being marketed to customers before appropriate sales teams had even been exposed to them. The nontraditional answer to this challenge was to shift resources associated with the creation of customer collateral from marketing to the learning organization. Embedded as part of the company’s learning resource, this hybrid group would take on the responsibility for all new product and application test trials, documentation, training development, and customer-facing collateral. The result was the simultaneous creation of both marketing and training content from the same assets, at the earliest point in the product development cycle. This approach was acknowledged by the company as a strategic advantage, and the resulting connectivity both on the marketing front end and in training delivery created a more visible and accepted link between business goals and talent management. Often, existing resources used for a specific purpose will find that an organization’s talent management strategy provides an avenue through which a nontraditional interdependency becomes mutually valuable.

Valuable Lessons Learned

NVR is one of the 10 largest homebuilders in the United States. Here, it was critical to have the ability to identify quality issues with product, process, sales professionals, and production personnel in real time. My solution to this problem was to shift the company’s critical customer service function into the learning organization. With the learning organization monitoring all posted activity through service, managing incoming customer call activity, and facilitating the company’s customer satisfaction survey program, we were able to identify valuable opportunities for improvement. As a result, we could uncover needs with broad impact, as well as identify specific developmental needs among field managers, the sales staff, and production employees. These opportunities could then be addressed, monitored, and measured in real time through our field training organization. In this example, the customer service function was better managed and utilized as part of the learning organization. The quality trending and analysis from a developmental perspective added significant value, and the speed with which resulting actions could be implemented was dramatically accelerated due to the merging of the customer service function into the learning organization. Metrics related to the company’s level of customer satisfaction and field audits both indicate that this nontraditional approach, taken as part of the talent management strategy, clearly has improved the organization’s readiness to perform.

NVR also provided an excellent opportunity to prove talent management’s vital role in the predictive forecasting of business performance. In 2006, the home-building industry was fast approaching an anticipated downturn. At NVR, the learning organization provided key insights into predictive success metrics with great accuracy, well ahead of the impact. This was accomplished through a process leveraging two measures of the organization’s readiness to perform: skills retention and skills utilization. In the fall of 2006, NVR’s learning organization implemented proctored testing of the company’s entire sales organization. Both sales representatives and managers were tested to determine their retained knowledge of the company’s accepted selling skills and process. The first result of strategic skills readiness testing was a sales assessment that yielded a clear company profile of the current enterprise-wide state of skills retention. This assessment offered the learning organization the opportunity to accurately target program resources and begin to accelerate improvement in the sales organization’s readiness to perform.

Companywide Effort

Immediately following the testing, the learning organization shifted the company’s sales training resources geographically. More than 180 secret shops were conducted companywide in the following two-week period. Each secret shop was videotaped and followed carefully controlled scripting of the tester. Scripts were designed to mirror the content of the justcompleted retention testing to accurately measure skills utilization. This second measure of strategic skills readiness demonstrated the utilization of retained skills by the sales organization. Correlating directly to the retention testing, this assessment provided the learning organization with the opportunity to accurately target needs related to the sales organization’s practical application and readiness state.

By combining the readiness (retention) and utilization data, the learning organization was able to provide a validated assessment of NVR’s go-to-market readiness as it related to the existing skills inventory and the ability of the sales organization to leverage and execute. Figure 7-1 depicts the model that was used as a basis for this assessment.

The diagnostics that followed identified specific strengths and weaknesses by division, companywide. The results clearly predicted dramatic anticipated shifts in performance if the housing market were to shift downward. Several of the sales teams historically demonstrating the highest sales performances were identified as at risk, while many of the company’s lowest-performing sales teams were labeled as strengths. Organizations geographically placed in areas that for years had enjoyed strong economic growth scored low in both retained knowledge and utilization of skills, whereas organizations positioned in more challenging environments had for many years exercised skills and were therefore better prepared for a down market.

