Interesting Thought on Talent Management by Billy C H Teoh

 You are also right that there are huge gaps between knowledge versus
performance. One can have great knowledge, yet unable to leverage on
one's great knowledge to turn into performance. This is where the
distinct differences are between the 'clever one' and the 'talented
one'. The talented one is able to harness his/her potential to the
highest levels, while the 'clever one' may just stop short.
Performance has a direct correlationship with my Meaning-Movement
Model (c). Take for example: Bank X undertook a transformation change
initiative i.e. "High Performance Culture".
For me in order to make that equation work:
Tools/Methods/Approaches/Concepts/etc. (Balanced scorecards, daily
production indicators, etc - an efficiency modeling)
+ consistency, fairness, systematic, etc. (example of what measuring
everything would mean for the Organization & its stakeholders - an
effectiveness modeling) [whatever Movement, all stakeholders must find
meaning alignment in them in order for the transformation change to
happen]
+ "Measure Everything What We Do" (example of my slogan that creates
the Movement - an effectiveness modeling) [whatever change that we are
going after, we need to establish what is the driving 'movement']
= "High Performance Culture" (Transformation Change Initiative).
So the basic equation for my Meaning-Movement Model (c) is: Efficiency
modeling (tools/methods/approaches/concepts/etc.) + Effectiveness
modeling (Meaning + Movement) = Positive Transformational Change.
This can work vertically upwards or downwards.
Example of vertically upwards is: Efficiency modeling (speeches,
debates, political lobbying, etc.) + Effectiveness modeling ([Meaning
- possibility of first Black President in history; getting rid of the
Bush image; recovering USA's leadership position in the World order;
etc.] + [Movement - "Yes We Can"]) = "Change In Government" (the
transformational change sought).
Example of vertically downwards is: Efficiency modeling (on-the-job +
off-the job assignments; training; coaching; process redesigning;
etc.) + Effectiveness modeling ([Meaning - less rework for me; higher
productivity leading to higher financial rewards; etc.] + [Movement -
"Think Quality As Our Lifestyle"]) = "Quality Mindset" (the
transformational change sought by the employee, other stakeholders &
Organization).
In a nutshell, everything draws down to alignment of Meaning &
Movement for and between the Community, Organization, Employees &
Other Stakeholders in order to attain TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE.
Another example to wrap-up my Meaning-Movement Model (c): In Japan, a
farmer started organic rice farming using aigama ducks to remove rice
field pests and also enrich the soils through the duck droppings. The
Efficiency modeling is using the aigama ducks. The Effectiveness
modeling ([Meaning - healthy food, lowering of cost, higher rice
yields, etc] + [Movement - "Natural Recycling Organic Farming"]) =
"Saving Our World Through Organic Farming" (the transformational
change sought).
Now, think of your Organization, a business you want to venture into,
or a small change that you wish to do. What would be the
'transformational change' that you want to achieve? What is the
'Movement'? What does the 'Movement' means? How would you go about
making the Meaning & Movement happen?
As Martin Luther King Jr. aimed for transformational change of
'Equality For Blacks', his Movement was "I Have A Dream", which
resonated with Meaning of freedom, pride, etc; which he did through
his Efficiency modeling of rhetoric and persistent actions; what
transformational change are you pursuing now, and have you found your
'Movement & Meaning'?
The ideas above are solely my personal views and I am currently
gathering 'scientific & practice evidences' on my Meaning-Movement
Model.
Increasingly, I have found the model to be applicable in many settings
especially answering the question of "How could transformational
change be successful in any Organization?"
If there are any new evidences that support my thinking in this
respect, I will appreciate the sharing.
Meta-cheerio.
Billy C H Teoh

Best Employee Award

Best employee award is good to motivate staff. But most importantly it must be delivered on time. Employers normally wait until it's too late simply to get top mgmt attendance, however the "feel" might not be there if it's too late. Staff might fell tht the employers are not serious. They want to see honesty and the employer must also be sincere to honour the staff.
In time delivery of the award is the best, no matter wht the prize is.

HR Transformation

Wht do you want to transform in HR? Does HR need to be transformed? Surely yes. HR need to embark more on self-service, provide more online apps for staff and empower the managers. HR can contribute in the cost saving & efficiency initiatives by promoting those plans. Of course you need to identify the processes involved, invest in the online apps and communicate. Non-value add processes shd be made online & processes oriented activities can be empowered to line managers. If these are done, HR can focus on activities tht requires human touch & wht machine or computers cannot do.

