Q&A: How Can We Ensure a Successful Talent Pipeline?

Topics: Capability Planning

Overview

Managers who rely on their top people to deliver stellar performances are hard pressed to give these people ample time for development when their own performance results are at stake. Drs. Kaplan and Norton highlighted this type of tension in terms of short and long-term financial investments in their writings on the Balanced Scorecard. They found that some organizations were willing to slash advertising or R&D budgets to meet numbers projected to Wall Street, only to learn they’d shot themselves in the foot a year or two later when their brand suffered or the pipeline of new products dried up. Foregoing the development of high potential talent jeopardizes the company’s growth strategies and possibly, its overall long-term success.

The management tension between delivering results and developing talent is exacerbated by the fact that many managers are still trying to become good at coaching and developing team members in the first place. HR and L&D executives say they are putting significant emphasis into teaching managers to be more effective coaches and providing them with more tools to develop team members because it’s the primary way they hope to improve performance management practices.