In early 2007, as home sales rapidly fell, NVR’s learning organization, without exception, had already accurately predicted the strengths and weaknesses of the sales organization. Learning programs, customized by division, were in place to address the gaps in the company’s skills. Control groups, along with ongoing testing and secret shops performed over the following 12 months, indicated significant performance improvements as a result. In this example, waiting for a need to emerge from the organization would have yielded catastrophic results. The preemptive talent management approach demonstrated a clear and measurable value.

Figure7-1.Strategic Skills and Readiness Assessment

   Using strategic skills readiness and utilization assessments: sample assumptions

The lessons and knowledge described above, as well as many other past experiences, have been incorporated into the design of Ciena’s talent management philosophy.

The Development of Ciena’s Talent Management Philosophy

Ciena Corporation is a global player in communications networking equipment, software, and services that support the transport, switching, aggregation, and management of voice, video, and data traffic. In addition, the company provides consulting and support services, including network analysis, planning and design, network optimization and tuning, project management, staging, site preparation, installation activities, deployment services, and a suite of certification and training products. Ciena was founded in 1992 and is based in Linthicum, Maryland.

Ciena supports and maintains a comprehensive human resources development (HRD) model that is linked closely with the company’s business strategies. Additionally, it addresses the individual characteristics of the company’s various work environments and demonstrates its strong commitment to its greatest resource: its employees. From sales, engineering, product and policy training, to leadership, succession planning, and the leverage of diverse and high-potential talent, Ciena recognizes the value of investment in the development of its people and is positioned accordingly—including my position as part of the company’s extended leadership team. The company’s training function operates with a preemptive learning focus, allowing the learning function to identify requirements and be the driver/designer of the appropriate solution, as opposed to being asked to react to performance deficiencies after the fact.

Ciena Learning Solutions

To provide training representation and support through a direct business connection, Ciena’s HRD function, Ciena Learning Solutions, representsthe centralization of all company functions and activities related to the development of human capital. The targeted goal for this learning organization is to provide a globally consistent learning experience to both our internal and external customers. This experience is delivered through high-quality professional delivery using scalable resources and with standards and guidelines that can be set globally and executed as close to the customer as possible.

With the full implementation of Ciena’s HRD concept in 2008, resources previously dedicated to individual businesses and functions became a single, integrated organization, expanding the core capabilities of Ciena Learning Solutions and raising the bar on speed, efficiency, and the quality of program design, implementation, and return-oninvestment . Linked closely with Ciena’s business strategies, the learning function provides talent management by creating development solutions for all internal audiences while managing succession planning, providing leadership development, and simultaneously maintaining profit-and-loss responsibility for a customer-facing learning business.

Ciena Learning Solutions consists of a core management team representing functional disciplines, which include learning operations, learning delivery, documentation engineering, curriculum development, and program production. Learning managers are positioned geographically to provide global representation and hands-on management of local learning resources. Learning managers are also attached directly to business units in sales, IT, and engineering. Embedded within the businesses and functions is a network of learning professionals. Individuals on the learning team were carefully selected to act as single points of contact to facilitate connectivity between the business or function and the learning solutions teams. These individuals are designated as learning performance managers (LPMs).

Learning Performance Managers Defined

The LPM’s designation is a function, not a specific position. The LPM’s role is not defined by job, grade, or reporting relationship but rather by the strategic positioning of an individual to best leverage Ciena’s learning resources to the benefit of the host business and, ultimately, the customer.In short, the role of the LPM is to understand business metrics, act as the business’s resident learning expert, and leverage all of Ciena’s collective learning resources on behalf of the business. The result is a freeflowing needs assessment and engagement process that provides access to all learning resources with clear portfolio management through a single designated contact.

Operationally, to support Ciena’s centralized learning model, all learning-related head counts and budgets, globally, are managed by Ciena Learning Solutions. All content for product engineering documentation, as well as learning programs, is created simultaneously from the same assets. Core content is multitemplated to allow for expanded audiences, who only receive content that is specific to their requirements. To facilitate this process, all company development resources are managed by the learning function. This includes both the design and development of learning programs and the creation of technical documentation.

