September 2005

BALANCING

As the market for leadership talent continues to move toward “more demand than supply,” talent management is becoming more synonymous with risk management. The loss of leadership talent can create significant swings in shareholder confidence, employee commitment, and customer loyalty. How equipped is your organization for mitigating the risks of lost leadership expertise? In our experience, balancing four common areas of human capital management is critical to retaining the talent you want.  These include:

Performance Appraisal:
Does your organization have a performance appraisal system that surfaces leadership deficiencies early and rewards superior performance objectively? A system that tracks and reports useful, objective and subjective performance data is a critical risk management component. 

Leadership Development:
Investing in leaders is a critical ingredient in extending and optimizing their contribution. Most leadership development initiatives offer a blend of professional development, 360 competency-based feedback, and individualized coaching. This commitment to expand leadership capability and employability invites longer tenures and delivers a bottom line return on your investment.

Personnel Transition:    
Transitioning leadership at critical times in the organization is also an important dimension of talent management. Leadership strengths and vision have an organizational shelf life. Changing business needs can necessitate a change in leadership. Clearly communicated severance policies and outplacement services lay a foundation of assurance and equity among leaders and managers that is critical to surviving times of accelerated or unexpected change.

Succession Planning:    
Does your organization recruit or develop the bench strength needed to sustain growth or fill a larger responsibility triggered by an untimely leadership departure? Ensuring continuity of leadership through succession planning extends the commitment of key staff who could easily be courting opportunity external to the organization. 

How balanced are you in managing leadership risk in your organization?  One telling metric is looking at the funds budgeted and expended for each of these four recurring talent management investments. Your budget is a good indicator of your priorities and commitments.  If the numbers don’t align with your intentions and values, it may be time to rethink your investment. 

Call us, we can help.

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                                  Phone:  952.525.1475            
            
Email:  E-Talent@oipartners.net 

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