Talent Management needs HELP

As we, all know there were two different schools of thought in Talent Management. Exclusive & Inclusive, where the earlier focused on selected few employees as Hi-Potentials and the later considered all employees instead of selecting few. As stated by Turner & Kalman, “Talent management is now talent management for all.” Then there is yet another approach called as hybrid model suggested by Pilbeam & Corbridge, which considers combinations of the above two approaches.   

Primarily there were two significant contributors to the process of Talent Management namely ‘Talent Identification’ (Assessments) & ‘Talent Development’. In fact, Church & Waclawski consider the assessment of employees as "holy grail" of talent management, more so when it is done with a high degree of precision. However, developing talent is the main issue for most of the HR Professionals. 

Surveys carried out by HBR, PWC, Deloitte, & Gartner usually come up with a list of management concerns that includes topics i.e.: Leadership Development, Leadership Pipeline and developing bench strength. Hence, it has become imperative to have a robust process for ‘Talent Management’ in any organization. 

In the past few years, we have witnessed enormous developments in the field of technology that has resulted in shaping employee behavior at work. Every day we see reports, articles focusing on HR issues such as Analytics, AI, Big-Data, BYOD, Machine Learning, Millenials, Overwhelming employees, Social Media, VUCA, Wearables, etc. As effective HR professionals, we have to be agile in developing and implementing our HR strategies that are congruent with these developments in the external environment. 

Josh Bersin has recently published a report "Nine Trends Reinventing the HR Software Market." [pdf](referred as ‘Bersin Report’ in the following text) According to the report, all these changes in the external environment has led to 'a shift in Business Focus: changing the way we manage people.' He says that today companies are more worried about employee engagement, teamwork, innovation, and collaboration.

Josh Bersin says that "The real focus is on reinventing how people work; creating team-based tools for goal alignment and coaching; putting in place systems to provide feedback and measure engagement; and rethinking the way we measure performance, manage careers, and enable individual learning."

He further says that, at present, following four areas (shown in the image) need immediate attention by HR Professionals for improving the effectiveness of their talent management strategies. [HELP - ‘Health & Wellness’, ‘Employee Engagement’, ‘Learning & Development,’ and ‘Performance Management’]

1. Health & Wellness: 

The issue of employee Health and wellness has considered first because as they say 'health is wealth'. We keep on saying that employees are our most important asset; however, it is equally important what we are doing for maintenance of this asset. It is becoming essential for HR professionals to help employees to take care of themselves for being productive and healthy at work.

As per Deloitte report employees are feeling overworked and overwhelmed, hence, wellness and emotional fitness are now becoming issues of employee engagement and performance. “It is not cash that fuels the journey to the future, but the emotional and intellectual energy of every employee.” - Hammel & Prahlad. Bookshops are flooded with books on topics i.e. mindfulness, work-life balance, and employee wellness. 

Chade-Meng Tan (Author: Search Inside Yourself) has developed a unique program on 'mindfulness' for Google with guidance from Daniel Goleman and Jon Kabat-Zinn. Laszlo Bock has highlighted it in his book 'Work Rules'. 

Many companies offer facilities such as gym, yoga, time management, work-life balance, dietary support, exercise, and a variety of other wellness services. In fact, they are now becoming an essential part of employment branding initiatives for attracting millennials and driving employee engagement. Even the companies marketing wellness products such as wearables, fitness gears, & Softwares are positioning their products as performance improvement tools. Following are examples of vendors providing these tools: Ceridian-LifeWorks, Fitbit, and Limeaid.

Needless to say, that such initiatives lead to improved employee performance, engagement, morale and ultimately result in developing company culture and boost the performance of the entire organization.

2. Employee Engagement:

Another important area for immediate attention of HR professionals is 'Employee Engagement'. Gallup Survey shows that only 32% of U.S. employees engaged in 2015. Gallup's extensive research shows that “employee engagement is strongly connected to business outcomes essential to an organization's financial success, such as productivity, profitability, and customer engagement.” In-fact, 85% companies ranked engagement as a top priority in Deloitte 2016 Global Human Capital Trends report.   