Keys to Talent Management Success

The key to Ciena’s go-to-market learning strategy was the shift in 2008 that connected the learning organization to the earliest point in the company’s product life cycle. The learning function’s documentation engineers and curriculum designers are now engaged at gate zero (that is, the end of the first major stage of product development) and are responsible for the creation of “first concept” learning documentation at the initial stage in the company’s go-to-market process. This creates a level of awareness and connection to the company’s business process and strategy seldom attained by learning organizations.

Documentation, development, production, and delivery resources leverage a common workflow tool within learning operations to coordinate learning resources, subject matter experts, and learning delivery, allowing for companywide management of the learning portfolio.

Today at Ciena, learning metrics are more critical than ever before. In many organizations, the talent management strategy is “reactive” to business requests. Filling the request successfully equates to success. At Ciena, the learning organization is positioned to be “preemptive,” and it is the trusted expert addressing the design and implementation of the appropriate talent management strategy to address the business requirements in real time. This raises the learning organization’s level of responsibility, and metrics become far more critical success factors. Ciena measures standard operating metrics—including resource drain, expense, productivity, capacity, and revenue from learning—as well as the metrics attached to learning outcomes. Ciena performs level 1 and level 2 evaluations on all training. Internally, “readiness to perform” measurements are used to attach learning objectives to business results and provide a measure of return-on-investment. For customer training, Ciena collects feedback from all students and logs these results into its Learning Management System for analysis and reporting. Currently, additional metrics are being explored to attach learning utilization and retention directly to business results. Let’s look more closely at some of Ciena’s keys to talent management success.

Best Practices Are Not Enough

Ciena competes in an industry where emulating best practices is not acceptable. Only “being” the best practice and having the finest technology solution with the highest return-on-investment will yield results. Ciena consistently outperforms its industry rivals in a competitive environment where innovation and imagination are the key drivers to being first and best.

Taking its lead from the CEO, senior management encourages collaboration and celebrates innovation. Because Ciena is a technology leader, as opposed to a follower, unique aspects in the growth of human capital apply here. This amplifies the need to invest in the development of new talent and means that the development and retention of highpotential talent are critical.

Leadership Indicators

Ciena has introduced a set of 14 leadership indicators, each of which is supported by four to nine attributes. These support fluidity between our approach to line-level employee development and the approach we leverage to develop our executives and emerging leaders.

Annually, and largely separate from the company’s performance appraisal process, managers are evaluated to gain companywide insight into Ciena’s talent pool. The review is based on performance and potential. This is worked through a “nine-box” distribution and supported by manager input—the most current performance appraisal and an assessment against the company’s 14 accepted leadership indicators. In conjunction with the review, high-potential candidates are identified, and both biographies and development plans are created for each candidate.

Two aspects of the process differ from most similar executions. First, the biographies are created to gather information regarding skills and experiences that are not clearly evident from looking at a candidate’s current or recent-past assignments. For example, a high-potential sales executive may have, at sometime in his or her past, worked in marketing or finance. The prospective advantages this experience may have given the candidate receive special consideration as the viability of more challenging assignments are considered for this individual. The Ciena talent assessment process rolls up to senior management through a complete “report back” of the company’s high-potential talent resource, as measured through performance, leadership assessment, experience, and manager input.

The second aspect of the process that differs from most is that the objective for the high-potential development plans is only to complete the needs assessment, and the manager is specifically instructed not to complete the plan at this initial stage. Instead, needs assessments for all employees with high potential are forwarded to the learning team. Trending of these requirements produces a targeted learning investment portfolio. The company’s learning investment requirements and the resulting program are constructed, based on these validated needs, and a menu of learning options is released to managers to aid in the completion of individual development plans.

Succession Planning

The talent review process is also a data-gathering vehicle for succession planning. At the conclusion of the talent review process, HR representatives work with each business leader to review these data. They complete a succession planning document identifying mission-critical roles, “readynow” candidates, and developmental candidates. The rollup of these business-level succession plans is compiled by the learning organization and reviewed in a C-level staff meeting, at which the senior staff in attendance has all the data items (leadership assessments, performance rankings, manager feedback, and biographies) for all the candidates being discussed.

