Talent development and succession planning crucial in the cut-throat world of business

While some companies prefer to recruit mainly from outside, others focus strongly on building a comprehensive staff planning infrastructure that ensures a constant supply of suitable talent. While ultimately worth it, the latter requires substantial time and resources and companies often opt to enlist the help of an experienced external consultant.

SITUATION

A successful construction company founded in Hong Kong in the 1970s now also conducts business in mainland China and South East Asia, employing more than 1,000 staff in total. The company traditionally provides construction services for commercial and residential properties, as well as civil facilities such as ports, bridges and highways.

In anticipation of the economic recovery, the company recently expanded its business to other areas such as building maintenance and property management. Despite its track record and steady year-on-year growth, the company is experiencing a widening talent gap, with members of the senior management team approaching retirement age, and staff one level below them not ready for succession. In light of this, the company heads established an urgent need to identify and develop a strong managerial talent pool with the potential to move into senior positions in the near future.

CHALLENGE

• Relatively high middle management staff turnover rate
• Skills requirements for senior executive positions not clearly defined
• Staff training not a regular practice
• Busy employees reluctant to spare time for training and development initiatives
• No structure in place to select talent objectively and systematically

APPROACH

The company invited HMI Consulting to help develop a talent development programme with the following objectives:

• Identify talented staff with the potential for further advancement
• Find gaps between employees' current competence levels and the company's requirements
• Train coaches to transfer knowledge and accelerate staff learning
• Develop a talent pool for succession purposes
• Reduce the impact caused by the potential loss of key players
• Establish a systematic scheme to manage the talent development process
• Attract, retain and motivate talented staff

SOLUTION

HMI consultants guided the company through the different processes of the talent development approach:

1. Programme design and planning

• Prepare a clear outline explaining the programme objectives, timelines and deliverables
• Set up a management structure that specifies the roles and responsibilities of top and senior managers, coaches, external consultants and selected staff in support of the programme
• Conduct a series of interviews to facilitate the talent selection process and nominate selected employees for the programme based on defined criteria
• Assist senior executives to review and revamp existing compensation policies and practices to promote talent retention and motivation
• Arrange a kick-off meeting to introduce the overall project objectives, scope, expected milestones, methodologies, structure and deliverables to senior executives and selected employees

• Specify key competence requirements in line with corporate directives and core values for senior executive positions
• Apply a range of psychometric assessment tools to evaluate the skills and attributes of nominated employees
• Benchmark individual assessment data against aggregated group results to identify skills gaps and development areas
• Conduct an analysis to evaluate gaps between staff competence levels and the company's requirements

• Design an integrated staff development plan to assist talent to close any competence gaps that have been identified
• Conduct a coach-the-coach workshop to equip senior executives with the essential training and mentoring skills needed to develop talent and keep track of employees' learning progress
• Develop selected staff's leadership abilities and skills through a series of training workshops and experiential learning projects, enabling them to apply what they have learnt in the workshops to help generate ideas on enhancing the company's business or operations in line with corporate directives
• Selected talent conduct regular interim presentations on their progress to top management
• Organise a graduation ceremony to recognise talent's achievements and coaches' contributions
• Provide top management with a final report to outline the overall learning performance of the nominated employees and to identify potential successors

Click image to enlarge

OUTCOME

Feedback from the first intake of selected employees to complete the programme has been positive.

Participants found the interactive workshops and experiential learning activities practical and inspiring, and they gained valuable insights into different aspects of leadership.

Clearly defined and well-communicated competence requirements for middle management provided employees in these positions with a more defined career path within the company.

Although there is no guarantee of advancement after the programme, most participants appreciate the company's investment in enhancing their skills. This has substantially boosted key talent's loyalty to the company.

Ongoing promotion of the programme and endorsement by the first batch of graduates have increased awareness among other employees and sparked a broader interest in continuous learning. The company is planning to embark on a second round of the development plan and is also considering extending it to prepare supervisory staff for future middle management positions.

Taken from Career Times 2 April 2010, p. P17
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