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Performance Management

Published June 2009

Congratulations! You’re the New Chief Talent Officer

 

  Catherine S. Farley

The job title on the business card may be "chief talent officer" or a combination of related words in any number of variations, but the charge for senior-level talent executives today is far broader and more challenging than the job description of a traditional head of HR. Their mission is to develop and direct companies' talent and capabilities toward measurable impact on overall business performance.

This more strategic function is rising at a time when the business environment is more challenging than it has been in decades. In many organizations, job certainty is low and stress is high. Morale and engagement are falling as employees find themselves doing more work with fewer co-workers. Almost overnight, executives in charge of workforce planning, sourcing and development went from worrying how to find qualified people for open positions to worrying about retaining the critical talent they have and what to do with all the qualified people showing up at their doorsteps.

However, an economic downturn also presents a tremendous opportunity to enhance the strategic value of the workforce. This is a time of nearly unprecedented change. Some jobs may never come back even when the economy recovers. Reskilling in mass numbers will be required. Entire industries and business functions are being reinvented.

Think more boldly about talent. What kind of talent is needed to drive an organization forward? How should critical skills and capabilities be sourced? How do we identify, develop and retain top performers? How do we stay flexible in the face of rapid change? What is the optimal culture for the kind of business we want to be? These questions drive the mission for talent executives, framing their job descriptions and affecting how they are evaluated and rewarded.

The First 100 Days
If you're a new chief talent officer or someone with an equivalent set of responsibilities, several focus areas should be of primary importance in the first 100 days.

Focus on executive buy-in. To succeed, have a direct reporting and working relationship with the CEO. In some cases, the talent executive role is created with the CEO's direct involvement. For example, Phila Broich, chief talent officer for Corbett Accel Healthcare Group, joined the company after meeting CEO Scott Cotherman, who had a strong professional background in organizational development.

"Scott very clearly understood the potential of new workforce and organization practices and had a strongly held belief in a broader vision of talent management, one that is a blend of workforce, organization and corporate strategy," Broich said. "The position began as a meeting of the minds. We knew we had the potential to do something really new: build a differentiated culture in this industry focused on talent development."

Sydney Johnson-Gorrell, who recently became chief talent officer for Oriental Trading Co. — a direct marketer of novelties, party supplies and home decor products — also speaks of the passion for talent development she shared with the company's CEO Sam Taylor.