Chapter 11

Talent Management at Work

Larry Israelite, Vice President of
Human Resource Development,
Liberty Mutual Group

What’s in this chapter?

• The foundation for talent management success
• What works and what’s been learned
• A way to begin managing talent

 

I set a relatively low bar when contemplating the primary goal for assembling this book: I wanted to provide some helpful information about the topic of talent management. “Helpful” was the key word in my goal, because I think a lot of information out there today isn’t all that helpful. Specifically, I did not want to prescribe an approach, method, or process; nor did I want to make any promises about what results you might achieve if you implemented a talent management process or program in your organization. What I did hope to do was provide you with

• an overview of the subject
• some examples of talent management practices that have been perceived as making meaningful contributions to the organizations in which they were used
• a point of view regarding how the changing nature of work and workers will influence how talent is managed in the future
• a description of the current state of talent management software.

I am reasonably confident that the information provided here can be helpful. I believe, or at least hope, that each chapter has made you aware of something you hadn’t thought of before, confirmed something you already think or do, or, perhaps, simply given you an excuse and the time to reflect a little about how talent is (or isn’t) managed in your organization and what you might do about it.

All of that said, I don’t think it’s enough. So in this chapter, I attempt to do two additional things. First, I identify what might be described as the “foundation of talent management process success.” And second, I offer a structured way to get started—a series of steps you can complete if you want to begin to implement talent management practices in your organization. However, I first want to give you “Larry’s Final Rule of Talent Management,” which is that there are no rules or, perhaps, that each of you must make up your own rules. As a result, I want to be clear that any steps for getting started I might suggest are nothing more than one person’s point of view. Your steps might be different (and better!), based on what you know about your organization, its culture, its leaders, and the people who work there.

 

 

The Foundation for Talent Management Success

One could argue that the six organizations whose approaches to talent management are described in this book are very different. They include high technology, consumer products, food service, insurance, and health care. One is quite large, three are of moderate size, and two are much smaller. But although we might agree that there are significant differences among these companies, it also is clear that there are important similarities when it comes to the reasons they have been successful with regard to talent management practices. It is these similarities that form the basis for the foundation of talent management success.

As you read each of the talent management case studies in chapters 3 through 8, you might have noticed that, in one way or another, most shared a common story. Specifically:

• The authors were able to describe, in reasonably concise terms, the outcome or outcomes they were trying to achieve or support through a structured talent management process.
• There was unequivocal executive support for the processes implemented in each organization.
• Each organization used a structured, multipart process for collecting, analyzing, and acting on talent data.
• Some form of measurement was in place to determine the degree to which the desired outcomes were being achieved.

In few cases were any of these exactly the same, but they were, at the very least, present. And though I would never claim that their presence guarantees success, I can say with some certainty that their absence will make it extremely difficult to succeed. So let’s look at each of these four elements of the foundation for talent management success.

 

 

Clear Outcomes

As odd as it may seem, we sometimes tend to skip over the development of clear outcomes. This is true for much of what we do beyond talent management and it is, simply put, just plain dumb. I think, sometimes, that we fear commitment—perhaps this is a much larger issue than we have time to discuss here. By defining and communicating goals or outcomes, it means we that we are on the hook to achieve or deliver them. And that can be scary.

But if you think back to the goals of the talent management processes described earlier in the book, they gave purpose to the work. They were the stakes in the ground to which all processes were tethered, and they provided a yardstick against which all progress could be measured. And finally, although no one said this, they probably constituted the opening statement in any conversation about talent management, because if people believe in the outcomes, they are much more likely to listen to the rest of the story.

The importance of clear outcomes cannot be overstated, because they form the foundation on which everything else that follows is built. For example, it is difficult (an understatement) to enlist executive support without the existence of clear outcomes. Creating effective talent management practices and tools is challenging, to say the least, if they are not tied to specific outcomes. And, of course, it is almost impossible to measure something that one is unable to clearly describe. So if you don’t have the time, interest, or, I suppose, the energy to get this right, save everyone a lot of effort and stop now. Simply put, you will not be successful if you have not identified and documented clear outcomes that the organization can get behind.

