Talent Management 2 for Today’s Leaders Colin Coulson-Thomas Professor of HR and Organisation Behaviour, University of Greenwich Note: Manuscript submitted for published version: Colin Coulson-Thomas (2013), Talent Management 2 for Today’s Leaders, Business Leadership Review, 10: 2, Spring, pp 16-21 Abstract A five-year investigation has found that many talent management programmes are unaffordable and destined to disappoint. Talented people can be costly to recruit and difficult to manage and retain. Fortunes can be spent on expensive people who are not engaged, effectively used or properly supported. Developing cadres of future leaders is problematic when organisations cannot be sure of their future requirements and priorities. The investigation provides evidence of a practical, more affordable and less disruptive route to building high performance organisations and quickly achieving multiple objectives. The approach it recommends can avoid traditional trade-offs and benefits both people and organisations. It has implications for leaders and leadership. Introduction Many of today’s leaders find the demands and distractions of various initiatives to increase performance frustrating if not irritating. Successive management fashions have promised much and delivered little. Talent management is increasingly a topic of boardroom discussion. Will it endure or turn out to be yet another fad? A five-year investigation I have undertaken of various approaches to transforming performance has found that general initiatives such as corporate restructuring are time consuming, expensive and disruptive. By the time they are implemented requirements and priorities may change and opportunities can be missed. The investigation’s first report sets out a more affordable approach to creating high performance organisations [1]. It advocates shifting the emphasis from recruiting and developing high fliers for an unknown future to helping people excel at activities that are crucial today and handle challenges as, when, and wherever they arise. Experience of Talent Management Many applications of talent management involve a focus on ‘high fliers’ or ‘future leaders’ and investment today for future benefit [2]. Importing talent can disappoint when high performers in one context do not replicate their success in another [3]. Attempting to build a ‘talent pool’ involves risks, such as whether individuals will ‘fit in’ and shine in a particular context, or whether talented people will be retained long enough to yield a return on their recruitment, induction and ‘fast track’ development.

Consistent and compelling evidence suggests the approaches of many organisations are costly and doomed to disappoint [1, 4]. More encouragingly, a practical and much more affordable way of quickly achieving multiple corporate objectives and measurable benefits for people and organisations is being overlooked [1, 4, 5]. Recruiting or Building Talent Should one recruit for a job, or select people perceived as having potential and build roles around them as circumstances change? The latter seems attractive, but is it affordable for sufficient people? Could building talent and supporting job roles as needs arise be more cost effective? Finding better people can be problematic. Recruiting and inducting new members of staff can take time and be expensive in comparison with changes of support to enable more to be achieved from an existing team, especially those who are open to taking advice, prepared to learn from their peers and willing to adopt superior practices. Talent wars to attract ‘the best people’ can push up salary costs, be distracting and involve collateral damage [6]. It may be better to concentrate on understanding critical success factors and capturing and sharing what top performers do differently, especially if a quick response is required. Talent Management 2 focuses on particular jobs and the requirements for success in them [1, 5]. It involves assessing the roles and tasks that will be required; identifying steps in work processes that have the greatest impacts; and ensuring that people in these ‘key’ jobs are enabled to excel by providing them with appropriate performance support that captures and shares critical success factors and what high performers do differently, and makes it easier for them to do difficult jobs, such as complying with multiple requirements, complex sales, applying new and unfamiliar technologies to particular situations, or delivering front-line public services to demanding users [1, 7]. Eyretel’s prospects were constrained by limited understanding of its call recording software. Specialist engineers regularly accompanied staff on sales visits. Introducing a support tool that explained the company’s technology, posed the questions its best people would ask, automated routine activities and generated proposals speeded up the sales process and led to rapid growth [1, 7]. Many members of the sales force were now sufficiently confident to operate alone, reducing their demand for specialist support by two-thirds. Time saved was devoted to research and development. Addressing Contemporary Requirements Identifying high potential and/or future leaders can require considerable commitment and effort. Talent Management 2 does not preclude initiatives to develop leadership potential, but it can enable a wider range of people to build upon and complement natural strengths. It can also be adopted relatively quickly. When focussing upon increasing the performance of existing staff the use of support tools that incorporate checks and controls can be liberating in the sense that users can be given greater freedom to explore different options and enabled to provide more bespoke solutions to customers and clients. For example, a tool used by Friends