Cost savings

Nowadays HR has to do a lot of thgs beyond HR roles. Tht's the sign of how important HR is in an organization. Finance may be can cut cost & busget but how to convince staff to participate? HR needs to do subtle. communications with the staff to persuade them to join the initiatives. The best if the ideas come from the staff. They will be more committed to implement the initiatives if those are their own ideas. it also means tht they are ready to implement the initiatives willingly. The communication must also explain the cause & effect so tht everybody understands well. Any communication must not be a force, it must come from the heart... Sounds easy but hard to do...

Why makes easy thg so difficult?

Ppl like to design & develop processes. Processes are good. They make everyone in order, direct ppl to the right path etc. But why make it so diff? In HR, ppl don't wanna wait. When designing HR processes, keep it simple, straight to the point & the only thg to make sure is tht it must follow the law of the land. Tht's all. HR must be customer focus. Wht customers want is HR job to deliver. Ppl appreciate simplicity & efficiency. So pls consider ths when you design any HR processes.

Complacency

Nowadays people do not work for loyalty anymore. If you treat them well, they will stay. Even so, of they get better offer outside, they will jump. There is no loyalty anymore, not like when we were influenced by Japanese and British long long time ago. Even Japanese companies do not value loyalty anymore. But do you engage people? Even though nowadays employees do not stay for a very long with one company, but when they are working, they are engaged with the company. Some people say that employees who job hops are more loyal than wh stays. Why? Because they really work when they are on board. They work fast, do not mind to change and they deliver as per their KPIs. But employees who stay with a company for a long time would feel complacent and relax. They know all the tricks and they normally do not prefer any change in the organization. Is tht true? There are some truth in the statement. Not all but there are some employees who would do tht. It's hard to change them because they claim tht as their territory. Only when thgs get worst then they will be panic. Hope it is not too late when tht happen...

Employee Engagement

One of my GMs mentioned just now tht wht we did now individually as an employee would determine the survival of the company for the nxt 20 yrs. His father worked for the company. His grandfather also was an employee of the company years ago. We have 3 generations and the GM is the 3rd generation who works for the company. I can understand the sentimental value when he said tht. He's talking about loyalty and working with the same company from generation to generation.

How do we engage our employee? How do we get them to be loyal to us? (1) Leaders must set examples first for others to follow. If you want to introduce cost cutting, cut your own budget first. Reduce some personal expenses tht's claimable to the company. Reduce some benefits tht you have been enjoying when there is no cost cutting initiatives in place. 2) communicate with honesty to the employees. Make known wht is happening, wht shd be done, wht has been done etc.

Employees must believe and they must see for themselves all initiatives taken by the management. They must appreciate the situation before they decide to get involve, be engaged. And the key work is honesty and leadership examples. Don't just say it, do it...

Talent selection

Talent is critically important in a growing company. It's more critical to select the right talent so tht investment made on these selected employees are worthwhile. How to select the right talent then? A talent must meet the company's culture & behaviour. These are the utmost important criterion. If they don't fit to to culture, others will not be able accept them, and they somehow will leave the company eventually. Talents must also qualify top & consistant performance throughout. They must be able to perform wherever they are. They must always stand out as compared to others. And finally they must have the leadership quality & potential to grow. You don't want to develop a person with high performance & perfectly culture fit within an organization but he or she is without potential to be developed as a leader, do you? Because a staff with that criterion is good at wht he or she is doing. If you move him or her up, she'lll fail miserably. For instant, a good salesman does not mean he or she can be a good sales manager. The first job requires skill, and the second requires leadership competencies. Both are human relation skill but woth different focus. One with the ability to negotiate & convince others and the other is managing other humanbeeing within your organization. A person with all those qualities is a talent, good & consistant performers, good culture fit as well as able to lead others. Employees with these qualities are hard to find. If you found one, take really good care of them, treat them well, develop them, expose them, promote them and give them more responsibilities. They will not leave and they will be your potential future leaders.