Employee engagement is important from the perspective of business success as well as for developing an appropriate culture within an organization. It is equally important for controlling attrition and retaining leaders we have developed over the years. According to TinyPulse "Companies with high engagement are 40% more productive, 78% more profitable, and 5X more likely to achieve high performance."

Normally companies use Engagement Surveys as a tool to monitor the level of engagement and then take appropriate decisions based on the facts. I have already covered the topic of 'employee surveys' in detail earlier. Edward Lawler originally suggested the concept of pulse surveys in his book "Talent" (2008) which is now gaining traction in 2016. Laszlo Bock also mentions the use of survey called “Googlegeist” (which means “the spirit of Google”) for more than fifty thousand employees at Google. As suggested by many management authors, HR professionals may need to consider 'bottom up' approach instead of 'top down' to effectively address engagement issue.

The marketing department was using this tool for decades and now HR department has started using it for real-time engagement evaluation of their employees. Most of the organizations are using once-a-year 'climate' surveys accompanied by pulse surveys and feedback tools. Bersin report suggests that pulse surveys and always-on feedback tools are becoming critical to business success since they create opportunities for business process improvement. It further says that there are more than 120 vendors offering pulse survey tools, employee mood monitoring systems, culture and engagement assessments, and other forms of anonymous or confidential feedback systems.

We can use pulse surveys quarterly, monthly, or weekly. In the case of a major organizational change event, we can use these tools to collect real-time feedback from employees. Employees can use almost any device for accessing the surveys, anytime anywhere according to their convenience. Following are examples of few vendors providing these tools:  CultureAmp, Glint, Hyphen, Kanjoya, OfficeVibe, and TinyPulse.

As an HR Professionals, we cannot afford to ignore the employee engagement issue and tools that are now available to us. We have to develop appropriate culture and implement suitable strategies to address the employee engagement issue for improving the effectiveness of our talent management initiatives.

3. Learning & Development:

HR professionals rely heavily on Learning & Development to nurture & develop their talent pipeline. Bersin report states that arrival of new technology has significantly affected the way learning content consumed by employees to stay updated in the ever-evolving environment. Hence, it needs immediate attention from HR professionals for delivering agile learning tools for improving the effectiveness of our L&D strategies.

Many successful companies consider learning & development initiatives as a key investment that directly results in strategic success. In fact, a number of companies that think about learning & development as a "very high" priority, tripled in a year according to Deloitte University study.

There have been tremendous developments in the field of learning, from e-learning to blended learning, social learning, mobile learning, 70-20-10 learning, video-based learning, microlearning, embedded-learning, spaced learning etc.

There are many online learning platforms available such as Coursera, CrossKnowledge, EdX, iversity, Lynda, NovoEd, Skillsoft, Udacity, Udemy, and even Youtube. There is ample amount of content available these days; however, the real issue is how to consolidate, measure, curate and build a great integrated experience for our employees. Following are the examples of content aggregation and curation platforms: Degreed, EdCast, & Pathgather. These platforms simplify and help users to easily find, recommend, and arrange content in one place.

Bersin report says, "Today people learn in a more dynamic and self-directed way than ever before... People don’t have time and patience to sit in a class the way they did a few years ago." Now the intelligent learning systems can customize according to user needs, even recommend, and push learning content at the right time. It can also aggregate and curate small learning pieces together in a cohesive whole and help companies to author microlearning so it can be provided (spaced out) ‘on demand’.

Towards Maturity benchmarking research, underscore that 70% L&D Teams did not proactively understand how employees and their organizations learn. The importance of (UX) user experience has increased over the years because of its ease of use and compelling experience to the user. Successful L&D teams very well understand this fact and capitalize on it; however, others keep on focusing on the checklist of features based on their own priority (not the user). 

People prefer highly condensed learning content and microlearning for quickly closing skill and knowledge gaps. Using design thinking, we can embed these solutions into business processes. Employees can access the content on almost any device, anywhere and at any time according to their convenience. Using these tools employees can quickly find what they need, get a checklist or tool, and then go back to work. Examples: Axonify, Grovo, and Knolskape.

