jonno12131's picture Submitted by jonno12131 on
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Career Management

Hi everyone.

I am looking for some advice on a talent management/personal development framework that can be rolled out to my peers (and managers. gulp!).

My 'director' (manager's manager) has asked me to pull together a personal development framework for myself. The intention is to roll this out across the department to have a consistent approach to personal development.

Currently we have a bunch of managers but no consistent practices. We've had a lot of turnover and I raised the point to my Director that one thing we lack is guidance and support in our future development.

I've listened to MT for quite a while, I've heard about coaching, baseball cards, etc. and I'm really keen to get this right as it's not only a high-profile piece of work but it also has the potential to impact the morale and future development of the entire team.

Problem is I've never managed anyone before. I've never really had an effective development plan with any of my former managers either.

As well as personal development I'm keen to capture elements such as retention risks, performance, strengths/weaknesses, so it really overlaps between personal development and talent management. But is this trying to do too much? Should I just stick to personal development? The flaw with this is that it doesn't tackle the wider issue of talent management, which I also think is lacking here also.

Any thoughts from people who have done a similar thing? Would a framework like this really add value? Are there things that I should leave out to start with, what are the essentials?

Really appreciate your input.

Jonno.

Kevin1's picture
Submitted by Kevin1 on Thursday February 20th, 2014 9:46 pm

Hi Jonno,

Wow, that is a huge question.  Let me see if I can give you the tiny tip of a huge ice-berg. 

If you want some key things that good managers do well.  Ask your managers these questions.  How good are they at

1) Running a meeting? 
2) Presenting?
3) Managing projects?
4) Performance?  Meeting goals and deliverables
5) People skills? 
Including getting the most out of others above, below and beside while maintaining and building relationships
6) Delegation?
7) Time (Priority) management?
8) Do you know your strengths and weaknesses?  Self awareness comes first. 

If you feel that any of these areas are not ‘strengths’ then these are key management areas that you can get better at.  This is where they turn gap analysis into self development goals.

In addition, when managing their team’s development, a good manager is well aware of their Potential, their Readiness and their Risk of leaving.

Hope this gives you a start
Kind regards
Kevin
 

sqschaefer's picture
Submitted by sqschaefer on Friday February 21st, 2014 9:52 pm

Hi Jonno,

I think this is where one-on-ones will be helpful.

First, get an idea of your companies goals and priorities. (You will probably want to talk to your manager about this.) Then communicate the company's or department's goal to those that you are managing. Let them know that in the one-on-one meetings you will want to talk about this and their individual goals within the company.

Then your one-on-one meetings can be focused on how to help the individuals meet their own goals while working towards the company's goals. I think the open communication and clear direction will help individuals feel invested in the company and more likely to stay. It will also give you a better idea of how to manage and train/support those under you.

Please let us know what you ended up implementing and how it turns out.

Susan