TM - April 2008 - (Page 64) LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT continued from page 43 Motivations and Interests Even when leaders have the right foundational traits and a breadth of experiences, they may not have an interest in moving into bigger, more time-consuming roles unless organizations can determine what would motivate them to take on new challenges. For most leaders, money and promotion are not on the top of the list. In fact, a recently released PDI research study found high-potential, mid-level and business-unit leaders ranked compensation and advancement as the most important aspects less than 10 percent of the time. Each leader’s motivation may be different (see Figure 2). Supervisors need to sit down with high-potential employees and determine their specific key motivators, or they’ll lose key talent. APPLICATION continued from page 55 “Our new talent acquisition system has become the exoskeleton of our entire OFCCP compliance program,” said Crawford Hentz. The system also allows Osram Sylvania to monitor diversity at every stage of the hiring process. This way, managers can identify if certain employment classes are dropping off, and if so, at what stage in the process is this happening so that they can adapt recruiting methods accordingly. Furthermore, regular diversity reports that used to take several hours now can be completed with four mouse clicks. Crawford Hentz said, initially, she had several concerns about implementing the new system, and most of these centered on the importance of service and flexibility in the success or failure of a talent acquisition system implementation. She said it pays to check references for prospective vendors. It took 13 months to source Osram Svlvania’s vendor and just 90 days to implement the solution, but the time spent up-front identifying needs and vetting vendors led to a smooth and fast implementation. “Case studies and references were extremely helpful for Osram Sylvania as we researched solutions,” she said. The Bottom Line Osram Sylvania estimates savings of approximately $4,000 a week by eliminating its old practice of cutting, pasting and e-mailing resumes. The company’s time to hire has decreased dramatically, allowing hiring managers to identify good candidates and move them through the hiring process more quickly. The quality of the candidate pool has increased through the use of prescreening questions and the ability to easily attract candidates through multiple sources and track source effectiveness. In addition, for an environmentally conscious company such as Osram Sylvania, one major impact has been the fact that its new system allows it to eliminate thousands of pounds of wasted paper annually. This is a benefit that not only saves money and helps the environment, but also supports Osram Sylvania’s Global Care sustainability program and bolsters its employment brand. “Prospective employees like the fact that Osram Sylvania cares about the environment,” said Crawford Hentz. “So by using an automated talent acquisition solution to reduce paper consumption, we are following through on a core value that helps us attract and retain employees.” Ian Alexander is vice president for talent management software developer Cytiva/SonicRecruit. He was president of CCHKnowledgePoint, where he was instrumental in developing some of the software industry’s first ondemand HR and performance management applications. Stephanie J. Anderson is chief corporate spokesperson at Osram Sylvania. They can be reached at editor@ TalentMgt.com. Figure 2 Mid-Level Leader Accelerators – Interests/Motivation •Managing people and being accountable for their performance. •Coaching others/developing talent and capabilities. •Driving key initiatives. Business-Unit Leader Accelerators – Interests/Motivation •Championing and driving change. •Optimizing the financial performance of a business unit. •Providing strategic direction. Consider an extremely bright, efficient leader who most thought could lead just about any organization. But she repeatedly said she was happy in her current role and didn’t really care about recognition or reward. However, she did care about getting bored. A couple years after the discussion began, she decided she needed a bigger playing field and made a move up. This has happened about every two years for almost 10 years. Focus on the Future In today’s uncertain business environment, many organizations pay less attention to developing talent and focus more tightly on current financial challenges. However, that shortsighted approach can cost organizations dearly as they try to put the right talent in leadership positions to guide through the downturn and then prepare for growth. David Peterson is senior vice president of executive coaching for Personnel Decisions International. He can be reached at editor@TalentMgt.com. 64 April 2008 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://www.TalentMgt.com
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