Last week, Suzanne Rumsey, Senior Consultant at Knowledge Infusion, published a thoughtful post on Fistful of Talent titled: “Talent Management: Clone or Original?” Here’s the lead.
“As consultants in the Talent Management space, my colleagues and I are usually asked some variation on the following questions: what companies are the leaders in talent management practices? Who are the organizations that do talent management – talent acquisition, development, performance, succession, workforce planning, talent mobility, etc. – well enough to have it truly impact company performance? “
Suzanne’s post was a reaction to a post by Dr. John Sullivan on TLNT. It was titled “Where to Work if You’re a Talent Management Rock Star.” Dr. Sullivan produced a list of best places to work in that situation. Suzanne’s post critiqued the criteria he used.
I want to go in a slightly different direction. Read both posts to get an idea of where to look for talent management practices you can adapt. Once you’ve done that, use the following questions to analyze whether a practice is right for you.
Will this work in your industry? Many of the practices used by high-tech companies are almost necessary because of corporate cultural norms. If you expect people to work nights and weekends, it’s a good idea to provide them with showers and haircuts on site. And if other companies in your industry are providing a perk or benefit, you may have to copy it to keep up.
What’s the story of the practice? Many companies uncritically copied GE’s forced ranking. If they’d dug into the story they might have learned that the practice was first instituted because managers were applying Lake Woebegone principles and rating everyone above average. Other companies have dealt with that situation differently. Still others adopted the GE practice with modifications.
Who else is using the practice? Do a little research and see if other companies have adopted the idea and how it worked for them. Do not believe laudatory articles or news releases. Make real contact and ask real people real questions.
If the practice or perk looks like it might work for you after you’ve answered the above questions, use the ones that follow for your final test.
- Why would we want to do this?
- Who will be affected?
- What resources will we need to make it happen?
- What steps will we need to take and in what order?
- How long will it take?
Other companies can be a great source of talent management ideas, but there is no one size fits all. Do your due diligence.
