Reflections on a Strategic Conversation

Reflecting on a Strategic Learning Experience

Backdrop

The following is a brief reflection on two hours of an intellectually challenging engagement in a “Strategic Conversation” on “Building a Talent and Leadership Pipeline” steered by the renowned Prof Hayagreeva “Huggy” Rao, Atholl McBean Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human, Resources, Stanford Graduate School of Business. The conversation was held late last month and participants included the likes of Ambuja supremo Harsha Vardhan Neotia, Tractors India CEO, Sumit Mazumder; Satish Pradhan, Executive Vice President, Group HR, Tata Sons, National HRD Network National President, N S Rajan, Sourav Daspatnaik, Director-HRD & Strategy, Apeejay Surrendra Group, Sujoy Banerjee, VP-Human Resources, Eveready Industries Ltd. to name a few.

Challenges of Building Talent and Leadership Pipeline

Negative information being often viewed as diagnostic was one of the greatest challenges of building talent and building leadership pipeline. Negative information welds better than the positive. As an example, the otherwise “clean” politician’s one off corruption charges enjoy better recall value in the mind of the public.

There is a “fundamental attribution error” in how we view people in life and work. As an example, teachers often facilitate the success of high performers and reinforce low performance of others.

Examples:


1. “Only Rajesh seems to be interested in this class.”
2. “Obviously this was expected from you, Anil.”

While the above is a case of stereotyping by others, interestingly, “self stereotyping” also happens:

The very term “Athletic Test” is expected to be in the comfort zone on the mind of the black applicant in the United States just like “Intelligence Test” is expected to be one for the White. Conventional notions go on to shape self-stereotyping.

Stereotyping is also fuelled by Power. “Powerful” people are seen to have less of empathy and modesty. Ironically, in order to sustain power one needs to have exactly those two traits but that then is another story.

Way Out:

Talent Builders should look for talent that’s smart and conscientious. It is important to have the relevant intelligence to perform in the position as well as the dedication and sincerity to comply.

The fourth in the "big five" or the "five factor" theory is conscientiousness. This parallels closely with Jung's judging-perceiving. People who score high on conscientiousness are orderly, get their work done, arrive on time, and care about doing things right. Score low on conscientiousness and that probably means you tend to slack off on your work, rarely worry about deadlines or neatness, and are more interested in taking it easy.

Much of the problem could be avoided if we look for point blank for entrepreneurial talent. Those enterprising are always expected to fit the bill either way.

Interesting Case Studies:

Cisco: A game of poker helps to find out how you deal with emotions- based on how players respond to losses.

“Once a year, all TESCO directors and a thousand of its managers spend a week working back in one of its stores, stacking shelves, working on the tills, serving customers, reminding themselves of what they all do for a living.” (http://www.the-chiefexecutive.com/features/feature255/)

Companies like TESCO are using “Reverse Mentoring”- getting younger persons to mentor.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s book “Evolve” is an interesting read on this.

Crime and Business:

We took up the case of “Pirate Ships” wherein two sets of talent pipeline were required to sustain the model. One, those who would ensure compliance and discipline to laid down norms and then there would be the more “coveted” talent- risk takers. An uncanny resemblance with how business works as well.