 

 

Executive Commitment

I have been lucky enough to work in organizations in which the support of talent management was a given. Others are not so lucky. When attempting to describe what executive commitment can look like, I have, in the past, used this hierarchy:

• Level 0: no illusion of support—The good thing about this one is you know where you stand, and while you might not like it, it can save you a whole lot of work.
• Level 1: lip service—In this scenario, executives express support but do little else. They provide no resources, no money, and perhaps more important than that, they do not provide themselves. The hard part about Level 1 support is that you often don’t know what you have (or don’t have) until after you have made commitments that require more than an executive is inclined to provide. And, as you well know, if executives aren’t really in, it doesn’t take long until everyone else figures that out and also chooses not to be in. (Another version of Level 1 is money, but little, or nothing, else. Although this may work for a little while, it doesn’t take long for managers and employees to detect the lack of executive presence. And once that happens, you may as well not have money either.)
• Level 2: support and presence—Now we are making progress. In this case, executives express support (this can look a lot like lip service), but they also give you more. They may give you resources or allow you to redirect the work of existing resources. They will show up when you ask them to and say what you want them to say. To most employees, this may be all you need. But there is a downside, because the “leader watchers” will see the subtle signs of compliance—executives doing what they are asked—instead of evidence of commitment. And the latter is what you really want and need.
• Level 3: deep commitment—In this case, executives see the work as critical to their ability to achieve their own goals (or the organization’s goals) and, therefore, their own success. They spontaneously talk about the topics you want them to support, and they make it clear that they expect the unequivocal support of the entire management team to do whatever is necessary to ensure success.

I am sure you recognize your own CEO or other senior executives with whom you work in the descriptions above. I also expect that the same executive might exhibit different characteristics based on the circumstances—the issue, the business climate, competing or conflicting issues, and so on. But irrespective of the circumstances, there will be a direct relationship between the level of executive support you receive for your talent management initiatives and the likelihood that they will succeed. And in each of the examples provided in the chapters, executives exhibited deep commitment to talent management.

 

 

Structured Processes

You have, I am sure, heard the phrase “To a man (or woman) with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” We typically say this when someone is trying to use a tool he or she knows to solve the wrong problem. The following statement, though not as elegant, is sometimes used in the same way: “To a designer, there is no problem that can’t be solved with a clever design.’’ When creating talent management processes, a designer is exactly what you need. Useful and meaningful talent management processes are not the result of random acts. Rather, they come about because of careful planning, design, and implementation based on the outcomes or goals you are trying to achieve, the context in which the processes will be deployed, and the people with whom they will be used. And though I might be a victim of my own rule, this sounds exactly like the start of any design.

In this particular design, there are several questions that must be considered, in light of the goals, context, and users:

• What talent decisions do you want to make?
• What data must be collected to make these decisions, and from whom do you want or need to collect the data?
• What methods will be used to effectively, efficiently, and, perhaps, confidentially collect this data?
• How will this data be collected, reduced, analyzed, and organized to inform the talent decisions identified in the first step?

Creating and implementing a talent management strategy is a process design problem, wrapped in a change management project, in the middle of a consulting engagement. It might be lots of things, but unplanned and haphazard it is not.

 

 

Measures and Metrics

Human resources (HR) initiatives often suffer from the perception that they are disconnected from the business because they add no visible, meaningful business value. Far too often, they seem like they are intended to achieve HR goals, not business goals. Talent management initiatives are no different, and, at the risk of being accused of overstating the case, they will fail if managers and executives do not believe that the results achieved are worth the work required to deliver them. And you can rest assured that doing this takes time and effort.