As a result, Ciena’s senior executives guide succession planning, career development at the senior executive level, and the identification and development of high-potential talent collectively. Viewing talent management cross-functionally and addressing Ciena’s talent as a company asset ensures the selection of high-quality future leaders and that emerging leaders are prepared for promotional advancement.

More Than 200 Courses Online

Development opportunities include an online catalog of more than 200 business and product courses, a leadership seminar series enlisting C-level executives as adjunct faculty, 360-degree feedback, mentoring opportunities, and selected vendor programs. Additionally, action learning teams, coached through established business schools and addressing significant business challenges, are also available.

Ciena Learning Solutions’ talent management resources, targeted to the development of frontline managers and teams in core businesses, extend beyond the delivery of training programs.

Ciena’s sales organization is a product of careful recruitment of the finest technology sales professionals worldwide. Core selling skills and training centered on customer-relationship capabilities are a given. However, these sales professionals come from various companies, backgrounds, and experiences. Similar to any all-star team, when you are working with the best of the best, you cannot have your stars working out of different playbooks.

Sales Methodology Refined

In 2008, Ciena Learning Solutions partnered closely with its global sales teams to facilitate the design of a refined and standardized selling process that supported Ciena’s sales methodology. This high-performance sales program is targeted to embed a consistent sales process throughout the company and clearly promote a “sales culture.” Additionally, this program delivers important foundational skills along with training on standard processes and forms, and it ensures that practice executes on the sales process.

Ciena Learning Solutions is responsible for the management of all global learning resources: the centralized development of learning and technical documentation; global learning delivery; global resourcing, budgeting, and portfolio management; global training revenue strategy; technical training for employees, customers, and partners; predictive preemployment testing; 360-degree assessments; mentoring and coaching programs; and organizational talent review, succession planning, and leadership development. Interdependencies among resources, such as documentation and training development, create strong cost efficiencies and yield improved quality, consistency, and speed. This blending of the internally facing learning function with outwardly facing for-profit resources has allowed improved portfolio management, and the strategic construction of a higher-quality training product.

Leveraging Comprehensive Work

A significant advantage to Ciena’s comprehensive approach to talent management is Ciena’s Learning Solutions’ profit-and-loss responsibility. By maintaining a global learning business presence and providing learning solutions, a suite of product courses, and technology certifications both through Ciena’s services organization and to external customers directly, the Ciena learning organization is connected to the business, as a business. Cross-engineering of shared learning resources, content, and programs offers flexibility, cost efficiencies, and the higher investment in the level of quality learning product that is required to satisfy a for-profit function—all leveraged back into the internal learning offering.

A training product that is publicly marketed as having a technical certification must be of extremely high quality. Most internal training functions would find this standard cost-prohibitive. Ciena leverages a multitemplated development process, shown in figure 7-2, that allows for the simultaneous creation of a differentiated internal training product, without incremental cost. Shared delivery resources also ensure that both the external customer and internally facing functions maintain professional and scalable delivery resources on call. Here the linkage of the internal and external programs benefits both training functions and contributes to a cost-effective, high-performance companywide solution.

Talent management at Ciena is tied directly to Ciena’s strategic business core. The learning organization’s mission is to understand the individual characteristics that make each of our businesses successful in the markets where they compete. The learning organization’s broad architecture allows us to deliver tailored learning solutions supporting corporate objectives, business needs, and high customer loyalty with speed and quality and in a cost-effective manner.

Figure7-2.Ciena’s Multitemplated Development Process

Summing Up

Having developed high-performance learning organizations for companies in the retail, services, construction, manufacturing, telecommunications, and network solutions fields, I have learned that the only consistent approach to a high-performance talent management model is understanding that there is no one single model. The learning organization simply carries the responsibility for the readiness of the organization to perform. The definition of talent management must be shaped by the needs of the business unit or function being served, and there will always be those nontraditional opportunities that will add value and be the differentiator in a high-performance talent strategy. A learning organization that grasps this concept and develops a talent management strategy that plays in concert with the business will be highly valued. In today’s world, talent management plays a more important role than ever before, a role that will only increase with time.