Role of Top Management in Talent Management

Group 1
Barenya Padhi (08008) Karen (08082)
Deepthi Gopinathan (08012) Madhushree Kulkarni (08085)
Hira Suryani (08015) Nandini Shetty (08091)
Supriya H.G. (08052) Priyanka B. (08098)
Swati Bansal (08054) Vishudha Bhatia (08121)
Jaishree Dewangan (08078) Wasim (08123)

Submitted to: Dr. Nilanjan Sengupta

On: January 26th, 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Introduction.........................................................................................................................................4

2 Literature Review................................................................................................................................5

2.1 CEO as the Talent Management Program Champion...................................................................5

2.2 Key features of CEO-led talent management...............................................................................7

2.3 The hands-on CEO.......................................................................................................................7

2.4 How Boards can shape Talent Planning and Development..........................................................8

2.5 Creating a Successful Talent Management Framework.............................................................10

2.6 What Can Organizational Leaders Do to Encourage Line Managers in Talent Management?...10

2.7 Talent Management Principles..................................................................................................10

3 Industry Examples.............................................................................................................................12

3.1 Marks and Spencer....................................................................................................................12

3.2 SAP.............................................................................................................................................12

3.3 Coke...........................................................................................................................................13

3.4 Lucent Technologies..................................................................................................................14

3.5 Infosys........................................................................................................................................14

3.6 HCL.............................................................................................................................................16

3.7 Johnson & Johnson China..........................................................................................................16

3.8 Medtronic Inc............................................................................................................................17

3.9 Pitney Bowes Inc........................................................................................................................17

3.10 Bossard Trans Pacific.................................................................................................................18

3.11 Accor (North America)...............................................................................................................18

4 Conclusion and Learnings of the group.............................................................................................19

5 References.........................................................................................................................................20

Executive Summary
Today’s business environment is one which has a very volatile nature due to the increasing
global competition, shifting markets and unforeseen events. As a result, it has become imperative
that organizations pay a lot of attention towards attracting, hiring, developing, deploying and
retaining their key talent very effectively and efficiently. Organizations which fail to understand
this key concept loses out in the war for talent eventually, thereby bringing down their
competitive advantage and profitability in the long run.

HR can definitely play a key role in attraction, induction and training potential talented
employees in the initial stage, but in the longer run, developing those personnel into dynamic,
motivated and long-term participants is a general concern of the entire management team, i.e.
from the CEO of the company to the floor supervisor. Every department in the organization must
ideally have leaders who can retain and engage the top performers in that department in an
effective manner so that the people are kept motivated, and are retained in the organization for a
longer period of time. Hence, the importance of top management in talent management issues is
one which deserves special attention in today’s business environment.

1 Introduction
Talent management is a process that emerged in the 1990s and continues to be adopted, as more
companies come to realize that their employees’ talents and skills drive their business success.
Companies that have put into practice talent management have done so to solve an employee
retention problem. In an organisation, there is nothing more crucial than fitting the right
employee in the right position. Or else you would be trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
When people do jobs that just don't suit their liking, inclination or temperament, the results, or
rather the lack of them, will be disastrously obvious. Low productivity, dissatisfaction, low
morale, absenteeism and other negative behavior will become typical till the employee is shown
the door. Or perhaps, there is another option - Talent Management.

Call it “human capital management”, “people management”, “employer relationship

management”, “workforce management”, “employee life cycle” or the ability to “attain, train,
and retain” a workforce - but making talent management a strategic, comprehensive approach to
identify, evaluate, develop and allocate the talent to help business perform at its best is a big
challenge for the organizations.

The issue with many companies today is that their organizations put tremendous effort into
attracting employees to their company, but spend little time into retaining and developing talent.
A talent management system must be worked into the business strategy and implemented in daily
processes throughout the company as a whole. It cannot be left solely to the human resources
department to attract and retain employees, but rather must be practiced at all levels of the
organization. The business strategy must include responsibilities for line managers to develop the
skills of their immediate subordinates. Companies that focus on developing their talent, integrate
plans and processes to track and manage their employee talent, including sourcing, attracting and
recruiting qualified candidates with competitive backgrounds; managing and defining
competitive salaries; training and development opportunities; performance management
processes; retention programs and promotion and transitioning.

