In today’s economy, every dollar is critical.  And considering how much money, not to mention time and energy, can be spent on the recruitment of new employees when a valued member of your team decides to leave your organization, it’s important to understand what strategies and tactics can be used to retain and manage the talent you already have.  In a 2006 paper by the Economist Intelligence Unit, it was found in twenty key CEO interviews that executives devote 20% to 40 % of their time to talent management.  Their rationale is that belief that nurturing talent is the best way to secure a competitive advantage.  Utilizing that time and effort to the best advantage is what the two workshops will address.

World-renowned expert and Penn State professor Dr. Bill Rothwell will deliver the conent.

“What Managers Need to Do Every Day for Talent Management” is a two-day, practical talent management workshop for managers at all levels.  It will be offered on November 6 & 13, 2009, from 8:30-4:30 each day.  While some managers think that it is entirely the responsibility of HR professionals to attract, develop, and retain a talented workforce, this seminar focuses on the manager’s daily role in that process.  It provides an overview of tactical talent management, including daily development, coaching, dealing with problem performers and high-potentials, and retaining talented people.

Delivered via Polycom (interactive video with corporate leaders across the state) , this program will allow participants to interact virtually with the instructor and participants from University Park, as well as others across the state at other locations.  The fee for each course is $995, including all materials, lunch and breaks.  If more than one from your organization registers, you each qualify for a $895/course rate.   If you register for both courses, you also qualify for the $895/course rate.

Willliam J. Rothwell is a Professor of Workforce Education and Development Program in the College of Education at the University Park Campus of The Pennsylvania State University.  In that capacity he oversees a graduate program in Human Resource Development and Employee Training, teaches graduate courses on the full range of performance technology issues, directs research projects, and consults with hundreds of organizations in business, industry, government, and nonprofit sectors.

He completed a B.A. in English from Illinois State University, an M.B.A. from Sangamon State University, an M.A. (and all courses required for the doctorate) in English from the University of Illinois, and (in a second doctoral program separate from English) a Ph.D. in Education with a specialty in Human Resource Development from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Rothwell was recently interviewed about these programs, and a podcast of this interview can be found here:  https://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/BrowsePrivately/psu.edu.1330239710.01381167156.2020542066?i=1161055275

If you are interested in attending this event please contact events@pghtech.org

By: Michael Couch

Strategic Talent Management (getting the right people, in the right roles, doing the right things) is a core business process. As with any mission-critical process, it should be measured and improved over time to assure that has the desired business impact. Throughout my career, I’ve seen threats that can derail the process and compromise its contribution to business results. This is a summary of some of the more common threats and their potential impact. I also offer some preventive actions that can keep your process on track.

Top 12 Talent Management Derailers

1. Not in My House: Functional managers protect talent that reports to them, see them as “their employees” and do not offer them as candidates for advancement or development opportunities. They may even get upset if other managers talk to “their people” about opportunities.

The Impact

Talent pools are limited and do not reflect the real bench strength of the organization. Agile, high potential and high professional talent becomes frustrated and leaves the company. Alternatively, their careers may derail due to over-reliance on a single benefactor.

Preventive Actions

• Build a strong business case for talent from the beginning, driven by strategy. Develop a Marketing Plan for the business case that targets key stakeholders in all functions/businesses.
• Do not base talent discussions on the input of a single functional manager. The focus should be on having rich talent discussions with input from all available sources. Be cautious of using performance reviews as input to your talent process.
• Include “Skip-level” meetings in the career development plans for key talent so that executives outside of the function are aware of the talent and can be sponsors.
• Include company-wide talent development targets in executive performance and incentive plans. This should be the same measure or objective for all leaders so that “we’re all in this together” is reinforced.
• Measure and Challenge a low ratio of High Potential-to-Others in a function’s bench strength.

2. Lists for Lists Sake: Completing talent discussions just to have a succession plan or back-up list.

The Impact

The actual hit rate on back-up lists is typically only about 15%, contributing little to improving organization capability and providing a low return for this effort. The true capability of the total organization to achieve strategic targets is not assessed or improved. In addition, High Professional (as opposed to High Potential) talent, critical to maintaining a company’s core competencies, is overlooked and may become disengaged.

