Case Study: Who is Your Talent? A Radical New Approach to Talent Identification in Organizations DR. GAVIN SYMANOWITZ 10 JUNE 2009

QUESTION: WHAT DO THESE HAVE IN COMMON? A new look at TALENT IDENTIFICATION …

HOW DOES GOOGLE WORK? Principle 1: Website Content

Principle 1: Website Content

HOW DOES GOOGLE WORK? Principle 2: Website Links Citing references in academic papers WATSON, J. D., CRICK, F. H. C. (1953), A structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. Nature , 171 (4356): 737–738.

Principle 2: Website Links

Citing references in academic papers

HOW DOES GOOGLE WORK? Principle 3: Number of Links

Principle 3: Number of Links

HOW DOES GOOGLE WORK? Principle 4: Quality of Links

Principle 4: Quality of Links

HOW DOES GOOGLE WORK? Principle 5: Reciprocal Links

Principle 5: Reciprocal Links

WHY COMPANIES STRUGGLE TO IDENTIFY THEIR TALENT No clear definition of what talent is Original definition by McKinsey (1998) “ smart, sophisticated business people who are technologically literate, globally astute and operationally agile” No performance assessments Poorly done performance assessments No performance management Focus on weaknesses, not skills Rely on biased view point of managers No training, favouritism, no performance management

No clear definition of what talent is

Original definition by McKinsey (1998)

“ smart, sophisticated business people who are technologically literate, globally astute and operationally agile”

No performance assessments

Poorly done performance assessments

No performance management

Focus on weaknesses, not skills

Rely on biased view point of managers

No training, favouritism, no performance management

SELECTING A SOCCER TEAM Arklow Town junior football club

Arklow Town junior football club

BASIS OF OUR PHILOSOPHY Want to know who your talent is?  ask your employees! Peer-selected talent vs Manager-selected talent ~Google

Want to know who your talent is?

 ask your employees!

Peer-selected talent vs Manager-selected talent

~Google

WHY TALENT IDENTIFICATION SHOULD BE LIKE A GOOGLE SEARCH CHALLENGE = Identify the highest quality resources from a pool of similar-looking ones GOOGLE methodology = most successful search engine in the world Why not apply the same principles in identifying your talent?

CHALLENGE = Identify the highest quality resources from a pool of similar-looking ones

GOOGLE methodology = most successful search engine in the world

Why not apply the same principles in identifying your talent?

TALENT IDENTIFICATION VS GOOGLE SEARCH Principle 1: Website Content Define the universe of pages ~ employees in the organization

Principle 1: Website Content

Define the universe of pages ~ employees in the organization

TALENT IDENTIFICATION VS GOOGLE SEARCH Principle 2: Website Links Importance of peer selections Highly nominated employees Same principle as soccer team selection Definition of ‘Talent’: has excellent experience in his or her field displays a high level of skills is highly knowledgeable about the business and his or her role is highly productive This would include people who would leave a difficult hole to fill if they were to leave (ie. they would be difficult to replace).

Principle 2: Website Links

Importance of peer selections

Highly nominated employees

Same principle as soccer team selection

Definition of ‘Talent’:

has excellent experience in his or her field

displays a high level of skills

is highly knowledgeable about the business and his or her role

is highly productive

This would include people who would leave a difficult hole to fill if they were to leave (ie. they would be difficult to replace).

TALENT IDENTIFICATION VS GOOGLE SEARCH Principle 3: Number of Links Number of peer selections Allow for number of contributions to be weighted inversely

Principle 3: Number of Links

Number of peer selections

Allow for number of contributions to be weighted inversely

TALENT IDENTIFICATION VS GOOGLE SEARCH Principle 4: Quality of Links Quality of peer selections Weight their contributions higher

Principle 4: Quality of Links

Quality of peer selections

Weight their contributions higher

TALENT IDENTIFICATION VS GOOGLE SEARCH Principle 5: Reciprocal Links Reciprocal peer selections Allow for reciprocal links and possibly penalise

Principle 5: Reciprocal Links

Reciprocal peer selections

Allow for reciprocal links and possibly penalise

RESULT OF TALENT IDENTIFICATION EXERCISE Nominations based on: MANAGER COLLEAGUES DIRECT REPORTS GENERAL TALENT CUSTOMER TALENT FUNCTIONAL CONNECTOR SOCIAL CONNECTOR KEY DEPENDENCIES TOP 10% OF TALENT TOP 10-30% OF TALENT OTHER EMPLOYEES TIER 1 TIER 2 TIER 3

Nominations based on:

TOP 10% OF TALENT

TOP 10-30% OF TALENT

OTHER EMPLOYEES

WHO ARE THE RIGHT PEOPLE? Let’s play JENGA!

Let’s play JENGA!

CASE STUDY Property Management Consultancy Local affiliate of global company Based in Sandton 189 professional employees No performance management / assessment Survey participation rate: 80% accessed survey 72% completed every question

Property Management Consultancy

Local affiliate of global company

Based in Sandton

189 professional employees

No performance management / assessment

Survey participation rate:

80% accessed survey

72% completed every question

TALENT RANKINGS [SHOW LIST] NAMES CONCEALED

[SHOW LIST]

TALENT RANKINGS Look out for surprises: Talent blind-spots  people you are surprised to see highly rated by their peers people you are surprised are not highly rated by their peers Identify surprises based on demographics and company-related variables (eg. age, length of service, etc.) Identify individuals who need to be developed, fast-tracked, etc. Identify individuals who need special attention with respect to retention Identify candidates for performance management training Look for correlations with business outcomes: Eg. Managers who had requested higher budget vs those who don’t (since money only thing to keep people)

Look out for surprises:

Talent blind-spots  people you are surprised to see highly rated by their peers

people you are surprised are not highly rated by their peers

Identify surprises based on demographics and company-related variables (eg. age, length of service, etc.)

Identify individuals who need to be developed, fast-tracked, etc.

Identify individuals who need special attention with respect to retention

Identify candidates for performance management training

Look for correlations with business outcomes:

Eg. Managers who had requested higher budget vs those who don’t (since money only thing to keep people)

TALENT PROFILES CEO

TALENT PROFILES HR DIRECTOR

TALENT & KEY DEPENDENCIES

DEPEND ON OTHERS? company company

KEY DEPENDENCY SCORES Show people with low talent scores but high key dependency scores

Show people with low talent scores but high key dependency scores

DO TALENTED PEOPLE KNOW THEY’RE TALENTED?

HOW GOOD ARE MANAGERS AT IDENTIFYING TALENT?

USEFUL APPLICATIONS “ A different view of the mountain”  complements other views Consistency / Differences Laying off / Retrenchment exercise Key dependencies, key talent, key productivity and social enablers New Managers Quickly up to speed Who is living the values?

“ A different view of the mountain”

 complements other views

Consistency / Differences

Laying off / Retrenchment exercise

Key dependencies, key talent, key productivity and social enablers

New Managers

Quickly up to speed

Who is living the values?

REVISTING OUR RIDDLE: WHAT DO THESE HAVE IN COMMON?

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