The Missing Ingredients: Leadership, Talent Development
The payoff of a robust development program.
By David C. Forman
A major emphasis in the theory and practice of talent management is the identification, selection and development of top talent. For many organizations, the focus of these efforts is at the top of the "org chart." There is alarming data on CEO succession: Almost 80 percent of companies do not have adequate bench strength for their senior management. When a senior leader leaves, one of two things can happen: External candidates are brought in to fill positions or internal candidates are elevated without proper vetting. In both cases, failure rates can be devastating, sometimes approaching 70 percent.
The solution to this problem is a comprehensive and systematic internal process to identify a company's superior performers. This is not easy to do: It goes way beyond once-a-year-performance appraisals. It needs to become part of the way a company operates and not perceived as a burdensome task. Talent needs to become a core value proposition of the organization.
The GE Example
General Electric (GE) presents two of the clearest examples of this type of professional approach to talent selection. The first is the orderly succession of Brian Williams to replace the departing Tom Brokaw at NBC. Williams was carefully chosen and painstakingly prepared for his eventual assumption of the evening news. The second is the competition for the leadership of GE in the post-Jack era. Jeffrey Immelt won the job, and his two main competitors left GE for other executive pastures at Home Depot and 3M. New budding GE leaders assumed the vacated management roles of these three executives within 8 hours. GE did not miss a beat.
Missing Ingredient #1
While these stories are compelling, there is more to talent development than television stars and CEOs. The first missing ingredient is demonstrated by a talent review process that does not extend beyond potential CEO candidates. As pressing as senior executive succession planning is, an organization's real strength is in the "deep pros" that make a discernable difference in the quality of products and services. If they leave, the impact is immediate. A CEO's departure may be felt in six months or a year: If "deep pros" leave, the impact is felt next week. The talent review process must extend down several levels in the organization to identify the real difference makers. These are the key jobs and people who will cause the organization to stumble if positions are left vacant, even for a few weeks.
Missing Ingredient #2
The second missing ingredient is a strong development program. It is one thing to identify and select talent; it is another to have a challenging and robust development program. This is the reason that many leadership and talent development initiatives fail.
In the past, development programs were training programs, but training is actually a small part of developing employees, much to the chagrin of the training industry. More than 70 percent of what we need to know to do our jobs is learned doing the job and not in separate training courses. In fact, many corporations now use a 10/20/70 framework for their developmental programs: 10 percent training; 20 percent coaching and mentoring; and 70 percent on-the-job learning.
Create Meaningful Learning
The critical developmental skill is crafting challenging and compelling workplace learning opportunities. The key word is "challenging," because for real learning to occur, employees need to be taken out of their "comfort zone." This adjustment fuels learning, growth and development. We all want to be successful and competent, and we will work especially hard to overcome any performance barriers that arise. Stretch assignments are good for the individual and good for the company.
The following are examples of challenging assignments that can be used as core developmental opportunities:
Note that there is a difference between stretching and struggling. Resources, coaching and support must be provided to avoid frustration and failure. In addition, effective developmental programs orchestrate these opportunities based on each individual's career progression and experiences. The end result is a pool of qualified, experienced, multi-faceted pros and an organization with a deep bench, a strong talent pipeline, and a culture that both identifies and develops the best talent.
HC