June 2010 Leadership Development Carnival

Click here to check it out - it's a great one!

Is Attrition a Key Component of Retention?

My company's product has a really cool embedded analytics framework that lets you slice and dice whatever data you have in the system. So, for example, you could look at a report that shows performance rating, then view your high performers by various criteria, say, salary quartile and hiring source.

This ad hoc ability to drill into the data allows you to root around answering questions that occur to you spontaneously, i.e., where do we get our best people?

It's kind of fun to play with and you start to find intriguing patterns, such as several low performers who used to be outstanding perfomers, all reporting to the same manager. Hmmn, could that be a management problem...?

Of course, the answers aren't always in the data, but the potential red flags are there for the asking. Once you spot a red flag you can find out more to determine whether you need to take action.

It was while I was slicing and dicing succession plan data that it hit me in a very visual way: At some point, even a high potential will reach the limit of what he or she can achieve at their current company - after all, there is only one CEO.

I was looking at the two possible successors to the CEO. One of them was the 'top candidate' and the other was, for lack of a better term, 'the spare.' The top candidate was ready to assume the CEO mantle within a year and therein lay the first problem: the CEO wasn't planning to go anywhere that soon.

I then drilled curiously into the successor apparents for the CEO successor and discovered that the top candidate was 'ready now' with a medium retention risk. Not necessarily a problem if she likes her current job but it might be a good idea to watch that to make sure she doesn't get too tired of waiting. The second candidate, however, was flagged with a high risk of separation.

Gee, I wonder why?

Maybe because if you're the second runner up for a position that isn't changing hands any time soon, you may have reached the end of your career at a particular company. Technically speaking, you're not a high potential any more, although probably no one will put it to you in such uncomfortable terms. You may start to feel... itchy.

So, what should the company do? This person has been tagged as a high potential and assigned to at least one succession plan. Presumably some investment has been made in this individual as well in terms of training, mentoring, etc., and they also probably have a fair amount of valuable intellectual property in their heads.

But does it really make sense to throw more rewards or titles or what have you at a restless executive so they stay in their current job? And is that what's best for them?

Or does it make more sense to let them go graciously if they find another company that offers them a new challenge? And quietly make sure their successor is ready to step up.

And let's not forget about everyone else. Career development is a bit of a ponzi scheme, after all - barring wild growth, it only works if people at the top periodically move out of the way. In fact, in a sense attrition may be key to retention because it helps companies retain the people who haven't yet reached the end of their career tether.

Now, I'm not saying experienced leaders should be squeezed out of the way to make room for young up and comers - shudder - I'm just saying companies may work too hard to retain people who might be better off elsewhere.

In other words, if you have a blockade at the top of the succession chain you might want to revisit a few assumptions and make sure you're prepared for some turnover.

Watch the Eyebrows

The HR Capitalist recently published a great list of productivity killers, which included the usual suspects such as Facebook and drinking.

According to HRC the biggest enemy of productivity is fear of confrontation, which I completely agree with for different reasons. I don't think fear of confrontation is driven by a desire not to hurt someone's feelings, I think it's primarily fueled by fear of repercussions.

In other words, if your manager, colleagues and/or company culture are not open to constructive feedback, it's safer to keep your mouth shut.

Or, to get back to the productivity question, it might just be more efficient - for you - not to get embroiled in a pointless argument.

Interestingly, all people in an organization, independent of gender or education level, are equally likely to withhold the truth.

According to a recent survey from Cornell cited over at HBR, '...there are no statistical differences...between those of different income level, education level, or gender in the likelihood of holding back due to fear or a sense of futility.'

And the result? Spiritless people agree to mediocre solutions while secretly planning their vacations and hoping someone else will speak out and liven up an otherwise boring meeting with a bit of Schadenfreude.

I'm not saying it's bad if people agree. In fact, genuine agreement tends to boost productivity because everyone's headed in the same direction.

But is it really agreement or are people just unwilling to speak up?

Watch the eyebrows - eyes sometimes lie, eyebrows never do.

Diversity and good management

One of the reasons I've been a bit quiet lately is that I'm taking a talent management certification course at Cornell, which takes up some of the time I typically use for blogging.

One of the topics in this course was diversity, which inspired this post. It turns out that companies that tap into the power of diversity - i.e., not just tokenism, which can undermine company performance, but actively including members of a diverse workforce - perform better.

Naturally, race, gender, age and religion came up and were covered about as one might expect. We debated the value of quotas, sensitivity training and best practices for including people in the workplace. Good points were raised. Etc., etc., etc.

But what really captured my attention was an expanded definition of diversity, which includes people with different work styles, remote employees, etc. How can an organization best 'include' people who don't fit the standard mold, either because they have a different skin color or an accent or because they prefer to start work early and leave early?

When you get right down to it, it's all diversity and companies that embrace diversity are the most likely to be successful.

Not surprisingly, how well companies do this is largely dependent on the quality of their managers. In fact, one of the case studies we reviewed discussed a company that sent their managers to diversity and sensitivity training with no notable effect on performance or inclusion. However, when they sent their managers to effective management training, overall performance improved.