Smart organizations give freedom to employees to decide on their own development and career path. Employees can now choose their mode of learning. When given such an option we can improve their engagement and participation. We can easily keep track of their progress and feedback. As per Aberdeen, 'Best-in-class' companies are 76% more likely to adopt this approach for enhancing their L&D initiatives. Human interaction is still essential for learning and Bersin report agrees with the importance of interpersonal communication.

4. Performance Management:

From the talent management perspective, it is one of the most important tools for selecting employees for developing leadership pipeline. Laszlo Bock says, “Employees hate it. Managers hate it. Even HR departments hate it.” As per Deloitte 2016 Global Human Capital Trends, more than two-thirds of companies are redesigning their performance management practices. The Willis Towers Watson report (2016) state that 70% of companies had already or intends to make changes to performance management.

Recently many companies have revamped their traditional performance management (rank & yank) system for example GE, IBM, Adobe, Microsoft, etc. Hence, it is on the priority list of HR professionals to rethink about their performance management tools for improving their talent management efforts.

Edward Lawler (Talent) and Laszlo Bock (Work Rules) suggest that the performance management process must separate the 'rewards' and 'development' discussions. At Google, the Committee is responsible for performance appraisal and compensation instead of the line manager. Lazlo Bock also advocates for collecting peer feedback for enhancing the effectiveness of this process. There is another process initially implemented at Intel called ‘OKR' (objectives and key results) nowadays used at many tech companies.

Bersin Report says that performance improves when companies empower people; let them set their own goals. "In short, organizational performance typically improves when employees are paid well, given coaching and development, and are motivated to innovate."

Following are the features available in the new tools as per Bersin Report:

- They focus on frequent coaching & development,

- They have an agile approach.

- They were built around simple and periodic check-ins.

- They help in developing shared goals from bottom up and are more transparent.

- They have a simple tracking mechanism to measure progress.

- They foster regular development discussion and feedback.

- Instead of relying only on hierarchy, they manage performance by teams.

- Easy to create and manage teams and allow people to be part of multiple teams.

- We can easily make a development plan for each employee.

- Peer feedback can be easily included in the process.

- They have personality assessment tools and leadership tips.

- They are simple, easy to use like any mobile app.

- They can be integrated with other HR tools and have employee directories.

- They make performance management everyday work instead of year-end process.

- They provide more detail data than ever before that help in decision-making.

- They help in open and data-driven decision-making.

- They enhance the process by using data for crucial compensation decisions.

Following are the examples of vendors providing these tools:  BetterWorks, HighGround, Impraise, O.C. Tanner, and Reflektive.

“But the new perspective is unlikely to be a flash in the pan because; it is being driven by business needs, not imposed by HR.” - Cappelli and Tavis (HBR October-2016). They further say that it helps managers do a better job of coaching and allows subordinates to process and apply the advice more effectively.

Three business reasons suggested by Cappelli & Tavis to revamp appraisals:

- The return of people development – (To upgrade their talent management efforts)

- The need for agility – (To address developments in the external environment)

- The centrality of teamwork – (It is easy to foster teamwork)

Benefits of new tools:

- Adobe says that - regular conversations between managers and their employees are now occurring without HR’s prompting.

- Adobe also reports that its new system has reduced dismissals because struggling employees are monitored and coached much more closely.

- Deloitte found that frequent, informal check-ins have led to discussions that are more meaningful, deeper insights, and greater employee satisfaction.

- IBM says that supervisors can easily review all the discussion text when it is time to take actions such as award merit pay or consider promotions and job reassignments.

Conclusion:

- We have to decide which tools are more suitable for our organization and then use them for delivering result and achieve our strategic objectives.

- Again copying 'best practices' successful in other organization may not be a wise option. We have to analyze pros & cons of each tool.

- It sounds cliché, however, important to mention to secure buy-in from Line Managers & support from Top management by involving them in the process.

- Communication is the key as stated by Tom Peters, “Communication is everyone's panacea for everything."

- We have to develop a solution that is congruent with communication culture, processes, beliefs, values, and norms prevailing within our organization.

