This issue is dedicated to discussing how companies can better focus on proper talent development, and the benefits that accrue to those who successfully integrate talent development into their cultures.
And this is topical, because the evidence is that good talent development actually helps prepare companies to better weather crises.
Bombardier used the dire effects on the airline industry that came after 9/11/2001 to initiate a major shift in corporate culture, to make a needed shift in its focus from engineering/inward to customer/outward. “We fly people, not planes” was the new mantra. It took over six years, but the change in mindset took hold, and all desired productivity and financial gains were met.
Here is our summary of this excellent case study.
The old phrase “easy to say, hard to do” seems to be the prevailing sentiment about talent management in business. I came back across research I collected in 2008 from the Economist Intelligence Unit that surveyed about 500 senior executives internationally, and its conclusions ring true today: Close to 80% of the senior executives surveyed agreed that a lack of talent was “likely” to impact their operations negatively in the future. So they recognize the need to groom talent, but that same survey measured only about 25 % of them as committed to talent development:
Platitudes vs. commitment to talent management
The sad truth is, stated commitments are not leading to action, even when consultants like us have proof that investments in talent development pay off in spades:
This is an area where HR can step up and insist on investing in employee development. Those corporations that do will reap great rewards:
What’s not to like about that? Ask us about furnishing the support you need to get talent development to the top of your CEO’s priority list.
An old but gold survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit details Senior Executive attitudes towards talent development (“absolutely imperative!”) and their actual commitment (only 20% stated they spent time on it.)
This is an area of great comparative (and competitive) advantage for companies that make it a priority.
Social comparison, one of the psychological factors that limit the effectiveness of compensation schemes as a performance reward,* apparently also has a salutary effect in improving employee productivity if it is revealed how individuals rank vis-à-vis their peers.
One of the professors we reviewed on the compensation topic, Prof. Francesca Gino, has taken an interesting tangent out of that research to explore how public delivery of performance feedback (as opposed to pay) can affect productivity. The conclusions are:
Let’s examine the second conclusion first, as that was more unpredictably interesting. The research measured productivity improvements among people who were given a clear understanding where their performance ranked compared to their fellow workers. This information generated a stronger response when the person found out he or she was near the bottom than if they ranked highly. Such people measurably improved their productivity. Clearly, a desire not to be the worst is a powerful motivator to improve performance! On the other hand, people who found they were not near the bottom did not change their behavior much or at all. This held whether they were middle of the pack or near the top rating. Apparently “being the best” is less motivation than “not being the worst” in a corporate setting!
Taking such a public approach (outside of sales) would have to be handled delicately, as you don’t want to have it drift into public humiliation, but some form of comparative ranking could prove useful.
Public or private, feedback is best when constant
Most critically for people managers, however, was the first conclusion: Frequency of feedback raised productivity across the board regardless of ranking. This is more support for throwing out the annual performance review as the BIG MOMENT when feedback is given. Make the annual review a short, sweet formality by giving feedback constantly, even every day if appropriate or possible. Indeed, one could argue giving steady constructive criticism should be the manager’s top responsibility, because increased employee productivity would naturally make it easier for the manager to hit his or her corporate goals.
For more detail, read the summary on HBS Working Knowledge.
*Our principal David Tighe reviewed that research on this topic a few months ago, describing why human frailties made it nearly impossible for corporations to reward effort using pay-for-performance schemes.
This article on how senior executives can better manage the collaborative decision-making processes that hold sway in most corporate executive suites points to how the Foundation of Excellence approach applies up, down and sideways in any organization. Simply switch the labels in this article to “unshakable trust,” “pursuit of truth” and “communication that counts” and you have the Bovo-Tighe approach. We love it when we are right!
This article can provide excellent guidance on better using professional interpersonal skills at any level of management.
Enjoy the article. (Note: Free registration with the S+B business blog is required to view it.)
Click on the link below to open Bovo-Tighe’s latest client newsletter. In it you will find useful articles on talent management and development, and how that can prepare you for whatever crisis or opportunity the future brings.
The March 2011 Newsletter from Bovo-Tighe.
As always, we welcome your comments.
Great employee engagement is built many ways, but the best include smaller initiatives that help form the rock-solid foundation trust that is so critical to achieving full engagement.
I get a little reminder of that every month from a local ice cream vendor called Arctic Express. I don’t do business with them, and cannot recommend their service either way. Somehow I got on their e-mail list, though, and get entertaining e-mails which constantly remind me that engagement doesn’t grow solely on grand initiatives like 360° Peer Reviews or leadership seminars. It grows from constant attention to work environment details that give regular confirmation that senior management does care.
Little gestures count. If you provide a meaningful break to hard-working employees by making ice cream (or baby carrots for that matter) available to them, they notice. If you stick with it, they notice and appreciate it. If you build on a steady series of such signs of appreciation, they will start to believe you are serious about building trust and start to engage more energetically.
