TM - April 2008 - (Page 40) Create Flexible Practices and Policies If line managers are to actively tailor talent management practices to individual employees, policies and practices must be flexible. Such flexibility is not the norm. Research revealed many managers say job competencies and descriptions are too generic or out-of-date to be of real value. Further, their organizations’ one-size-fits-all learning or rewards programs do not enable them to account for the unique ways employees learn or are motivated. Predefined career paths and narrow salary ranges also limit managers’ ability to place employees in positions to maximize their strengths and capabilities. Global talent management practices and policies need to be designed so they can be applied to differing local needs. In the past decade, many companies have achieved customization by offering flexible work arrangements, cafeteria-style benefits plans and broadband compensation schemes in which job titles are collapsed into fewer, wider salary ranges. But companies must break new ground to design discretion, choice and flexibility into all talent management practices and programs. To get different behaviors, talent managers may need to offer different incentives. Putting new incentives in place is especially important if line managers are to take on new talent management responsibilities. Organizations often attempt to hold managers accountable for human capital development, but do little more than ask managers to check off various activities and processes. At Procter & Gamble, managers’ compensation, stock options, performance ratings and assignments are tied to their success in recruiting, developing and retaining top-performing employees. At a leading medical equipment maker, managers are assessed on whether they are “net exporters of talent,” a metric indicating how many of their employees have been promoted into management in other parts of the company. Support Managers Busy and overworked line managers are more likely to maximize performance if they are coached to handle a variety of situations and problems involving their people. Effective people management is not a skill learned at most business schools, nor is it easily picked up on the job without conscious attention and practice. Many organizations now require line managers undergo extensive training for effective people management. Training is a step in the right direction, but the informal and everyday interactions between line managers and employees are less amenable to being shaped by formal training. More focused coaching and mentoring is needed. At SAP America, HR business partners work with managers one-on-one. The company boasts low ratios of HR business partners to line managers and conceives the HR business partner’s primary role as consulting to line managers. One HR business partner, for example, works with 30 line managers and spends about 60 percent of her time coaching them on people issues. Line managers can make or break performance and must be charged with a broader sense of responsibility to maximize the impact of an organization’s talent. Those given freedom to customize basic talent management practices and tailor generic programs to the unique needs of their people can propel their organizations toward high performance. David Smith leads Accenture’s Talent & Organization Performance practice in North America. Susan Cantrell is a fellow at the Accenture Institute for High Performance Business. They can be reached at editor@TalentMgt.com. T uesday, April 8, 2008 • 11AM PT/2PM ET Learning and Performance Go On-Demand Sponsored by GeoLearning, Chris Howard, principal analyst and research director at Bersin & Associates, will define exactly what software as a service is, how it's different from on-premise software and identify its business advantages for learning organizations. T uesday, April 22, 2008 • 11AM PT/2PM ET Getting the Most Value From Your Tuition Assistance Program Join Heidi Milberg, director of the Learning Solutions Group, as she shares the challenges of corporate tuition programs and how companies can get the most value from them. This Webinar is sponsored by General Physics. T uesday, April 29, 2008 • 11AM PT/2PM ET Driving Improved Business Results With Pre-Employment Assessment PreVisor will sponsor this Webinar, revealing how several Fortune 1000 employers have used the science of selection to accurately correlate candidate assessment scores with performance on the job and create measurable and sustainable improvements to business results. T register, go to o www.T alentMgt.com/ events. Now featuring “Quick Register” for returning attendees. http://www.TalentMgt.com/events http://www.TalentMgt.com/events
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