Every week, I review blogs that cover talent development to find you the pick of the lot for the week. In this post, you’ll find pointers to pieces about retaining top talent, talent management strategies, today’s top talent management challenges, training for new managers, and hiring senior executives that stay and produce.
From the Hartford Business Journal: Employee Retention Vital To Success Even In Today’s Economy
“Just as businesses look for new opportunities when conditions improve, so do employees. Forty percent of workers surveyed for Workplace Redefined: Shifting Generational Attitudes During Economic Change, a recent report from Robert Half, said their experiences during the downturn have made them more inclined to look for new opportunities outside of their current firms. You simply can’t afford to lose your best people, especially now. Losing top talent could leave your firm unprepared to take advantage of new business opportunities as the economy recovers. You need to take steps to ensure your retention efforts are still on target.”
Wally’s Comment: Robert Half Regional VP, Jennifer Arenas, shares some things her firm has learned that will help you keep your top talent in a world of increasing opportunities.
From HR Magazine: Talent management strategies need to widen their horizons
“Making sure top teams and managers have the right skills to lead their organisation and employees through these difficult times is the primary focus for most talent management professionals. But where does this leave other employees in terms of their development? And what impact will this have on businesses and society in the long-term?”
Wally’s Comment: David Cumberbatch notes that the term “talent management” has come to define “talent” as those with “top leadership potential.” He suggests that we need to return to a wider definition.
From HRM Today: Top Talent Management Challenges
“Linking talent management practices with a company’s business, vision and strategy is a top issue for managers and one, which needs to be advanced even in a slow economy. Deborah Peirce, Director, Global Talent Management, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, is a speaker at the marcus evans6th Annual Talent Planning and Leadership Development Conference taking place on 30-31 August in Chicago. She outlines the critical role of talent management in supporting a growth trajectory in today’s business environment.”
Wally’s Comment: Maeve McGovern interviews Deborah Peirce, Director, Global Talent Management, Baxter Healthcare Corporation about a range of issues including the impact of the recession and of short-term thinking on talent management. There’s plenty to chew on here.
From Great Leadership: An “Out-of-the-Box†Training Program for New Managers
“If I were asked to develop a training program for new managers, the first thing I’d want to do is ask a lot of questions. I’d want to understand the business challenges, interview or survey a bunch of newly promoted managers, their employees, and their managers, and talk to HR and others who could provide me some insight. In other words, a good old-fashioned needs assessment. However, at the end of the day, there is a good chance the program would look very similar from one company to another, across cultures, and probably wouldn’t even change much over the years.”
Wally’s Comment: Very few new managers get any serious training at all which is, effectively, a way to make sure that some top talent never gets a fair opportunity to succeed. So many companies do so little effective training for this key transition that it’s scandalous. Dan McCarthy has done a career’s worth of leadership development. In this post, he lays out what an effective training program might be for your first-time managers. Bookmark this one.
From HBR: Hire Senior Executives That Last
“Not long ago a C-suite executive left a major corporation after being there for only a year. Although the official statement said that she left “for personal reasons,” in truth she was not a good fit with the company and had alienated many of her colleagues and demoralized the function she was leading. Most disturbing, however, was that this same executive had a pattern of similar failures in previous positions — but somehow that history was either missed or ignored when she was hired. Unfortunately this is not an uncommon situation. Studies peg the failure rate of executives coming into new companies at anywhere from 30% to 40% after 18 months.”
Wally’s Comment: Ron Ashkenas, managing partner of Robert H. Schaffer and Associates suggests three steps to overcome the appalling failure rate of top executives hired from outside. I love his third step: “reduce the number of outside hires.” That takes an effective talent development program and it takes time, but it’s a very good goal. Read the post for the author’s other two steps.
