TM - May 2008 - (Page 41) ones that impact our business. They went 20 years back in history to test it. We’re super close in accuracy, and you can incorporate any of the 80 variables into the model as needed as economic conditions change. These people come out of general business management, sales — we have a few of our attorneys in it — and when you see these employees at the beginning of the program and at the end, you can see a marked difference in their business skills, the way they speak, think and the way they attack a problem. We also have stretch assignments. We have a lot of programs where we bring people in for key initiatives whether we’re looking at new markets, pricing and profitability or what we need to do in change management. We’ll invite some of our leadership and engage them in the design of the solutions and the implementation. It’s a lot of fun. and it’s really not. It’s a business issue; we just help facilitate it. I’ve only been in HR four years. I had 24 years on the business side. We’ve developed a lot of training. Last year we did 350,000 hours of training, and a lot of that is around business leadership and philosophy and general management skills. We have the Rutgers-Graybar Supply Chain Management Program, which we’re very proud of. We’re in our third year now, and it took many, many years to get it developed because most universities wanted to give us an off-the-shelf product, and that’s not what it is at all. It’s a very, very customized, graduate-level program which takes the elements out of a master’s program and ties it to real-world business application. It’s Web-based and pretty robust. We call it the mini-MBA in the company. You take people who have potential and put them through, but they all have to work in a team environment remotely. Every year the adult students start out the 15-month program with corporate strategy. It covers all the components you would have running a business: a whole profit center, operational metrics, everything. In the midterm, we give them a final project which is based off of a strategic initiative the organization may have. For example, one of the teams had to create a regression analysis formula to do predictive financial forecasting from a sales perspective. They actually created an interactive working model and developed 80 different variables. They pulled it down to the three key TM: Mazzarella: How does Graybar work to change leadership or management behaviors that lead to optimal workforce performance? TM: Mazzarella: What processes and programs have you established to attract, recruit and retain top talent? We promote from within, so we encourage — actually, we require — a minimum of 30 hours per year of ongoing learning, and that is very attractive. People are coming in and saying to us that they want something continually challenging. They want to continually have stretch learning assignments, to have a company where they feel they bring value. So we have a lot of employee feedback and engagement programs where they meet with the president, for example. We meet as officer groups with hundreds of our employees every year in interactive meetings and feature them internally in publications to promote the activities they’ve improved upon. We have the attraction of our benefits package and our profit sharing, which is phenomenal. We also have an environment where you can start at the entry level and eventually become the president. I started as a customer service rep when I was 19. I’ve been there 28 years. I sit on the board; I’m one of the senior officers. Our president started in the warehouse. Most of the officers — with the exception of our attorney, who we hired from the outside — started in entry-level jobs. The people that replace us will also come from within. Not too many companies can say that anymore. INSIGHT continued on page 52 May 2008 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com 41 http://www.TalentMgt.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - May 2008 Talent Management - May 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take The Four Pillars of Managing Performance Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? American Systems Employees Earn a Piece of the Pie Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential TM - May 2008 TM - May 2008 - (Page Intro) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page Cover1) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page Cover2) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 1) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 2) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 3) TM - May 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 4) TM - May 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 5) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 6) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 7) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 8) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 9) TM - May 2008 - Human Performance (Page 10) TM - May 2008 - Human Performance (Page 11) TM - May 2008 - Leading Edge (Page 12) TM - May 2008 - Leading Edge (Page 13) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 14) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 15) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 16) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 17) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 18) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 19) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 20) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 21) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 22) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 23) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 24) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 25) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 26) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 27) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 28) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 29) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 30) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 31) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 32) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 33) TM - May 2008 - Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization (Page 34) TM - May 2008 - Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization (Page 35) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 36) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 37) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 38) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 39) TM - May 2008 - Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management (Page 40) TM - May 2008 - Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management (Page 41) TM - May 2008 - American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health (Page 42) TM - May 2008 - American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health (Page 43) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 44) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 45) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 46) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 47) TM - May 2008 - American Systems Employees Earn a Piece of the Pie (Page 48) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 49) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 50) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 51) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 52) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page Cover3) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page Cover4)
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