Picture it. Ocean
City, 1988. Two recently graduated high
school males drive down to the shore to meet up with half a dozen recently
graduated high school females.
Heaven. Our popularity knows no
bounds. We arrive, celebrate with the
young ladies for a while and then head to the boardwalk. One of the females asks us all to stop to
have our palms read at a kitchy closet-sized boardwalk establishment. Um, ok.
I am elected to go first - $3 for one palm, $5 for two. “$3, please,” I say (those of you who know my
frugality…stop laughing out loud). My
life will be long, married with two children and some nonsense about career and
money that were very general in description.
My buddy affirms my willingness to set a tone, as the girls
were ooh-ing and ah-ing over my stable future.
I was a hot catch. And then one
of the girls went next. The fortune
teller began very broadly about her successes yet to be – you will graduate
college, you will have a good job, etc.
But then love came into the conversation and the teller asked if the
letters “P” and “J” meant anything. And
with that, tears began to fall. The
girls huddled together and shared in the heartbreak. You see, this young lady’s last two
boyfriends were Pete and Jason. Now, the
fortune teller was clearly in the driver’s seat and directed how the rest of
the night would go. Needless to say, it
was not that lucky of a night for those two recently graduated males. They had to help console the raw emotion of
18-year old girls. Crap.
As I have had the privilege to work with many companies in
trying to develop managerial and leadership skills, questions of predictability
come up. Most organizations want to know
that if they do “x” will “y” happen? Is
it that simple? Basically, “John, can
you tell me where we will be in 5 years and will we be successful?”
Think of the wonderful parents that you had/have (or maybe
the wonderful parents that you’ve observed).
Have all of their children been model workers or spouses, or human
beings, for that matter? No. Is that necessarily reflective of the fact
that the parents weren’t as great as all that?
The best coaches and leaders have had players, executives or
followers that did not rise to the occasion of their instruction. It has meant that some of those coaches and
leaders did not know their environment well or pay enough attention to the
talent before them. As such, they made
decisions that were not in keeping with understanding what they had to work
with. For those leaders, they were
replaced by others who seemed to have a better handle on such realities. But on the other hand, some of those leaders
were replaced even though the plans were right on the money. Think about Andy Reid’s transition as head
coach for the Philadelphia Eagles to the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. His plans were very similar, his assessment of talent thorough and the success
was immediate in the new post.
So, how do you predict success, in this case, with
talent? Firstly, it’s not a
cookie-cutter plan. What worked in one
environment might not work in another.
There is a need to assess all variables.
For the HR professional, we have used SWOT analyses for years. I know that we’ve re-branded this and tweaked
it, but in its essence, this is what we should do to profile an organization
and to do a deeper dive with talent.
Secondly, have a bit of patience. You can’t put a plan into place and then look
two weeks later for a monster improvement.
In my experience, those companies that can show an off-the-charts
improvement had to be in a very dire situation to start with, as in “Kitchen
Nightmares” with Gordon Ramsey. Let’s
hope this is not the situation your company is in. Most talent-related new playbooks take a bit
to get used to and to implement with conviction. Acclimating staff to the new rollout of
procedure, planning and level of teamwork, for example, needs some time. There is not a quick fix for most
companies. And to be honest, you want
lasting, not short term.
And finally, do your homework before hiring. Know the skill set clearly. Understand competencies first. Measure talent by using assessments for
coachability, personality, motivation factors, etc. There is great value in investing is such
measures first. Don’t be frugal in this
(Physician, heal thyself, eh?).
I know that most companies are hoping to pull a wild card in
talent. This isn’t
going to be done through luck, with tarot cards or palm reading. It’s going to be done with an educated
assessment of the internal truths of the company, the external competitive
markets and the ability of the talent at present. Those gaps can then be seen clearer and a
plan put in place. I wish it were as
simple as a look at my hand to know for sure what the future will bring, but
alas, it’s not to be. Plus, I seem to
have more lines on my hands the older I get.
Not only would I have to ask “what do I do with that,” but also “how did
this happen to my hands?!”