2 Literature Review
Over the past thirty years businesses have had to continuously improve what they do and reduce
how much it costs them to do it. The result of this is that many large businesses have much flatter
organisation structures, with top level managers having much broader roles and many more
demands on their time, than previously. Because of this, the top level executives sometimes want
to hand over Talent Management to ‘specialists’ in HR. If this is combined with a Chief
Executive Officer who believes that Talent Management is an HR agenda, responsibility can
soon slip away from line managers and managing talent becomes a ‘tick box’ activity.
While HR have an important role to play, active Talent Management needs an engaged Chief
Executive Officer with Top Level managers who are prepared to take the long term view about
the skills the business needs in the future and those who are best placed to meet them.

2.1 CEO as the Talent Management Program Champion

The program champion is a single individual who takes personal responsibility for the success of
the talent management initiative. This individual does not do all the work! The champion’s role
is to ensure that any resistance is dealt with effectively. Because this is such a crucial role, the
program champion should be as high up in the management hierarchy as possible. The best
results are achieved when the CEO, President, Board Chairman, or their direct report has the role
of the program champion. Without high level management support, a TM initiative will be
plagued and undermined by both overt and covert resistance to the plan.

The management of a company’s pool of talent is now too important to be left to the human
resources (HR) department alone and has become the responsibility of the top executive. This is
the main finding of a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit in co-operation with
Development Dimensions International (DDI). The study consists of interviews with 20
corporate leaders. All 20 corporate leaders interviewed for the study said that talent management
is their responsibility.
 Of the 18 chief executive officers (CEOs) and two chief operating officers (COOs)
interviewed, seven say they spend 30–50% of their working time on talent management, and
a further seven executives estimate their time commitment to be about 20%, a substantial
percentage, given a top executive’s crowded agenda.
 The remaining executives say it is a priority and either spend 5-15% of their time on talent
management or could not provide a time estimate.
 In the words of Tom Wilson, the COO of Allstate Corp.: “The most important thing I have to
worry about is people.” And John Swainson, the CEO of CA Inc., says: “I would say on a
long-term basis, as the CEO, I have primary responsibility for the issue of organisational
health and ensuring that the management team remains vital, relevant and refreshed, and that
 we create a process to nurture and facilitate our own succession. That is one of the two or
three most important things that a CEO must do.”
Almost all the companies whose senior executives were interviewed generate at least US$1bn in
annual revenue and possess strong brand recognition. They cover a broad cross-section of
industries, including retail, manufacturing, financial services, energy, technology, consumer
goods, real estate, consulting, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The 20 corporate leaders
interviewed are located in ten major industrial countries, including the US, the UK, Japan,
Australia and India.

Few observations from the survey:

 Chief executive officers (CEOs) are increasingly responsible for, and involved in, talent
management. The heads of human resource departments play an important, supporting role in
executing talent strategy.
 CEOs spend a large amount of their time—often more than 20%—on talent management.
However, this effort is not typically guided by a formal talent strategy explicitly linked to the
company’s overarching goals or embedded in the business planning process. Rather, CEOs
engage in selected supporting activities where they believe they add value.
 Talent management has become more important because of a growing recognition that it
helps to drive corporate performance, even though the exact impact is hard to quantify.
 Good talent management is not undertaken in a piecemeal fashion but consists of
comprehensive development programmes. These include the identification of leadership
potential, performance evaluations, targeted development activities and job experience.
 Many CEOs mentor executives in their organisations—an additional and important part of
the programme. They regard the development of the next generation of leaders as one of the
best ways of leaving a strong legacy.

2.2 Key features of CEO-led talent management

Good talent management promotes people based not only on their performance but also on the
manner in which they have made their mark. “If I have a leader who’s getting results but is
damaging the organisation because of the way they’ve achieved results, that’s not okay,” says Mr
Zesbaugh. And Robert Care, the CEO of Arup Australasia, a division of Arup Group, remarks:
“If their [employees’] attitude isn’t strong about the culture, ultimately that will undo you.”
Talent management was traditionally the domain of HR and the role of the CEO and COO was
intermittent and distant. Two factors largely account for increased CEO involvement in the past few
years: the shift in focus towards intangible assets such as talent, and increased board scrutiny in
relation to both ethics and performance. Now it is a strategic necessity for these executives not only
to keep abreast of the latest developments in the company’s talent programme but also to plot
strategy, own associated initiatives and regularly participate in events related to talent management.

