Talent philosophy part 2
I’m back this week with part 2 of my talent philosophy. You’ve hired well and set the person up to ramp quickly, so what’s next? Luckily your new hire is going to be busy figuring out how to get going and diving in. After onboarding I start working on development right away, but maybe not in the way one would think.
Development
In Development my goals are to grow the capability of my talent. I want them to develop (hopefully creating a bench of future leaders) and increase their love of working with the company and hopefully me! The first step for me is always to produce stretch. It’s a core part of my talent philosophy that when you hire really strong people you can challenge them right as they land. I believe strong talent will rise to the challenge and getting them in there will produce great outcomes for them and the team. I always tell them I’m throwing them in the deep end and am transparent with this approach, but also tell them I have their back. I’m here for them and want to make sure they know they can ask me questions at any time. I also check in frequently during the first 4 months to make sure they’re not drowning and I’ll reprioritize for them. Not only does this create stretch, but also builds trust.
Beyond that stretch I help them become successful by making sure they always have access to me. I don’t want them to ever feel any hesitancy reaching out to me. This means continuing to build on trust established in the interview process and a great way to do that is by being extremely transparent and also a little vulnerable. I also try to give really early feedback on things they’re doing well and timely feedback if I see anything they could have done differently. Some managers will be hesitant to give challenging feedback, but your high performers want it. Don’t be afraid to give it early. After that I like to do quarterly reviews even if the company doesn’t mandate them. These can be really quick observations that take only 30 minutes to write. I typically divide into what’s going well, what could be improved, and areas to focus on for the next 6 months. If you’re really organized, keep a second doc or private area in your talent system (like Lattice) where you roll up all your observations each week, it’ll make your quarterly check in really easy. Beyond that I try to do a really deep review once per year and be very transparent about what went well and what didn’t go well. You’ve hired strongly so your talent wants to know what they can do - give it to them straight but couch it in terms that will make it easy for them to absorb (some like humor, some like more of a carrot approach, some more like more of a stick approach).
The other thing I do to drive development is really take some risk. I’ll challenge my team with stretch opportunities or low risk managerial promotions to get them to rise to the challenge. These are calculated risks based on the situation of the company and the strength of the talent you’ve hired. I’m a big fan of the stretch assignment for top performers, putting them in front of larger audiences, a big client, or asking them to drive a project - let them know you’ve got their back and you’ll be there to support them and talk through the challenge when they need it. I also take a somewhat controversial approach to managing talent as a leader, by staying involved with skip levels. I’ll make sure to invest in leaders who report to my directs to make sure they get visibility, get a different perspective, and know I care about their development. It’s a balancing act to make sure you don’t contradict your managers, but you can have a key role developing the talent on your extended team.
Retention
The last piece of my talent philosophy centers on retention. My goal is to keep this great talent that I’ve invested in and to continue to drive the culture forward. Success in this area is highly dependent on the three areas that come before it as hiring well, onboarding strongly, and continuing to develop will contribute strongly to retaining your great talent.
My prime focus in retention is supporting my people. Sometimes this means tough conversations about what you think is best for their future and carefully making sure you’re carving our growth for them. Beyond that the most important thing I can do is to create a tie to the culture and people in our company and on our team. This tie helps drive purpose with my team and creates an affinity that is hard to break. When I have had a hard time leaving a company it’s always the people more than the perks or product that have been the hardest to let go of and that’s what I want to make sure I have cultivated. Similarly I also try to create a sense of purpose for them by making sure they know how their work directly impacts our company mission and culture - I try to reinforce this all the time. All hands are a great way to do this at scale, but I also try to do it in individual conversations.
Hiring > Onboarding > Development > Retention
I covered alot of ground in how I think about talent. Two weeks ago I talked about what motivates me and that’s impact. It’s hard for me to think of any impact I can have that is greater than bringing in great talent who can have a much bigger impact than I can drive alone. It’s one of my favorite parts of any job working with great people, helping them achieve great things, and celebrating together.