Preventive Actions

• Drive talent discussions from broad organization needs, not just management succession.
• Plan for talent based on broad talent or acceleration pools.
• Review and update talent on a regular basis in conjunction with monthly, quarterly, and annual business reviews.

3. Take a Pill: Development of high potential talent is limited to “take a training class” rather then meaningful assignments or broader-based development.

Impact

Talent is slowly developed or not developed at all. High Po and High Pro employees get frustrated by a lack of challenging work and growth opportunities. Training budgets are usually “fickle” so development can be erratic if training is over-emphasized. The return on training investment is not realized. The same people get tapped over-and-over for key projects.

Preventive Actions

• Develop an Assignment Management process that considers talent for all critical assignments – project, process, and business – not just leadership positions.
• Build career development and coaching processes based on the best development experiences.
• Strive to make all training just-in-time and action-based done with intact project or work teams.
• Measure all training at the impact and behavior level, not just at the reaction and learning level.

4. HR Disconnect: The talent management process is disconnected from other HR systems such selection, performance management, and compensation, and career development.

Impact

Employees are confused by differing feedback. Users of the HR processes – managers and employees – do not see the benefit in following them. The utility (cost/benefit) of the other processes is not realized. The link between the HR processes and business needs is lost, causing them to be seen as “administrivia”.

Preventive Actions

• Build HR processes upon competency-driven technology so there is a common language for talent, no matter the application. Create competency models based on behaviors of high performing employees, not the average or typical performer.
• Assign responsibility for all the talent-related processes to one function. Remove transactional processes (benefits, payroll, FMLA, pension) from the talent management function.
• Implement software systems that integrate performance management, compensation, career planning, and talent management.

5. Strategy Disconnect: Talent Management is not driven from strategy and business planning

Impact

Talent is seen as the responsibility of HR. The true capability of the company to achieve strategic targets is not improved. Critical budgeting and resourcing for talent is missed. Time devoted to talent reviews and talent development is viewed as a waste of time.

Preventive Actions

• Build clear links in the business planning process to the talent management process. Match the talent management cycle to the business planning and budgeting cycle.
• Add talent management measures to overall company scorecards. Analyze sensitivities in the measures regularly
• Ask talent-related questions at key junctures in the planning process – “Do we have the organization capability to achieve these goals?
• Implement Employee Performance Management software that links goal alignment to talent management.

6. Nothing Gained: A lack of or inconsistent follow-up on organization development action items from talent discussions.

Impact

The long-term capability of the organization is not improved. Initial momentum for the process is eventually lost. Employees see a varying level of support for the process and wonder what’s happening. Key talent may be come frustrated because the only hear words and see no action.

Preventive Actions

• Add talent management objectives to leadership performance plans and link manager’s compensation to the performance on the objectives.
• Add progress on Talent Review Action Items to regular business reviews.
• Provide consulting or coaching support to managers with significant talent issues.

7. Its Not My Job: Managers depend solely on HR or outside coaches for development

Impact

Talent management that is not owned and implemented by management goes nowhere. Progress lags. Coaching is focused on the wrong players providing little return on the investment. The talent dialogue and process is not continuously improved. Talent issues, both positive and negative, are not addressed quickly or effectively;

Preventive Actions

• Build coaching, feedback, and development training for leaders/managers/supervisors. Make it a competency requirement in their performance plan. Select managers for their ability to develop others.
• Remove non-developing managers from pivotal positions where talent development is key
• Starting with the business case, build management responsibility for talent into the process. Don’t proceed unless there is a clear case and commitment.
• Plan for and provide just-in-time development for managers in the talent process (usually immediately following a talent review).

8.Information Black Hole: Not having a robust database to track talent information and progress

Impact

Talent data stays as data and does not become “talent intelligence”. There is little understanding of whether the talent process is under control or not so its not clear when corrective action is needed. Problems (turnover, productivity, no backup) are only recognized when it’s too late to address them. The process is paper-intensive and is seen as a burden by managers and employees. The clear benefit of talent management is not tracked and is therefore questioned.

