Talent Management - July 2008 - (Page 37)

When aligned with organizational needs and leadership competencies, management rotation programs build a robust pipeline of candidates who have the knowledge and skills needed to steer the company into the future. ccording to this year’s IBM “Global Human Capital Study,” 75 percent of 400 human resources executives surveyed said building leadership talent is a signiﬁcant challenge. Perhaps in consequence, many of these executives said they develop leaders internally, highlighting action learning, mentoring and job rotation as valuable methods to build talent. In the talent management ﬁeld, rotation programs that focus on high performers and other roles in the organization are common. But what about an organization’s managers? What additional challenges come into play when developing management rotation programs focused on developing managers who are well-rounded, experienced and ready to tackle challenges at the next level? Seth Lieberman, managing partner for consultancy Leadership Breakthroughs, said he has seen companies grapple with challenges in developing management rotation programs, including lack of program goals or purpose, how best to develop and retain institutional knowledge and how to cope with an unwillingness to share constructive feedback with employees who are temporary direct reports — a phenomena he refers to as “terminal niceness.” “Rotation should be for a purpose,” Lieberman said. “Applying learning and placing emphasis on a direct manager’s role in the development of program participants is critical. Everyone says they want to give people education, experience and support, but it should be done purposely in dialogue on an ongoing basis with each leader in the program.” Designing, offering and facilitating purposeful management rotation programs may not be as easy as other A types of development offerings, but the payoff in terms of improved retention and succession planning are great. Consider Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) as an example. The organization has implemented a succession planning process that provides a strong talent pipeline of leaders at various levels. Those identiﬁed as key talent are provided development opportunities including coaching, mentoring and cross-functional job assignments. “We realized going into it, one of our challenges was asking the organization to give up its most talented individuals in these roles. Essentially there would be a perception of losing people in these programs,” said Fara Palumbo, senior vice president of human resources for BCBSNC. “It’s been key to educate our executives and focus them on the longer-term succession planning beneﬁts. We’re not only providing exposure for key executives that rounds out their careers and experience, we’re preparing them to take on visible chief ofﬁcer roles within the organization that ultimately helps them run the business better.” “Another way we’ve helped overcome the perception of losing people is by helping our stakeholders see the fruits of the program,” said Lynn Duffy, vice president of organizational development for BCBSNC. “Our 18month Management Associate Program has been in place since 2006, and many of our stakeholders have already gotten highly qualiﬁed team leads as a result.” Intuit’s Rotational Development Program (RDP) provides a well-rounded perspective of the organization’s leadership while building future leaders. Nancy Smithline, Intuit’s RDP leader, said the 27-month program was designed for new university graduates and focuses July 2008 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com 37 http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - July 2008

Talent Management - July 2008 Editor’s Letter Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Guest Editorial Passive Candidate Recruiting: Evolving with a Changing Workforce How Do They Feel? Sec Regulations and Executive Compensation Performance Management: A Retail Perspective Train the Non-Trainer Management-Go-Round: Developing Future Leaders Netflix Creates Its Own Script for Talent Management Intuit Spotlights Strategic Importance of Global Employee Recognition Make HR a Profit Center: Automate Technology to Gather Tax Credit Data Offshoring and the Impact on Talent Management Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - July 2008

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