Applying talent management's best practices to colleges of business

Citation

(2014), "Applying talent management's best practices to colleges of business", American Journal of Business, Vol. 29 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJB-04-2014-0024

Applying talent management's best practices to colleges of business

Article Type: Executive Viewpoint From: American Journal of Business, Volume 29, Issue 2

In the private sector, leaders in publicly traded corporations require little conversation about the critical and strategic requirements for talent. The reality of global competition, ever-changing customer demands in a knowledge-based economy, and quarterly shareholder expectations have convinced business leaders that human capital is not a strategic imperative, but the strategic imperative. As Conaty and Charan (2010) say in their book The Talent Masters, “no talent, no numbers.”

Corporate strategies and business models vary considerably depending on industry, leadership decisions about which value chain activities to leverage, brand positioning, and operating outcomes delivered by the firm. Measures like return on assets are used to assess how efficiently the corporation utilizes its intellectual property, physical capital, and operational equipment. Leaders in corporations have a number of levers they can pull to enhance the effectiveness of the business. And yet, across industries, companies large and small are making talent management a top strategic imperative. To support these efforts, executive leaders are allocating resources and developing practices to ensure talent management is prioritized for success.

Colleges of business do not depend on efficiently utilizing physical plant and operational equipment to deliver their results. Yes, they need to make effective use of buildings, classrooms, technologies, and utilities, but they have fewer operational assets to manage compared to corporations. In general, colleges depend on talented faculty, department chairs, deans, and staff who use instructional strategies and deep content knowledge to develop talent capable of immediate performance, and future advancement into leadership positions. So, if talent is the key resource for delivering the desired result, it only seems logical that talent management would be a strategic imperative for colleges of business.

During the past decade, leaders of top corporations have made talent management integral to strategy formulation, development, and execution of business results. Integrated talent and leadership development processes have been designed to generate human capital, and reduce associated risk as if businesses depended on them (Cohn et al., 2005). As indicated by Cappelli (2008) the goal of talent management is helping the organization achieve its overall objective of making money. Talent management does not require the latest form of human resource intervention; it does require leadership focus and disciplined processes for driving sustainable business results. Through my experience in leading talent management for Whirlpool Corporation, and in my review of other similar companies, I see common practices emerge that help these organizations move toward talent excellence:

1. a leadership mindset that “best talent wins”;

2. a culture of accountability, where leaders are expected to deliver talent results, and are rewarded accordingly;

3. processes where talent is assessed and segmented based on performance, especially potential to advance within the leadership pipeline;

4. disproportionate investment is allocated for the development of high potential talent;

5. an integrated talent and leadership development process inclusive of assessment, selection, development, and succession is operationalized with a specific cadence; and

6. governance and systematic reviews from key leadership and boards of directors are scheduled to make talent a top priority.

Before considering how these practices might apply to your business school, review the following questions:

1. Does your college have a five-year strategic plan? Is talent an imperative part, specifically called out in the strategy and execution plan?

2. Are there internal successors for the current deans, associate deans, department chairs, and other critical leadership positions?

3. Is the role of department chair a leadership position, and accountable for vision, strategy, organizational alignment, and cultivation of talent?

4. Who are your high potential personnel? Do they know you consider them high potential?

5. Do you have an integrated approach and some core processes for developing talent?

5. Are your leaders accountable and rewarded for talent results?

Like top companies developing leaders and talent, colleges of business can apply targeted development practices within the organization. Based on my past experience at Whirlpool Corporation and my current role leading Ohio University's Robert D. Walter Center for Strategic Leadership, I recommend advancing talent as a strategic imperative and a competitive advantage.