Provident to help independent financial advisers undertake their own marketing activities prevents the printing of sales literature that does not contain certain clauses required by law. Views of what represents ‘top talent’ can become quickly out-of-date. Hence, a requirement for more flexible ways of enabling affordable people to confront and handle tricky and unfamiliar situations, as, when and wherever they arise. In essence, this is what Talent Management 2 and performance support are about. Talent Management 2 and performance support are complementary. The former shifts the emphasis to today’s ‘key jobs’ and maximising the contribution of existing staff and ensuring they remain current. The latter emerges from the five year-study as the most cost-effective way of boosting performance without changing cultures or structures and enabling whatever people one has to continue to excel as priorities change and to cope with new challenges and opportunities as they arise [1, 4]. While the ‘ordinary’ person may hugely benefit, by capturing and sharing what high performers do differently [7], Talent Management 2 greatly increases the beneficial impact that ‘superstars’ at key tasks can have on organisations when performance support is used to enable them to focus upon and improve what they do best, capture their superior approaches and enable a larger number of people to adopt them [1, 4]. Addressing ‘Known Unknowns’ Cadres of ‘high fliers’ can be expensive when the cost of ‘fast tracking’ is taken into account. Going to the market as needs arise may be a cheaper option. Setting out to buy high performance can also be costly if a star in one context may not perform so highly in another [3]. It may be cheaper to work with the people one has and put the right support environment in place. While some of the qualities that people have might be transferable, an exceptional talent in one area may be found to be average in another. Achieving objectives often depends on the skills that are employed in particular jobs, especially ‘front line’ jobs that have a disproportionate impact on priority areas for improvement and customers. The cost of developing a talent pool can be daunting for smaller enterprises. In comparison, the entry ‘price’ to Talent Management 2 - and providing a solution for a scattered workgroup that addresses a critical problem for an organisation - can be around the cost of recruiting and paying the first year’s salary of one new hire [1, 7]. Managing Exceptional People Clever people represent a challenge and an opportunity for organisations. They can be difficult to manage and retain. Giving special treatment to them can alienate others. Large amounts can be spent on expensive people who are not engaged, effectively used, or appropriately supported. Talent Management 2 recognises people who excel at particular activities and performance support enables them to push the envelope and help others to emulate what they do differently.

Staff turnover and costly talent wars are problems for many organisations [2, 6]. A focus upon helping and developing existing workgroups can aid retention. People may be reluctant to move and leave performance support which makes it easier for them to learn, develop and do a difficult job [1, 4]. Investigations of key corporate activities have identified critical success factors for several key corporate activities and what high performers do differently in these areas [7]. Even superstars can have areas of deficiency [8]. Focusing on particular tasks can make it easier to identify high performers at key activities. Support provided can incorporate critical success factors and the superior ways of high achieving peers. The performance of workgroups sometimes suffers when experienced members of staff are replaced by those who are less capable. Using performance support to capture and share superior approaches can address this problem [1, 4]. Dana Corporation has used a support tool to enable less experienced people in the field to share the understanding of central experts in areas such as the use of materials and coatings to produce bespoke bearings [1]. Talent needs to be applied to what an organisation is setting out to do. Talent management 2 looks beyond ‘high fliers’ and is especially relevant to ‘front line’ support. It also integrates learning and working. While tactical and local applications of performance support can quickly generate significant returns, a more strategic approach is required to reap its full potential [1, 4]. A More Cost-Effective Alternative Many organisations fail to reap the benefits of learning from people who excel in certain areas. Talent Management 2 and performance support offer ways of achieving a high performance organisation and multiple objectives with the people one has - average people who do not cost an arm and a leg to recruit and retain - and an existing corporate culture [1, 4]. Organisations require an affordable approach which can achieve improved results by taking people as they are, rather than as we would like them to be. Phillips and Edwards have suggested a hard-nosed return on investment (ROI) approach to talent management [9]. Early evidence from pioneer adopters of performance support suggests it represents a more focused, relatively quick and cost effective way of securing large ROIs of over 20, 30 or 70 times within six months to a year on just one or two of a number of possible outcome measures [1]. Observed applications of performance support simultaneously increased understanding, boosted productivity and performance, cut costs, speeded up and bespoked responses, reduced stress, limited risks and helped to ensure and evidence compliance [1, 4, 7]. They make it easier for people to behave in desired and successful ways and help to prevent undesired behaviours. Elements and Use of Performance Support Performance support brings together various elements, from helping people to understand complex areas and making it easier for them to do difficult jobs, to a cost-

effective mechanism for providing support on a 24/7 basis to people wherever they may be [1,4, 5, 7]. It has been shown to be relevant to different sectors and can contribute to creating flexible, adaptable and high performance organisations. Relevant help can be provided as and when problems arise via the internet or mobile devices such as laptops, tablets smart phones. Job related support tools can be individualised and automatically updated when people are on line. They can incorporate critical success factors and the approaches of high performers. Graphics and animations can be used to increase comprehension of complex areas. Cisco Systems and SDX have used support tools to help sales teams and prospects to understand the principles and benefits of new technologies. For both companies their introduction was quickly followed by significant and measurable increases in sales [1]. Simple checklists have been found to significantly reduce inpatient deaths from hospital operations ranging from simple procedures to complex surgery [10]. The use of performance support was examined in large and small organisations, across supply chains, and internationally [1]. Applications observed ranged from launching new products and increasing sales to supporting engineers, recruiting new staff, making it easier for suppliers to satisfy quality requirements and helping people to take more responsible purchasing decisions. Public sector applications ranged from diagnosis and stroke prevention to helping people to better understand and self-manage a condition such as Psoriasis [4, 11]. Implications for Leadership These findings have implications for leadership and governance [1, 4, 12-14]. John Adair’s call for ‘new leadership’ centred on ethics, values and purpose [15]. The ‘new leadership’ needed to fully exploit the findings of the five-year investigation shifts the emphasis from motivating and managing people to helping them [4, 12-14]. There are particular implications for where the balance is struck in corporate boardrooms and the building of high performance boards [1, 16, 17]. ‘New leadership’ is less focussed upon planning and top-down approaches and more concerned with implementation and the provision of better support to key workgroups that deliver priority corporate objectives [18]. Since the investigation has been completed, there has been further evidence of the significance and thrust of the findings. The 2013 annual survey of CEOs undertaken by The Conference Board reveals that human capital is now the number one challenge globally and in Asia and Europe [19]. The top five strategies to meet this challenge focus on current employees, not supervisors, managers or the senior team. Encouragingly, applications of performance support can simultaneously deliver all five strategies, along with strategies to address other identified challenges. Conclusions In many companies talent management has focused on ‘high fliers’ rather than people in ‘front line’ roles. It involves ‘top down’ management rather than the provision of ‘bottom up’ support. Performance support can ensure compliance and enable more to

