david cohen - connecting people to business...

Connecting People to Business Strategy:

Practical Tools for Creating a Business Focused People Plan

Presented byDr. David S. Cohen

Strategic Action Group, Ltd.Toronto, ON

Who Is Dr. David S. Cohen?• Worked in education for first 17 years of my career• Been a consultant for the last 20 years• Worked with organizations around the globe including

but not limited to: Jamaica, Canada, United States, Brazil, Belgium, The Netherlands, Great Britain, China, Korea, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Malaysia, and Kenya

• Written two business books: The Talent Edge & Inside the Box

• Two sons and two grandsons and one wife for 36 yrs

This Session Will Look at the Key Highlights of Aligning People to

Business Strategy• ‘Employment brand’, what is it?• Hiring the right talent for the right seat on the

bus at the right time• Performance review versus management;

making it meaningful• Who’s responsible for staff development and

why?• Identifying a person’s potential accurately, can it

be done?• Why most succession plans are in reality only

replacement plans

Creating The Foundation: Defining Fit

• Knowing Who You Are and Where You Are Going Is A Business Necessity ...

• Finding, Hiring, Developing, and Retaining The People Who Will Get You There Is All You Have to Do!

Question

• What makes your people strategy strategic?

The Road Ahead ...

• "If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.”

• "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.”

- Yogi Berra

Questions

• How do you know where you are going?• How do you know if where you think you are

going is where you need to go?• How do you know if your employees are on the

bus to get you there using your roadmap?• Is where you are going strategic, practical or

idealistic?• What aspect of your strategic business plan has

a strategic talent plan to match?

Why are Values the Foundation?

Individual/Team Action Plan(s)

Bus. Unit Goals & Objectives

Strategic Plan

Vision

Values

What is Fit?Role Specific Behaviours

Know

ledgeS

kill Fit

Values

What Are Values?

• Values are:– Strongly held beliefs– Emotionally charged– Resistant to change

• All values are of equal importance• When employees are successful while

violating the company values, the value is not a value

What Are Values?

• Thinking of the values of your company when did you truly understand the ‘underground’ values?– Why?

Why Values?

• Defining fit without defining the person’s personal alignment to living the company values is like buying a suit off the rack that needs tailoring but you don’t take the time to tailor it you just wear it

Defining Capability and Competence

• You are capable within a role when you have the skills and knowledge to do a job (Technically proficient)

• You are competent when you are both capable and consistently perform the desired behaviours

• You have integrity when you live the values of the organization

• You demonstrate high performance when you do all of the above

Defining Capability and Competence

Capability = Skills x Knowledge

Competency = Capability x Behaviour

High Performance = Competency x Consistency x Values

Why Values Based Organizations Succeed

• High-performance companies create an inclusive culture where people feel that their interests and values and those of the company are much the same

• An environment where people are self-challenged and oriented around a clear purpose

• Motivation comes from a sense of belonging connected by: – A common set of values– Doing work that is interesting, challenging and has meaning– Being able to make choices that make a difference

Why Values Based Organizations Succeed

• People who work in such a company are not motivated primarily by financial reward-after all, the best people can always get that.

• Companies with strong, respected cultures continually attract and retain the best talent from around the world.

What is a Brand?

• How does that link with an employee brand?

• Can an organization have a multiple employee brand?

• If companies have the same values will they have the same ‘brand’?

• To which talent management activities do you have to apply the ‘employee brand’?

Will Having a ‘Winning’ Brand Help?

• Can you create a winning employee value proposition by tailoring your company’s ‘employee brand’? It also means paying for what it takes to attract and retain strong performers (the “price”)

• Does being an employer of choice mean you have a ‘winning employee brand’?

Having a Brand Will Help

• A business or product ‘brand’ is the consistency in product and services it presents to the world

• An employee brand at its heart must be an appealing culture and inspiring values: Qualities that apply to every activity and function within the company and to every aspect of its behaviour between employees and customers

A Brand Doesn’t Happen Overnight

• No brand can be transformed overnight • It is an enormous task and should be

undertaken only in the most extreme situations, although the excitement generated by a turnaround itself can be a powerful component of a new employee value proposition

• For example, Arthur Martinez’s commitment to shaking up Sears transformed the United States’most traditional retailer into “a compelling place for employees, customers, and investors.”

