Finding and Promoting Existing Talent, Onboarding New Talent

A sales manager in a technology company was tasked with opening up a new market segment. Aware that this would require talent from both within and outside the business, the manager took the following steps:

• Appraisal: The manager ran an appraisal with a direct report, who made it clear that he did not want to move from being a salesperson to a sales manager. Using a particular appraisal structure, and detailed recognition of the direct report’s strengths and contribution to the business, the manager persuaded the direct report to reconsider the merits of taking on management responsibility. As a first step towards this, the direct report agreed to work with two starters who would be coming into the team…

• Onboarding: … As part of moving into a new market segment, the manager recruited two new salespeople. To ensure they would be successful as quickly as possible, the manager gathered together a varied group, including people from the existing sales team, people from other sales teams, and a credit control manager, and ran a meeting on the subject: “how can we help these people to start contributing immediately?” The group agreed a number of actions which would supplement the company-wide on-boarding procedure. These actions included:

o Each new starter should have two mentors, each of whom meets them once a fortnight. One mentor should be from the team, one should be from a different team

o Closely defined product areas should be assigned for the new salespeople to develop

o Short-term targets defined; these to reflect the difficulty of the new market, and the particular areas of focus new starters should maintain

• Result: Three months later the manager reported that the new joiners were were learning their roles quickly, and showing high confidence and motivation. The salesperson who had agreed to help with their induction as part of his appraisal was now their full-time team leader.

 

 Fast Succession Planning

An interim manager was called in to run a business unit at short notice. Using new ideas on the appraisal conversation, he ran short meetings with all the staff on site, and discovered an unexpected candidate to fill the vacant business unit manager’s post. With the interim manager’s encouragement, four months later this person was formally appointed to the role.

 

Close Alignment of Talent Management and Productivity

A manager in a professional services firm ran an appraisal with a new hire who had performed well at interview, but worked too slowly once she was in post.

The manager skilfully drew out the new starter’s concerns about her role, recognised her strengths, and carefully aligned her aspirations with the future business need. They agreed new short term objectives, and within a month the manager began to see both quicker delivery and more concise documents.

So convincing were these results that the manager decided to roll out a monthly review of all of his direct reports’ performance and development objectives, with the overriding theme – “how can we help these people become more valuable employees?” This complements the company’s standard employee management processes.

 

Talent Managing a Team

A manager in a manufacturing business had to quickly raise the ability of a whole team made up of both recent starters and established staff members.

Developing New Joiners

• The manager took two new recruits on an extended visit to a supplier in another country.

o First, the manager made an action plan for every day with concrete targets. The new joiners met these, quickly bringing them up to speed and growing their confidence.

o After the trip, the manager asked both new recruits to compile a report on their trip for a debrief, including the three main areas where they had gained experience, and the three main areas they could still improve. This further helped the new recruits to grow their knowledge, skill and motivation.

• The following month the manager ran an appraisal for the two new staff members, and created four sub goals for each to fulfil by the end of their probation period. A date was set for follow up. Because of how the appraisal had been run, the new staff members felt confident and motivated.

Upskilling the Existing Workforce

• The manager ran a review with all direct reports to find out their views on their current positions, and their aspirations for the future. The manager then made concrete action plans with each of them for how they would develop their skills in the next three months.

• The review process brought to light a particular development requirement. The manager had to quickly raise the skill level of an inexperienced member of staff who was having more and more contact with external partners. The manager boosted the person’s confidence by pointing out what she had been doing well, and worked with her to make a concrete two month plan for how she would develop further skills.

• A second development requirement brought to light by the review process was the team members’ confidence in decision-making and understanding of team-wide issues. One measure the manager took to address this was to rotate the chairmanship of the weekly meeting, so each team member would take a turn.

• The review process also focused the manager’s attention on a poor performance issue. As a result of this the manager ran a formal reprimand with an employee. Three concrete goals were agreed for delivery in the coming period, and the employee left motivated to achieve them.