2.3 The hands-on CEO

In the wake of legislation over the past five years requiring board members to scrutinise their
companies more carefully, boards themselves have become involved in talent management. In
most of the companies, directors expect the CEO or COO to take charge of talent management and
to update them regularly on individual executives. Executives regularly discuss talent management
both at formal meetings and in more casual settings. “People follow behaviour more than they do
strategy, and leadership is about mobilising behavioural change,’’ says one of the executive. The
CEOs and COOs interviewed oversee the company’s talent management activities. They carve out
specific times to discuss talent management with senior staff and their boards but also refer to the
topic at regular meetings. The amount of time they spend on talent management can sometimes be
considerable. Messrs Hawkins and Care say they spend about 50% of their time on talent
management and Majdi Abulaban, the managing director of Asia Pacific Delphi Packard, Electric
Systems say they allocate about one-third of their time to this. “[Talent management] is about
making sure that you have the right people in the right places for both themselves and the
organisation, and needing to make sure that you as the chief executive are taking responsibility for
the development of your leadership talent,” adds Michael Wilkins, the CEO of Promina of
Australia, an insurance company. “It’s one of the best legacies that you can leave any
organisation.”

2.4 How Boards can shape Talent Planning and Development

Most boards focus on annual budgets and financial outcomes, often limiting their involvement in
talent management to recruiting and hiring a CEO and managing his or her performance.
Successful organizations know that's not enough. Talent is typically the largest single line item in
an annual financial plan and the chief factor in achieving strategic objectives. Managing your
talent is another critical aspect of asset management and merits the full attention of your board.
Owing to the fact that today's directors are held to a higher degree of responsibility than in the
past, they must delve deeper into business strategy. And that means including talent management
on their agenda. Marketplace conditions will continue to shift, and successful CEOs will
increasingly need to leverage the input and support of their boards in tackling talent management
issues. Directors can start by modelling themselves after the most effective boards, who make
sure they have answers to talent management questions like these:
1. Is our culture in line with our organizational values and business goals?
2. What is the process for evaluating senior executives and how well does it assess executives'
strengths and weaknesses?
3. Is there a succession plan in place that covers all contingencies for executives and other key
employees?
4. Is there a pipeline of strong candidates in place and do we have a plan for developing
leaders?
5. Do we have an active plan to retain our top talent?
6. Do our HR policies support the changing demands of the workplace?
7. Is executive compensation linked to business strategy and performance goals, and does it
match the competition's?
8. How does the board show that we value and support our people strategy?

The answers serve as a platform for adding board value to talent management initiatives.

The board's role in talent management : Talent management involves a forward look to
identify the competencies needed to achieve business goals and create a plan to attract and retain
the right people to execute on them. The board's primary role in this process is to give strategic
support to the CEO. This should include guiding, monitoring and evaluating-only.
The board's role is not to develop talent management strategy, nor to get down in the weeds and
meddle in day-to-day execution. That is the domain of executive management. The board should
focus on ensuring that effective strategic processes and plans exist; reviewing the plans and
seeing that they are given the necessary resources to succeed; and evaluating outcomes. Directors
add value by asking the "what if" and "why not" questions.
Directors need information to perform their role effectively, not every detail about processes and
plans, but enough data to ask the right questions. In some of the best-performing companies the
chief talent officer reports directly to board, serving as the liaison between the board and the
organization's leaders. Talent management overlaps with performance management, which is a
look back to measure expectations compared to job performance. The best CEOs want
substantive feedback, not a pat on the back from their boards. They want to know how they stand
with their board, what they do well and what needs improvement. The most effective boards
provide detailed performance reviews to their CEOs and ensure that the review process filters
through the entire organization. A meaningful performance review process helps attract and
retain key talent, including the CEO. And it helps directors fulfill another of their central
responsibilities, developing and sustaining effective leaders who model the organization's core
values and culture. The most important thing is people. Talent is mission critical for every
organization in today's increasingly demanding environment. Talent management requires a
strong commitment from the board and should be treated with equal importance to financial and
risk management. The most successful organizations know this and their boards pay attention.

