Where the ‘rubber meets the road’, do the tyre tracks of talent run right across your line managers?
I am absolutely not about to decry the superb work put into Talent Strategies, the way the five pillars of talent are integrated and managed. This is not about how well 360 or 9 box or blended learning is delivered and managed by HR / Talent or learning functions…..no, this is merely an observation that it is our managers that are in the front line of the war for talent, it is our managers who most feel the pain of finding the right people to deliver business results, it is our managers who have to make sure new starters or transfers blend in with the rest of the team and it is our managers who have to arrange and organise workloads to ensure members of their team have the time away to develop and learn new skills. It is the first line manager who does the vast majority of ‘on the job’ coaching, provides the mentoring, the supporting and challenging and has the “where do you see your career in 3 years time Joe?” conversation….or tougher….”Joe I have a sensitive matter to discuss with you”, as he or she starts out on a disciplinary or poor performance one to one.
And from an organisational perspective without the first line Manager, how on earth would performance really be measured and managed across the workforce (other than the 1 club in the golf bag view of ‘the numbers’) how would star potential be identified, nurtured and encouraged?…..and where exactly would the workforce be now without those moments of recognition being called out by their manager for exceptional effort or quality of work? Where would your employees be without a one to one with their manager effectively acting as counsellor when life just gets a bit tough for them?……I venture they’d be off to the nearest competitor in many cases……something I was reminded of the other day in an article entitled “5 ways to keep your rockstar employees happy” This intriguing report about ‘Project Oxygen’ included the findings from work completed at Google: “……earlier this year, when Google interviewed its employees about what they valued most at work, none of the extravagant benefits made the top of the list. Neither did salary. Instead, employees cited access to “even-keeled bosses who made time for one-on-one meetings, who helped people puzzle through problems by asking questions, not dictating answers, and who took an interest in employees’ lives and careers.”
But let’s not get ‘fluffy’! – this is a hard core business issue. Inconveniently it is not easily measured with numbers and SMART objectives, it’s much harder than that and only the best even take it on as a programme – let alone excel at it. But for any of us who have been or are a first line manager, we feel or have felt the daily conflict of keeping the team on its performance course whilst handling the drudgery of compliance (minimising the sapping effects of this on our teams) and dealing with the balancing act of motivation – performance – talent – potential – retention – development – change (oh! and a bunch of intra-team personality challenges into the bargain!)…….it may not be the ‘BIG IMPORTANT’ decisions that get made down at this level but, by gum, it’s the hundreds of small inspired and quietly brilliant decisions that get made that keep the wheels on and turning……..quietly brilliant decisions that so often go unnoticed because they don’t immediately convert into £s or $s or €s.
So…..I ask you?…..how are you identifying the managers who hire well, manage well, retain well and deliver results well. How are you identifying the managers who do all this ‘talent management’ well in your organisation? Perhaps I can dare to go further…..When you look in the mirror and ask yourself the question, is yours one of the thousands of organisations that drag people up out of first line management based on who they know, how good their politics are and whether they happened to be in the right place at the right time? – Maybe some checkpoints might help?
Do you have a programme that genuinely recognises, celebrates and promotes these 1st Lieutenants fighting your war for talent?- Do you understand what good management looks like in your business?…….have you distilled it?……do you have a management success profile?
- Do you know how to develop management talent for now and for where the business is going in the future?
- Culturally, does your organisation truthfully recognise and reward it?…….When, for example, was the last time that one of your Senior Management or Executive celebrated the best people managers in the organisation?…..held them aloft and cried…..”WOW! I want you all to see what a fantastic people management job Cathy’s done…..and this is where and how……and why I’m celebrating her achievements”……and, of course, I mean in more ways than just meeting her easily measurable quotas etc……goodness! – celebration in ways that requires your Senior Managers and Executives to be excellent talent managers too.
Personally I was immensely lucky in a previous life to receive a sizeable investment in me as a manager. Together with almost the whole of the UK management population at the time, we were developed as managers and leaders over the course of months and years and at very significant Company expense. Strangely some very impressive $ results came out of the business over the ensuing 3 years; people wanted to join our teams, diversity and innovation sky rocketed, people were proud to work for the organisation and were highly motivated to develop and perform. And we were proud as managers to compete at being the best people managers!….as well as delivering the numbers, of course. Was this success a coincidence when it followed investment in the management population? I don’t think so. As managers we were taught how to scout, develop, manage and lead performing individuals and teams……it wasn’t rocket science – but it was amazingly hard to do well! Some had the talent for it, others did not, and went back into sales rep positions….but the business was the stronger for it for sure.The CPHR produced a valuable piece of research in August last year that you may like to read here. I’d just like to pick out one paragraph which, as one who heard the sales whistle blow every June and took his troops ‘over the top’, rang very true. “…..A consistent theme across many of the organisations was the lack of recognition of managers who developed talent. There was minimal evidence of leaders being regarded particularly negatively or ‘marked down’ on appraisals for not developing talent. This non-recognition of talent identification and management was often related, we believe, to the macro culture of the organisation in terms of fostering high performance.” (i.e. – Yeah, whatever, just deliver the numbers will you?)