Why? Because it turns out that the secret to managing diversity well is also the secret of managing well. When you get right down to it, we're all pretty different and managers who play to people's strengths are are the ones people want to work for.

Maybe this is another way of saying that employees value autonomy. In other words, most people don't want to be dictated to when it comes to how they do their work. They want a manager that respects and values their unique work styles, independent of their gender, race, age or skin color.

But don't take my word for it. Check out this humorous HBR article about how just the thought of a controlling manager can make people unproductive.

A Couple of Reading Treats

Is it just me or are the HR and Leadership Carnivals particularly good this time around?

Go ahead and check them out, each post is better than the next (mine are toward the bottom ;-):

Carnival of HR hosted by Empxtrack Talent Junction

Leadership Development Carnival hosted on Dan McCarthy's Great Leadership blog.

Barbie on Talent Management

I recently watched the Barbie Fairytopia series with my daughters and had the following conversation with my 6-year-old:

Daughter: Why did the fairy guardians have to teach the younger fairies the Dance of Spring?

Me: They were doing succession planning.

Blank stare.

Me: In case something happened to one of the guardians they'd still have someone who could do the dance. Otherwise all of Fairytopia would be plunged into winter for ten years.

Daughter (nodding wisely): That would be cold. It's better to teach people.

Daughter: Is Max the boss of the Fungus?

Me: Yes.

Daughter: Is Laverna the boss of Max?

Me: Yes.

Daughter: Why can't Laverna just be the boss of the Fungus, too?

Me: Well, she delegates.

Blank stare.

Me: She's busy thinking of ways to defeat the Enchantress so she doesn't have time to tell all the Fungus what to do. So, she tells Max what they should do and he tells the Fungus.

Daughter: What if he tells them the wrong things?

Me: Hmmn. Good point.

Daughter: I think she yells at them.

Me: Probably.

Daughter: But she shouldn't yell too much or they'll run away she'll have to get new Fungus.

Me: True.

Daugher: And if she doesn't find any she'll have to do all the work herself.

Me: Yes.

Daughter: That's not very smart.

Me: You said it, sweetie.

You find talent management in the oddest places.

Managers I Have Known - Part I

Today I thought I'd re-visit my own personal Manager Hall of Fame. . . see anyone you know?

The Leader:
(Someone who trusts you to make good decisions.)

Tom, the VP of Application Development, was coming to town and there was a line up of people who wanted to meet with him. I somehow scored a morning slot, and not right before lunch, either, so I was feeling like The Stuff.

Tom's claim to fame did not lie in his organizational genius, fiery temper, decisive decision making or skills on the golf course. He didn't even check his email on his Blackberry during our meeting, which frankly was a bit disconcerting at first. He was soft spoken, polite and an excellent listener. He asked intelligent questions about my presentation and listened carefully to the answers.

At the end of our meeting, when a decision had to be made between A and B, he looked at me and said, 'I trust you. You make the call. It's OK if you make the wrong call, just make sure you have a good reason for making it.'

Then he shook my hand and thanked me for my excellent preparation.

Talk about the power of thanks - if he had chosen that moment to say, 'Please jump in front of this bullet for me,' I might have done it.


The Mentor:
(Someone who speaks the truth in a constructive way to help you develop your potential.)

One of my first project managers was Joan and she gave me the best employee review I've ever had. Although since I pretty much wrote my own employee reviews after that first one, it may not count.

I don't remember the specifics of the review. I received a high overall rating accompanied by some positive feedback about my hard work, discipline and quality output, yada, yada, yada. Then came the useful part that stuck with me.

'I've gotten some feedback about you that concerns me a little,' she said, after all the nice bits.

Apparently I had a habit of asking the same question over and over again in different ways until I got the answer I liked. 'This isn't bad,' said Joan. 'A good consultant and project manager needs to be tenacious. But you might want to tone it down a little.'

Joan stopped my self-defense in its tracks with an upheld hand: 'Here's the takeaway: If one person says something about you they may be biased and you may be able to shrug it off. If you get the same feedback from several people, however, make a mental note and watch yourself in action.'

Excellent advice.

The German:
(Someone who doesn't express approval in so many words. Don't get me wrong, I love Germans, but they don't exactly ooze appreciation. Oh, and I've never actually worked for Til Schweiger.)

German boss: How's your project going?

Me: I finished Tuesday ahead of schedule and met with Global Dynamics Wednesday to walk them through it. They loved it and want to do a bigger project with us next month.

German boss (nodding): OK. Anything else?

Me (vainly watching boss for any change in facial expression): I put out a small kitchen fire this morning with my bare hands and skipped lunch to finish a prototype I'm working on that predicts stock prices up to five years out and has so far been completely accurate for a two year sample. I noticed two guys trying to steal our video conferencing equipment and was able to stop them using martial arts. My cancer vaccine is also coming along nicely. Oh, and I baked you some brownies - they're on your desk.

German boss (nodding and making a few notes): OK, sounds good. Do you have any vacation planned this quarter?


Coming soon to an office near you...

The Friend
The Beancounter
The Micromanager (from Hell)
The Lemming
The Loose Cannon
The Jerk