“If the main purpose of HR-business strategy is to create a competitive advantage through people it implies that you have to change the way you manage those people.” - Paul Kerns

Please provide your valuable insights and suggestions in the comments. 

100 quotes - Talent Management

100 quotes - Talent Management

Talent Management has gained importance over the years and as long as we need smooth and uninterrupted flow of business; it is going to be an indispensable part of any HR strategy. Following definition clearly outlines what is Talent Management:

“Talent management is an integrated set of processes, programs, and cultural norms in an organization designed and implemented to attract, develop, deploy, and retain talent to achieve strategic objectives and meet future business needs.”

-  Silzer and Dowell

Following presentation, include a collection of 100 quotes on Talent Management.

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100 quotes on Talent Management from Vijay Bankar

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Succession Planning for Leadership Development

Succession Planning for Leadership Development

A report on “Global Human Capital Trends 2014” (pdf) prepared by Deloitte, which surveyed 2,532 business and HR leaders in 94 countries concludes that the most important and urgent concern for HR professionals today is developing “leadership” pipeline to achieve strategic objectives. In fact, it has appeared as ‘highly urgent’ at number one in the list of concerns followed by ‘Retention and engagement’, and ‘Reskilling HR’.

The report states that “Building global leadership is by far the most urgent: Fully 38 percent of all respondents rated it “urgent,” almost 50 percent more than the percentage rating the next issue “urgent.” Companies see the need for leadership at all levels, in all geographies, and across all functional areas. This continuous need for new and better leaders has accelerated.”

Now, as an HR professional we have two choices available, first, recruiting from other organizations and second, proactively develop leadership pipeline. We may also look at it as make v/s. buy decision in the form of developing v/s. hire. The most tempting and easier option for HR professionals is off course to hire since developing leaders is time consuming and tedious process. However, many management authors suggest otherwise.

For example Jim Collins, in ‘Good to Great’ says that “Larger-than-life, celebrity leaders who ride in from the outside are negatively correlated with taking a company from good to great. Ten of eleven good-to-great CEOs came from inside the company, whereas the comparison companies tried outside CEOs six times more often.” In the November 2015 issue of Harvard Business Review, Adi Ignatius, has compiled a list of 100 ‘Best-Performing Ceo’s In The World’ and among them 86 have come from within the company to successfully lead their organizations.

Hence, HR professionals have to make serious efforts to address the crucial concern of developing leadership to maintain the flow of business. “Succession Planning and Management” becomes the most suitable option for HR Professionals in this context. It is something like digging the well before you get thirsty. However, justifying such investment of time, efforts, and resources for this purpose in the form of ‘return on investment’ is a complex proposition for HR Professionals.    

What is Succession Planning & Management:

William Rothwell (Effective succession planning 2010) states that “A succession planning and management program was defined as a deliberate and systematic effort by an organization to ensure leadership continuity in key positions, retain and develop intellectual and knowledge capital for the future, and encourage individual advancement.”

He further says, “Succession planning can mean more than just finding warm bodies to fill vacancies.” Succession Planning is much more than merely preparing a list of employees for replacement of vacant positions. In fact, “It’s not a replacement issue. It’s a strategic responsibility to be shared among the stakeholders.” – Kets de Vries. The ‘Replacement planning’ typically ask line manager to identify up to three people within the company as backup candidates. However, succession planning is a proactive effort to ensure a continuous flow of business by development of talent within the organization while carefully planning learning and development initiatives. 

He includes ‘succession management’ in ‘succession planning’ since it should not stand-alone. He firmly believes that it must be put together to develop talent in real time to meet dynamic business needs. In-short ‘succession management’ broadens the scope by enhancing manager’s role to build talent by coaching, giving feedback and helping employees to develop their potential.   

The following quote underlines the positive impact of succession planning. “After working with hundreds of organizations on their talent and succession planning programs we know the benefits of a successful program are broad — from reduced time to fill critical positions and reduced turnover costs, to cost improvements in developing high-potentials and enhanced competitive advantage.” – William Rothwell.

