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PEOPLETALENTCall for TalentWhat’s the best solution?by Dave UlrichTALENT. WE KNOW ITmatters. Some go towar for it. Sports teamsdraft for it. Actors audition to showthey have it. Others consider it theultimate solution and try to manage it.Agents contract for it. Some areendowed with it. Others strive diligentlyto earn it. All try to grow it.Talent is evolving into a science forHR professionals and a passion forline managers. Many programs arecreated to attract, retain, and upgradetalent. Yet, we can easily get lost in themyriad of promises, programs, andprocesses and lose sight of the basics.I offer a deceptively simple formulafor talent that can help you turn yourtalent aspirations into actions: Talent =Competence, Commitment, and Contribution.In this equation, the threeterms are multiplicative, not additive.Competence means that individualshave the knowledge, skills, and valuesrequired for today’s and tomorrow’sjobs: right skills, right place, right job.Competence clearly matters, as incompetenceleads to poor decisionmaking, botchedexecution, low sales, andpoor service.Commitment. Withoutcommitment, competenceis discounted. Competentpeople who are not committedare smart, but don’twork very hard. Engagedor committed employeeswork hard, put in theirtime, and do what they are asked todo. In the last decade, commitmentand competence have been the bailiwicksfor talent.Contribution. The next generationof employees may be competent andcommitted, but unless they are makinga real contribution and findingmeaning and purpose in their work,their interest diminishes and their talentwanes. Contribution occurs whenpeople feel that their personal needsare being met through their work.Competence deals with the head(being able), commitment with thehands and feet (being there), and contributionwith the heart (simply being).If any of the three elements is missing,the other two can’t replace it. Alow score in competence won’t ensuretalent, even when people are engaged.Talented people must have skills, wills,and purposes; they must be capable,committed, and contributing. Leaderscan engage their managers to identifyand improve all three dimensions torespond to the call for talent.Creating CompetenceHere’s how you create competence:1. Set and articulate standards. Identifycompetencies required to deliverfuture work. The best competencestandards come from turning futurecustomer expectations into presentemployee requirements. You can ask:What social and technical competenciesdo we have? What changes face us andwhat are our strategic responses? Giventhese changes and choices, what technicaland social competencies mustemployees demonstrate? By askingthese questions, you help create a pointof view on competencies that leads to aset of standards. When managers buildcompetence models based on futurecustomer expectations, they directemployee attention to what they shouldknow and do. The simplest test of thecompetence standard is to ask target orkey customers, “If our employees livedup to these standards, would thisinspire confidence from you in ourfirm?” When customers answer yes, thecompetence model is right.2. Assess individualsand teams. Assess peopleon how well they meet standards.Most talent assessmentsevaluate both resultsand behaviors. Talentedemployees deliver results inthe right way (as defined bycompetence standards).These behaviors may beself-assessed by the employee(a 180), assessed by other employees—peers,managers, subordinates (a360), and evaluated by those outside theorganization—suppliers, customers,investors, community leaders, and otherstakeholders (a 720). This assessment letspeople know what to do to improve andprovides input about how to design anddeliver HR practices to upgrade talent.3. Investing in talent improvement.You can fill talent gaps or upgrade talentby making HR investments in sixareas: 1) Buying—recruiting, sourcing,securing new talent; 2) Building—helpingpeople grow through training, onthe job, or life experiences; 3) Borrowing—bringing knowledge in throughadvisors or partners; 4) Bounding: promotingthe right people into key jobs;5) Bouncing: removing poor performers;and 6) Binding: retaining top talent.When you create choices in thesesix areas, you help individuals and theorganization invest in future talent.4. Follow up and track competence.Use measures to track how well individualsare developing their skills andhow well the organization develops itstalent bench. People can be tracked ontheir understanding of their nextcareer step and their capacity to do it.Leaders can track the extent to whichback-ups are in place for key positionsand how well they produce great talent.Strengthening CommitmentCommitment means that employeesare willing to give their discretionaryenergy to the firm’s success. This discretionaryenergy is generally conceivedas an employee value proposition:employees who give value to their organizationshould get value back. Theability to give value comes when employeesdeliver results in the right way.Employees are more committed whentheir leaders provide: 1) Vision—a senseof direction or purpose; 2) Opportunity—an ability to grow, develop, and learn;3) Incentives —a fair wage or salary forwork done; 4) Impact—an ability to seethe outcome or effects; 5) Community—peers, bosses, and leaders who build asense of community; 6) Communication—knowing what is happening and why;and 7) Entrepreneurship or flexibility—having choice in terms and conditions.With these seven dimensions, peoplehave VOI 2 C 2 E. They show their engagementby being at work on time, workinghard, and doing what’s expected.You best strengthen contribution byhelping people answer six questions:• Who am I? How does my identitymeld with the company reputation?• Where am I going and why? Canthe organization help me reach goals?• Who do I travel with? How doesthe firm build a community of support?• How well do I practice spiritualdisciplines? Do leaders practice humility,service, forgiveness, gratitude?• What challenges do I enjoy? Do Ifind energizing challenges at work?• How well can I access resourcesto manage health, space, and finances?Start using the simple talent formulaof competence, commitment and contributionto lead and manage your talent. LEDave Ulrich is cofounder of the RBL Group, a leadership consultancyand coauthor of Leadership Brand (HBS Press).Visit www.bigspeak.com.ACTION: Apply this talent formula.Leadership Excellence May 2008 17
