Stop and Smell the Roses

Forgive me if I periodically get a little "sappy". The last few months have afforded me the gift of being able to step back and appreciate all the blessings in my life. I think I've always done a pretty good job at this but I liken it to walking past a lovely garden on your way to "get somewhere" and you take a passing glance and "get" that it's lovely vs. having a little time to stop and smell the roses so to speak. There's nothing like it.

On Sunday I went to a wedding and watched two young people promise their lives to each other and then later that same day I went to the wake of a fireman who died far too early. I kept thinking that these types of experiences are really part of the rich tapestry of our lives and none of it should be taken for granted.

Each of us has an opportunity every day to change someone else's situation. Maybe it's just a passing compliment or it's tough feedback delivered with the intention of moving someone forward. Seeing that we're all human and deciding to make a difference, however small is incredibly powerful and probably the most truly meaningful contribution we can make in this life.

My wish for anyone reading this is that you will take the time to smell the roses whatever that means for you and that you'll be a positive force. It's my wish for myself as well.

Pondering Talent Management

Here's what some data points indicate relative to talent management activities:

• Two-thirds of all US companies are doing no workforce planning at all.
• 40% of newly hired executives fail due to poor acculturation.
• Development approaches haven't changed much since the 1950s.
• Retention is a tricky area; I don't have any specific broad-scale data on this one but I wonder if companies are retaining executives not so much because of some targeted activities but rather because employees aren't keen on taking risks at this time.

I read a great article by Peter Cappelli "Talent Management for the Twenty-First Century" and it appealed to me because as a Lean practitioner he suggests that organizations consider borrowing some principles from supply chain management (in particular just in time manufacturing) to manage talent. Here are a few of his ideas coupled with a few of mine:

• Make and buy to manage risk. He likens a deep bench of talent to holding expensive inventory and, with people, its inventory that can decide to leave. Lean thinkers instinctively understand this logic. This doesn't mean that we abandon internal development; this is incredibly important! But it does mean that we carefully decide when to build and when to buy.
• If you're not already doing so, consider creating talent pools that span the entire organization and develop employees who have competencies that apply to several different jobs.
• As with any other investment, the organization should expect a return on its investment when it spends money developing its employees. Development should be aligned with organizational objectives and measured.

Since this is a blog and not a book, I only have so much room for this topic. My hope is that organizations will look at talent management in much the same way as they look at any other investment - when the data reveals that the ROI is not adequate then measures are taken to first understand then address the problem. It seems a good place to start is by actually listening to managers and employees and looking at internal data (e.g., performance discussions, cultural surveys, exit interviews, etc.). When you "see" the problem, you can solve it.

Jack Welch has said "getting the right people in the right jobs is a lot more important than developing a strategy". I think developing the strategy is incredibly important but that strategy will be nothing without the right people in place to execute it so I'm in complete agreement with Jack!

Getting Started

One of my favorite quotes is "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" by Lao-Tzu. The reason I love this quote is that it seems that it's so easy to get hung up on all the "what-if's" and as a result we don't move forward. And yet as soon as we just do one thing, however small, we do indeed move forward and we increasingly realize that the path ahead is never as frightening as we imagined. This happens with all of us at some point and it happens with teams and organizations as well.

I've decided to start writing this blog as a way to personally explore my points of view on people, process and performance and who knows...maybe I'll help someone else along the way. I am certain I'll learn from the experience.

I've had a long career (over 25 years) and recently moved into "transition". A time of transition is a time to reflect and grow and I'm determined to do just that. So my first step is creating this blog - to create a place to document my professional beliefs relative to people, process and performance. Who knows where this journey will take me (or anyone who cares to take the journey with me)? I'm putting my faith in Lao-Tzu's guidance and just taking the first step; I know all the steps that will follow during this "transition" will move me forward and that's incredibly important to me.