Followership

"I can't wait until I'm the boss and don't have to answer to anyone."

We've all heard something similar, either in business, in the community, children, or perhaps in our own voices.  It's a consistent refrain echoing across all ages, from the very young to the very old:  one day I'll be in charge.  For all of us, that day never comes - no matter our upward trajectory in an organization.

Strategic Workforce Planning (by any name)

Back in 2007 I described leadership development in a speech as “ensuring we have the right people, in the right place, at the right time, and at the right cost, now and years into the future.”  When I coined the phrase, it felt like a winner– very easy to explain and understand.  I still use this description in conversation, and even in recent posts! :)

For a year or two I felt original, then found that several others must have been generating similar ideas and thoughts for years.  The U.S. Department of Interior came up with it in 2001 to describe Workforce Planning (WFP).  The County of Fairfax in Virginia presented “Strategic Workforce Planning” in 2003 – noting at the link that “planning begins with the organization’s strategic plan.”  In 2006 NOAA used the phrase in describing “workforce planning,” considered much more strategic than simply “succession planning.”  The effort was called “One NOAA,” an effort to “develop, value, and sustain a world-class workforce.”  In 2009 GFT used the phrase to describe “flexible resourcing.”

Today, Human Capital Institute, highly regarded in Human Resources circles, offers the SWP certification with this quote:  “Strategic Workforce Planning is the most sought after skill in talent management today….”

Case study: the annual review

Kaitlyn is a process engineer. She has worked for Jeremiah for quite some time, and feels like he understands her contributions to the team.

Several days ago, she had been looking forward to her annual performance review. She had saved the company $4 million in March of this past year, and remembered the praise Jeremiah had heaped on her in front of the company president. Shortly after this big win, the president asked Jeremiah to broaden her responsibilities. Kaitlyn expected a glowing review and a nice bonus check to cap off a stellar 2010.

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.

Nontraditional talent

In a September post, "Just Like Me" I shared the following:

Quick note of warning about thin-slicing and making generalizations too much – it’s easy to miss a diamond in the rough.  In large part these theories are interpreted in a way that assumes more perfect information than reality affords.  Often, individuals don’t fully know who they are, or what they may be good at doing, or even identifying traits in other individuals and organizations.  From an employer perspective, recruiters are often looking for identical experience to fill a role when a better fit might be for someone making a developmental turn – or from a different industry that utilizes similar skills. 

This month's Talent Management magazine has an interesting article:  "Hiring Talent With Nontraditional Backgrounds."  It's a nice overview of the pitfalls and opportunities of hiring outside of what might be considered the "normal" pools of sourced talent.  Here's the kicker:  "

Individuals with diverse academic and vocational backgrounds can be a boon to business, but talent managers must do their homework to determine the proficiency and cultural fit of these 'outsiders.'"So how to find these people?

Just Like Me

Are we really all the same?

There is a great deal of interest in behavioral research over the past several years, and the energy around the topic hasn't waned. From pop psychology books to academic studies of leadership, there is renewed interest in what makes people behave the way they do. To research these differences, large samples are often taken from across several companies and disciplines – this ensures the data is statistically relevant to a larger population.

This practice alone surfaces an implicit assumption that shared behavioral traits exist within certain functions and organizations.

During a guided visit to a busy trading floor, the people there were described as pampered, very hardworking, and compensation driven. A recent stop at a financial advisory office struck me because every person dressed alike, and had shared vocal intonations, mannerisms, and gait. At a recent nonprofit gathering, the similarities in personality were absolutely striking. At a funeral I attended a few years ago, someone looked at my pin-striped suit, cuff-links, and polished shoes and said “oh, you must be a banker” - which I was.

Every day we are able to function more efficiently by thin-slicing parts of our world (nod to Gladwell's book Blink), ascribing characteristics to particular people and things based on our prior experiences with similar people and things. We know that, generally speaking, similar people have similar traits.

Think about these statements, one by one. Likely an image will form in your mind as to characteristics of the people.

• He's a boxer


• She's a ballerina


• He's an administrative assistant


• She's a president

Is it valid to think this way?

Talent Assessments

Walking down the sidewalk this afternoon in a bustling city, I overheard a group of professionals having an interesting conversation. A woman in the group was talking about a personality assessment she was being required to take by her manager. She was appalled.

“Why do I have to take a personality assessment? It's the work that I do that's important, not how I do it!” She went on to share her concerns that this was probably the first step towards her termination, and that she's been a top performer relative to her peers. There was a lot of nodding & sympathy all around.

Succession planning

A large firm recently announced its new CEO at a standing-room only event.  The current CEO - retiring at year's end - addressed the assembled crowd.  He began with a quick vignette of the incoming chief, then uttered these words:"You know, a CEO's legacy is the next CEO, so I want him to do real well."

Each person has a professional legacy to build, and the most visible component of the legacy is the person that steps into the role next.  For some roles, like the CEO of a large firm, there are several teams of individuals working to ensure continuity in the role.  In others, like a small business owner or line manager, the only person ensuring continuity is the person currently filling the role.