The first step in building a talent-centric organization requires cultural change, beginning with a leadership mindset that talented people are paramount to organizational success. Connors and Smith (2011), highlight the cultural impact on business results; with positive cultural change comes game-changing results. Talent is an asset that produces results when leaders instill a philosophy of accountability and excellence. At Whirlpool Corporation, the world's leading appliance company, and an organization consistently recognized by Fortune's “Top 25 Company for Leaders,” talent is a strategic imperative at the enterprise level (Murphy, 2011). Leaders, at all levels, are accountable for acquiring, engaging, and developing high-performing talent that will ensure the execution of corporate strategy. Developing a “best talent wins” culture, and then supporting that thinking with practices, processes, actions, and most of all, accountability, the company has delivered extraordinary results.

The effort should start with the dean's conviction that acquiring, engaging, and developing talented faculty, staff, and administration will deliver excellence to students, the college, the university, and the broader community. To move from thinking to action, the dean must build a case for change that imparts a sense of urgency and creates a call for action from the college's executive team, and in time, its executive advisory board. In “Accelerate,” Kotter (2012) discusses the critical need to build a guiding coalition to champion the change effort. The support of key leaders is the first step for a dean planning to improve leadership development and talent management.

Talent development is a conscience choice, and an area to be addressed when formulating the college's strategic plan. Once the leadership mindset has been established, talent can be assessed as a competitive advantage, and integrated as a strategic imperative. This action puts talent on the leadership agenda, where resource allocation decisions are made. If talent is a competitive enabler, the initiative will require action plans, dedicated resources, and funding. Conger and Fulmer (2003) state that leadership development is not the responsibility of human resources but of the organization's line leadership. Strategic planning is an important role of line leadership, and talent management should be a top priority.

With a leadership philosophy embedded in the strategic agenda of the college, the second step is building practices that deliver talent results. The place to start is the segmentation of talent. In segmentation, the leadership team assesses, calibrates, and decides who will bring the greatest value to strategic objectives. Ultimately, this means determining who can perform and advance in the leadership pipeline. The leadership team should determine its high potential and highly valued populations. Appropriate investment can then be made in the development of both groups. In the academic setting, high potential talent could be considered outstanding faculty members who are capable and aspire to become department chairs or future deans. Highly valued talent could be outstanding faculty members who deliver excellence in teaching, research, and service. Both populations are essential, and require intentional development strategies, actions, and investment.

For the purpose of this paper, I primarily focus on the development of high potential talent who can become future leaders within the college. To identify, assess, and develop future chairs and deans, the leadership team should define what is essential for leading the college into the future, and determine who has the potential to do so. The identified talent should then be put in developmental assignments that grow and test their capabilities. Identifying high potential individuals early and exposing them to visible and meaningful projects is critically important. Given that faculty members normally take seven years to complete their doctoral studies and another seven years to achieve tenure, it is likely that they will be approaching their early to mid 1930s before gaining significant leadership responsibility. This is not the case in public sector organizations, where high potential talent could be at director or vice president levels by this age. With faculty members as the talent feeder group for the leadership pipeline, assignments beyond teaching, research, and service are essential. An excellent opportunity, for example, is directing a start-up international consulting project, where the member needs to design the activity, work with foreign business partners, select and coordinate faculty, manage accountability, prepare performance contracts, and report to the executive team on financial outcomes. Based on the leadership capabilities required, assignments can be specifically designed that deliver required business results, as well as individual talent development.

Development of highly valued talent is also essential for ensuring the college has the best non-administrative employees. The same talent management practices of setting developmental objectives, conducting performance reviews, providing meaningful feedback, and coaching for growth also applies to the highly valued members. The main distinction is determining who is willing and able to become a leader in the administrative structure, and then developing them to lead. Others, whose strengths are for academic faculty positions, should have intentional development plans focussed on their domain knowledge, such as teaching and research, and service that is aligned with personal interest and the mission of the college. The talent process for this population should provide clarity for the tenure and promotion process, and assist members in achieving academic and professional qualification. With the focus on creating a talent-centric organization, having department chairs who can coach and mentor junior faculty through the development process will prove beneficial.