Reducing social gap between employees and the management

Why is it important to reduce the gap between employees and the mgmt? Is is necessary? Wht would be the benefits? Nowadays employees are more open and direct. They are not like it used to be 10 or 20 yrs ago. Last time, we were so influenced by the British, so the employer-employee relationship is more like master-servant kind of relationship. However, time has changed. The new generation doesn't buy the idea anymore. They want equality and respect. May be not in term of pay & benefits but in term of relationship. Leaders in organization must go down and meet their staff. In politics, they are called "grassroots". At workplace, if leaders can spend some time to listen to their employees, they will gain more respect and loyalty from the employees. It would be easier then to implement anythg even if some of the decisions are not very popular. It's not so much like politics within an organization, but more of understanding, respect & care tht's important to the employees. So treat your employees well & they will work for you unconditionally.

Developing Your Ownself

You have a steady job already. They pay is not bad. Every year you receive your increment, bonus etc. There are times when the company is not making tht good and there's no bonus and only with little increment, but you still have a job. Then the company starts to offer Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) package to the staff. The HR policies are getting tougher and tougher. Little mistakes and flat performance are considered misconduct. What should you do? Stay on or find a new job? But then this question comes into your mind, "what else can you do other than wht you are doing now, with current company..?" Man, tht's bad news. You shd start thinking ahead and use some of your savings to develop yourself now and then. You can't really depend on your company to develop you. The best tht the company can do is providing skill training. If you are lucky the company might send you to further your education, but you have to serve some odd years to pay back for its investment in you. Lucky if tht's what you want. And lucky if tht knowledge can be applied or marketable outside. But you have the choice to do it on your own, why wait? Now the question is wht shd be your focus of study? Of course the most important thg is the course tht you decide to take must be marketable in the future. Second it shd offer better pay than wht you are currently getting. Third is your interest, you must be interested in the area of study, because tht might be your nxt career.

There are a few suggestions tht I think might be usefull in selecting the type of course. A friend of mine who are already at the age of 53 just registered for LLB degree. I asked him why? He said lawyer has no retirement age. You may work as long as you want and retire at any age you prefer. There are a few other professions tht there might be no age limit to it, ie; lecturer, architecture, doctor or pharmacist. You can't be doctor or pharmacist or architecture at tht age. But you can learn to be a lawyer. Well, you can also be a lecturer if you want but you need a PhD or DBA to qualify for tht job. I'm in HR, and I'm considering LLB as my next course to pursue. Before tht I'm also planning to take my HR professional certification course from SHRM to get better recognition. I'd like to take professional course in Company Secretary but abundant tht idea when I was no longer doing secretarial job. Btw tht's also a good profession to consider.

So don't think too long, act now...

Managing Problematic Staff

How to manage a big spender (coz he's in sales, so need to budget to entertain customers), but performance is average? The answer is simple but yet complicated when it comes to implementation. Well lots of people are good at planning but lousy implementer. If he or she's is a contract staff, once his or her contract expires, do not extend the contract. Put it to an end. Simple right? But when someone has high profile connection, in an Asian environment, this is not possible. So wht can be done? How to manage this situation? The only best solution is to offer him or her a fresh new contract on a "contract for service" terms. Contract for service means tht he or she works for a company as a contractor not an employee. So the arrangement such as salary etc does not apply. At least we are giving him or her a chance to work as a contractor and improve him or herself. And at leas he or she'll have the experience working as a contractor or consultant to a company instead of as employee. Wish this will work. Wish his performance (in this case) will improve. Wish the management will not consider him next year if his performance deteriorated or nor improvement at all.

Managing Talent & Move Faster

Once you have identified talents within the company, you need to plan for their career path & development. Talents valued self development, through lateral transfer or promotion. They do not want to do the same thg for years. Maximum they can take it is only 3 years, but some talents might get boared easily, ie; less than one year. So how to manage them and get them occupied? The managers need to plan for activities and development program for them internally, with or without HR a simple plan can be developed. You can do tht and retain those talents for years within your department or lose them. Either way, you have to react. Managers have to act not only as managers but also mentors to them. Simple activities would be to throw them into new project, get them involved in drafting new strategy, coming up with new product, or letting them involved in assisting others esp new comers to adopt to the new environment at your department. The idea is to keep them busy and get them to explore and learn new thgs. They can manage their normal chores while doing tht, don't worry. Tht's why they are talents. They objectives are to make them involved in creative thinking, new products or projects, asissting others and get thgs done faster.

Try this...and you'll see them around for a while longer before they get bored. Move fast...


- chezul