Talent Management

The shifting nature of today's jobs questions much of HR's thinking. What's the point of organisation charts, role profiles and specific competencies if constant change makes them obsolete very quickly?

The loose definition of jobs and erosion of traditional structures also creates questions for individuals too. Career choices are difficult and helpful feedback hard to get, because nothing seems stable and consistent.

To compound things, today's knowledge economy values professional expertise just as much traditional management qualities. The capability to create advantageous, innovative products and processes matters just as much as good leadership. That further undermines conventional notions about careers.

Clearly, there is a need for HR to rethink things. At Skandia HR's new, bold thinking is evident in the company's Career Choice Framework. Intended to be both a helpful career map for individuals and definition of what is important, the Framework…

• Offers a broad, flexible model of management roles. It describes, and explains the importance of, roles at four levels…
• Managing Self
• Managing Others
• Managing Managers
• Managing Business Units

• Embraces professional expertise, with specialist, technical roles defined at equivalent levels to those of managers. The Framework positions expert knowledge as significant to business as good management.

• Uses values, not competencies. Skandia’s values define what's important about people and their actions. They are helpful guidelines on what the business needs, and they work across the business, at all levels, no matter how things change.

The context of a role inevitably influences how a value is evident, e.g. Accountability (one of Skandia's values) means somewhat different things for managers and specialists. The following table shows how one element of a value, Pushing Beyond Boundaries, adjusts to fit roles within the Framework.

The Career Choice Framework was developed by Skandia, not by Simply360. Our contribution has been supporting tools and workshops.

For each of the Framework's roles there is an online 360 Feedback tool with questions tailored to fit that role, plus core questions applicable to every role. When feedback is set up for a person there's a choice of which questionnaire to use, and the system can be used very flexibly. For example, a Specialist might use the Managing Others questionnaire to help him/her think through a career move into management.

Academic research finds that 360 Feedback is only effective if it's discussed and used to create a practical plan. At Skandia a half-day workshop enables that key process. Here's the slide used to provide an overview of the workshop…

The Workshop's focus on a "Big Thing", a key deliverable, puts the 360 Feedback in context, whilst action planning ensures participants leave with clear next steps. Evaluations suggest those features are really valued by participants, along with the 360 Feedback report's clarity and impact.

Here are some workshop participants' comments…

• “Very useful indeed - liked the style of the session. Short and apposite and have come away with: (a) 360 report and verbatim feedback/comments, (b) plan to work with.”
• “Good - valued and thought-provoking information contained in the 360 feedback report. Plus specific and measurable objectives as an outcome.”
• “Very useful. Useful to understand others' thoughts and comments and to action them rather than just reviewing as a theoretical exercise.”

The key to a successful 360 Feedback workshop is to engineer things so that people are happy to share their feedback and action planning with others. Hence, utilising the insights, ideas and advice of their colleagues. That engineering needs to run throughout the 360 Feedback process, from questionnaire design onwards, not just on the workshop.