Brand Reincarnation• “Building brands used to be about creating

messages that would endure for decades. Those days are over. Shorter product life cycles, a dynamic media landscape, and restless consumers mean that brands can become irrelevant within a few years, or even within a few months. Companies have to keep reinventing and revitalizing the messages behind their brands - not killing them but reincarnating them.”

- Johan Kramer, “Fast Company”, p. 44, July-August, 1999

Key Message

• Reincarnate your values• Change only your strategic plan

With your Employee Value Proposition in Place you can

Build a Strategic Talent Management Plan and Process

What Makes Your Talent Management Plans Strategic?

• What is a strategic human capital process?

• How can you engage your leaders in the values articulation journey?

• What is the role of the CEO?

What Makes Your Talent Management Plans Strategic?

• All talent management activities need a strategic focus:– Productivity improvements (leading to profitability)– Improvements to customer satisfaction– Improvements in safety– Improvements in quality– Improvements in attracting and retaining employees

Why Is Talent Managed So Poorly?

• ... because leaders don’t pay real attention to talent management and yet they are the only people capable of developing and retaining top talent

• It is management that ultimately makes the talent decisions

What are the Components of Talent Management?

• Hiring• Firing• Creating the working environment• Deciding appointments to projects and vacant positions• Evaluating performance• Providing feedback• Coaching• Mentoring

Which one of the above keeps you up at night?

Can Executives Learn to Manage Talent Management?

• Yes, only if they see managing talent and building the talent pool on the same level of importance as strategic planning, new product development, risk analysis, budgets, etc.

Do You Need a New HR System?

• No, having talent management in place does not come from a better HR management system or from building better HR processes

• The leaders must not only say, but act on the belief that having better talent at all levels will allow the company to outperform it’s competition

Will you Stop Doing Strategic Planning if the Plan is Working?

• Senior executives need to make people their number one issue at all times

• The activities associated with talent cannot be removed in a few years when the talent pool has become stronger

• It will be the number one issue not only today but also in three to five years

Every Manager is Responsible for Talent Development But…

• Leaders of organizations – the CEO in particular – have additional responsibility to make certain the entire organization’s talent pool is continually replenished and strengthened

Talent Management Has ShiftedOld Mindset About

PeopleNew Talent Mindset

A vague notion that “people are our most important asset”

A deep conviction that better talent leads to being more competitive and better corporate performance

HR is responsible for people management

All managers are accountable for strengthening their talent

We have a two-day succession planning exercise once a year

Talent management is a central part of how we run the company

Work with the people I inherit Take bold and necessary (not always popular) actions needed to have the right talent in the right job at the right time

Executives Have To…

• Build people’s self-confidence by telling them where they are strong and by giving them appropriate challenges

• Spend time with those who are core employees as well as those you believe are high potential

Executives Have To…

• Tell people who are not meeting expectations that they have to improve or the consequence will be leaving the company

• Encourage and help them to improve. It is more cost effective than replacing them

Yet ...

• Only 10% of senior managers reporting to the executive of the company reported that they felt they knew what their boss thought of the quality of their work and their potential for promotion

Executives Still Don’t Get the Importance of Talent Management

• In a Fortune article, the magazine noted that the number one reason why unsuccessful CEO’s fail is their inability to deal with poorly performing direct reports

For the Next Two Decades at Least, a Company’s Ability to Attract, Develop, Excite, and Retain Talent Will Be a Major

Competitive Advantage

Some Facts For Consideration

• 78% of all organizations find it difficult to identify qualified leadership candidates

• Leader’s indicate they are strong only in 32% of the skills needed to do their jobs

• If an organization does not have a succession plan, only 49% of their internal promotions are successful

Most Companies are Poor at Talent Management

0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

Knows who the high & low performers are

Removes low performers

Retains almost all high performers

Develops people quickly & effectively

Brings in highly talented people

Chart from: The War For Talent (Harvard Business Press, October, 2001)

What If the Following Had Low Scores?

• The budgets• The debt to loan ratios• The level of desired customer service /

satisfaction• Your balanced scorecard indicators• The progress to meeting a plan

The Common Element of Great Leaders Is Talent Management

• Talent management is:– Recruiting – Developing – Retaining top talent

Tool Number One: Selection (The Interview)

Questions:• How do you interview for new hires today?• Who is doing the interviewing?• Who is blamed for bad hires and who

takes credit for good hires?• Why is behavioural interviewing the most

effective but does not yield the desired results for most managers?

