Training Magazine - June 2008 - (Page 44)

KEEPING FORCED RANKING FORCED RANKING? OUT OF COURT says. But companies that implement the tool need to use it as a legitimate ranking system backed by neutral practices, he says—not as a pretext for getting rid of certain types of employees. And to do so right, he contends, requires “a great deal of effort on the part of HR, managers, and executives in the business.” • Get clear on goals. You need to ensure that managers have a firm grasp What Is of the criteria against which they will be expected to rank members of their team. This is where problems most commonly First popularized under Jack Welch’s reign at creep into the ranking process, according General Electric Co. (GE), forced ranking is a to Amalfe.“You’ll often see these systems performance-based evaluation system to launched and all the focus is on the end assess performance and potential that comgoal—on the actual ranking—without pares and ranks employees against one sufficient training on the front end another using a particular design or scheme. focusing on establishing and underA typical system—according to former GE This, of course, is where training enters standing the goals.” executive and forced ranking guru Dick the picture. Indeed, experts such as The best training programs, she says, Grote—might classify the top 20 percent of Grote and others contend that effective happen early in the year, several months employees as A players, the next 70 percent training is an essential ingredient for before ranking takes place, and assist as Bs, and the last 10 percent as Cs. The As companies that want to ensure they use managers in not only understanding the typically are given more challenging assignthe system effectively—not to mention goals, but involve them in refining the ments and additional nurturing. The Bs strive legally—and that managers are propgoals, too. to be As. And the Cs are either given an erly equipped to rate the performance To further assist everyone in this opportunity to improve or let go. of their teams and communicate the regard, she advises, make your goals as The tool comes in many forms. Under results. If you are tasked with this job, measurable and objective as possible. Welch, executives at GE used the 20-70-10 where should you begin? That’s what Erum Rashid did when she approach, whereby executives were required • Explain why forced ranking matters. implemented a two-year forced ranking to place 20 percent of managers in the “top Even trainers themselves frequently program for approximately 1,000 memperformer” category, 70 percent in the midstruggle to understand the importance bers of the pharmaceutical sales force at dle “vital majority” category, and 10 percent of ranking and the reasons behind it Aventis Pharmaceuticals (now Sanofiin the bottom category. Other companies, because the system so often is driven by Aventis). Rashid’s team asked first-line according to the Association for the upper management, says Christine sales managers to differentiate reps from Advancement of Retired Persons (AARP) Amalfe, chair of the employment law one another on an A-B-C basis using a attorneys Tom Osborne and Laurie McCann in department at Gibbons P.C., a law firm set of predefined criteria. All these critetheir Human Rights Magazine article, “Forced in Newark, NJ. The result, she says, is ria, she says, were based on actionable Ranking and Age-Related Employment that much of forced-ranking-related behaviors and highly quantifiable metDiscrimination,” impose quartiles, in which training “follows a simple formula rics that related to four focus areas such 25 percent of a given group is placed in each consisting of, ‘Go online and click as sales numbers, client relationships, of four cells and then ranked further in each here. There are 17 goals, and you need product and disease knowledge, and cell. Still others, Osborne and McCann say, to rank your people against them. If call reporting and documentation. “rank workers from best to worst along the you get equal numbers, you need to For qualitative measures such as client bell-shaped curve of the normal distribution redo your ranking because everyone relationships, she devised behavioral and establish cutoff points for the top, midhas to fit into a bell curve.’” actions as measures to make forceddle, and bottom categories.” Instead, training for managers ranking-related assessments more should begin by selling the tool’s merquantitative. One behavioral indicator its, she says, and communicating the value and purpose of the for “client relationships,” for example, was “provides service to system. Her advice? Explain why the organization is impledoctors in proportion to the prescription potential for the drug.” menting forced ranking; why it is important to the company; Kimberly Moore, a partner at Frisco, TX-based law firm how long it will be used; and to what end. Strasburger & Price LLP, couldn’t agree more with this • Be sure to emphasize the benefits the system will yield for approach. “The more objective you can be with your goals, and managers and employees, too, says Amalfe.“For those identified the more quantifiable data you have to rest on, the easier it will as A players, it allows managers to nurture their most talented be for you to defend your choices and the easier it will be for people,” Grote says. “For B players, the good news is that they are your managers to sit down at year’s end and say, ‘These are our part of the organization’s vital majority and are doing a fine job. top performers.’” For C players, the news may be painful. But if your company So, “take out the subjective stuff,” she advises, and make rankdoesn’t feel that you are a strong player or have a future with the ing as specific and as tied to each job duty as possible. “Get away organization, and you are given the choice between ignorance from terms and areas where it starts to look like you are putting and knowledge, wouldn’t you rather have knowledge?” your own interpretation on what is happening. Stay away from Training to the Rescue 44 | JUNE 2008 t r a i n i n g w w w. t r a i n i n g m a g . c o m http://www.trainingmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Training Magazine - June 2008

Training Magazine - June 2008 Contents Online TOC Editor’s Note Live & Online Training Today Soapbox How-To World View Changes With Penguins Keeping Forced Ranking Out of Court Across the Board Certify Me Meetings CPR How Secure Is Your Data? Training Leadership Summit Wrap-Up Tools of the Trade Inprint Questions for Covey

Training Magazine - June 2008

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