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It’s a simple but powerful truth: companies change faster than leaders do. Companies evolve as they respond to market opportunities, economic cycles, regulatory changes and assorted strategic challenges. Their evolutionary pace has accelerated as globalization brings more competitors and technology disrupts traditional service models. Leaders . . . well, leaders try very hard and have […]

“A bad carpenter blames his tools”   The talent review is a well-accepted and increasingly common element of how organizations manage talent. They see the value in understanding an individual’s potential to advance and using that information to better plan for succession. Which tool should guide that discussion, however, is increasingly under debate. The classic […]

It’s unfortunately still fashionable to sell companies bias training to help their leaders reduce bias in performance management. While the intentions of these efforts are admirable, the research is clear that anti-bias training rarely has a lasting effect. Science shows that it doesn’t provoke a long-term change in racial bias and in other cases it […]

Should you change your definition of potential given the workplace changes after the pandemic? While the intuitive answer to that question after two years of turmoil would seem to be “yes,” the facts about potential guide us to a more nuanced conclusion.

Your leaders are your most powerful builders of talent. So why aren’t you using them that way?

The CEO was visibly frustrated just a few minutes into the CHRO’s presentation.
“I’m sorry, but I’m confused” she said. “This feels like the 10th different process that HR has asked our teams to absorb just this year. Why this one now?”

There’s no good way to dress up the dreaded middle rating and no way to convince anyone that being “average” is absolutely fine. If you have these conversations coming up, here are a few practical ideas to make them easier and more productive.

As companies worldwide strive to optimize performance management, they often overlook a change that would simplify the process, build trust and increase accountability. They can eliminate the self-review.

The employee self-review continues to exist more due to benign corporate neglect than to conscious inclusion in the assessment process. Its presence can introduce bias, give cover to poor managers and create unrealistic expectations in employees.

Transparency about performance and potential remains an incredibly important topic with our clients around the globe. Yet, we find that the frequency of our client discussions about the topic is not correlated with a meaningful increase in transparency. We provide you with direct advice about how to move towards a more transparent organization.