So, assuming you believe that measurement is important, the next question is, of course, What do you measure? Here are some suggestions:

• Measure the experience—expectations, clarity of instructions, ease of use, perceptions of quality, and the like. In this case, the goal is to collect what we might refer to as Level 1 evaluation data for training activities. Collecting this type of information is necessary, but it is certainly not sufficient.
• Measure the results—the outcomes you identified earlier. These can be short-term measures, focusing on whether or not you delivered what you expected to deliver. For example, if one of the things you created was an employee orientation program, you might measure the completion percentage. Or if you ran a succession planning process, you might be able to identify successors for each key position.
• Measure the impact—the material improvements in the quality of talent that can be directly or indirectly attributed to the talent management activities you implemented. We could be talking about something as simple to measure as an increase in the number of managers who are promoted from within (as opposed to being hired from the outside). However, we might look for increases in employee engagement scores or, even more complex, improved business results. Making direct links between talent management activities and these types of results can be challenging, but it is the Holy Grail we are all searching for, and it should always be the goal.

In this section, I have described the four key elements of the foundation for talent management success: clear outcomes, executive commitment, structured processes, and measurement. I cannot say definitively that a talent management initiative will fail if all are not present. But I can say with some confidence that the likelihood of success will be greatly diminished if you don’t have all of them.

 

 

A Way to Proceed

So let’s take stock of where we are. You have read some or all of the 10 chapters in this book about talent management. You have learned about how talent is managed at six companies, each different from the next. And in this chapter, you have been on the other end of a small lecture about the foundation you need to construct to be successful (again, in one person’s opinion) if you try to improve your organization’s talent management. So a reasonable question at this point is how to get started. Some ideas are provided below.

Before you start the next section, you should know that what you will read is not based on the big bang theory. Oddly, most, if not all, of the examples of effective talent management practices provided earlier in this book were associated with significant organizational initiatives (the big bang). In truth, it can be easier that way, because your work will then be part of a much larger effort that has institutional buy-in and support. In essence, someone else has already constructed the foundation you need to be successful. So if you do your work well, your ability to achieve your goals will increase significantly.

The message of the next section thus could be for you to simply search for a preexisting organizational initiative to which you can attach your work and go from there. And though this is a reasonable approach, it is important to realize that it represents nothing more than a good way to get started. A comprehensive approach to talent management comprises a broad range of processes and practices, which, in most cases, extends far beyond those that happen to support a set of goals that are linked to other work being done in the organization. I expect that each of the chapter authors could tell you other stories about talent management projects they have undertaken (some successful; some perhaps less so) without the advantage of being associated with a large organizational change project. So the real message here is to absolutely take advantage of the opportunities with which you are provided, but please also recognize the need to be able to do this on your own, which is what the steps outlined below are intended to help you do.

 

 

Choose a Place to Start

In chapter 1, I presented a simple definition of talent management: “the collection of things companies do that help employees do the best they can each and every day in support of their own and the company’s goals and objectives.” Choosing a place to begin involves two distinct steps:

 

 

1. Figuring out what might be included in this “collection of things.”

2. Determining which of them has the greatest potential for helping employees do the best they can each and every day.

 

 

Here, the easy thing to do would be to try to land the big fish right away by going directly to succession planning or something equally complex. Though this might be the right answer, I would urge you not to make that decision for a little while. Improvements in recruiting, employee onboarding, development planning, and how you train managers can yield significant results.

You might want to consider these questions when selecting the talent management practices or processes you want to implement:

• What is currently being done in the organization that might fall under the banner of talent management?
• Is talent management viewed in the organization as something useful that helps to improve the quality of talent or, rather, as something that HR requires, but is of little value?
• Is there a well-known business issue or challenge that is the result of or influenced by the quality of talent in the organization?
• Can you identify any sponsors or advocates who would be supportive of new or improved talent management practices or processes?

Based on your answers to these questions and the various talent management practices you have heard or read about, choose a few things to do that seem to make sense.

 

 

Enlist Support

Another word for this step is socialization. Without investing an enormous amount of time in a detailed project plan, talk with your potential allies about what you are thinking. Be sure to focus on the business issue you identified in the previous step and how you could address it through improved talent management. Don’t speak HR. I chose not to repeat this last sentence, but I considered it. Think back to the ASTD definition of talent management given in chapter 1—quite useful when talking with other HR professionals, but not so much when talking with almost anyone else. So use business language to describe what you are thinking about and what you might want to do.

