Talent Conversations: What They Are, Why They're Crucial, and How to Do Them Right

Smith, Campbell

• Publisher: Center for Creative Leadership Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781604910933
• eBook ISBN: 9781604917420
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

Individual leaders can have a significant amount of influence over the development of organizational talent. One of the simplest yet most effective ways to develop others is the talent conversation - a way of building on relationships that are based on rapport, collaboration, and mutual commitment in order to help the individuals you lead improve performance, focus development, and reach positive outcomes. Learn how to prepare for and facilitate effective talent conversations by using the Center for Creative Leadership's development framework of assessment, challenge, and support.

Knowing Your Talent

Before you can know how to approach a conversation you must first understand who you are engaging. The overall message you convey will vary depending on the organization’s—and your—assessment of a person’s performance and potential. Organizations draw from many methods of measuring employee performance and potential. One of the most common is use of a talent assessment grid that helps evaluate individuals relative to their peers within a particular time frame. One of the most popular forms of these is called the nine-box, with performance as the y-axis and potential as the x-axis. Sometimes the performance dimension is referred to as the what (the results) and the potential dimension is referred to as the how (the skills and behaviors displayed by the individual in achieving those results).

Reflection Exercise

Think back over the course of your career about a talent conversation you had with a superior. The conversation could have been related to your performance or your career, but the subject of the conversation was you.

Think about the following questions, then use the space provided to jot down your responses:

• What went right in the conversation?

• What went wrong in the conversation?

• What did the superior do to make the conversation more or less effective?

A talent assessment grid can help a group

• differentiate individuals on the basis of results, displayed competencies, and capability to do work within and outside of one’s job role

• provide a calibration of ratings across the enterprise to ensure consistency

• provide a snapshot of the succession pipeline and leadership bench strength

Even if your organization does not use a talent assessment grid, thinking about the current performance and future potential of your people will help you target the appropriate message you want to convey during the conversation. Rather than think about nine different types of talent conversation, you may wish to think in terms of four types of talent conversation. Each of these types of talent conversation has been mapped to a nine-box talent assessment grid in Figure 3.

These four types of talent conversation provide guidelines to help you

• prepare the key message you want to share with the employee

• anticipate and prepare for the employee’s reaction

• identify needed development areas

• determine the types of support the employee will need to be successful

FIGURE 2. The Talent Assessment Grid

A talent assessment grid categorizes individuals as high, medium, or low performers on one axis, and as having high, medium, or low degree of potential (for example, managerial or leadership potential) on the other axis.

FIGURE 3. Four Types of Talent Conversation

THE TOP TALENT CONVERSATION

When having a talent conversation with an individual who has been identified as top talent in the organization, you should focus your efforts on how to invest in him or her.

Top talent are individuals who

• meet or exceed performance expectations and deliver superior results

• demonstrate exceptional managerial and leadership skills

• exemplify most, if not all, of the criteria and competencies required for executing the organization’s strategy

• learn new skills quickly and take advantage of developmental opportunities

• are ready for more responsibility

During the conversation with top talent you should

• recognize the person’s high performance level

• share your and the organization’s perceptions of the individual’s leadership abilities and potential

• focus on how to provide the person with the skills and experiences needed for future roles

• discuss future aspirations and goals and desired development

• find out what motivates the individual and what you and the organization can do to ensure that he or she stays with the organization

THE SOLID PERFORMER CONVERSATION

When having a talent conversation with an individual who has been identified as a solid performer, you should focus on communicating the value that the person provides to the organization and how he or she can maintain or improve that solid performance.

Solid performers are individuals who

• meet or exceed performance expectations and deliver consistent results

• have demonstrated technical or professional skills

• may show some managerial or leade...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Managing Talent
• What is a Talent Conversation?
• Knowing Your Talent
• The ACS Development Model
• Preparing for the Conversation
• Delivering the Conversation
• Last Words
• Suggested Resources