Preventive Actions

• Define the process first but back it up with a robust database and measurements. Build the process from business requirements not HR requirements alone.
• Define the data needs in advance and work with IT to understand requirements. Do a pilot in a smaller area to confirm the system needs.
• Measure the productivity of the process with and without effective data (time spent by key executives) to build a case.

9. Just The Facts: A clearly defined and accepted business case for Talent Management does not exist

Impact

The true capability of the organization’s talent to achieve business goals is not identified. Resources are not allocated effectively. The process does not move beyond a very low level of maturity and looses support over time.

Preventive Actions

• Build the business case before you do anything else. Use a cross-functional team to define the effort, ideally not lead by HR. Talk to key stakeholders and identify talent issues linked to business needs and drivers. Benchmark other influential firms.
• Define and measure “Talent Management” early in the process; Review the measures with key stakeholders and report them during business reviews.

10. Only at the Top: Having rich talent discussions only for top level positions

Impact

The true capability of the organization’s talent to achieve business goals is not identified. Resources are not allocated effectively. The process does not move beyond a very low level of maturity and looses support over time.

Preventive Actions

• Build the business case before you do anything else. Use a cross-functional team to define the effort, ideally not lead by HR. Talk to key stakeholders and identify talent issues linked to business needs and drivers. Benchmark other influential firms.
• Define and measure “Talent Management” early in the process; Review the measures with key stakeholders and report them during business reviews.

11. Resurrection is Much Harder Than Birth: Spending too much time and resources on blocked, low learning agile, low potential employees, trying to fix them

Impact

Talent improvement is slowed. A return on investment in Human Capital is not realized because the investment is going to those with a very low chance of improvement. High potential talent becomes frustrated and leaves.

Preventive Actions

• Build the business case before you do anything else. Use a cross-functional team to define the effort, ideally not lead by HR. Talk to key stakeholders and identify talent issues linked to business needs and drivers. Benchmark other influential firms.
• Define and measure “Talent Management” early in the process; Review the measures with key stakeholders and report them during business reviews.
• Build consequences for managers that don’t address performance issues quickly.

12. Living in the Past: Not advancing from a focus on the past to a focus on the future as the talent process matures

Impact

Talent gaps are missed and hinder growth. Too much time is spent on reacting to talent problems rather than creating opportunities and continuously improving organization capability. The business case for talent management is not validated.

Preventive Actions

• Implement an information system that allows you to model talent over time – “what-if”
• Gather operations, sales, and business planning data as input to the talent process
• Include a discussion of talent implications to business plans
• Measure the impact of talent progress on business results; Look for talent sensitivities

This post has been re-published with the consent of Michael Couch.  Michael is a Pittsburgh based HR consultant and expert.and a great supporter of the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s member companies.  To learn more about Michael’s services please visit his web site by click here.

To support my argument for the “liberated workforce” I have included a list of characteristics of the 21st century worker from Steve South’s blog over at Lee Hecht Harrison’s Pittsburgh blog. You can see the full article here.

• They all work from a home-office and are across several states and more than one country;
• They all put in over 40 hours a week (but not always from 9-5 and not always M-F);
• They all have their own portable laptop, portable printer, scanner and PDA;
• They have their own phone number (for work and personal) and their phone is with them all the time;
• They have 24/7 access to the internet and its plethora of downloadable software applications;
• They have several social networking profiles and network for new opportunities of all kinds regularly;
• Well over half their meetings are via WebX or GoToMeeting;
• They talk about shopping at places like E-Bay, Amazon, and NoBetterDeal.com like our parents used to talk about shopping at Kaufmann’s and Horne’s;
• They Google, blog and twitter as a matter of course throughout the day;
• They are cyber school graduates and all working on their advanced degrees online;
• Each has a portable retirement program (IRAs and 401ks);
• They have (or likely will have) some kind of ‘portable’ health care program;
• A ‘sustainable’ workplace is one of their top 3 reasons for choosing their employer;
• They identify more with their region and their profession than they do their company – i.e. “I am an accountant from Austin” (versus “I work for Dell”);
• They talk in terms of ‘self-defined PTO’, rather than corporate-defined vacations and holidays;
• Managing their money is a matter of direct deposits, EFTs, ATMs and ‘virtual wallets’;

Let me as you this:

• Does your company support or undermine the following list of characteristics?
• Are you interested in having a mobile workforce?
• Or does the thought of people determining their own schedule worry you?
• These are all questions that every company will need to answer in the very near if not present future.
• Are you already seeing a large number of your staff asking for modified work hours?
• How many of your staff members work from home at least one day a week?
• Those who do work from home at least one day a week, has their productivity levels gone up or down?
• How about their satisfaction with the company or their job?

