Talent Management - Workforce Performance Solutions
May 2006
By Vincent M. Cramer and Clayton H. Osborne
Talent Reviews and Succession Plans are Compromised
Saturday Night Live had a recurring character named Stuart Smalley, the creation of comedian and author Al Franken. Stuart hosted a self-help TV show “Daily Affirmations With Stuart Smalley.” Looking into a mirror, Stuart declared “I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”
Although personal and social self-affirmations receive great attention, job related affirmations might actually have greater importance. Irrespective of title and position, we want to feel that we are smart enough and good enough. And doggone it, we also want people to like us.
Where Does Your Self-Affirmation End and Mine Begin?
Self-affirmation supports individuals in their quest to achieve fulfillment and the attainment of goals, desires, and dreams.
Self-affirmations are positive self-scripts that individuals recite and internalize to offset negative self-scripts. Typically, they are an inventory of a person’s attributes, strengths and talents. They are expressed as “I am” statements, such as: I am competent, I am smart, I am creative, I am a leader. Such self-affirmations are subjective and personal, and possibly dangerous.
Reviews and succession plans can be viewed as self-affirmations of those conducting the review or developing the succession plan, while the person under review may be experiencing a life-changing event. The process does not simply address compensation and title. It affects the totality of a person, with far-reaching implications and lasting effects.
To Emulate My Success, Emulate Me
Managers review subordinates to their standards, as well as the standards of the institution, in this self-affirming process. For example, if the reviewer is aggressive and assertive, it is expected that those who aspire to advance to that stratum in the organization should possess or cultivate such traits. Corporations ratify that premise because such a person holds that position and rank. Can a corporation reconcile its commitment to diversity with a review process that is marbled with subjectivity and embedded with tradition and culture?
Reviewers are trained to be competent leaders and effective managers, but in the review and succession planning process they might act like Stuart Smalley. Reviewing subordinates enables the reviewer to look in the “mirror” and subliminally say, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!” Corporate superiors have validated that mantra by that person’s prior reviews and advancement.
The My Way Highway
Because diversity programs are relatively recent creations in corporate America, the preponderance of superiors are legacy employees, not individuals who embody the diversity of its workforce. Statistics show that positions at the higher rungs of the corporate ladder decrease in the percentage of diversity. The result is that reviews and succession plans will take place between people of dissimilar backgrounds and cultures the higher you advance in the corporation.
How can a person who is quite different from the boss expect to be understood and appreciated? The process has the appearance of a personal makeover. Subordinates may feel like Pinocchio in a world of Gepettos, molded in the image of others, which is why so many employees and executives seek guidance, coaching and mentoring.
We might not emulate Stuart Smalley, but each of us practices self-affirmation. Reminding ourselves of our skills, competencies and accomplishments buoys our self-worth and feeds our self-confidence. However, this internal process takes place in a vacuum. It needs the validation of an outsider for us to truly internalize the message.
In corporations, “I Am” becomes IM. They are Instant Messages that we send to ourselves. IMs buoy a person’s view of his or her competencies, qualities, skills and accomplishments. Excluding family, the most important validation comes from employers. In reviews and succession plans, employers validate or undermine a person’s self-affirmation. Lack of validation turns self-worth into self-doubt.
Talent reviews and succession plans validate those who currently hold management and executive positions. They can logically conclude that what they are, and what they have done, is the formula that people seeking advancement should follow. This logic daisy chains up to the top of the hierarchy. Every person is passing guidance down, while looking for validation from above. You might consider it to be the “My Way Highway,” where the road is marked with signs indicating that to reach the next rung you should follow your superior’s path. What that person is and what he or she has done has been validated and rewarded. In essence, “If you want to get to where I am, you should be like me and follow the path I have taken.”
Diverse members of a company cannot confidently navigate the My Way Highway to reach higher rank and privilege, although they must try. The ultimate solution is for corporations to possess a worldview of talent that fosters a corporate culture of meritocracy that is manifested in talent reviews and succession planning.
In a global economy, corporations can no longer be culturally myopic. This article does not proffer solutions to this problem. As in any self-help program, the first step on the path to a solution is the admission step.
Vincent M. Cramer is the author of Cramer’s Cube. He is also the founder of Winchester Consulting Group, an Organizational Development and Training company specializing in the confluence of collaboration, innovation and diversity. www.cramerscube.com
Clayton H. Osborne is the Vice President of Human Resources for Bausch & Lomb.
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