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How do we identify talented people? The SHAs have been tasked with creating talent management strategies for their regions, and each Trust will have its own way of spotting the rising stars. In South Central we have the Stretch to the Board programme for senior managers who are seen as potential board members.
Earlier this week I was talking about how we can encourage people to put themselves forward for opportunities that let them shine in our organisation. I was reminded of a theory that I had seen, which was that men will always take risks in applying for jobs and opportunities that are just outside their level of ability, and will come out of their comfort zone to progress themselves. Women, on the other hand, (and this was the theory!) tended to apply for jobs that they were confident they could achieve successfully. Women (it’s said) don’t apply if they can’t tick all the boxes. I wonder if that’s true? If it is, we need to push our talented women to take risks in their self development so that they have an equal place at the table.
There is a real danger in any talent management programme that by identifying the high flyers, (let’s say 10% of the workforce, for the sake of argument) the 90% who aren’t identified are left feeling not good enough, de-motivated, and sidelined. I don’t think we want to do that do we? But we certainly do want to find the people who can soar and be the leaders of the future.
I think it’s about horses for courses. If everyone is confident that they will be supported to reach their own potential, we have a win-win situation. The race horses will need to be given a lot of challenging activity, the dressage horses will need painstaking repetitive practice, and the children’s ponies will need careful training to ensure they behave with little Mary.
Appraisal, LQF 360 degree feedback and Leadership Development Centres all play their part in spotting what people have to offer, and what they need to progress – if you haven’t had an LQF 360 feedback, it’s a really good way of finding out what your strengths and “areas for development” are.
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From The People Grower
Anne Axford is associate director for learning and development at Portsmouth PCT.
Readers' comments (1)
Blair Mcpherson | 17-Aug-2009 2:46 pm
A small unscientific survey carried out with my own organisation provided some explanations. We wanted to know why it was that women managers were not applying for senior management posts that they were well qualified for?
An increasing number of men and women seem to be saying that they don’t want the hassle. The pressure to keep within reduced budgets, the pressure to deliver continuous improvement and the pressure to meet ever more demanding performance targets just put some people off.
There were however some specific explanations that women gave, typical of these was the individual who said “they were not sure if they could do a 100% of the job” and that they didn’t feel able to apply for a post unless they were certain they would succeed at it. This was in marked contrast to the view of men who were much more prepared to give it a go as one said “if they don’t think I can do it they won’t appoint me”. The barrier here seems to be unreasonably high expectations that women place on themselves. The answer is either encouragement from a line manager or mentor.
Many women thought that a higher pay job was not only more demanding but required a higher level of commitment. By this they meant longer hours, the ability to routinely work evenings and weekends. That is attending evening meetings, taking phone calls at home and reading reports over the weekend. Women frequently said they were not free to do this as they had family commitments outside of work. In fact many of the women who are in senior management roles are notable for not having any dependents or family commitments. Of course the long hours culture and achieving the right balance between home and work is an issue for both men and women.
Many women said they felt uncomfortable with the tradition macho management style that they perceived as still predominating. They noted the focus on budgets and performance rather than partnerships and people. What’s interesting about this is that the modern Chief Executive is an influencer and a shaper someone who needs good people skills and the ability to make partnerships work as Local Authority objectives can no longer be achieved by working in isolation.
The message would appear to be that organisations need to change their culture in order to attract more women into senior management posts. The irony of this is that most organisations claim to want to be the type of organisation that most women say they want to work for.
Blair McPherson is a senior manager for a large local authority he is also author of An Elephant in the Room –an equality and Diversity training manual and UnLearning Management – short stories on modern management both published by www.russellhouse.couk
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