• People Are …– Hired for their technical knowledge– Promoted for their results and development,

and, – Fired because of their interpersonal

behaviours

• David S. Cohen The Talent Edge

If the Following Statement Is True:

Then Why Does the First Statement Not Work as the Foundation for Hiring?• The best predictor of future behaviour

(performance) is past behaviour in similar situations

Because you also have to consider:• The more recent the behaviour, the

greater the predictive power• The more long standing and frequent the

behaviour, the greater its predictive power

How can the Following Hiring Criteria be Helpful or a Hindrance to Finding Fit?

• Years of experience• Promoting the person with the most experience • Hiring people because they are an excellent fit

to the company values• Hiring people for senior roles from outside the

company because of reputation of the person• A great sales or production record• They graduated from an excellent university• They have a reputation in the business sector

We Need to Find the Fit

To do this you need two types of questions:1. Traditional2. Structured Behavioural

Are Some Interview Questions Better Than Others?

• What are the common questions you ask when hiring or promoting people?

• What do you learn from the answers to these questions?

• Describe for me the questions you ask that yield the greatest information for you

• Why?

Traditional Questions:

• Where do you see your career taking you?• What are your strengths / weaknesses? • What do you know about the role at our

company?• Why are you leaving your current role /

company?• What do you like the most / least about your

current job?*What types of information about the candidate do

you find out with a traditional questions?

What are Traditional Questions and Why Don’t they Work?

• Closed ended questions can be answered with: yes, no, always, sometimes, etc.

• As a result, closed ended questions get you short answers that tell you very little about the person

• Yet, these are the most traditional questions

What are Behavioural Questions and Why Do they Work?

• Open-ended questions make a statement that “begs” an answer

• In fact they are not questions, rather interrogative statements

• They begin with:– Tell me about a time ...– Describe for me a situation when ...– Share with us your most ...

Behavioural Questions

• Need to be based on the ‘employee brand’ or values

• To to be worded without noting the behaviour you are seeking to find out about

• Needs not to have an introduction at the start or a traditional question at the end

• Needs to be the same question for all candidates

• Tell me about a time when you had to make a choice between meeting production numbers or meeting quality standards

The Differences:

• Traditional questions yield only .19% of the information you need to make a decision on the person’s fit to the role

• Behavioural questions yield .70% of the information you need to make a decision on the person’s fit to the role

• But, you need to have a behavioural profile in advance of asking behavioural questions

Achievement of Results

Dem

onst

ratio

n

of th

e Va

lues

Low

High

High

High on resultsLow on competencies

Rethink Rewards & Recognition Create Consequences of their actions

Low on resultsLow on competencies

Thanks for the memories / "Good-bye"

High on resultsHigh on the competencies

Great / Recognition

High on competencies

Low on results

Rethink Job Fit

If You Don’t Properly Define Fit First You Will Not Hire Successfully ...

The primary concern of executives today is ...

Development

Building Leadership Capacity Now and for the Future

• Challenges cited around developing leadership capacity include:– Internal philosophies and practices around

“growing your own”– Defining, recognizing and rewarding

leadership attributes– Perceived Lack of Time– Retirement– Little or no succession planning in their

organization

Building Leadership Capacity Now and for the Future

Verbatim themes and illustrative quotes:• “Have seen no evidence of trying to build

future leadership capability”• “Need more work on succession strategy”• “We focus on managing the business instead

of leading people and teams”

J. Wirtenberg, L. Abrams, & C. Ott, “Assessing the Field of Organization Development, Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, December, 2004.

Can a High Potential Be a High Performer & Not Live the Values?

• The problem is, of course, that high potential doesn't necessarily translate into high performance at the next level, and high performers don't necessarily have the potential to take on broader responsibilities in the future

• But, if they are not a good match with the values of the organization they can not be high potential or a true high performer

• It is useful to think about talent in terms of both performance and potential, but without the alignment to the values, why invest in these people?

What Defines a Leader for your Organization?

• Can a leader from another company come and lead your company?

• Do high profile executives make good leaders in other companies?

• Can you project today that an employee has potential to be a leader in the future?

• How do you currently identify future leaders?

