Article

Even CHROs who have aggressively upgraded other elements of their organization have hesitated to make the often-obvious talent changes needed in their direct reports. We tell you how to ensure you shape your team for incredible results.

Where nice goes wrong is when the label is used by leaders to explain why they don’t have, or don’t force others to have, the difficult conversations and make the challenging decisions needed to improve their organization. Let’s redefine a “nice culture” so that it benefits everyone in your organization as well as your external stakeholders.

There may be high potentials in our midst who have been passed-over in our talent review processes because they don’t meet the conventional definition of potential or because the process didn’t work as it was designed. Are there hidden gems in your organization and, if so, how can you find them?

The secrets behind HR success lie beneath the organization design. How you bring that structure to life, through the people within it, will differentiate your success far more than the design ever can.

Our experience conducting hundreds of talent reviews and building the process for complex global companies shows us that six factors create a successful talent review. We believe that it’s less about the tool and more about the process.

There’s plenty of passion and noise behind the movement to eliminate performance ratings. Now might be a good time to examine what the science and practical realities say about the validity of this approach.

The right mindset will take you farther, faster on your journey to grow great talent. Too often we let our personal preferences override a more practical, outcome-focused approach. In these two short essays, “The Unimportance of Being Earnest” and “About that Horse . . .”, we help you build the mindset that will make you an outstanding talent builder.

If you believe that having a growth mindset means that if you try harder you can accomplish more, you don’t need to read this article. We agree and the science in areas from self-efficacy to goal setting to motivation supports that exerting more effort often leads to better results. However, if you believe that growth mindset means that different outcomes in life will occur if someone has a Fixed Mindset or a Growth Mindset, or that it’s possible to increase one’s intelligence or change one’s personality, please keep reading.

Through our search and consulting assignments, we find six factors differentiate those who win and keep the top talent executive role