180Managing Individuals
ORGANIZATIONAL FIT
Understand what kind of environment they need to thrive by asking:
• “What sorts of people do you work best and worst with? Do you
hate to work with highly organized, analytic people, or do you love
it? Do creative types drive you crazy, or do you work well with
them?”
• “What sort of organizational culture brings out the best in you?
What tweaks would make this organization a better fi t? What
aspects trouble you the most?”
WORK VALUES
Find out what they think a good career looks like by asking:
• “What was the most important work-related lesson you learned
from your parents?”
• “What lesson did the best boss you ever had teach you about
yourself?”
• “What one lesson about managing a career would you pass along
to the next generation? How would you apply that lesson to your-
self right now?”
• “What are you most proud of in your work life? What regrets do
you have about how you have run your career? Could you make any
changes based on those regrets?”
performance reviews, and feedback meetings discussed in chapter 10, “Giv-
ing Effective Feedback,” provide many opportunities to gain this under-
standing. If you haven’t yet discussed these bigger-picture issues with them
yet, look at the box “Employee development interview” for possible scripts.
Step 2: Suggest training opportunities
Close out the conversation by suggesting a few next steps for them:
Developing Talent181
• “In an ideal world, what would your work-life balance look like?
Looking forward over the next six months, one year, and fi ve years,
how do you see yourself achieving that balance?”
• “What were you doing when you were happiest in your work life?
How could you incorporate that into what you’re doing now?”
VISION OF THE FUTURE
Discover what ambitions they already have for their development by
asking:
• “What are your most cherished hopes for the future, workwise?
What stands in the way of realizing those hopes?”
• “What are your short-term and long-term professional goals?”
• “Do you have other, big-picture personal development goals that
dovetail with your professional ambitions? How do these personal
and professional goals relate to each other?”
• “How could we better structure your current role to add value to
the organization? Are there other opportunities in the company
you’d like to explore?”
Source: Adapted from Edward Hallowell, Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your
People. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2011.
• Meet with HR about formal skill trainings, a mentorship program,
or other opportunities for growth. Can you connect them to some-
one you already have a relationship with?
• Find informal training opportunities. Encourage them to search
for online courses, local conferences or seminars, or books that
could help them develop specifi c skills.
182Managing Individuals
• Schedule informational interviews with other people in the com-
pany. Can you introduce them to any colleagues who might be able
to act as a mentor or offer a learning opportunity, like a temporary
or part-time assignment?
• Pitch you on a job redesign that would solve a specifi c problem for
your unit or improve its performance, while creating new growth
opportunities for them. Can you identify your top problems for
them, or share other information about the organizational priori-
ties that are driving your business strategy right now?
Step 3: Refresh responsibilities
While your employees are following up on your initial discussion, there are
a few things you can do to make their current role align better with the
trajectory they’re charting:
• Redefi ne their job so that they do more work they’ll enjoy and
learn from.
• Find a mentor for them within your team who can teach them the
skills they want to know.
• Delegate stretch assignments that will help them grow, or expose
them to different parts of the company.
• Make them the point person on your team for dealing with another
business unit that’s relevant to their interests.
• Negotiate temporary or part-time assignments for them with col-
leagues in other units.
• Involve them in your silo-busting efforts (see chapter 5, “Becom-
ing a Person of Infl uence”) to coordinate with other parts of the
organization.
Some of these options will require your employees to spend time away
from your team, working in other parts of the company with other manag-
Developing Talent183
ers. Don’t look at this as losing their time. A well-conceived assignment
will benefi t your group, too. If, down the line, you do end up grooming a
particular employee for a promotion within your unit, the experience in a
different area will serve them well. And if they ultimately choose to move
into another role outside the team, you’ll benefi t from having a colleague
who understands and values what your staff does.
Developing high-potential talent
High performers, who typically make up about 5 to 10 percent of your
team, have unique needs. These employees exhibit strong performance
and show great potential to do even more for the organization. This group
requires a commitment from you to develop and promote their talent in
the organization.
To identify your high performers, look for the team members who:
• Exceed your standards on multiple measures
• Act on constructive feedback in order to improve performance
• Show potential to perform at a higher level within the next year or
two
• Make key contributions to the team
• Work hard under pressure and pick up slack from others
• Act as a positive role model for others
High performers typically place a high value on their own develop-
ment and see it as a sign that your company is a good place to build a ca-
reer. When you meet star employees for development interviews, start by
offering specifi c, detailed praise about their work; they may not know how
good it is or what kinds of effort are most valuable to you and the rest of
the team.
Come prepared to talk about specifi c opportunities you think they
might benefi t from, for example, skill training through HR or a temporary
184Managing Individuals
assignment with another team. (Your preparation for this meeting might
include touching base with your own boss to talk about how employees’ de-
velopment could meet larger needs in the unit, or coincide with your own
plans for advancement.) Then follow up within the company in a timely
way to make sure that these resources and opportunities come through.
Even if everything doesn’t pan out, you want to be able to tell high achiev-
ers that you’re doing everything you can for them. Your advocacy as their
boss is important to them.
In addition to promoting your direct reports’ career goals, you should
also make sure you—and they—understand the cost of what it takes them
to achieve those great results. If their work habits aren’t sustainable, they
risk burning out and maybe quitting your organization altogether. So
check in frequently to make sure work isn’t disrupting important life func-
tions like health, family, and leisure. Ultimately your employees’ work-life
balance is up to them: if they choose to forgo their hobbies and their kids’
sports games in the name of work, you can’t stop them. But you can make
sure that you’re communicating clear expectations and empowering them
to work well. Make a habit of asking, “How can I continue to support you?”
and “What can we do as an organization to get better at supporting your
great work?”
High performers put themselves under a lot of pressure, but there are
a few things you can do to help them grow in a healthy way:
Set boundaries with compassion.
When your employee interrupts you in front of your boss to show off their
expertise, you might feel angry. But expressing these negative feelings to a
star player may cause a backlash. Instead of saying “That was out of line!”
wait until your feelings have calmed and then try a compassionate question
that pushes them to refl ect on their own motives:
“Your interjection earlier surprised me. What were you hoping to ac-
complish there? What do you think the effect was?”
They’ll probably say something like, “I wanted to make a point I
thought you were missing.”
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