2.5 Creating a Successful Talent Management Framework

The role of Top Management in Talent Management is so very critical that the first two steps
involved in creating a successful Talent Management framework involves the Top Level
Executives.
Step 1: Secure and sustain the commitment of top managers
Step 2: Clarify the roles of key groups (such as CEO, top managers and HR)

2.6 What Can Organizational Leaders Do to Encourage Line Managers in Talent

Management?
1) One way is to measure and reward managers for carrying out these activities.

2) A second way is to insist that managers prepare several people to be their own backups
before they are eligible for promotion themselves.

3) A third way is to train managers how to carry out these actions.

4) And a fourth way is to assess managers’ performance in part based on meeting measurable
talent development goals for their departments as part of their own key performance
indicators (KPIs).

2.7 Talent Management Principles

A number of principles can be applied for effective Talent Management processes .However
each of this require support from “Top management “, absence of which will lead to the failure .
Here are few principles which shows the how important is the Top Management buy-in in any
organization.
1. Generate Organisational Support
Only start if you have CEO CEO stewardship for talent management is critical for
sponsorship generating the profile, commitment and focus on the
management of talent.
Gain line management Line managers coach and support their talented direct reports
support towards development and career goals, a process that should
cascade from the CEO and senior executives.
HR must act as facilitators HR’s role is to facilitate the management of talent and to act as
coaches and consultants to the line managers.

2. Ensure Robust Implementation

Start with the end in mind: Organisations need to identify what leadership and
define the desired management capabilities are required to deliver the business
contribution to business strategy which should then be codified and subsequently
success underpin all Talent Management initiatives
Create talent “pools” Select & develop individuals against an organisational standard
as opposed to a defined set of role-specific competencies.
Ensure talent pool selection is The following criteria may be considered for selection:
by merit: select for potential,  Demonstrable alignment with organisational values
plan for development  Motivation to lead and motivation for self-development
 Interpersonal skills and cognitive ability
 Demonstrable results
 Retention risk
Be clear on what attributes of Some attributes of talented people cannot be developed easily.
 talent are difficult to develop Initiative, judgement and energy are common examples. It is
and then select them in important to select these attributes into the organisation or into
talent pools in the first place.
Use robust diagnostic Diagnostic assessment plays a pivotal role in identifying key
assessment for development strengths and opportunities for development.
planning
Create targeted individual Development planning and implementation should be clearly
development plans focused on development gaps that emerge from the diagnostic
assessment process
Promote on merit Selection of talent pool members to vacant positions is a merit-
based exercise. There may be candidates outside program with
a merit-based claim to the position, or candidates from the
external labour market.
Focus on retention Use sound diagnostic processes to identify what will keep your
talent in the business. Then seek to leverage your
organisation’s natural assets against these things, and work at
closing the gaps on the things you don’t do so well.

3. Integrate into the Business

Conduct regular talent audits The organisations should conduct regular audits of leadership
talent to plan leadership development and succession. The
CEO and senior executives need to agree and sign-off on
developmental actions for each individual.
Centrally own the talent This helps to minimise a silo mentality, facilitates the efficient
allocation of development resources and reinforces
accountability.
Hold participants Accountability for following through on development projects,
Accountable assignments and challenges is with the participants themselves.

3 Industry Examples
3.1 Marks and Spencer
In the late 1990s, Marks and Spencer had an aggressive growth strategy and arguably the best
team to deliver the results. But the UK based retailer clearly positioned its top performers
inappropriately as its circumstances changed. Talented staffers were wasted on non-core
 ventures while the main business lost market share away to new entrants. The poor
placements helped chase away 15 of Marks and Spencer’s top 16 executives in two years –
and contributed to a 60% slump in shareholder value before the firm began to recover.

3.2 SAP
In SAP, top management shows high level of commitment and talent reviews are done across
all management levels. And this managerial judgment is complement by peer feedback.
There lies more transparency and commitment concerning the talent portfolio in a business
unit in SAP.

