How Did That Happen? by Connors Roger

Author:Connors, Roger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PENGUIN group

IS TALENT THE ANSWER?

Most organizations devote a lot of time and effort these days to talent management, and rightfully so. Acquiring, retaining, and managing the talent in the organization has become job one for enlightened leaders who have come to realize that their people, above technology, above strategy, above anything else, can make the greatest strategic difference. Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, emphasizes the importance of getting the right people “on the bus.” His research leads him to assert, “The right people will do the right things and deliver the best results of which they are capable, regardless of the incentive system. . . . The right people don’t need to be tightly managed or fired up; they will be self-motivated by an inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating something great.” To accomplish this, he suggests, “first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.” By so doing, you fill the organization with “disciplined” people who need less motivation and less management, and ultimately produce better results.

Who can argue with these conclusions? But with Collins’s claim that only eleven companies out of the entire Fortune 500 meet his “great” criteria, you might well wonder about the 489 “good” or “average” companies that aspire to greatness but seemingly lack a sufficient number of the right people in the right seats on the bus. Where does that leave them? And is the accompanying transition from learning organization to talent organization realistic, achievable, and right? A great company may recruit a lot of highly talented people, but even then it can at times fall short of expectations.

While our own experience convinces us to endorse many of Collins’s conclusions, we would argue that no organization is able to acquire all the talent it needs all the time and must therefore find ways to develop their existing people. In our opinion, skillfully managing unmet expectations is a characteristic of any organization that enjoys or aspires to greatness. For most of us, we must do that almost daily, and the way we do it can often make all the difference between success and failure. Getting “the wrong people off the bus” may sound simple, but we all know that’s easier said than done. Clearly, the prevailing theories on management reinforce the strategic value, or rather the imperative, to do something about the people who don’t meet expectations. Newsweek magazine first referred to Jack Welch, much to his chagrin, as “Neutron Jack, the guy who removed the people, but left the buildings standing.” Under his direction, GE fired nearly one hundred thousand people due to reasons associated with poor productivity. That’s a lot of seats to change on the bus!

Welch promoted the concept of the “Vitality Curve,” a performance evaluation process where, among other things, managers routinely identify their bottom 10 percent performers, their middle 70 percent (“the vital 70”), and their top 20 percent achievers.

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