viaPeople Insight - Performance Management & Succession Planning Blog

 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT MONTHLY - MAY, 2012.

Real-time feedback changes the nature of ongoing coaching and makes the dreaded performance appraisal easier and more meaningful.

As we approach the middle of the year, it is time to do a check on how well you have been coaching your direct reports thus far.  How many meaningful conversations or coaching sessions have you had with your team members over the last few months?  Are you satisfied with their performance?

Use the 9 Box to Develop Talent in Succession Planning, Part 2:  Developing those with Future Promise

In Part 1 of Use the 9 Box to Develop Talent in Succession Planning: Development at the Top, I outlined a set of recommendations for development individuals who have been identified as having high potential - those individuals who would be placed in the top row of the 9 box grid. In this installment, I will examine those in the center - individuals who have demonstrated some future promise and have been deemed as having a moderate level of potential. Talent development as part of the succession planning process must be individualized to meet the unique needs of each leader.

We have known for quite awhile that aligning goals at every organizational level facilitates strategic execution. Employees 'Like' knowing that our day-to-day activities drive the overarching plan and love catching a glimpse of the key priorities at the top. Using performance goal management tools to capture goals data across the company has been increasing over the past few years.  Linking these tools to performance appraisal has heightened the importance of the goal management process and increased participation by employees at all levels. 

Social technologies make everything easier….well, maybe not everything.  In fact, they also have made it easier for some folks to get into some serious trouble.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT MONTHLY -

April, 2012

Ban the Binder Series Part 3:

Assessing Performance in the Succession Planning Planning Process

Most companies consider the performance of leaders as part of talent assessment in succession planning, along with many other predictive factors. While a leader's most recent performance evaluation should be included in the assessment, it should not be the only factor that is considered. One performance evaluation is unlikely to provide a "complete picture" of leader performance.

Use the 9 Box to Develop Talent in Succession Planning, Part 1:  Development at the Top 

My colleagues and I have written about the usefulness of the 9 box grid in the succession planning process.  The structure and visual appeal of the 3 x 3 grid can help leaders evaluate talent in the Talent Assessment process, as well as guide Talent Review discussions. The usefulness of the 9 box grid extends beyond these first two phases of the succession planning process, providing guidance and direction to Talent Planning and on-going Talent Development.

One of the most critical pieces of the 360 degree appraisal is the self evaluation. Self evaluation is key to comparing your view of your own performance versus the perspectives of those around you.

As Succession Planning processes become more common in organizations today, HR teams are using a popular method for identifying and classifying talent: The 9 Box chart. The 9 Box chart is a matrix which contains employees categorized by two variables (their performance ranking and their potential for advancement).

The 1960's called; they want their Succession Planning binder back. When you think of bringing together all of the succession planning data collected on talent review forms does it make you want to fall from a building on Madison Avenue like Don Draper? Surely, Don would have looked quite favorably on a talent management system that gave him solid ground to promote Pete to Partner, and that would provide an eager Peggy with a specific career road map. Unfortunately, the vintage talent development process mostly consisted of discussions over cigarettes and martinis at the Old Boys' Club. If succession data even existed in hard copy, it certainly was not made readily accessible to leadership in the rigorous, networked, and easily digestible format it is today.