Evan Carmichael Top Header about About About facebook Twitter YouTube Google+

The Soft Side of Managing Talent is About Making Hard Choices



Free PDF Download
Stay Employed In A Down Economy - By Roger Ingbretsen

Name: Email:


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.


Related Articles

  How Do Your Soft Skills Measure Up?
  GUERRILLA SOFT STEPS
  Heart of Marketing by Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski
  Formalized Employee Training
  Workplace Motivation: What Most Leaders Lack (Tip #37)
  DAMN IT!
  Are You Managing Paradox?
  Talent is Never Enough
  Firing Without the Headache or Heartache
  A Talent Driven Organization
  Soft Skills for Business Success
  LEADERS LOVE FORMULA : TALENT+ EXECUTION.
  Managing Paradox
  Talent You Already Possess
  The Talent You Already Possess
  As a Virtual Assisant, How Do I Find a Niche?
  Soft Skills Training
  Computer Equipment Leasing in Canada – 3 Things You Need to Know
  Organizational Talent You Need To Succeed
  The Importance of Soft Skills in Business

Home > Leadership > Roger Ingbretsen > The Soft Side of Managing Talent is About Making Hard Choices >

Free PDF Download
Stay Employed In A Down Economy - By Roger Ingbretsen

Name: Email:

About the Author: Roger Ingbretsen

RSS for Roger's articles - Visit Roger's website
Roger has a Masters degree in Organizational Leadership, from Gonzaga University, a dual undergraduate degree in Economics & Business Administration, from Park University, an AA degree in Business, as well as 1,500 certified hours of training in technical disciplines. He’s had over forty articles, numerous white papers and two books and two eBooks published.

Roger is a member of the International Coaching Federation. Additionally, he has completed many professional training programs attaining numerous certifications, a few of which include: The Harvard Law School “win-win” negotiation process, the Center for Creative Leadership “360-Degree Feedback” evaluation process and “Coach the Coach” program, the Zenger Miller “Team Training Certification Seminar” and “Executive Coaching” practices from the Professional School of Psychology, California. He is also a qualified administrator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality inventory.


Click here to visit Roger's website.
Dashed Line

More from Roger Ingbretsen
Organizational Cultural Values to Consider
Continual Process Improvement
The Most Effective Method for Executive Coaching
Aggressive Recruiting And Retention
Selection Considerations for Leadership DevelopmentCoaching

Related Forum Posts

Re: Help for Inventors Re: Help for Inventors
Making Money in 2011 Making Money in 2011
Quote of the Day - ?"I've never met a successful entrepreneu Quote of the Day - ?"I've never met a successful entrepreneu
Re: Did you reach your goal this year? Re: Did you reach your goal this year?
Re: HRPreneur Re: HRPreneur

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Share this post and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.
Share for a Cause
Featured Expert
Dr Don Yates Sr PhD
@drdony
Visit website



Worksheets
By: Evan Carmichael

8 Powerful Steps to Finding Your Passion

Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

Does your pitch suck?

Create a plan of attach to launch your new business.

8-Cover

Like this page? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Bottom Footer



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:
Popular Articles

Ten Things You Can Do To Be a Better Leader

Get Your Business on Google Places

Introductions to Be Remembered

Suggestions

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.