With foundational practices in place, the third step is identifying areas for process integration that support talent management. Common processes for integration include workforce and succession planning, acquisition and selection, training and development, diversity and inclusion, analytics, and talent and performance management. In order for processes to fully integrate, it is necessary to provide clear criteria of what is expected from high potential talent. For leadership assessment and succession planning, top companies employ a leadership model that clarifies the essential competencies and behaviors, and then acquires, engages, and develops future leaders. Like companies, colleges of business should develop role guidelines for deans, department chairs, and other leadership positions. Based on those role expectations, incumbents, and future talent can be assessed for performance delivered and performance potential. When there is linkage of strategy, organizational structure, role requirements, integrated processes, and personnel, there is considerable leverage for producing extraordinary results.

When looking at critical processes for gaining immediate leverage, first manage who enters the college as talent. The point of entry should be of primary importance, and having clear requirements for performance and cultural fit allow for assessment and selection of the right talent. Deans and department chairs should be directly involved in hiring and placement decisions to ensure the talent expectations are being institutionalized. Recruiting is also important. Selling the college as an employer of choice for top talent in the marketplace is crucial to acquiring the most capable personnel. Auger et al. (2013) highlight how much a company's reputation affects its ability to attract key talent. Promoting that reputation includes corporate brand, workplace experience, and level of social responsibility. Top recruits choose where they want to work, and having a reputation for talent acquisition that is backed up by integrated practices enables a college to attract and retain them.

The final step is to apply the proper management of the talent process institution wide. Essential to making talent management part of the institutional fabric is over site, and a structured cadence of reviews. A basic action that can produce immediate results is creating an annual talent calendar showing when reviews will occur, who will attend, what content will be addressed, and who will show results. As an example of one review, the dean could hold an annual talent review with all department chairs. Each chair would be asked to give an overview of their department's talent strategy, propose high potential talent for leadership consideration, discuss specific development plans for high potential and highly valued talent, declare any talent risks, and request resource and budget allocation. The dean can then assemble a consolidated perspective for the next level review with the executive advisory board, university president, and provost. If governance tells the organization that talent matters, it cultivates a culture of accountability.

These recommendations are based on best practices of talent management from corporations, and they are generalized for the purpose of this paper. Each college of business must consider its own strategic journey and the role talent excellence can play in creating value, competitive advantage, and long-term sustainability. In the value chain of talent, the broader business community is counting on colleges of business to produce outstanding performers who can deliver superior results and advance into leadership positions. By using similar talent practices, we can meet this challenge while serving our students at the highest level.

Tim Reynolds
College of Business, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA

References

Auger, P., Devinney, T.M., Dowling, G.R., Eckert, C. and Lin, N. (2013), “How much does a company's reputation matter in recruiting?”, MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 54 No. 3, pp. 79-89

Cappelli, P. (2008), “Talent management for the twenty-first century”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 86 No. 3, pp. 74-81

Cohn, J.M., Khurana, R. and Reeves, L. (2005), “Growing talent as if your business depended on it”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 83 No. 10, pp. 62-71

Conaty, B. and Charan, R. (2010), The Talent Masters, Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers, Crown Publishing Group, New York, NY

Conger, J.A. and Fulmer, R.M. (2003), “Developing your leadership pipeline”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 81 No. 12, pp. 76-84

Connors, R. and Smith, T. (2011), Change the Culture, Change the Game, Penguin Group, New York, NY

Kotter, J.P. (2012), “Accelerate!”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 90 No. 11, pp. 43-58

Murphy, R.M. (2011), “How do great companies groom talent?”, Fortune, November, available at: http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/11/03/top-companies-for-leaders/ (accessed November 3, 2011)

About the author
Tim Reynolds is the former Vice President of Talent and Organization Development, Whirlpool Corporation and Executive Director, Robert D. Walter Center for Strategic Leadership, Ohio University College of Business.