be achieved by fewer and less costly staff. People can be enabled to handle more complex cases and feel more confident and ‘in control’. By making it easier for staff to do difficult jobs performance support also speeds up responses and reduces stress. Talent management 2 develops and deploys talent at the point at which work is done to increase performance and reduce risk. In place of ‘investment’ in talent and ‘potential’ for an unknown future, the focus is upon boosting the performance of today’s key workgroups, quickly delivering multiple benefits and ensuring continuing relevance and vitality. It also engages [4, 20] and can be more sustainable [1, 21]. References [1] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), Talent Management 2, A quicker and more cost effective route to the high performance organization, Peterborough, Policy Publications [2] Cappelli, Peter (2008), Talent on Demand, Managing Talent in an Age of Uncertainty, Boston, Mass., Harvard Business School Press [3] Groysberg, Boris (2010), Chasing Stars, the myth of talent and the portability of performance, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press [4] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), Transforming Public Services, A quicker and affordable route to high performance public organisations, Peterborough, Policy Publications [5] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), Talent management and building high performance organisations, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 44, No. 7, pp 429-436 [6] Michaels, E, Handfield-Jones, H and Axelrod, Beth (2001), War for Talent, Boston, Mass., Harvard Business School Press [7] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2007), Winning Companies; Winning People, Making it easy for average performers to adopt winning behaviours, Peterborough, Policy Publications [8] Coulson-Thomas, Colin; Kennedy, Carol and O’Connor, Matthew (2003), Winning New Business, the critical success factors, Peterborough, Policy Publications [9] Phillips, J J and Edwards, L (2008), Managing Talent Retention: An ROI approach, London, Pfeiffer [10] WHO (World Health Organisation) (2009), Checklist helps reduce surgical complications, deaths, WHO news release, 14th January, Geneva, World Health Organisation [11] Cowdell, Fiona (2011), Self Care Toolkit Assessment (Final Report), Bournemouth, Centre for Well Being and Quality of Life, Bournemouth, Bournemouth University

[12] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), 23rd World Congress: Leadership & Quality of Governance, Theme Paper, www.iodonline.com/images/23wctq/theme.pdf, 13th December [13] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2013), “New Leadership” and creating the high performance organisation: part 1, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp 23-31 [14] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2013) “New leadership” and creating the high performance organisation: part 2, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 45 Iss: 2, pp.92 – 98 [15] Adair, John (1974), Management and Morality, Newton Abbot, David & Charles [16] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), Building and Leveraging a High Performance Board: The Importance of Balance in the Boardroom, http://www.gseresearch.com/content/paper/10-5848-iod-2012-00004, January [17] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), Building and Managing High Performance Boards, Effective Executive, Vol. XV No. 1, March, pp 44-51 [18] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2013), Implementing strategies and policies, Strategic Direction, Vol. 29 Issue: 3, pp.33 – 35 [19] Mitchell, Charles; Ray, Rebecca and van Ark, Bart (2013), CEO Challenge 2013, Summary Report, New York, The Conference Board [20] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), Engagement, ‘New Leadership’ and High Performance Organisations, Effective Executive, Vol. XV No. 4, December pp 45-52 [21] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), ‘New Leadership’ and Environment Management, GSE Research.com, http://www.gseresearch.com/content/paper/10-5848-iod-2012-00038, 11th October Note on Author Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas, an experienced chairman of award winning companies and author of over 40 books and reports - including Talent Management 2, Developing Directors, Transforming Public Services and Winning Companies; Winning People - has received international recognition for his work as a change agent and transformation leader. He has helped over 100 boards to improve corporate performance and is an experienced vision holder of successful transformation programmes. Formerly the world’s first professor of corporate transformation, he is a part-time member of the business school team at the University of Greenwich, and has also held public board appointments at national and local level. He can be contacted at colin@coulson-thomas.com or via www.coulson-thomas.com and his recent publications can be obtained from www.policypublications.com