3.3 Coke
Choosing a wrong successor, is a mistake all CEOs want to avoid. Unfortunately, the track
record in this regard of even the most successful CEOs is disappointing. Consider the
legendary CEO, of Coke, Roberto Goizueta. The aristocratic Cuban had trained his
successor, Doug Ivester so well and made it clear to one and all long before his death who his
successor was. When Goizueta died of cancer, Ivester took charge in what the markets
perceived to be one of the smoothest transitions ever in a Fortune 500 company. The
Economist commented: “Robert Goizueta will be severely mourned at Coca-Cola, … but he
might not be missed. Strangely, enough, that would be one of the greatest complements a
departed chief executive could receive. Douglas Ivester, Coke’s 50-year old president and
 chief operating officer, is now expected to succeed Goizueta and to carry out the same
strategy that has served Coke so well. Goizueta deserves the credit for this smooth transition.
He was responsible for succession at Coke, and his plans had been laid well in advance.”
Yet, a couple of years later, Ivester was found unfit for the task and had to resign. An
accountant by training, Ivester had a flair for numbers and had the reputation of a street
fighter, unlike Goizueta, who had been a strategic thinker and delegator. When they were
together, Ivester complemented Goizueta well. But after becoming the CEO, Ivester found it
difficult to manage some sensitive issues and by early 2000, had resigned. Looking back,
Ivester’s number crunching, financial engineering and technical skills were exceptional but
his people orientation and leadership skills were lacking when they were needed most. Take
the scare in Belgium when hundreds of people became sick after drinking Coke. Ivester did
not go there for a week, a reflection of his inability to appreciate the magnitude of the crisis.
Similarly, Coke’s failed merger deal with Orangina was mostly due to Ivester’s failure in
dealing with anti Americanism in France. Ivester also seemed somewhat out of place while
handling a racial discrimination suit. Quite clearly, Goizueta had trained his successor well
but had chosen the wrong successor in the first place.

3.4 Lucent Technologies

One company which seems to have taken talent management and succession planning
seriously is Lucent Technologies. Lucent has divided succession planning into two phases:
identifying leadership requirements and the talent available and in the next phase talent
development. Most senior leaders develop their own succession planning process. Each
senior executive typically identifies three possible successors.
Lucent evaluates possible successors on two primary criteria: performance and the ability to
develop and adopt. Some of the important attributes, the company looks for in future leaders
include:
 ability to think globally
 ability to focus on results
 ability to perform tasks and projects with speed
 customer orientation
 concern for people
 respect for people
  ability to inspire trust in employees.
A dedicated department at Lucent assumes responsibility for succession planning. This
department develops strategies, collects feedback and makes ongoing improvements in the
system. Senior executives spend more time on identifying and developing potential
successors. High potential managers are given stock options.

3.5 Infosys
Infosys technology, has followed a systematic approach to attract the best talent from across
the country and recruit candidates by conducting one of the toughest selection processes.
Even after following the best practices of variable compensation structure to acknowledge
performance, they are facing the trouble of retaining people in their organization. The Chief
Mentor of Infosys, NR. Narayana Murthy, once mentioned,
“...Each evening, we have to make sure that they come back the next morning."
Henceforth they started some of the following programs to retain its talented workforce and
nurture them for the future:
a) Infosys Leadership Institute: The Infosys Leadership Institute located in Mysore, trains
executives and grooms leaders through a multi-pronged approach and has some of the
programs in its account like the entry-level program, role-based training and development,
learning management, tier leadership development. Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys
said,
"Great performance puts employees on the fast track to growth within the organization.
Creativity, devotion to being ethical and sincere in dealings, and the commitment to strive
relentlessly in pursuit of excellence are also major considerations while identifying future
leaders at Infosys".
b) Programs for education system: Infosys makes investments in the education system at all
the levels- primary, secondary and tertiary so as to have qualitatively enhanced the talent
pool in educational institutions to meet future demand.
Infosys has built the HR practices for the organization as part of the business strategy so as to
deliver the best to their clients. Infosys top management has done this by emphasizing on the
talent development and retention in the organization.
TV. Mohandas Pai, Director and Head, Finacle, Admin, Human Resources of Infosys, gives
a rationale for this practice:
 "Investors examine financial and non-financial parameters that determine long-term success
of a company and human resources represents the collective expertise, innovation,
leadership, entrepreneurial and managerial skills endowed in the employees of an
organization. Our representation is based on the belief that intangible assets provide a tool
to our investors for evaluating market-worthiness of Infosys."

