The Talent Landscape®
Matched Array technology
The Talent Landscape® is a ‘matched array” in which the relationship between the Management Strategy and Talent Readiness axes generates an “alignment vector” for all matched values; that is, for which management and worker actions complement each other directly. For example, a worker who believes she performs highly enough to be promoted, may well actively seek to leverage her performance into growth or into a position outside the company. Retention and advocacy are matching management appropriate management strategies in response.
*The matched array is a specialized form of matrix with a unique relationship between X and Y axis values, such that when axis values are appropriately matched, the center diagonal of the array represents a set of desirable points of alignment. EffectiveTalent Office owns multiple patents on matched array technology in a range of domains, including human capital.
The geometry of the Talent Landscape® delimits specific zones of risk. Where potential might be high, but performance low, separation risk is a significant probability (the shaded area can be extended to any part of the landscape to reflect standards of the organization). At the other extreme, those with high performance, but limited acknowledged potential in the current organization, are significant retention risks. Our business consultants help clients establish the applicable range and metrics of the Talent Landscape® most appropriate to the organization's talent situation.
The alignment vector represents a pathway toward growth and leadership. It is the confluence of management expectations and standards leading to advancement for those delivering matched performance and potential.
Accordingly, and within reason, the more tightly a given talent architecture is grouped around the alignment vector over its length, the greater the combined leadership potential and performance of the organization’s talent.
The alignment vector provides a reference for both performance and potential. Talent readiness is a proxy for performance, and management strategy is a proxy for potential. The distance from the alignment vector to either of the axes represents the shortfall in desired or expected performance along the vector.
There are regions of the Talent Landscape that can approximate entry, experienced, and ready-for-growth worker populations. This helps partition progress along the alignment vector into practical stages of acclimation, mastery, and growth, providing additional perspective on where talent lies along the diagonal, based on stage. This is indicative, and not all talent will fall into these categories based on time in position, but on the basis of performance and potential.
Visual intelligence
The geometry of the Talent Landscape® imputes significance to the position and direction of movement. Worker location shows performance, potential, risk, and (over time) change direction. Relative quality compared with other talent can be determined directly, with distance and direction signaling the degree and nature of the differences. Our business consulting in the area of performance management demonstrates the power of the Talent Landscape as a replacement for traditional 9-box performance-potential assessments.
Advancement in this paradigm is achieved through talent movement vertically (enhancing potential), horizontally (improving performance), or diagonally (reflecting a combination of these improvements). Any combination of talent attributes can be represented on the array and represented by the resulting plotted positions.
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Workers can be positioned anywhere on the landscape, but their progress depends on being coached, guided, trained, and mentored to align with the center vector. This is not a reflection of conformity, but of leadership effectiveness.
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Progress along the alignment vector reflects the balanced contribution of improved performance by the worker, and enhanced potential guided by management. All such progress is a joint effort.
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Progress along the alignment vector highlights the essential function of management as a partner in enabling potential, not just grading it. Progress requires both worker performance and management direction, coaching, development, and advocacy.
The Advancement Roadmap™
The Talent Landscape® effectively sets out a palette for displaying five stages of growth along the length of the alignment vector. These are depicted as“5 horizons” and named according to the principal characteristic of meeting expectations at that level. This general trajectory of talent growth we call the Advancement Roadmap™, which represents a clear set of stages to growth, and the roles of management and worker essential to the journey.
In portraying these as “horizons,” we are calling them out as intentionally positioned in the upper right corner of the center-diagonal cells. This reflects the fact that progress is not solely the result of landing in the cell, but also of balanced migration upward and to the right in the cell. The worker – in alliance with management – transitions upward within and across the cell, and through experience, on the job training, and other forms of development, from one horizon to the next. The horizons are defined as follows, and represent generic forms of leadership growth:
Prepared. This is the point of entry created by either being new to the organization at any level, or by beginning a new role. It signifies readiness for the role in terms of the right mix of skills for the tasks the role requires. Preparation is the intersection of management’s selection and attraction activities on the one hand, and the talent’s commitment to eventually engage and perform.
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Productive. At this second stage, management is onboarding and guiding the worker, providing orientation and guidance on the ways of working and culture attendant to the role. In turn, the worker is engaging in response to those management activities, and becoming productive as a result of this learning as well as increased familiarity. At this early stage, the worker is learning how to be efficient in accomplishing tasks, but not necessarily demonstrating all the impact that will come with greater experience and additional management input.
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Performing. The third stage benefits from direction and coaching from management enabling the worker to fully contribute beyond simply task performance, but potentially also in influence, leadership, and guidance of those on his or her team.
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Placed. The final step for highly-regarded talent is actual placement in the next assignment, which can be anything from a lateral to a diversifying experience, to a growth assignment for development, to an actual promotion or combination of these. The talent is expecting to advance, and for the right worker, management’s appropriate and effective response is to elevate consideration of the specific worker, and develop him or her for the assignment. Note that “elevation” is a critical decision point, because it represents what is in the best interest for the company, even if the placement entails a degree of risk.
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Positioned. If managed effectively, the fourth level reflects awareness that the worker is fully contributing, and is valuable both internally and likely in the external market. Accordingly, she may well seek to leverage her contribution into accelerated advancement internally or into a more attractive external opportunity. If the worker continues to be viewed internally as an asset, then management’s response should be to advocate for advancement or position for growth, development or promotion, making sure to clearly communicate to the worker her rich internal prospects to counter the appeal of external offers.
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Accountable Advancement™
The advancement roadmap also forms the basis for evaluating standards and equity of advancement practices along the entire roadmap, enabling management to ask questions, challenge managers, ensure equity., and assessing whether sufficient risk is being taken with non-traditional skillsets and experiences. End-to-end visibility, combined with sharp HR and executive leadership make advancement accountable.
In the exhibit above, the advancement roadmap visually tracks the advancement positioning of 48 candidates, each meeting the alignment conditions at his or her relevant horizon. Also identified are high-performing female and male minority managers, enabling leadership to track diversity performance from the root from the bottom up.
This level of visibility ensures equity and holds supervisors accountable for justifying their selections and if needed, explaining their exclusions. Visibility at this level is especially essential since failure to be included in early promotion decisions is a key reason women do not advance as rapidly as majority men.