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BECOMING YOUR BEST: TRAINING FOR NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

May 15-17, 2014The Grand Hotel, Point Clear, AL

Personnel, Finance, and Marketing: Critical Ingredients to the Executive Directors

Success

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Talent Management

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Overview

Talent management is the practice of attracting, retaining, developing and promoting outstanding talent.

It comprises all of the processes and systems related to retaining and developing a superior workforce.

Talent management, when handled strategically, flows from the organization's mission, values, and goals. From a

strategic perspective, an effective talent management system helps employees feel as if they are part of

something bigger than their current job.

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“But what if we invest in developing our people and they decide to leave?”

“What happens if we don't and they stay?”

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Risks of Neglecting Talent

Failure to sustain growth• Without the right talent in key areas, we run the risk of missing out on

emerging opportunities.

Failure to secure succession• We need to constantly be planning ahead – identifying and nurturing

future leaders.

Failure to attract emerging talent• We need to understand how to attract today’s emerging talent

Failure to retain top performers • We need to be able to offer the necessary challenges and career

development to motivate/retain top performers

Failure to weed out poor performers• Poor performers undermine productivity and erode morale.

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Talent Management Activities and ProcessesEmployee Recruitment

• Verification of job duties• Recruiting / Screening applicants• Onboarding

Performance Management• Position Profile / Job description• Performance Plan (SMART Goals)• Performance Reviews/Feedback• Performance Appraisal

Professional Development/Training• Requisite / Employee-desired• Cross Training• Performance Support

Succession Development• Moving people into new positions• Off-boarding

Compensation • Direct• Indirect

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Employee Recruitment

1. Verification of job duties

Prior to filling any vacant position, assess/review all the requisite job duties of the position and if adjustments or changes are necessary, make them prior to posting.

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2. Candidate Review Team

Candidate Review Teams are the vehicle through which employee recruitments flow. CRTs collaborate in all facets of the process; screening applications/resumes, helping with developing interview questions, participating in the interviews, and offering individual feedback on candidates.

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3. Onboarding

All new hires meet with HR on the first day of employment. During this initial meeting, the new hire is given a copy of the Employee Handbook, is administered the appropriate HR paperwork, and undergoes a basic orientation.

In addition, all new hires go through a 6-month Introductory Period during which the new hire’s attitude, attendance, performance, and overall job capability is evaluated on a monthly basis by his/her immediate supervisor.

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Performance Management

1. Job Description

Every single employee – regardless of full or part time –should have a specific-to-their-job job description. The job description outlines roles, responsibilities, requisite competencies, and job capability measures for every position.

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2. Performance Plans (SMART Goals)

During the first quarter of each fiscal year, all employees are asked to develop and submit a performance plan. The performance plan is a simple tool that allows the employee and supervisor to establish goals and measure progress. Goals are established in adherence to SMART principles.

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3. Performance Reviews

Each employee/supervisor is expected to engage in intermittent performance reviews; typically coinciding with important benchmarks established in the Performance Plans.

The purpose of the reviews is to provide/solicit feedback, offer commentary and advise/counsel each other on individual performance and overall job capability. A uniform instrument/form is used to document performance reviews.

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4. Performance Appraisal/Feedback

Final performance appraisals are completed for every

employee at the end of the performance period.

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5. Performance Feedback

After all the General Appraisals are received, the Executive

Director and HR review each individual Appraisal along with

the appropriate Department Head, if warranted.

Where appropriate, additional encouragement, reinforcement

and/or follow-up by the Executive Director to the individual

employee is conducted.

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Professional Development/Training

All employees are encouraged to seek out professional development opportunities.

In some cases, professional development is a requisite of the job. Where not required, it helps keeps staff current on critical program and/or policy issues. In other instances, it is linked to performance support (i.e. correcting behavior or enhancing capability).

Cross-training is an important professional development tool because of its ability to help expand the employee(s) knowledge base.

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Succession Development

A big part of our talent management strategy involves identifying and nurturing staff who have the potential to take on leadership positions.

Doing so lessens the potential negative impact of unforeseen employee separations while helping others prepare for more challenging opportunities that may be on the horizon.

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Off Boarding

In the case of voluntary separations, off-boarding helps the organization understand why an employee decided to leave. Sometimes this feedback can provide insight in TM systems that need to be improved.

For the agency, off boarding assists with the transfer of the position to subsequent employees. Off boarding also helps protect or preserve any physical property and helps ensure compliance with and control over security and access issues.

For the employee, the off boarding process provides important separation information (final payment procedures, retirement/other benefits, etc.) to the employee upon their departure. It also provides an opportunity for the employee to wrap up any critical tasks/projects and gives them a sense of closure.

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Compensation System

Compensation is a major component of talent management because it provides employees with a tangible reward for their contributions as well as a source of recognition.

A good compensation system is one that encourages productivity, focuses people on outcomes, and rewards individuals for achievement of results.

It should also reduce unnecessary turnover.

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Quality compensation systems typically factor in the following 4 elements:

The ability of the compensation system to gain acceptance while motivating employees to perform.

The pay level at which employees are recruited and the pay differential between new and more senior employees.

The intervals at which pay raises are granted and the extent to which merit and/or seniority will influence the raises.

Whether the rate of pay within an organization is to be above, below, or at the prevailing market rate.

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When designing a compensation system, an organization must first identify what it wants to compensate; the job or the individual.

Organizations that rely predominantly on cost of living (COLA) and do not adjust individual pay are compensating the job.

More and more, organizations are beginning to shift the focus of their compensation systems focus away from the job in favor of the individual.

Why?

• Gives the organization more flexibility when it comes to determining individual pay because it focuses on the employee in the job, not the job itself.

• Maintains a relationship between pay and performance without a direct link • Keeps the focus of appraisals on individual performance and off $ and ¢

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What factors influence pay? There are 7:

2. Position in the salary range (position along respective salary grade)

3. Competence (skills demonstrated to prove ability to perform)

4. Performance (documented accomplishments, goal achievement)

5. Experience (# of years in a related skilled position)

6. Education/Credentials (specific to the job)

7. Economics ($ available to the employer)

TARGET PAY

1. The value of job to the organization (salary grade assignment)

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Sounds simple enough, right?

Well…

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To give you a sense of the challenge associated with managing compensation systems, here’s a quick illustration of our agency’s budget categories.

58%

12%

10%20%

That’s right! Almost 60% of our budget goes toward employee compensation/benefits!

Ours is labor intensive work so the percentages here are defensible. That said, the introduction of an individual-focused CS will increase the personnel side of budget; pushing the limits as we strive to maintain not just an acceptable balance between the ‘personnel’ and ‘program’ sides of the budget, but parity as it pertains to costs within personnel (salaries vs. benefits). There is only so much $$ to go around. The more we commit to compensation, the less we have for operations. Similarly, the more we commit to wages (direct compensation), the less we have for benefits (indirect compensation) and vice-versa.

Take away? Compensation system sustainability requires significant management diligence and extreme fiscal discipline.

Anyone care to guess which % represents employee compensation?

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Questions?

Eric M. Bridges, Executive DirectorNorth Central PA Regional Planning and Development Commission

49 Ridgmont Drive, Ridgway, PA 15853(814) 773-3162

ebridges@ncentral.com