On a related matter, we just released our annual salary survey this week at an event over at the Rivers Club. The survey, as you may have guessed, was largely about what organizations are paying their people, but in addition to that we have a lot of data on healthcare, paid time off, and work / life balance questions. The data is quite fascinating.
Of the nearly 80 companies from southwest Pennsylvania who took the survey:

• 53% said they offer “flextime” time to their employees
• 47% offered every day casual dress
• 26% off “steady telecommuting”
• 24% offer Friday casual dress
• 22% offer a “compressed workweek”

The idea of the“liberated workforce” really isn’t that revolutionary if you think about it. Now I do admit for some companies it will be. However, if you ponder it long enough you will realize that this is the way all of us have been designed to function at work. No longer do most of us “punch-in-and-punch-out.” We are paid to think, create, and communicate. If that happens between nine and five, great! But if it doesn’t that should be ok too. Change may be the word for 2010 but it is very hard to actually make happen, in Washington DC and in the workforce in America.

The report considers data from the following counties:

Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland.

Check out these stats for four of our industries:

Life Sciences

• 3.9% increase in the total number of jobs available: 121,630
• 12.9% increase in the total annual payroll: $6.6 billion
• 8.6% increase in the average wage: $54,417

Advanced Manufacturing

• 4% increase in the total number of jobs available: 22,409
• 17% increase in total annual payroll: $1.8 billion
• 12.5% increase in the average wage: $52,908

Environmental Technology

• 3.5% increase in the total number of jobs available: 33,129
• 12.6% increase in total annual payroll: $2.1 billion
• 8.7% increase in the average wage: $64,788

Energy Technology

• 13.8% increase in the total number of jobs available: 30,448
• 15.9% increase in the total annual payroll: $2.075 billion
• 1.8% increase in the average wage: $68,150

Now it wasn’t all good news.  The information technology and advanced materials sectors saw significant down turns.  IT employment was down 11.5% and advanced materials were down almost 7%.  The IT number is odd to me since of the 1,000 jobs listed on the PGH Career Connector; over 50% of them are IT jobs, specifically software and programming jobs.

Overall it looks like the technology industry is in excellent shape and continuing to grow.  The energy sector specifically is a sector to watch.  With advances in natural gas and the coal industry it will be very interesting what these numbers look like over the next couple of years.  The number of jobs available should continue to rise steadily and be a anchor sector for our region.

Finally, the tech industry in southwest PA accounts for only 11.2% of the companies but makes up nearly 30% of the regions wages!  That is something to be proud of and something to take note of.

This is a great example of how the recruiting industry is changing largely because technology is forcing it to.  Technology is making it easier and more efficent to find good candidates for your company without having to travel to the ends of the earth.  Zebra Jobs puts that fact on full display through their African Virtual job fair.

Couple of questions:

1. Is your company open to using innovative recruiting ideas like this one?

2. If you are having trouble finding talent locally, what methods are you using to gain exposure nationally or internationally?

3. Are you uncomfortable with technology like this even though it is unproven and virtually untested?

4. Even though technology has made it easier to find talent do you still prefer meeting candidates face-to-face or at actual job fairs or recruiting events?

How to interact?

1. Comment on this post | 2. Send an email to Email me

Great companies originate with great people!

Good people are the only reason any company is able to thrive.  Small and large companies alike need the best and most qualified talent in order to be successful.  The Council’s Talent Initiative is designed to help ensure the top S.T.E.M, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, talent meets top technology companies from across the region.

The goal of this initiative is to help connect job seekers and technology companies,collaborate with other regional economic develop / workforce development organization to provide resources , advocate for the S.T.E.M. industry within the State and Federal governments, and promote regional visibility of technology companies and technology job seekers