Talent Management - October 2008 - (Page 48)

application by Louise Weir Team Effort Pays in Talent at London Business School An organization or department in ﬂux often is identiﬁed by high turnover and dissatisﬁed employees. By leveraging questionnaires and other assessment tools, the United Kingdom’s London Business School Career Services team was able to repair itself and positivel impact productivity y for the group and the organization. Today’s job market is increasingly competitive. Talent managers must consistently evaluate and reassess employees and their roles in order to retain the best talent. They also must put programs in place to help recruit top-notch employees. At London Business School, a third of all staff positions are ﬁlled by internal candidates, which is an indication the school has had success in developing and retaining its staff. In addition to the school’s learning and development programs — and a focus on building an internal brand within the organization — in recent years, its HR department has developed a management development program to improve cross-departmental thinking, brand awareness and performance in the workplace. The program’s goal is to promote HR employee recognition and development, thus promoting staff productivity and motivating recruiters to ﬁnd and retain the best people. However, a policy offering development programs may not immediately resonate among staff and may not be enough to maintain the school’s workforce. Stefan Thau, assistant professor of organizational behavior at London Business School, emphasized that there is a risk individuals and teams may display self-defeating behaviors when asked to learn new methods or work in new teams. To avoid this and generate leadership learning, staff development and attainment of performance goals must be supported. “The problem is everything which is new carries some uncertainty about whether what’s going to happen will create good or bad outcomes for me. In some ways, it’s only natural to stay on the side of caution and not change,” Thau said. “We recognize the psychology of self-defeating behaviors and are committed to challenging students and staff to be adaptive and ﬂexible.” Staff working in the school’s Career Services ofﬁce supports key sources of talent for global organizations and assesses, trains and coaches students and alumni as potential employees before they are hired by recruiters. However, after a previous director implemented a successful operational turnaround, it was apparent staff turnover was high and morale was low. Diane Morgan, then a new-hire as director of Career Services, built a cohesive team to support productivity and increase performance, as well as reﬂect the needs of the business and the new leader. “It became immediately apparent that, for me to be successful in my role, the team had to achieve success and recognition as individuals, team members and contributors at the greater organization level,” said Morgan. “So my ﬁrst strategic priority as director was to build and develop a high-performing team.” To facilitate this process, Morgan called upon Maude DiVittis, founder of ExecOnBoard LLC. DiVittis knew the dangers that can occur during times of organizational uncertainty. She believed it was essential to get serious about team morale and staff retention, especially during the organization’s transition period. DiVittis worked closely with the London Business School’s Career Services department during the yearlong transition period, with the ultimate goal of promoting and measuring accelerated individual and team performance within the group. “The 12-month process was designed to support the new team during this transitional time,” said DiVittis. “With 13 of the 23 team members being in their jobs less than three months, my goal was to get everyone up to speed as quickly and effectively as possible.” 48 October 2008 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

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

Talent Management - October 2008 Editor’s Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Foundations The Three Pillars of Executive On-Boarding Role-Based Assessment: Thinking Inside the Box Who's Going to Speak Up for Health Care? Obey the Push to Automate Managing the Star Performer No One Wants to Work With Adopting a Mutual-Funds Model for Talent Management Hewlett-Packard: Simple Talent Management in a Technical World Team Effort Pays in Talent at London Business School The Employee Survey: What’s in It for Me? Why Most Managers Are Stuck Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - October 2008

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