Lights, Camera, Talent Action!

Prologue

Not many HR professionals will argue against the importance of strategic talent differentiation or the value of data-based business decisions. But how do we translate the things we should be doing into simple processes that help us define the next actions to take?

Over the last several years, the HR team at Sears Holdings Corporation has made some great strides in breaking away from antiquated and ineffective HR practices in pursuit of more dynamic, engaging, meaningful, and innovative talent solutions. By now, some may be familiar with our effort to shift to OKRs for goal setting and our re-design of performance management that uses crowdsourced feedback as a central component. Building on this momentum, we’ve also started to rethink the talent review process.

Having just done away with annual performance ratings, the last thing we wanted was to continue to conduct a talent review process that was eerily similar to traditional performance reviews and perhaps more difficult to understand at a practical level as our field still often struggles to define and measure potential.

In addition to reconsidering the value and purpose of talent review in general, change around this process had to be supported by digital tools that were not only easy to use but also helped educate people leaders and elevate our maturity in assessment. To support this advance, we wanted to be clear about what talent review was and also how it fit in with our recent changes to performance management.

 Enter Talent Action Planning

In general, managers of others were familiar with the 9-box/talent review process as we’d been executing some form of it since 2010 but what we introduced in 2015 was a little bit different. Instead of aiming the main focus on 9-box assignment, we shifted attention toward the actions that followed the team talent conversations. To better align with the changes that had already been made and to more clearly signal the new focus of our approach, we re-branded the entire process from Talent Review Calibration to Talent Action Planning, placing great emphasis on the incorporation of the word “action.”

Talent Action Planning is an opportunity to step back as a team and discuss how our people are doing and what actions we can take to support their continued growth and enhanced performance.

Now, in addition to identifying a talent designation, managers were also asked to indicate which specific talent actions (development activities they would commit to owning or supporting) were the most appropriate given expected trajectory. For example, it was no longer enough to say that John Smith is a high performer with potential to advance job levels into a leadership role, John’s manager now had to also indicate what he would do to support John’s growth and development.

To support this shift, we created a digital tool to not only track 9-box placement and actions but to also provide guidance on how to arrive at these decisions.

The Power of Digital Tools

This tool enables managers of others to answer an optional questionnaire (2-4 minutes to complete) and then uses a simple formula to suggest a 9-box placement based on those responses. From there, managers are presented with an interactive image of a 9-box grid with their team already plotted and are then able to edit at their own discretion using a drag and drop feature to move associates to different sections on the grid.

 The questionnaire is meant to serve as a helpful tool, not as a means to remove manager judgment. In our first year of launch, the questionnaire was used for over 70% of associates (completion was optional, managers could go straight to the drag and drop feature if they preferred) and among those cases, managers agreed with the questionnaire placement over 70% of the time.

 We also added a feature to double check when managers did select a placement that was different than what was suggested by the questionnaire. This was included to serve as a visual cue to HR business partners facilitating team sessions so they could probe further if needed while in the live discussion without having to scan spreadsheets or reports, it was a trigger for managers to thoughtfully consider their decisions and prepare to speak to them during the team sessions, and, finally, it served as an indication of how useful the questionnaire actually was.

 Once managers finalized team placement on the grid, the tool prompted them to select at least one talent action (development activity) they would commit to executing with the associate. Suggested talent actions were listed based on which area of the 9-box grid the associate was placed in. Again, managers had the freedom to select any action they wanted to, including one that might have been recommended for a different talent designation, and could also write in something entirely unique using the free text feature.

 Checks and balances from the larger team were kept in place. Similar to years past, this process culminated with a team session to discuss talent and align on placement and next steps. In our analysis of system usage we found that final individual associate placement on the grid matched managers initial assignment 89% of the time. We do not have the same “pre-work” data from prior years to be able to determine if the tool itself impacted this, but we interpret this as a positive sign that the tool and related resources achieved our goal of creating a common understanding of 9-box grid categories and applying it consistently. When changes were made in the team session, most weren’t drastic which suggests team sessions helped to refine talent designations, not alter them significantly.

 HR, Technology, & Data: A Love Story

The tool did what all HR technology should do; it facilitated the process instead of dictating the process. Too often in the past we found ourselves changing to accommodate the system. Now, technology was on our side, making things easier on those executing and also collecting the right information in a seamless manner that would allow for later data analysis of not only process outcomes and insights but also tool usage behavior, enabling us to enhance functionality for future sessions.

 In addition to all the great benefits this tool brings in terms of facilitating the execution of Talent Action Planning and helping our business partners better understand the process and value, one of the coolest (“cool” if you’re into data like we are) parts of this tool is all of the data it produces. Big data has been a hot topic among the HR community for the past several years and certainly won’t be going away any time soon but many still struggle with how to capitalize on this. At SHC, we believe that collecting more data is better (in fact, we aim for 10x the data), but we’re also sensitive to the burden this can place on employees and only want to collect information that will lead to actionable insights.

 Early anecdotal feedback indicates that HR business partners and managers like using the new tool and think it is a significant upgrade from previous solutions. Following the trend of the last several years, we maintained a high completion rate across the entire enterprise; collecting talent designation data for over 95% of the salaried population (this includes all job levels). In addition, 85% of the employees placed in the 9-box categories targeted in this launch year were assigned talent actions. Analysis also revealed that there was differentiation even among the targeted segments. Associates identified as high potential were assigned an average of 2.5 talent actions whereas associates identified as low performers were assigned an average of one talent action, indicating managers are planning to focus more of their efforts on segments that are more likely to produce the greatest impact.

 Talent Action Planning Part 2: What to Expect in the Sequel

Though we have completed the first implementation of the Talent Action Planning process and conducted initial data analysis, we are still in the early days and have yet to see the full value of this solution. 

More Dynamic Talent Planning. Built into the tool is the flexibility to conduct team action sessions at any point in the year which will enable individual teams to revisit talent action planning on a schedule that makes the most sense for their business needs.

Better Digital Tools. Using the feedback we received from managers and the HR community, we have identified several enhancements we plan to make to the digital tool. Soon, we will ask managers and HR Business Partners to return to the tool and provide an update to the talent action plans they set during the 2015 team sessions.

Meaningful & Actionable Insights. In addition to keeping the action plans relevant and top of mind for managers today, we expect this data will provide numerous insights in the future such as the impact of specific talent actions on individual development and performance, job movement, promotions, and associate engagement and turnover. This will enable us to create an even better tool that not only facilitates the process more seamlessly but also provides valuable insights to managers on how to more effectively support the performance and development of their teams.

 The Moral of the Story

For a long time, technology in HR has meant moving traditional paper-based methods to online or electronic versions. The pervasiveness of the digital world and the increasing fast-paced change it commands has created certain user experience expectations that even HR will have to deliver on. To best provide guidance on talent strategy to leaders these digital solutions will also have to enable seamless data collection and reporting for fact-based decision making.

 The introduction of a questionnaire to guide talent designation placement and talent actions to guide and create greater accountability around development is an important step forward for Sears Holdings Corporation. The data collected through the new tool will allow additional analyses on talent action planning as a broader concept, enabling leaders in business and HR to more strategically target efforts on the actions with the greatest impact to performance and development. We’re very encouraged by what we’ve learned so far and plan to continue to build on this virtuous cycle of data collection, insight generation, innovation, and impact.