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Viewpoint

Published February 2008

Talent Strategies That Work are Talent Strategies That Stick

Matthew J. Paese, Ph.D.

It's 7:45 a.m. in a Chicago tower, and the senior officers of a well-known insurance company file into a conference room for an all-day meeting to start an important new initiative. Today, the senior leadership team will identify the company's highest potential leaders and begin a process to accelerate their growth toward greater contributions to the business.

But as the session progresses, its clear they don't all believe they're on the right path: There is no strategy in place to guide the group's thinking.

Avoid Unexpected Disruptions

Every day, organizations wrestle with how to aggressively grow talent. They introduce performance management, succession management, leadership development, internal promotion and external selection programs, but no overarching strategy to provide business context and a roadmap to success.

Yet, many organizations have sound strategic business plans, so why do they struggle to execute on talent growth? The answer may have to do with their frame of reference. When intense business pressure illuminates a talent crisis, senior management teams become justifiably interested in aggressive responses.

This makes sound business sense, but strategic breakdowns illustrate a common blind spot for many senior leadership teams: Despite the need to enhance enterprise capability, all talent management systems are about driving individuals to grow as quickly and productively as possible. To achieve this, it is crucial that senior management crafts and executes a strategy that cultivates an environment supporting this.

A key problem for many organizations is that executives will endorse talent initiatives while keeping a personal distance from the hands-on roles and responsibilities.  

Enable Talent Growth

A strategy that focuses on talent transformation can insulate against these types of tactical implementation mistakes and help sustain a course toward true, meaningful talent growth. So what are the characteristics of a talent strategy that promote talent transformations while enhancing organizational capability? Three primary pillars comprise the main structure, with a series of elements within each.

1. Build a compelling business context. A sound talent strategy begins with an accurate characterization of the current business position, talent position and the effectiveness of talent practices. Clear and accurate answers to a series of questions must be articulated: What is our current business trajectory? What is the overall caliber of our current talent at all levels? What outcomes are we seeking from our talent initiatives?

2. Precisely define the talent needed. Following from the business context, an accurate account of the profile of success for leaders and associates at all levels is needed. In addition, a clear picture of leadership capacity needs must be generated.

3. Build a focused talent growth plan. The key to a sound plan is to focus most heavily on the highest impact initiatives while continually building toward a comprehensive plan that ensures all four components are working in accord: stocking the pipeline, or identifying associates with the highest potential; assessing readiness of an individual or group;  accelerating the development of leaders; and driving enhanced performance.