The future of Talent Management: beyond the nine box grid

Karen Ward, Programme DirectorCorporate Research Forum

Six Myths of TM

1. Talent Management follows strategy2. Generation Y will grow up and start behaving like us soon3. Focusing on a fixed elite of ‘talent’ will give you the best

ROI4. Current skills and performance give you a good idea of

future success5. Talent is an interchangeable commodity like any other6. Formal Processes matter more than informal processes

Source: Pern & Heath (2013) Ashridge

Delivering sustainable organisational performance through talent management

Business Strategy

People Strategy

Talent Strategy

• Talent Management is the attraction, identification, selection, development and retention of those employees who have the potential to add significant, sustainable, strategic value to your organisation.

Plan

Source

MakeDeliver

Consume

Evolution of talent management

Headless Chicken Bureaucratic Supply Chain Systemic

• Anticipate noneeds

• Make no plans to address needs

• Then panic…• …and hire like mad• ….then fire when

you have too many

• Complex models for forecasting and succession planning

• By the time the plan “pops” out someone else has captured the talent….

• Make & Buy to manage risk

• Adapts to uncertainty in talent demand

• Improve ROI on Talent Development

• Preserve investment by balancing Employer & Employee interests

• Open Source – across organisational boundaries

• Informal networks as influential as formal TM processes

• Lived brand more powerful than espoused brand

• Relational – mass personalisation. One size does not fit all

Source: adapted from Richardson, 2008

TIME

You

Nine Box Grid: Unintended Consequences

Source: Hirsh (2012) CRF

• Use of in year appraisal ratings to define performance is risky given the instability of the measure

• Confuses potential with readiness for promotion

• Potential for what? Often ignores business critical expertise and functional mastery

• A tick box exercise which allows line managers off the hook

• Does not facilitate meaningful career development

• Does not take account of changes in the external environment

Relational TM – between people

Social and Political Context

Performance Potential

Source: Ward & Jacobsen (2011)

Motivation

Individual and collective dialogue about:• Performance

• What does sustainable performance look like here?

• What creates sustainable value here?• Potential – for what?

• How is the world of work changing?• What is my personal appetite for

learning?• Motivation

• What do I want from my work at this point in my life?

• How can I bring the best of myself?

Insights from other fieldsBig data – retail customer insight

Marketing – Segmentation

Marketing – Mass Personalisation

Psychotherapy – cultural barriers to change

Education – identification of potential

Your role?Horizon Scanning

Sense Making

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Building Relationships

Thank you for listening