I need a discussion for week 6 and a response to 2 Classmates for my Recruit, Develop, Assess, Reward and Retain Class

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JWI 521 Recruit, Develop, Assess, Reward, Retain

Week Six Lecture Notes

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DIFFERENTIATION What it Means

Effective leaders use differentiation to identify the most important strategies to pursue, the most important positions in terms of executing their strategy, and the most talented employees who can make those strategies a reality. The top twenty percent of your workforce should be identified, and given varied and challenging professional development opportunities, as well as financial rewards. Good leaders and managers make sure that all employees know how their performance is assessed, both so that they have the chance to improve their performance, and so that there are no surprises when decisions are made about promotions and personnel changes.

Why it Matters

• Effective leaders differentiate among top talent, solid performers, and underperformers • The most promising employees need demanding roles that will develop their leadership skills • Candid and rigorous performance evaluation allows all employees to know where they stand

“People need to get differentiated rewards and recognition to be motivated.”

Jack Welch

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USING DIFFERENTIATION AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL

Differentiation begins with the realization that not all jobs are equal, nor are people equal in their ability to excel in strategically important jobs. Successful leaders differentiate among positions, identifying those jobs that are strategically important to their company. They also differentiate among their employees, based on their natural talents, acquired skills, experiences, and motivation. Strong managers strive to place the best people in the most important strategic positions. In Winning, Jack Welch describes the advantages of differentiating the workforce into three groups based on

their performance: the top 20%, the middle 70%, and the bottom 10%. Although he approaches the topic of differentiation with his own unique perspective, his “20 – 70 – 10” system is roughly equivalent to the traditional categorization of employees into A players, B players, and C players. How can this differentiation process be used to support better management of employees across the organization? Managing Your A Players Your A players and A-minus players are your top talent and emerging talent. These people are crucial

to your current and future success, so you should devote a lot of time, energy, and money to managing them. They should be singled out for special treatment, including generous amounts of both financial and non-financial rewards. General Electric (GE) under Jack Welch would place high-potential managers into significant leadership positions, even though the company knew these new managers would not perform as well as more experienced leaders. The units they were selected to lead were not major contributors to GE's revenues. It was an exercise in leadership development so that, by the time these new managers were given leadership of one of GE's key businesses, their strengths and weaknesses were well-known, and they had acquired the requisite competencies to be successful in more important roles. Managing Your B Players Your B players are those solid performers who are strong contributors, but are unlikely to develop much

further. This group of employees typically represents the large majority of a workforce, and it is tremendously important to an organization. You should devote significant time and resources to your B players; they need training, positive feedback, and thoughtful goal-setting. Some of them may end up surprising you as they

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develop into A-minus or A performers. But everyone in this large group should be made to feel as if they truly

belong. You do not want to risk losing your B players; you want to keep them engaged and, if possible, make modest improvements to their skills and job performance. Managing Your C Players What about your C players, your chronic underperformers? In a well-managed organization, these are the

employees who have to go. They may be good workers and even talented people in their own way, but the fact is that their talents do not support your strategic objectives. Letting go of underperformers is more easily said than done. But if your organization has a candid evaluation process, C players generally know who they are. When an employee has been a mediocre performer for a sustained period of time, their manager should start a humane but unambiguous conversation about moving on. People changes are tough to implement, but they are easier for employees to accept if they perceive that the decision is based on a systematic, impartial review process, rather than on purely subjective or political considerations.

CANDOR AND PEOPLE CHANGES

Even if there is no immediate need to remove people on your team, you should always be looking for opportunities to do so, whether the move is a promotion to a new role or a departure from the company. As Jack Welch puts it, “Leaders relentlessly upgrade their teams.” In light of the powerful forces that work against successful people changes, you need to make a special effort to act on what you know to be the truth, even when the truth is unpopular. Strong leaders and good managers set clearly defined expectations, assess honestly against those expectations, and consistently apply high standards to all their direct reports.

No one should have the title of manager if their employees do not know where they stand in the organization today, or what their prospects are for continued employment or promotion in the future. A culture of candid performance evaluation increases the chances for authentic conversations throughout the business. After a while, authenticity becomes a way of life in the company.

Authenticity is not only good business. It is also ethical business. When you are candid and honest with your employees, you are treating them with dignity. Not every conversation will be easy, and not every message will be positive. But it is a basic human right to be told the truth, and it is the responsibility of every leader and manager to uphold that right.

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GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THIS WEEK’S CLASS

As you read the materials and participate in class activities, stay focused on the key learning outcomes for the week:

• Explain the importance of using differentiation in the workplace What are the benefits of differentiation for effective workforce management? Does the leadership in your organization provide varied and challenging professional development opportunities to prospective leaders like yourself? Do managers strive to place the most talented people in important strategic positions? If not, what can be done to address these issues? How can HR provide resources to support better workforce management?

• Understand how performance assessment supports talent management How do managers in your organization talk to their direct reports about performance evaluations? Are they candid about the employees’ performance? Do they set clear and rigorous expectations and evaluate against those expectations? Do employees know where they stand and what their future prospects with the company really are? Are leaders and managers willing to make the tough decisions that are needed when it is time to let go of underperformers?

• Explore ways to manage difficult conversations with employees It is not easy to deliver a warning based on poor performance, or the bad news of a dismissal to an employee. But as a manager or leader, you must develop the ability to cope with these difficult conversations. It is important to understand that such conversations should not come out of the blue. A culture that fosters authentic and candid conversations between managers and their direct reports eases the challenge of difficult conversations, since the employee already knows from previous discussions that their performance has been under scrutiny by management.