We all know the importance of culture in any organization. Moreover, the leadership of the organization has a major impact on shaping & developing the culture of the organization. Hence having a proper candidate in the leadership position becomes even more crucial. Succession planning and management can certainly address this concern by providing appropriate employees being groomed and developed within the company, who are well aware of the company culture. Normally succession planning is carried out annually in line with the Workforce planning process. However, it must be a continuous process and reviewed quarterly or even monthly in parallel to the workforce planning process.

Kim Lamoureux very well narrates the strategic importance of this process. He says, "By identifying and developing talent, creating a corporate culture that assumes the talent will move to those places where it is needed for the company to meet its business goals and maintaining a broad, nonhierarchical view of talent management, succession programs become part of the business strategy." 

Individual Development Plan (IDP): Succession planning and management is tied to strategic plans through individual development planning processes. Michael Watkins, the author of ‘The First 90 days’, has developed the STARS framework that can be used to develop individual career plans in line with the strategic requirement of the company. (STARS is an acronym for five common business situations leaders may find themselves moving into: Start-up, Turnaround, Accelerated growth, Realignment, and Sustaining success.)

Individual development planning options available for each position would differ in line with the strategic situations mentioned earlier. Hence, integration of individual development plan with the overall Succession plan is crucial for achieving strategic objectives. The following quote underlines the importance of appropriate integration. “A career plan without a succession plan is a road map without a destination.” – William Rothwell.

When it comes to succession planning, the question that is asked most often is whether ‘to tell or not to tell’ the employees about their inclusion in the list. William Rothwell says, “The issue may not be to tell everyone or not to tell everyone whether they are listed on succession plans. A better series of questions relates to when to tell, who to tell, and how to tell.” I had attended several webinars and most of the experts in the field of succession planning advocate the view of communicating to employees about their selection due to advantages for e.g.:

• to motivate successors to learn more.
• be willing to build their competencies in anticipation of future promotion.
• to be less willing to leave the organization, and,
• to improve employee morale.    

Approaches to Succession Planning & Management:

Following are the three approaches suggested by William Rothwell for carrying out this process:

Top-Down Approach: Management Leaders in the organization direct this process from the highest levels through HR Department. They decide on required competence, appraisal process, assessment tests, and learning & development initiatives.  

Bottom-Up Approach: In contrast to the above approach, this one is directed from the lowest levels. Employees and their immediate supervisors actively participate in all activities pertaining to Succession Planning & Management. Decisions are closely linked to the individual development plans that help these employees to assess their strengths, weaknesses, and future potential. Employee’s track record of accomplishments becomes crucial for Top Management to monitor the process. 

Combined Approach: Integration of the ‘Top Down’ & ‘Bottom Up’ approach result in developing the Combined Approach. Management Leaders are involved in setting up the process, whereas Line Managers and Employees are involved in every step of the process. Efforts are being made to integrate the individual development plans with overall Succession Planning and Management. 

Succession Planning and Management Process:

Getting buy-in (and participation) from Top management along with line managers becomes crucial for the success of this process. In fact, it’s the important ingredient for the success of any other HR initiative for that matter. William Rothwell has suggested Seven-Pointed Star Model for Systematic Succession Planning and Management as shown in the following image.

A systematic approach to carrying out this process would be influenced by the Culture, Values, Norms, and strategic requirements of the organizations. However, this model can become the foundation of the Succession Planning and Management process. These seven steps precisely outline the process and can be followed for successful implementation in any organization. Following are the steps involved in this process:

Step 1: Make the Commitment

Step 2: Assess Present Work and People Requirements

Step 3: Appraise Individual Performance

Step 4: Assess Future Work and People Requirements

Step 5: Assess Future Individual Potential

Step 6: Close the Developmental Gap

Step 7: Evaluate the Succession Planning Program

Succession Management Maturity Model:

Bersin & Associates have developed a Succession Management Maturity Model as shown in the following image. 

Level 0 : No Succession Process

Level 1 : Replacement Planning – Companies focus on Senior Level Positions. List of high potential is created however, it is not supported with the formal development plan.  

Level 2 : Traditional Succession Planning - Companies focus on critical Senior Level Positions. Carry out their appraisal and establish development plans.

