Talent Management - December 2008 - (Page 37)

“To tell or not to tell, that is the question; Whether ’tis better to be forthright And tell high potentials of their status, Or to be silent and let them know nothing.” Just as Hamlet faced a critical decision, this parody on his soliloquy illustrates that talent managers do, too. The state of the economy has made organizations more introspective as they look for ways to develop and retain top talent. Informing — or not informing — high potentials of their status can impact whether they stay or go. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this controversial question: Tell or don’t tell? “This notion of transparency continues to be a complicated issue,” said Lynne Morton, co-founder and chief operating ofﬁcer of TalentScope, a provider of talent management solutions. “It is important to tell people they have been identiﬁed as high potentials. However, it requires a corporate culture that supports and manages the expectations of people. “A lot of [companies] have said to me, ‘It’s opening up Pandora’s Box; we don’t want to do it.’ The reason is because they’re afraid of their inability to manage the expectation[s],” she explained. If it’s not done right, telling can be harmful to an organization’s health. But if talent managers can manage the expectations that come along with telling, the end result is not only better retention of top talent, it also sends a clear message to the workforce about which qualities make good leaders. “When you’re looking to identify and develop highpotential employees, you’re [letting those] individual[s] know how important they are to the organization, how you recognize their unique abilities [and how] you want them stay and grow with the company,” said Patrick Sweeney, executive vice president of Caliper, an international management consulting ﬁrm that developed the Caliper Proﬁle, a personality assessment tool. “It also allows the rest of the individuals in the organization to see not just the individual you value but the qualities you value. It really brings to life the values of the organization and what you stand for when you identify and recognize people.” Should Every Organization Tell? Telling is not the right decision for every organization, as doing so depends on corporate culture. Even though Ken Driscoll, the director of the talent management group at Navistar Inc., an international truck and engine corporation, believes high potentials should be told, his organization does not embrace the practice, and some employees have quit without knowing they were identiﬁed as high potential. Because there are differences of opinion across the four business units, the leaders of each unit make their own decisions about whether to tell or not, which Driscoll said can lead to problems. “As people transfer from one business unit to another, it can create confusion,” he explained. “But for us, to mandate that in our organization or say we’re going to adopt that [wouldn’t] be wise either. Leadership has to believe that’s the right approach.” Driscoll said if there is a policy to tell, there must be buy-in from the organization at-large, and the organization should prepare the employees for the change. “It’s something that has to grow organically in an organization,” he said. “You can’t say, ‘We’re going to be a transparent organization’ if you don’t help people understand why it’s important, why we communicate it and then give them tools to actually carry it out.” If Navistar ever implements this policy, Driscoll said his organization would be careful how it constructed and voiced that message. “People need to understand how the organization views them,” he said. “But you can’t set up any kind of expectation or imply promise. Once you work through all of that, you sit down with someone and just tell them, ‘Based on the evidence, we believe you have the potential to step into some higher leadership roles, and we want to provide you with some development opportunities.’ That’s a powerful message to send to people.” Morton said there are two challenges in telling high potentials of their status, how to manage their expectations once identiﬁed and how to manage those who are not identiﬁed. These challenges often are a deterrent to telling, she said. To manage a high potential’s expectations, organizations ﬁrst need to deﬁne what a high potential is before informing an employee he or she is one. Does it mean the employee is going to assume a leadership position within the next two years? Does it mean he or she will receive more development? Or does it mean something entirely different? “Everyone likes to be praised,” Morton said. “But in a business context, I want to know what does it mean to me? Otherwise, it could just be thanks for a job well done. But if it means I’m on the road toward something or I’m going to ﬁt into the organization in a different way, it becomes important.” December 2008 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com 37 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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