3.6 HCL
HCL Technologies CEO Mr. Nadar believes in preparing the executives of his company by
gradually increasing their responsibilities through promotions and project work. The
company possesses an entrepreneurial style in which managers are relatively autonomous
and each division heads has profit and loss responsibility for their groups. Before HCL starts
considering someone for a senior role, it wants evidence that the executive is ready. He also
believes that the talent management by the company has led to strong growth, largely by
ensuring employee and customer satisfaction. In HCL, individual performance is judged
mainly on a division’s financial success. The standards for an early stage initiative and
established divisions are different. HCL is consistently named as one of India’s most
employee friendly companies with a strong customer service. The company uses annual 360-
degree reviews, in which employees evaluate managers to measure leadership skills.
Separately, HCL conducts personality assessment tests every year or more frequently to help
gauge potential. Innovation and quick thinking on employees’ part is given a lot of
importance. Once the performances are evaluated the development programmes are
prescribed. Mr. Nadar spends 30-40% of his time on talent management. HCL also has
succession plans that look three and five years into the future and further beyond. An open
door policy is followed by him. He believes that there is a level of bonding at his company
that may not exist at firms outside the region. But retention is HCL’s main challenge, a
reflection of the intense competition for executives in India.

3.7 Johnson & Johnson China

For the CEO of Johnson & Johnson China (a subsidiary of Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson &
Johnson), Cindy Lau, talent management is crucial for retaining executives in an increasingly
competitive market. Ms Lau sets her unit’s talent management strategy, working closely with
her head of human resources, other senior executives and her board. But she is also
 personally involved in the development of executives. She evaluates her five direct reports
every year and has input or signs off on about another seven reviews. She discusses all of
these reports, individual progress and succession issues with senior staff and her board. Ms
Lau considers herself a mentor to her direct charges and three other executives from among
Johnson & Johnson China’s wider circle of about 30 senior leaders. Johnson & Johnson
offers training programmes that combine online and classes headed by outside management
consultants. Company-wide leadership profiles consider excellence in ten categories:
integrity; strategic thinking; to detail; organization and talent development; intellectual
curiosity; collaboration and teamwork; the ability to get things done quickly; self-awareness;
adaptability; and results. They are also used as a framework to evaluate potential incoming
employees. Formally, Johnson & Johnson evaluates its executives once a year. The company
has three succession charts: “ready now”, candidates who could step into a role immediately;
“ready later”, which considers readiness one to three years into the future; and “ready
future”, which looks more than three years down the line.

3.8 Medtronic Inc.

William Hawkins, Chief Operating Officer Medtronic Inc., ties Medtronic’s growth in recent
years to its ability to develop great executives. While he says he is unable to provide statistics
linking talent management to performance, revenue has grown from US$6.4bn in 2002 to
US$10bn last year. Net income nearly doubled over the same period. Mr. Hawkins spends
about half his time on talent management. Medtronic recruits from top graduate schools and
moves its recruits into an “on boarding programme” that familiarizes them with the
company’s businesses. Top performers may subsequently move a few times over the ensuing
two years. Thereafter, each of these executives settles in one division and is reviewed
quarterly by Mr. Hawkins and a committee of senior managers. Medtronic uses a number of
in-house programmes to help promising executives enhance their skills.

3.9 Pitney Bowes Inc.

Michael Critelli, Chief Executive Officer, Pitney Bowes Inc., says it pays to develop
subordinates at Pitney Bowes. The almost century-old provider of mailing, shipping and
weighing systems bases its executives’ bonuses partly on their ability to ready successors for
key jobs. Mr. Critelli believes that strong succession is a sign of stability, which is vital for
 long term growth. In its succession scheme, Pitney Bowes has at least two people in line for
most positions, including 10-15 potential candidates for CEO and other senior positions.
Pitney Bowes knows who would replace Mr. Critelli or the company’s most senior
executives in an unexpected situation. The company also has succession plans that look
three, five and ten years out. Mr. Critelli says his group reviews productivity and such areas
as customer loyalty. Is the executive helping people to develop the skills they need to
advance their careers? Mr. Critelli estimates that he spends about 25% of his time on talent
management. He discusses leadership regularly with his senior management team, called the
Enterprise Leadership Council. Pitney Bowes has a number of development programmes for
people at all levels. The company offers week-long retreats on leadership for vice-presidents
and above. It also encourages key managers to serve on boards and to accept assignments—
jobs or projects—outside their expertise. Mr. Critelli believes that executive coaching is
helpful over limited periods and in addressing specific issues. He also believes that
communication skills, especially the ability to listen carefully, are extremely important.