Level 3 : Integrated Succession Management – Only critical Positions at all levels are covered in this process.  Focused on integration with other Talent Management initiatives and business strategy.

Level 4 : Transparent Talent Mobility - Companies completely understand the capabilities and potential of their workforce. Talent decisions are based on what is best for the business as a whole.  

Companies can enhance the effectiveness of their succession management process by assessing their level and taking proactive steps to move up the ladder from level 1 to level 4.

     

Softwares with inbuilt option:

Normally companies use traditional organization chart-based programs that focus more on replacement planning using spreadsheets. Hence, software implementation can be a wise option to ameliorate the administrative burden while simplifying the entire process. There are many softwares available for implementing Succession Planning & Management while ensuring integration with other Talent Management initiatives. These softwares become more important because of their ‘scenario planning’ capabilities. They provide accurate details of different possibilities and options available to HR Professionals depending upon the circumstances and facilitate the decision-making process.  

Current Trends in Succession Planning:

The white paper, "The HR Guide to Identifying High-Potentials" (2014) prepared by CEB - SHL Talent Measurement states that,

• “50% HR Professionals lack confidence in their HiPo Programs.
• 5 out of 6 HR Professionals are dissatisfied with their HiPo Programs.
• Only 1 out of 7 High performers is High Potential.
• 55% will drop out of the HiPo Program within 5 years.
• 46% of Leaders fail to meet their business objective in a new role.”

The Report “The State of Succession Planning” (pdf) (January 2015) compiled by Halogen Software states that “The overall average succession planning intelligence score for all respondents is 48 percent. Not an impressive result given the importance and impact of succession planning.”

In the book ‘Rise of HR’ Fagan Stackhouse and Neil Reichenberg refer to the 2014 IPMA-HR talent management survey wherein only 27% of the respondents have agreed that their companies have Succession Plan in place. They further outline the reasons, for example:

• “Management being more focused on day-to-day business,
• Lack of sufficient time to make succession planning a priority,
• Lack of resources,
• Fears within the organization that succession planning will result in favoritism and pre-selection, &
• Lack of commitment by top leadership.”  

The above-mentioned facts do not portray a positive image of the status quo. However, there is immense scope for improvement. Investment in the proper software tools would definitely assist HR Professionals in this process. If we manage to secure buy-in (and involvement) from Top Management as well as Line managers and convey them the benefits of effective Succession Planning and Management, it would certainly result in the smooth flow of business with enhanced competitive advantage.

I would like to conclude with a quote from the book ‘The Jack Welch Lexicon of Leadership’s (2005):

“One of the driving factors behind GE’s success. If it wasn’t for GE’s rigorous succession planning, Jack Welch might never have become GE’s eighth CEO. Both Reg Jones (GE’s seventh CEO) and Jack Welch started searching for their successors six years prior to their retirement, and the board played an important role in the process.” - Jeffrey A. Krames

(Download Files from the CD-ROM - Effective succession planning - William Rothwell 2010)

100 Quotes on HR- “Employment Brand”

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100 Quotes on HR- “Employment Brand”

Delivering and managing “Employment Brand” is one of the Critical Talent Imperatives for 2015 according to Bersin Report (Predictions for 2015). It is also one of the most repeated topics in the recent #tweetchat discussions I had participated on twitter.

RBL - Growing Your HR Brand (Whitepaper)(pdf)

HR Brand Quiz (Download excel file)

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"FIRST WHO THEN WHAT" - Getting 'right people' in 'right seat'

In the above video Mr. Jim Collins (Author - Good to Great 2001) highlights the importance of "who" before "what".

If we think about this in line with strategic management perspective, we may have to amend the typical strategy development process. It usually begins with defining or re-defining Vision & Mission statement of an organization - precisely 'where to go' - the "what".

Now, in case we have to begin with "who", an organization may have to opt for Resource Based View (RBV) of available human capital for 'Internal Analysis'. And make sure that we have right people on the bus. Normally this process (RBV) involves defining various resources the organization possesses and examine them to gauge which resources truly have strategic value. It is important for two reasons, 1) to know whether we have right people on the bus & 2) to remove wrong people from the bus. However, make sure not to throw out the baby with the bath water.

