Blockers

When I speak about talent management, I describe the work as follows:  talent management is about ensuring the right people are in the right roles at the right time.  It's easy to say - rolls right off the tongue.  However it's very complex, and not so easy to implement.

Most large firms have a formal review of talent at least once per year. A component of this conversation is to discuss individuals in three broad dimensions: performance against goals; behaviors that benefit the individual, team, and firm; and the potential to develop and contribute at a higher level in the organization.


The most talented of these are called “high potentials,” or “HIPOs” for short. From an organization perspective, these individuals need to be moved into developmental roles to expand understanding, grow skill base, and add more value to the firm. From a retention perspective, these individuals must remain engaged with an understanding that they are being groomed for bigger and better things.

Once an organization identifies the HIPOs, it is tasked with finding those developmental roles to help grow and retain these individuals. One approach would be to develop HIPOs through projectized experiences and created roles. While very effective in one regard, it may also be very expensive. Creating roles for every HIPO often seems expensive to line managers with the competing priorities of revenue maximization and expense management.

The most widely used alternative to this approach is to move HIPOs into preexisting roles in the organization (whether or not this is really less expensive is for another post). It generally considered to be cost-effective, offer a flavor of what a particular function is “really like,” and generate additional visibility and exposure for the HIPO.

An example is an attorney who has the potential for being general counsel one day at an MNC (multi-national corporation). Since daily litigation is very different from advising a CEO on global initiatives and M&A activity, it might make sense for the attorney to have some developmental experiences: lead a team of non-attorneys, manage capital expenses for a while, and to interact with activist investors as corporate secretary or investor relations representative. The problem is that there is already someone (called an incumbent) in each of these roles. What to do?

The people in these developmental roles are called “blockers.” How a blocker is defined is a little different depending on where you're standing. Here are some widely held definitions I don't quite agree with:

• An individual that has plateaued professionally


• An individual in a developmental role that has plateaued professionally


• An individual that has adequate performance in a role in which a HIPO could excel


• An individual that keeps a HIPO from having a developmental experience needed to advance in the organization

These aren't bad definitions, but I would argue that blockers are more prevalent in an organization than this, that the above definitions view an organization as a closed system, and that there is only one way (role) to gain a developmental experience.

To me, a blocker is anyone in a role that would be a developmental experience for someone else.

Pretty simplistic, right? With my definition, being a blocker has very little to do with how someone is performing in an existing role, or for how long, or what potential is within. It's externally defined: a blocker is having an experience that would benefit someone else.Say you're a financial analyst with dreams (and the raw talent) to one day become the CEO. Looking at an organization chart, follow the path of managers vertically from you all the way up to the CEO role. Every individual that is in a box between you and the CEO – and even the CEO – is a blocker to where your career path can take you. Imagine you have some conversations with your colleagues and discover that every CEO in the history of the the organization has spent a year or two in sales. Every individual in a sales role that might be a developmental experience for you is a blocker for you as well. Think about the succession for the current CEO – how many folks are in line for that job? All of them are – you guessed it – blockers.

Feeling kind of down, now that you see that a good chunk of your organization is filled with individuals keeping you from your dreams? Like there are walls all around and nowhere to go? Never fear – let's shift the paradigm a little and talk about enablers.

In popular psychology and social work, an “enabler” is someone that allows negative or destructive behavior to continue. Consider a friend that's bad with money and is always asking for a loan. Being the lender is being an enabler – without someone willing to lend, it's impossible for the friend to borrow.

Being an enabler, however, is defined more broadly in psychology, leadership, and talent management. Simply put, an enabler is someone that helps something happen. In our context, an enabler is anyone that can effect a developmental experience for someone else.

So let's say you're once again that financial analyst with CEO dreams, staring at the org chart. Your manager is the one that affects your immediate opportunities – an enabler to be sure. Your skip-level manager is the one that will share your talent, skills, and abilities with others at her level – enabling movement across a greater space. In another area of the firm, sales managers are looking for professionals with financial acumen to help sell the company's widgets – enabling you to offer the value of your numbers genius for some time learning sales techniques and the products the company offers. At the very top of the organization, near the CEO, is a cadre of individuals driving the strategy of the firm in a way that creates opportunities for you, including your current role. If you didn't have your current role, all this talk of blockers and enablers becomes rather moot.

If you're engaged in talent conversations at your organization, it's important to remember the following:

• There are always more blockers than those identified in the formal process


• Identified blockers in an organization may not be as bad as the one counseling you might have you believe


• There are ways around blockers


• Blockers are often also enablers


• Developmental paths are not always through a role held by a blocker

In thinking about your own path, remember:

• Careers are often latticeworks instead of totem poles


• You may discover that those standing in your way are ready and willing to lift you ask


• Before you ask, think about whether or not you would actually like to be lifted higher


• If you're on a totem pole and feel the grass tickling your nose, remember that you're also closest to the sweet-smelling roses

Want another view?  See Bersin & Associate's post: “Tackling Your Blockers.”

Best,

Bryan