3.10 Bossard Trans Pacific

The CEO of Bossard Trans Pacific says that in talent-hungry Southeast Asia it is difficult to
retain bright executives once they have the skills to be CEO or to fill other key positions. The
subsidiary of the Switzerland-based Bossard Group relies heavily on headhunters and
employee referrals to find new employees. Nevertheless, Mr Mac Meekin can pinpoint his
own successors and replacements for most of his inner circle of 12 executives. Moreover, he
believes that talent management is important. Mr Mac Meekin says that talent management
also helps executives to improve their skills, leading to better financial performance. Mr Mac
Meekin and his executives spend 40% of their time on talent management. Three times a
year, Mr Mac Meekin holds progress meetings with his direct reports. Bossard bases
financial rewards for general managers on revenue and profit of their divisions. It bases 70%
of its functional managers’ compensation on results. The company’s Total Learning Plan
helps managers to improve through classroom work, Internet programmes and special events.
Mr Mac Meekin also favours using project work to help executives progress. Bossard
transfers promising executives from their jobs to lead year-long initiatives. Bossard employs
executive coaching and informal mentoring.
3.11 Accor (North America)

“We use a lot of 360-degree feedback so that we make sure it not only shows the opinion of
the boss but we include the colleagues and even the employees you manage.” The philosophy
we hold is that if we satisfied our customers, they are going to come back again and again,
and that we can (then) deliver profit to our shareholders,” Mr Le Mener says. “That brings us
back to the idea that we are totally dependent on the quality of the people that we have.”

Mr Le Mener says quality is especially important among top executives who set the tone for
the rest of the organisation. He sees talent management as a long-term process. “It takes time
to develop people,” he says. A 37-year Accor veteran, Mr Le Mener spends about one-third
of his time on talent management. On his regular agenda, he teaches an afternoon class at the
Accor North America academy in Dallas every other month to groups ranging from 30 to 50
executives. “I spend a lot of time in the field and the main purpose is to meet with people and
make sure that everybody’s pushing in the right direction,” Accor North America uses
executive coaches and informal mentoring to help managers. Mr Le Mener benefited from
mentors early in his career, including the company’s chairman.

4 Conclusion and Learnings of the group

In a complex, connected world replete with material the only thing that helps organizations
differentiate themselves from the others is the intellectual property, networks of talented people
they have with them. For every organization, the golden seeds of the future will be sowed when
the responsibility of talent management will be driven from the top management, CEOs and
COOs overseeing talent management strategy rather than delegating it to HR departments and
HR, in turn, responsible for supporting the strategy and executing it effectively. Hence it is
crucial to develop a talent management system that works with the business strategy and the one
that can be implemented into the daily processes of the company. The ultimate motive is to have
the right people with the right skills in the right place and making sure that they are engaged and
focused on the right activities to achieve targeted business results. Some of the examples in this
paper also show that a misfit of talent in the organization can have disastrous implications for the
organization. Hence a right and systematic approach can be put in place for this by ensuring that
 the chief executives actively take responsibility for the development of new age talent force in
the organization.
However, today smart companies communicate effectively about the importance of talent
management by publicly recognizing and rewarding the deserving candidates with promotions
and awards. This is to ensure that a right environment is cultivated for talent to flourish in the
organization.
 Talent management approach has to be directed with the help of top management and strong
talent management approaches lead to greater workforce productivity and other benefits.
 Talent management should be explicitly linked with overall strategic planning and talent
development programmes should combine both theory and practice in the form of structured
learning experiences and off-site meetings, as well as the proper business experience. A varied
business background is the best grounding for the CEO and COO roles. As today’s corporate
leaders face such diverse challenges and opportunities, firms are looking for people with wide
experience in terms of function, role, and, increasingly, geography.
 Formal processes for identifying top talent, including performance evaluations, and strategic
reviews of key talent should occur at least annually and incorporate written feedback to
buttress scored categories. There are many other components required in a good programme,
and a rigorous approach to obtaining reliable performance data is essential.

5 References
 http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/jobs/0407/2004072800100100.htm

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talent_management

 PDF document on Talent Management and Leadership

 www.vedpuriswar.org/.../Strategic%20Issues%20in%20succession%20planning.PDF –

 amcham.nextra.hu/Files/FileRedirect.aspx?FileID=f701ea40-999e-4f3f...

 www.sap.com/.../BWP_CEO's_Role_in_Talent_Management.pdf - United States -