Dick Cooley and David Maxwell both exemplified a classic Level 5 style when they said, “I don’t know where we should take this company, but I do know that if I start with the right people, ask them the right questions, and engage them in vigorous debate, we will find a way to make this company great.” However, it’s not an easy task to get right people at the right time, very well said by Richard Florida, "Access to talented and creative people is to modern business what access to coal and iron ore was to steel-making."

• 
  

(Image Source: Google Images)

What is "RIGHT PEOPLE”?

Let’s see what Jim Collins say about right people.  He says, "In determining 'the right people', the Good to Great companies placed greater weight on character attributes than on the specific educational background, practical skills, specialized knowledge or work experience. Not that specific knowledge or skills are unimportant, but they viewed these traits as more teachable (or at least Learnable) Whereas they believed dimensions like character, work ethic, basic intelligence, dedication to fulfilling commitments, and values are more ingrained".

Now the question for HR Professionals is how do we know we have right people on the bus? And which tools HR professionals can use to get such right people? I must mention an important quote from Robert Half, that "There is something that is much more scarce, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability."

There has been a lot of research carried out so far on this, and now we are turning to Analytics, Big data & algorithms for it. (In Hiring, Algorithms Beat Instinct by Kuncel, Klieger, and Ones - HBR - May 2014) The history of talent spotting is very well narrated in four different eras by Claudio Fernández-Aráoz in the article 'The Big Idea: 21st-Century Talent Spotting' HBR June 2014.

Claudio says, "I am convinced that organizations and their leaders must transition to what I think of as a new era of talent spotting—one in which our evaluations of one another are based not on brawn, brains, experience, or competencies, but on potential."

These are very pragmatic views, however, we will see which options, tools, & methods can be used for employee assessment and finding “right people” and get rid of ‘wrong people’.

Tools available to HR Professionals:

Ability Tests: 

Many companies use cognitive ability tests for selecting employees. Using these tests we can match skills to job requirements in a way that is objective and fair to all candidates. These are paper and pencil tests, however, nowadays they are also available on a smartphone, tablet, and web-based format. We may use them to test Verbal ability, Numerical Ability, Inductive Reasoning, Critical Reasoning, Mechanical Reasoning, Problem Solving, Managerial Judgment, Idea Generation etc. Example: SHL - CEB Ability Tests, Talent Q (Element) - Hay group.

Personality Tests: 

Many companies use personality tests along with other options. Such tests normally require an applicant to answer 200 or more (yes/no) questions. These questions attempt to get to the core of the personality, values and the things that make one successful. Unlike a job interview, everyone gets the same questions since they are standardized. These tests assist HR professionals to accurately predict whether a candidate will be successful, instead of solely relying on a face-to-face interview. Usually, candidates can't charm a personality test. Examples: Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI); California Psychological Inventory.

Interviews:

An Interview is one of the most widely used methods for recruiting employees. Typically these interviews are ‘Unstructured’, however, experts suggest using ‘Structured’ interviews for better results.

Behavioral Event Interview:

It was developed by David McClelland and frequently used by many organizations to recruit employees based on specific competencies relevant to the organization. In such interviews, the candidates are questioned to think of various job-related experiences that turned out well or poorly and then describe these situations in extensive detail. (White paper "Competency-Based Pay" by Tucker and Cofsky – ACA Journal 1994 [pdf]) Hence, such information gathered from the candidate is more predictive of their behavior and performance for specific competencies. As a result we find out:

1. Whether candidate possess the required competency.

2. His / Her level on specific competency.    

3. Concrete basis for predicting future success for that competency.

The Assessment Center:

It facilitates gathering critical data on an individual's competencies and his / her potential match for the executive position. It measures the required attributes that enable the candidate to succeed in the specific position. The candidates are expected to complete a series of activities and instruments designed to elicit the demonstration of executive behaviors. The Assessment Center includes simulations such as In-basket Exercises, Group Discussions, Management Games, and Analysis Exercises. Since more than one assessment instrument used for measuring particular competency, it provides robust, consistent and more reliable results. Consultancies: DDI, Haygroup, Kornferry

360 - Degree Competency Feedback: 

Many organizations now use 360 - degree competency feedback surveys, primarily for providing development feedback to individuals, although there is still debate going on among professionals around using these tools for development only versus using them for selection decision making.  It provides potentially accurate and diverse information on where employees stand in relation to where they should be in terms of skills and behaviors.