Some Propose that Future Leader Identification is Easy

• “Our in-depth web-delivered behavioural assessment program for hiring, promoting, and developing first- and second-level leaders works for your organization”

The Company Says the Benefits of Such a Tool are…

• Reduce hiring and promotion mistakes by providing a look at how a potential leader would perform in typical on-the-job activities—such as coaching, decision making, and developing others

• Avoid long learning curves by using the results to diagnose current and future leaders’ strengths and development needs

• Establish development plans to improve the readiness of your high-potential future leaders

• Give your future leaders insight into what to expect when making the jump to the next level

What is Needed to Assess Leaders and their Fit to your Culture?

• Can you give a person a word survey personality index ‘test’ and predict the person’s future potential?

• What can you predict about a person’s future job success?

Key Factors for Building a True Talent Management Process

• Define the values in behavioural statements• Define the behavioural competencies for key

roles• Define the roles needed five years from now that

are not currently in your company / industry • Build a learning plan to help your current people

build the competence to fill those roles• Be honest with those who’s roles will be

disappearing and give them a chance to grow

Key Factors for Building a True Talent Development Process

• Hold managers and executives accountable for their behaviour towards their direct reports

• Promote only those who role model the values

• Hold performance reviews based on facts, not fiction or rumours

Performance Management

• The on-going and day-to-day dialogue to help the employee develop their full potential

• Performance reviews should be the culmination of performance management*When you summarize the previous 12 months and if the employee did not or did meet expectations

Why Do Most Performance Reviews Not Represent Reality?

• How much time do managers spend directly working with their direct reports?

• How often are employees judged based on the last “complaint” about their performance by a co-worker to their boss?

• What is the number one excuse managers have to justify not doing performance management correctly?

• Why would this answer provide insight into why talent management is not happening in organizations?

Why Do Most Performance Reviews Not Represent Reality?

• If you are going to provide meaningful feedback on an employee’s behaviour, how do you objectively measure a person’s behaviour?

• What do you have to have in place to make performance management meaningful?

Succession Planning

• Is the responsibility and accountability of the leadership of the organization to have developed a variety of people for a variety of future roles on time

• Is the systematic culmination of having a talent development process in place that is championed by the CEO

• We will explore succession in the final unit

Who’s Responsibility is Talent Management and Succession?

• Most answer that this is an HR activity• But really it is only when the CEO takes

responsibility and accountability for talent management and succession planning that the processes take hold and work

• HR is responsible for providing the tools and support for managers and executives to execute the aspects of talent management and development

The Necessary Components for Building a Succession Plan

Instead of a Replacement Plan?

Is transferring an employee from one department to a different department

the foundation of a great talent management process?

Succession Versus Replacement Planning

• You can have a replacement plan within a succession plan

• A replacement plan by itself is not a succession plan

Succession Versus Replacement Planning

Timeframe 0 – 24 months 25 - 72 months

Readiness Candidate availableBest Candidate with

Development Potential

Commitment

Designated replacement

candidate committed

No commitment to people until vacancy

occurs

Focus of Planning

Vertical lines within a unit

A pool of talent with capability for several

assignments

Succession VersusReplacement Planning


Development Usually informal Specific to company needs

Flexibility Limited to structure of a unit

Conceived as flexible, intention to

promote development

Basis of Plan

Each manager’s own ideas

Strategic human resources strategy input from multiple

managers

Succession VersusReplacement Planning


Evaluation Observations of one manager

Multiple sources of input with feedback from other employees

What does your organization have?

Succession or Replacement?

What is Succession Planning?

• Succession planning is an ongoing and pre-planned process of selecting capable people with potential to move into key roles within an organization as they become vacant or as the organization grows

What is Succession Planning?