So, the net net – your best managers today are, most likely, your best leaders tomorrow so are you doing everything possible to identify, develop, motivate, support and reward their people management talent? or are you just letting the Terrorists in the organisation win and choosing to look the other way (with a sigh) as your solid performer and ‘just really good’ managers leave to create business success elsewhere? And, as they leave, can you see their backs covered in the tyre tracks of an organisational Juggernaut that just didn’t bother to stop and see them doing a great talent management job?………..I’ll leave it with you 
Talent, Tyre Tracks and Terrorists
I am absolutely not about to decry the superb work put into Talent Strategies, the way the five pillars of talent are integrated and managed. This is not about how well 360 or 9 box or blended learning is delivered and managed by HR / Talent or learning functions…..no, this is merely an observation that it is our managers that are in the front line of the war for talent, it is our managers who most feel the pain of finding the right people to deliver business results, it is our managers who have to make sure new starters or transfers blend in with the rest of the team and it is our managers who have to arrange and organise workloads to ensure members of their team have the time away to develop and learn new skills. It is the first line manager who does the vast majority of ‘on the job’ coaching, provides the mentoring, the supporting and challenging and has the “where do you see your career in 3 years time Joe?” conversation….or tougher….”Joe I have a sensitive matter to discuss with you”, as he or she starts out on a disciplinary or poor performance one to one.
And from an organisational perspective without the first line Manager, how on earth would performance really be measured and managed across the workforce (other than the 1 club in the golf bag view of ‘the numbers’) how would star potential be identified, nurtured and encouraged?…..and where exactly would the workforce be now without those moments of recognition being called out by their manager for exceptional effort or quality of work? Where would your employees be without a one to one with their manager effectively acting as counsellor when life just gets a bit tough for them?……I venture they’d be off to the nearest competitor in many cases……something I was reminded of the other day in an article entitled “5 ways to keep your rockstar employees happy” This intriguing report about ‘Project Oxygen’ included the findings from work completed at Google: “……earlier this year, when Google interviewed its employees about what they valued most at work, none of the extravagant benefits made the top of the list. Neither did salary. Instead, employees cited access to “even-keeled bosses who made time for one-on-one meetings, who helped people puzzle through problems by asking questions, not dictating answers, and who took an interest in employees’ lives and careers.”
But let’s not get ‘fluffy’! – this is a hard core business issue. Inconveniently it is not easily measured with numbers and SMART objectives, it’s much harder than that and only the best even take it on as a programme – let alone excel at it. But for any of us who have been or are a first line manager, we feel or have felt the daily conflict of keeping the team on its performance course whilst handling the drudgery of compliance (minimising the sapping effects of this on our teams) and dealing with the balancing act of motivation – performance – talent – potential – retention – development – change (oh! and a bunch of intra-team personality challenges into the bargain!)…….it may not be the ‘BIG IMPORTANT’ decisions that get made down at this level but, by gum, it’s the hundreds of small inspired and quietly brilliant decisions that get made that keep the wheels on and turning……..quietly brilliant decisions that so often go unnoticed because they don’t immediately convert into £s or $s or €s.
So…..I ask you?…..how are you identifying the managers who hire well, manage well, retain well and deliver results well. How are you identifying the managers who do all this ‘talent management’ well in your organisation? Perhaps I can dare to go further…..When you look in the mirror and ask yourself the question, is yours one of the thousands of organisations that drag people up out of first line management based on who they know, how good their politics are and whether they happened to be in the right place at the right time? – Maybe some checkpoints might help?
Personally I was immensely lucky in a previous life to receive a sizeable investment in me as a manager. Together with almost the whole of the UK management population at the time, we were developed as managers and leaders over the course of months and years and at very significant Company expense. Strangely some very impressive $ results came out of the business over the ensuing 3 years; people wanted to join our teams, diversity and innovation sky rocketed, people were proud to work for the organisation and were highly motivated to develop and perform. And we were proud as managers to compete at being the best people managers!….as well as delivering the numbers, of course. Was this success a coincidence when it followed investment in the management population? I don’t think so. As managers we were taught how to scout, develop, manage and lead performing individuals and teams……it wasn’t rocket science – but it was amazingly hard to do well! Some had the talent for it, others did not, and went back into sales rep positions….but the business was the stronger for it for sure.The CPHR produced a valuable piece of research in August last year that you may like to read here. I’d just like to pick out one paragraph which, as one who heard the sales whistle blow every June and took his troops ‘over the top’, rang very true. “…..A consistent theme across many of the organisations was the lack of recognition of managers who developed talent. There was minimal evidence of leaders being regarded particularly negatively or ‘marked down’ on appraisals for not developing talent. This non-recognition of talent identification and management was often related, we believe, to the macro culture of the organisation in terms of fostering high performance.” (i.e. – Yeah, whatever, just deliver the numbers will you?)
So, the net net – your best managers today are, most likely, your best leaders tomorrow so are you doing everything possible to identify, develop, motivate, support and reward their people management talent? or are you just letting the Terrorists in the organisation win and choosing to look the other way (with a sigh) as your solid performer and ‘just really good’ managers leave to create business success elsewhere? And, as they leave, can you see their backs covered in the tyre tracks of an organisational Juggernaut that just didn’t bother to stop and see them doing a great talent management job?………..I’ll leave it with you