Talent Management - December 2008 - (Page 33)

The communication process is incredibly important. Consider the example of an employee identiﬁed as a high potential in the organization. This individual was asked to take on a new role in the organization, and a year later he was transferred again. These moves were only vaguely explained as, “We’d like you to get some experience with different roles,” and the employee began to feel like he wasn’t seen as successful because his responsibilities kept changing. His performance declined as he became less engaged, and only in the exit interview did the employee discover the various changes in role were not due to his failure to perform. In fact, he was in a formal development program for high potentials focused on creating well-rounded leaders by assigning them job rotations. Proactive approaches to close individual skill gaps also are key. Employees need a better understanding of the speciﬁc competencies required for particular job roles and a way to proactively close those gaps. Whether the plan involves formal training or more informal experiences such as coaching or mentoring, this process is essential to grow the talent needed to manage a company and respond to market opportunities and customer requirements now and in the future. Talent managers might be surprised how often a low performer’s attitude or motivation is not the problem, but lack of preparation and efﬁcient access to knowledge and expertise is. Reactive Approaches discuss prioritization and re-prioritization when new demands emerge, deﬁnition of a new notiﬁcation process when projects fall behind or other changes that will help mitigate employee pitfalls. A Uniﬁed Approach to Performance Improvement In the past, talent managers might have been inclined to say the big issue with low performers is not so much individual accountability; rather, it is about establishing the right processes at the organizational level to guide and support employees across the life cycle. People man- In many organizations, a formal performance improvement plan (PIP) is the favored response to low performance. Unfortunately, too many organizations have used the PIP as a way to formally document an employee’s failures and justify dismissal. To be effective, rather than just punitive, PIPs need to focus on performance improvement. If talent managers try to correct low performers after they become low performers, in many cases, it may be too late. agement processes should be presented to the employee in a uniﬁed way to effectively manage employees from the moment they are hired, through promotions or job changes, until they leave the company. In addition to managing formal performance reviews and PIPs, the most effective solutions also will include ways to support the proactive culture change discussed above. This includes the ability to seamlessly incorporate learning and skill development, facilitate teamwork and encourage alignment and communication between employees and managers. That way, performance problems are avoided before they surface. If talent managers try to correct low performers after they become low performers, it may be too late. Susan Tonkin is a senior product marketing manager at Saba, a talent management solutions provider. She can be reached at editor@talentmgt.com. PIPs can be incredibly effective to clearly communicate what needs improvement. But while today’s PIPs work just ﬁne when there is a behavior that needs to be corrected — such as tardiness — they don’t work as well in cases such as the overextended employee discussed earlier. This employee — the one who dropped everything to complete the important project — will just repeat history if placed on a standard PIP that lists tasks that should be accomplished. Instead, the PIP should place emphasis on improved and regular communication between the employee and manager. Instead of just stating, “Complete projects X, Y and Z by this date,” the PIP also should include a commitment to regular check-ins with the manager to December 2008 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com 33 http://www.talentmgt.com

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

Talent Management - December 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Foundations Recruitment & Retention Assessment & Evaluation Compensation & Benefits Performance Management Learning & Development Succession Planning Insight Dashboard Application Advertiser's Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - December 2008

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