Although many consulting firms have their own well - established frameworks,  the best approach for using 360 - feedback ratings for internal development  of high potentials is for organizations to develop their own customized  leadership competency model that is carefully developed and specific to the organization’s culture and strategies. These models should be built to incorporate the organization’s values, reflect the business strategy, and either reinforce the current culture or outline through behavioral examples what the new culture should look like. ("Strategy-driven Talent Management" by Silzer and Dowell - 2010) Consultancies: CCL, Haygroup ,Lominger

Workforce Intelligence: 

In the advent of Big-data & HR Analytics many organizations are now equipped with vast amount of data which they leverage for taking important people decisions. As claimed by the vendors; it gives organizations the ability to predict the success and tenure of potential candidates before they even walk through the door. Predict which high performers were at risk of leaving six months before they walked out of the door. Workforce Intelligence assists various HR processes such as: Workforce Planning & Optimization; Workforce Transitions; Recruitment Analytics; Retention Risk Analytics; and Leadership Development. Examples: Smarter Workforce (Kenexa) & Workforce Intelligence (Deloitte)

Assessment Trends for – 2014:

According to the - 2014 Global Assessment Trends Report (pdf) by Tracy M. Kantrowitz  (CEB) following image reflect the important trends.

(Image Source: Taken from 2014 Global Assessment Trends Report)

These assessments are used for a variety of HR Functions, led by External Hiring (76%), Internal Hiring (65%), Leadership Development (56%) and Career Development (44%).  There are numerous options available to HR Professionals; hence selecting appropriate assessment is important. However, according to the report it’s essential to consider following factors before taking this decision.

- How well the test measures critical competencies?

- Duration of the assessment.

- Legal issues surrounding the job relevance of the assessment.

- Assessment delivery mode - onsite, remotely or via mobile devices.

- We cannot assume that all assessments are equally effective.

- Assessment that is well-designed.

- Assessment proven to be valid.

- And its direct link to job and organizational performance.

Other relevant findings in the report are as follows:

• Identifying high-potential (HiPo) talent is a new global top priority and use of assessments.

• Only half use talent metrics to prove ROI or to inform business decisions.

• Integration of assessment data with HRIS seen as critical, but integration capabilities fall short.

• 61% of respondents use HRIS for external hiring but only 34% report integrating assessments into that process.

•  Use assessments for hiring 73%, for development and promotion decisions 40%.

• Pre-hire 62% & Post-hire 34%

• Social media searches are top future hiring tool, despite only a quarter of respondents having formal policies on its use.

• Companies allow recruiters to use social media information for hiring decision – 24%

• Using information on professional networking sites – 42%

• There is growing interest in mobile assessment for recruitment, with clear geographic differences.

• When in doubt, don’t hire – keep looking.

• When you know you need to make people change, act.

• Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems. 

The research carried out by Jim Collins was based on concrete data and hence cannot be ignored.  He outlined three practical disciplines:

Hence selecting appropriate assessment tool is significantly important for hiring ‘Right People’. If we use these tools, which are validated and are reliable according to industry experts, it will certainly assist in developing robust hiring processes in the organization to get ‘Right People’. It will obviously increase the probability of success and our decisions are supported by proven methods. However retaining employees and subsequently developing them using appropriate T&D strategies would remain an important task for HR Professionals. Please provide your valuable suggestions and recommendations (including options not covered above) in the comments.

In conclusion Jim Collins says it’s possible to build a great company and also build a great life. He says, “Adherence to the idea of “first who” might be the closest link between a great company and a great life. …If we spend the vast majority of our time with the people we love and respect - people we really enjoy being on the bus with and who will never disappoint us – then we will almost certainly have a great life, no matter where the bus goes.”