Consider the humble ice cream freezer sitting in the break room full of cheap but quality ice cream. Energized employees can act on their own desire to bond by throwing spontaneous ice cream socials. Think back to the AT&T Super Bowl ad that featured a group of employees throwing an impromptu Taco Party. If you can facilitate that kind of bonding exercise, you can add strength to the environment of full engagement you are trying to build.
Ice cream in particular is one of the world’s great guilty pleasures, and you can make it affordable and available 24/7. If you worry about encouraging bad dietary habits, play that up too. Put a sign up right over the freezer with a tongue-in-cheek message like:
“Easy there, Captain! How many of these have you had this week? Remember your New Year’s resolution! Always eat responsibly!”
-Management
Small gestures add up, as long as they happen consistently, and it is clear the ‘gesturers’ really mean it.
Guest blogger Binthar Dunthat is back with another rant about meetings and trainings:
Been to millions of corporate trainings? Or does it just seem like that?
Seems like more, you say? Not surprising…
Here’s what I see and hate in typical employee trainings. See if this sounds like one of your events:
There’s a better way. And it’s not a secret.
Here are the 4 key things required in an effective productivity-boosting training program.
I’ve been lots of places where the top executives received professional help (and no I don’t mean that kind of professional help…although some of them surely needed it.)
I mean professional advice, counsel and guidance from a high-performance, objective consultant. Someone who’s not tied into the mish-mash of corporate politics, confusion and malarky that makes up any top executive’s daily work life.
This works for top executives. So well, in fact, that they get inspired and roll out something similar for the rank and file. But to save a few bucks they have an internal person do the training. Mistake.
Face it folks, having an internal person do this is like going to marriage counseling and having your spouse be the counselor. It ain’t going to work.
Instead, follow the four steps listed above and you’ll have a corporate training program that top executives and key influencers throughout your company will embrace and model.
And that’s the key to effective, productivity enhanced training.
(Full disclosure: Bovo-Tighe is that TOP-QUALITY OUTSIDE PROFESSIONAL HELP you need to hire. And they have the results to prove it. And a guarantee that leaves you absolutely no excuse not to try them! And, no, they didn’t pay me to say that!)
Words matter. How you phrase verbal and written staff communications about corporate do’s and don’t’s can affect employee behavior, even if the underlying corporate goals and/or policies are the same.
Initial research into this aspect of corporate communications brings some light to this. A working paper by Francesca Gino and Joshua Margolis at the Harvard Business School called “The Importance of ‘Don’t’ in Inducing Ethical Employee Behavior” outlined their preliminary findings. (I recommend reading the comments to the article, too, as they have some well-thought-out disagreements with the article’s conclusions.)
“In general, there are two ways a company can encourage ethical conduct among its employees,” write the authors. “Either the promotion of good actions and outcomes or the prevention of bad ones.”
Through several experiments, the professors found that inducing a “prevention focus” will lead to ethical behavior more than inducing a “promotion focus,” where increased corner-cutting was observed among study participants to make their goals.
“In encouraging ethical behavior among employees, it behooves firms to consider focusing on preventing negative outcomes, not only in creating a code of ethics but also in setting goals and framing task directives,” state the authors.
In short, whatever you choose to emphasize in your employee communications is what your employees will respond to.
One of the comments to the article pointed out that the use of the word ‘but’ in place of ‘and’ will direct employee attention to everything after ‘but,’ neglecting what preceded it. As an example:
“Stick to these new compliance guidelines, but be sure to hit your numbers!”
Or:
“Stick to these new compliance guidelines, and use them to focus your energy on the right sort of deals when working to hit your numbers!”
Retaining ethical, compliant behavior while striving to meet corporate goals is a hard balancing act. Achieving goals is a core motivation among engaged employees that many companies encourage. It is hard to consistently add “but only the right way” in an equally energetic and engaging way. It has to be done consistently, though, or the balanced message critical to a company’s long-term success will be compromised by well-meaning but corner-cutting individuals.
Look no farther than the mortgage industry in the first decade of this century for a classic example where the ‘be productive’ message got through, but the ‘stay compliant’ message did not. The very message of what staying compliant meant became a moving target as Wall Street clamored for fresh loans to feed their securities pipeline, and competitive pressures pushed brokers and lenders to bend qualifying standards to meet their sales goals. No individual entity led the charge into the sub-prime marketplace, but the disconnection between responsible lending and production goals attracted more and more people to the profitable subprime loans that could be done. The gap between “find loans that make long-term sense” and “find any and all loans you can” grew ever wider until the bridge between them collapsed.
I look forward to seeing what else this research initiative brings to light. If interesting, I will report back in this space!