The focus of your conversations should be on

• the issue you have identified
• the possible causes of this issue
• the potential contribution that better management of talent could play in addressing the issue
• the approach you want to take to improving talent management.

Please remember that you are just having a conversation; you are not selling. Your goals are to solicit input, determine interest, and, most important, create business allies.

There is one other somewhat contradictory issue to consider. If you work in a decentralized organization, your first stop might, in fact, be other HR professionals. Use the language you need to use to enlist their support. Remember that your success will be their success, so figure out, or ask them, how you can help them. After all, they may have direct accountability for talent management practices in the parts of the larger organization they support. They also may be the gatekeepers to others with whom you may want or need to talk. Finally, view your HR partners as collaborators. Talent management is a team sport, and the more people you have on your team, the better.

Get Started, but Start Small

If the meetings suggested above went well, you should have identified one or two things you could do that would have the support you need to be successful. But remember to think small, not big; simple, not complex; easy, not hard; business, not HR. The goal here is success, and success can come in all shapes and sizes.

For the moment, let’s go back to succession planning, which is a popular talent management practice that generates lots of discussion, because management bench strength continues to be a critical issue in most organizations. A comprehensive succession planning process might result in the identification of possible replacements for all key employees (or positions) in your enterprise (not just managers, because senior technical resources can be even harder to replace). In larger organizations, this can be a complex and time-consuming task. Doing the job well requires collecting a large amount of data from managers at all levels. These data must then be analyzed and prepared for presentation and discussion at a large number of meetings, potentially at many levels of the organization. You can imagine the amount of planning, process design, communication, and project management required to do this well—not to mention the number of resources it takes, even with supportive technology. I am in no way saying this isn’t a worthwhile endeavor. But I am asking if it’s necessary to do it all the first time out.

You might, for example, start in one organization or, perhaps, at one level in that organization. Rather than going all the way to succession planning, you might start much more simply, with a set of tools that enable robust, data-based discussions about the talent in that organization. Focus on making the process and the talent conversations go incredibly well, and make sure that they are perceived as incredibly helpful. Be happy with achieving a small victory, and use this as a basis for future expansion. The next time out, you can broaden the conversation in that organization and/or move on to another. I often use the phrase “do big things in small ways.” It is appropriate here. You don’t have to tackle every issue and solve all problems the first time out.

 

Learn from Your Mistakes

Implementing a talent management practice or process is a project. As such, you should use whatever project management methodology is expected in your organization. I have no interest in offering any advice on this subject, with one exception. Whenever you have finished the first iteration of whatever it is that you have chosen to do, conduct an after-action review or project postmortem. Talk with everyone who was involved to find out what went well, what didn’t go well, and how you might improve the next time out. Listen carefully to what all of your stakeholders tell you, especially those who represent the business units you support. Above, I emphasized the importance of speaking with a voice that resonates with your business clients. You have to listen with ears that are sensitive to the same language. Think carefully about what you have heard, make adjustments and changes that make sense, and then start the process all over again.

 

Final Thoughts

Talent management isn’t rocket science. It isn’t some mysterious black art that requires special training, exotic spices, and secret chants. However, it is something that a lot of people appear to be interested in. A smaller number actually attempt to implement talent management practices and processes, which an even smaller number will do successfully. In this book, some of those who have been successful have told their stories.

ASTD (2009a) concludes its research study of talent management by saying,

We see reason for optimism. Integrated talent management remains a relatively new phenomenon, and organizations seem to get better at it over time. New research, techniques, and technologies are emerging to improve the management of talent. Clearly, effective and integrated talent management is not easy to achieve. It is after all a complex system with many different parts. The sooner that organizations learn to set up and nurture these systems, however, the sooner they will be able to turn their organization’s talent base into a genuine competitive advantage.

It’s hard not to agree.