LEADERSHIPCONVERSATIONSPossibilitiesConverse about them.by Peter BlockCERTAIN CONVERSAtionshave morepower than others.Explanations, for example, have nopower; in fact, many of your explanationsabout your life and work are fiction—storiesthat you manufacture toease the pain. But, explanations treatthe story as if it’s true: “Let me explainwhy I feel that way, what got me here,why my history predicts my future.”Let go of explanations.cies. If you’re deficiency-minded, youmay work on the same deficiencies allyour life, with marginal effectiveness.So, how effective is deficiency work?Why do we still work on weaknessesand give lectures on feedback? Whypackage disappointment in the label offeedback? People ask me, “Peter, wouldyou like some feedback?” I say, “No!”because I know that they’re mad at me.Nobody expresses or introduces loveby saying, “Would you like some feedback?”They just give it to you.5. Conversation of vision. I like thenotion: without a vision, the peopleperish; but usually that means somebodyelse’s vision. So why not askeach individual, “What are you here tocreate? What’s the vision you have?”Now people get nervous: “Suppose wedon’t have agreeable, compatiblevisions,” but I’ve neverheard a vision that wasn’tembraceable.6. Conversation of imagination.The future is causedby imagination. An imaginationof the life causes aleading of the life. I like thelanguage of possibility—thepossibility I’m living into. IfI hold a possibility, or afuture, of the way I want the world tobe, I bring that into the room with meevery time I show up. I don’t have towork on it—the possibility works onme. So I can get off my list of resolutions.I have no faith in resolutions.The lists I make are only things I don’tcare about. If I care about something, Idon’t have to write it down. So, I createa possibility, and we’re here to supporteach other in living out eachother’s possibility.7. Conversation of action. Go publicwith the action you intend to take. Itdoesn’t count if it’s not expressed. It’sa daydream if it’s kept silent. And soyou say, “I bring people together topublicly share their possibility, or thefuture they want to create, and the actof sharing it brings it into being. It isan action step.” We have a small notionof what constitutes action. We think ifyou don’t build something or tear itdown or spend money or save moneyor order somebody around, youhaven’t done anything. But if youleave a meeting with a new thought orclarity about the future you’re tryingto create—that’s an action step.8. Conversation of community. Thepossibility you hold grows out of yourwoundedness. It’s not by accident thatthis is the world you want to create.Now the wound doesn’t go away, but10 Powerful ConversationsI invite you to have any of these 10powerful conversations, since these havethe power to create an alternative future:1. Conversation of possibilities. Thisasks, “What’s the possibility I camehere to live into or to create?”Possibilities have to be unreachable. Ifyou only set goals, you worship toosmall a god in your life: to be efficient,to make a living, to have a relationship.Carl Jung says that what’s true inthe morning is a lie in the afternoon.What’s true in the first half of your lifeis a lie in the second half of your life.2. Conversation of ownership. Takewhatever you’re complaining aboutand ask, “What have I helped do tocreate that situation? What’s my contributionto the problem?” It meansI’m an owner. Whatever I complainabout, let me turn that question andsay, “How have I created that thing?”It’s a conversation of ownership.3. Conversation of commitment. Thisasks, what’s the promise I’m willing tomake with no expectation of return?Most people barter: What’s in it forme? The cost of patriarchy is entitlement.If you find people entitled, it’snot who they are; it’s their response toa high-control world that has somethingin mind for them, and their contributionto that is the wish for safetyand protection. I want my Mommy,Daddy, boss, mentor, executive coach,financial counselor, or personal trainer. Sowe see this professionalization of careand love. To create a culture of engagement,make promises to each otherand sit in witness of peer promises.4. Conversation of gifts. Most ofyour life is organized around deficienitloses its power. And so only an isolatedperson would imagine the possibilityof community. Some people areborn into community; they’re extroverted,they’ve had context, they knowwhere they’re from, they know whothey are; they never come up with thatas a possibility, because they’re livingit. What would it be like if I was notonly committed to your success, butdependent on it? Cooperation wouldsoar, and we would realize that for meto succeed, you don’t have to fail.9. Conversation of accountability. Idon’t have to make a list or remindmyself, I just have to go public with it.Going public means that two otherpeople have to hear it. As soon as I telltwo other people, I’m accountable. If Itell five other people I’m very accountable.If I stand up in this room and sayit, then I’m in real trouble.And the reason is becauseif you say it to the world,you can’t control the response.There’s somethingabout the verbalization ofpossibility that brings itinto being, makes it powerful,makes us accountable.10. Conversation of howbest to help others. Peoplewant to be helpful to each other, butthat can be a huge problem because helpis often just a subtle form of control.People want to give advice to eachother. They want to tell you what theydid when they were at your stage oflife. They have an answer for you, andthey call it generosity; but it feels likecontrol. What would happen if you hadone simple intention—to bring the giftsof the margin into the center?Servant-leadership is an abundanceparadigm. Why let the economy ofscarcity define the nature of your relationships?Substitute curiosity for advice.Ask the person, “Why does that matterto you? What meaning does that havefor you? What’s at stake for you?” Yousay, “I came to serve you by valuingmeaning over speed, meaning over efficiency,meaning over problem-solving.”Have One ConversationIf you hold any of these conversationswholeheartedly, you don’t needto do all the others. They all lead to thesame center, the same spirit and source.Possibility, ownership, commitment,and gifts conversations all express ourwillingness to be accountable for creatinga future distinct from the past. LEPeter Block is a partner in Designed Learning and author ofCommunity. Visit www.designedlearning.com.ACTION: Converse about possibilities.18 May 2008 Leadership Excellence
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