Feedback Form
Home Features Mastermind Forums About Advertise Blog Network Contact Be An Author

The Soft Side of Managing Talent is About Making Hard Choices

The Soft Side of Managing Talent is About Making Hard Choices

The manager/coach accepts the personal responsibility for making tough decisions about who is going to be on the team, and who is not. In the book “The War for Talent,” authors Michaels, Handfield-Jones, and Axelrod provide a straightforward approach for “assessing performance” to enable your organization to strengthen itself with the best talent.

As manager, you can strengthen your talent pool by: investing in A players (the best 10 to 20 percent), developing your B players (the mid 60 to 70 percent), and acting decisively on C players (the bottom 10 to 20 percent). This is not about passing judgment on people. It is about taking a snapshot in time and assessing the bench strength of your players. This process is not about using people simply as if they are merely a means to an end. It has everything to do with populating your team with solid talent, and then coaching and inspiring that talent to self-actualize, which will help those people create meaning for themselves and the organization.

Once you have identified the different levels of talent, you can then begin the dialogue with each player at each level that will allow you to drive his or her level of performance in a direction that will best meet both personal needs, and the business objectives of the organization.

This approach amounts to:
• Looking out for and strategically placing your very best talent
• Challenging the mid-level talent to get better
• Deciding what role, if any, your least talented players will have

One of the greatest barriers to optimum team performance is having people on the team that are not capable of pulling their weight. Keeping the wrong people around is unfair to the right people because they see their hard work impeded by those who cannot or will not perform as needed.

Note: This process of ranking your players is directed at evaluating and assembling the best talent for your specific team and placing the right person in the right position for the overall benefit of the person and the organization. Borrowing from the GE play book, any replacement players brought on to the team should be better than your best players, thereby raising the bar of performance for the entire team.

The law of “competition for talent” may sometimes be hard for the individual, but it is best for the organization, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department. While you would like to keep a stable work force, this is just not realistic and you will always have employees come and go. Just like the sports coach, your job as manager will be to continually look for great talent and shed poor or average talent so you can beat the competition.

You MAY reprint the information contained in this article as long as no portion of the contents are modified and it used “exclusively” within your organization. You must also give credit to information by including the tag line...Roger M. Ingbretsen, Author, Speaker, Leadership Coach, Organizational and Career Developer.





The Soft Side of Managing Talent is About Making Hard Choices - To learn more about this author, visit Roger Ingbretsen's Website.

Like this article? Share it with your friends

Article Feedback
 Article Feedback No article feedback found.
  Leave Your Feedback
article feedback

Article Feedback
Cheryl Matthynssens

Cheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur.  Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well.  A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles.  She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide-  to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being.  Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com

- Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website

Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Are your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website

David Acheson
David Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns.  David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website

Linda Richardson
Linda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website


To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us.

About The Author


Roger Ingbretsen
(Visit Roger's Website)

Roger Ingbretsen is a Platinum author on EvanCarmichael.com
About The Author

View Author Blog
View Author Blog

View Author Video
View Author Video

Free Downloads


Roger Ingbretsen's

Complete
List Of
Leadership
Articles

Name
Email
If you enjoyed this article, get Roger Ingbretsen's Complete List of Leadership Articles For FREE!

More Roger Ingbretsen
Aggressive Recruiting And Retention
Beliefs Feelings Emotions Leaders They Must Be Understood By Leaders
Do You Really Know Who You Are
Leadership Coaching Based On Organizational Values
Problem Employee Attack the Behavior Not the Person
Do you have Vision
Challenging the Status Quo
The Next Crisis In The Perfect Storm Unfunded Retirement Accounts
Resistance to Change Is a Fact of Life
CHANGE Need I Say Anymore
Free Downloads


 
 
 


Evan Elite Authors
John Power  
Anne Barr  
Dave Kurlan  
Evan Elite Authors

Become An Author
Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details.
Become An Author

Evan's Latest Video
Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media
Evan's Latest Video

Business Opportunities
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"

How to Start An Online Business

Click Here To Learn More
Business Opportunities



Evan's Newsletter
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Evan`s Newsletter

Free Downloads
Networking Royally Icon Networking Royally
Life Purpose Icon Life Purpose
Maximize Trade Shows Icon Maximize Trade Shows
Spring Cleaning Icon Spring Cleaning
Telemarketing Success Icon Telemarketing Success
Free Downloads - Complete List

Entrepreneur Tools and Guides
Top 50 Franchising Blogs
Top 50 Franchising Blogs
Top 50 Franchising Blogs
 
Top 50 Diversion Blogs
Top 50 Diversion Blogs
Top Diversion Blogs of 2009
 
Entrepreneur Tools and Guides

SEO For Africa
SEO For Africa
Kpakpo Apelete Akue Lavie, Togo,
SEO For Africa

If I Were A Startup...
Geoff Whitlock, $53k to $507k in 3 years
Geoff Whitlock
$53k to $507k in 3 years
Gord Hotchkiss, $113k to $1.5 Mil in 5 years
Gord Hotchkiss
$113k to $1.5 Mil in 5 years
If I Were A Startup... - Complete List

Famous Entrepreneurs
Lillian Vernon, Lillian Vernon
Lillian Vernon
Lillian Vernon
Tom Monaghan, Domino's Pizza
Tom Monaghan
Domino's Pizza
Famous Entrepreneurs - Complete List

Entrepreneur Advice
Seth Godin, Ideavirus Author
Seth Godin
Ideavirus Author
Paul Kedrosky, Venture Capitalist
Paul Kedrosky
Venture Capitalist
Entrepreneur Advice - Complete List

Popular Articles
(Premium Authors)

     Preparing for Questions Asked at Interview
By Lisette Howlett
     Kicking off a project
By Lisette Howlett
     Overcoming Barriers to Creative Thinking
By Lisette Howlett

Have A Suggestion?
Toronto Salsa Classes / Toronto Salsa Lessons Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
Have A Suggestion?

More Evan Carmichael
More popular articles
- Siebel Ondemand Crm
More Information