• As organizations have fewer departments and/or layers, key roles to fill might be within the same level, above, or even below the individual’s current role

• The move might be lateral but requires a geographic, team, or functional move

• It is a pre-planned allocation of human capital to ensure organizational continuity and stability

Succession Planning

• This is a process of identification of employees and (prospective employees) who, with support and development, can over time (24 - 72 months) be ready for a number of potential roles

• Succession planning is the responsibility of the organization, not the employees

• It is a business tool and is the responsibility of the CEO not HR

Succession Management

• Succession Management is the non-stop and on-going effort of the executive team to hold people accountable for getting employees prepared for their future work through their daily work

• It is not a “been there - done that” event that happens once a year

• It is an integration of all HR activities in a well planned manner

Replacement Planning

• Replacement planning is simply a list of “ready now” people who will step in if the proverbial “beer truck” runs them over. You have simply created a list to mitigate your risk

• This is only a “risk management” tool• It will provide, at best, a list of people who can

“act” in the role until a permanent replacement is found

Defining HR Planning

HR planning is defined as follows:• Human resources planning is a process

that identifies current and future human resources needs for an organization to achieve its goals

• Human resources planning should serve as a link between human resources management and the overall strategic plan of an organization

Leadership for Excellence

• Below is a graphical representation of the Management Accountability Framework

• Leadership is the overarching expectation of the framework because it creates the conditions for sound management

• Leadership is exercised most effectively by ensuring that the 10 elements are all in place and working well together

Indicators of the Breadth and Meaning of the Expectations

The Measures That Can Be Used to Assess Progress

So, The Process Is Easy

3. Develop

Implementation is the challenge ...

2. Determine Gaps Analyze Talent Measure Capabilities

1. Identify

Succession & Development System

IdentifyHi-PotsEmerging

Leaders

Five Year

Performance

Records

Career

Record

Leadership

TalentReview

Accelerated LeadershipAssessment &

Development Process

IndividualDevelopment

Plan (IDP)

• Review leadership talent pools• Identify candidates in pools for

critical roles• Address organizational

gaps/needs• Review and monitor progress

• Review leadership talent pools• Identify candidates in pools for

critical roles• Address organizational

gaps/needs• Review and monitor progress• Action Learning / Development

Center• Assess career goals/aspiration• Create accelerated

development plans• Monitor Progress

• Action Learning / Development Center

• Assess career goals/aspiration• Create accelerated

development plans• Monitor Progress

• Identify strengths and development of norms

• Create development plans• Skill building activities• Monitor programs

• Identify strengths and development of norms

• Create development plans• Skill building activities• Monitor programs

Scientific

Assessment

Processes

Employee: Perform Development Design Individual Development PlanEmployee: Perform Development

Design Individual Development Plan

Business Unit Managers / Head Office ManagersReview Strategic Plans (3 - 5 years out)Develop Company Wide Human Capital Plans


Supports or modifies AssessmentNegotiate Responsibility for Development Action

DirectorDirector DirectorDirector DirectorDirectorDirectorDirector

Process Map

Process Map

Business Unit Presidents (Vice Presidents)Reviews recommendations of the functional areas

Identifies high potential General ManagersModifies succession planning across departments and or divisions

Develops Company Wide Human Capital Plans

Business Unit Presidents (Vice Presidents)Reviews recommendations of the functional areas

Identifies high potential General ManagersModifies succession planning across departments and or divisions

Develops Company Wide Human Capital Plans

CEO / EVPKeeper of the Information

Reviews plan to monitor corporate futureConfirmation of all High Potential promotions at BU level

CEO / EVPKeeper of the Information

Reviews plan to monitor corporate futureConfirmation of all High Potential promotions at BU level



DirectorDirector DirectorDirector DirectorDirectorDirectorDirector

Suggestions:1. Have the courage to move top talent into new

positions and to let go those who are not performing

2. Building the talent pool is not the job of HR3. Managing talent and building the talent pool

can be learned4. Managing talent and building the talent pool are

just as important as strategic planning, new product development, risk analysis, etc.

Suggestions:5. Having talent management in place does not

come from a better HR management system or from building better HR processes

6. Leaders must not only say, but act on the belief that having better talent at all levels will allow the company to outperform its competition

7. Talent management has to be seen by the leaders as part of their job and they have to spend time developing people and being with people

Suggestions:

8. Senior executives need to make people their number one issue at all times

9. Executives have to strengthen the talent in the positions immediately below him or her

10.Executives must establish a talent standard for the business results and the behaviours

Suggestions... Executives Must

11.Influence people decisions far down in the organization

12.Drive a simple probing review of talent

Thank you

• Contact information:

Dr. David S. CohenStrategic Action Group,Ltd.POB 815301057 Steeles Ave. W.North York, ONM2R 3X1Email: [email protected]: 1.416.650.9786Website: www.sagltd.com

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