Talent Management - October 2008 - (Page 56)

APPLICATION continued from page 49 brainstorming about which market London Business School served, which services were offered and how these services would be delivered, the business plan encouraged and directed the team on how to work together to develop strategic objectives and priorities. “By getting involved in the business plan for the department, I was able to link my own achievements — all of our own individual achievements, really — to the development and overall goal of the Career Services team,” Morris said. Motivated by the second team day and the business plan, Morris felt more conﬁdent in approaching his line manager for recognition of his added responsibilities and achievements. In October 2007, he made the move from covering both the ﬁnance and industry sectors to take on a full-time industry recruitment role and, in March 2008, was promoted to the role of senior business development manager of industry careers. “Although I had thought about making the move in the past, it was the support of a neutral outsider that helped me take a step back and reassess my value within Career Services,” said Morris. “It wasn’t an easy process from start to ﬁnish, but I do feel that I have accomplished my goal.” As the ExecOnBoard process came to a close, every member had self-identiﬁed and refocused their energies as individuals and also as part of the Career Services team. “The team on-boarding process was designed to accelerate individual and team performance. By all measures, the team exceeded its goals,” DiVittis said. So where now for a Career Services team that had come through this particular transition period? In the past year, it has developed into a solid team working toward a clear goal and a brand that is in line with London Business School’s vision of leadership and development. “By assessing individual talents and motivations through a series of appropriately timed events, we were able to increase the team’s productivity related to our recruitment events and the services we offer our internal and external stakeholders,” said Morgan. “Within the team, individuals have beneﬁted from increased conﬁdence and self-awareness, which has already led to opportunities for promotion both within the department and within the wider London Business organization.” A realistic business leader knows staff retention and talent management always is a key priority. The school’s Career Services department will no doubt continue to see staff turnover. However, now it possesses the ﬂexibility and adaptability needed to continue performance during a transition. Thus, staff turnover need not be viewed solely as a negative occurrence. It also can be viewed as an opportunity for a team to renew itself. Louise Weir is the marketing coordinator in Career Services at London Business School. She can be reached at editor@talentmgt.com. DASHBOARD continued from page 51 the employee base may like to have in place, collaborative tools provide the qualitative dialogue to determine how employees would like the programs to function, as well as insight into perceived program beneﬁts. Finally, an employee community can foster participation simply by making the process easier and more convenient. A respondent portal or dashboard can be integrated into the employee community experience to provide respondents with a summary of their active surveys, along with the results in real-time. This type of interface should link to collaborative tools to create a seamless employee experience conducive to active, long-term engagement. Once a healthy feedback process is in place, provide respondents with process visibility to strengthen the sense of engagement. Respondents will feel properly incented to participate in exchange for visibility into results from the surveys in which they participate. While e-mail can be an effective tool for posting such results, other vehicles such as employee portals or community sites allow employees to view the results on an ondemand basis. Employees should not be given access to results before they take a survey to avoid potential bias. The one true determining factor to prompt an employee to take a survey is the belief their feedback will be heard and real action will be taken. Success only comes when the employee body shares a real sense of presence and inﬂuence. If a company does not plan to use the feedback to improve organizational processes, it is better off not presenting a survey, as it only raises employee expectations, that would then go unfulﬁlled. When employees believe they have a voice that carries inﬂuence, it deepens their commitment to the organization and encourages ongoing feedback and a continuous, positive dialogue. The ﬁnal step to build a sense of inﬂuence is demonstrating to employees that their voice is heard. The organization must clearly communicate results from the feedback process to employees, along with a set of actions directly tied to those results and regular status updates about progress in ongoing initiatives. This ensures employees believe their time providing feedback is well-spent, which strengthens satisfaction and loyalty and encourages more employees to participate. If an organization is committed to creating a culture in which employee feedback is gathered with respect for the respondent, the results are shared with the employee base and there is a clear demonstration the feedback will be turned into action. The employees gain a clear voice to communicate their feelings and needs. Then the organization can beneﬁt from timely, consistent and regular feedback data, gathered in a cost-effective way. Dean Wiltse is the chairman and chief executive ofﬁcer of Vovici, an enterprise feedback management service provider. He can be reached at editor@talentmgt.com. 56 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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