Apples to Apples or Seeds to Trees?
If you are doing assessment to identify and/or develop your high potentials, you are often faced with two choices:
- Giving everyone the same assessment, regardless of level (president, vice president, director, manager, etc.)
- Providing them with assessments appropriate for their level (e.g., having managers go through director level assessments to see if they have the potential to do that work and have vice presidents go through president level assessments, etc.)
The first option carries a mix of risk and reward. Yes, there is the possibility that you will find someone at a lower level in your organization that has the ability to do executive level work. However, you may be creating a frustrating and not very rewarding experience for those who do not.
A broad application of second approach will most likely prevent you from making a great discovery of talent. However, it will provide a meaningful development experience for a vast majority of the participants.
The best option may be a blend of the two: If you are nominating people to participate in the program, keep in mind what you know about each participant and his/her potential. Most people would go through a next level up assessment process (e.g., directors go through a vice president level process), but some who have demonstrated the most talent could be challenged to go through the next higher level process (e.g., having a director go through a president level process).
For more information on assessment for development/succession planning or selection, please contact Warren Bobrow.
Diversity--To Blend or Not To Blend
Luke Visconti recently presented at the Diversity Summit in San Diego, He discussed the concept of the melting pot. It appears that there is a call for discarding the melting pot concept (employees of diverse backgrounds are welcomed in and then blended or molded into a similar culture) and moving toward a garden salad approach (employees retain their unique flavors and co-exist with the other “ingredients”).
While this approach makes sense from a human perspective, is it really viable in the workplace? It’s true that we should acknowledge, honor, and respect differences; whether it’s age, ethnicity, gender, etc. How does that impact our ability as managers to create team cohesion and to build a corporate culture? At what point do individuals need to “blend in” rather than stand out at work?
It poses an interesting dilemma for organizational development effort and our ability to succeed in a multi-generational and diverse workplace. We’d be curious to hear from you. Is this something you’ve considered in your organization? How has this issue of inclusion or diversity been addressed in your organization?
If you want to learn more about profiting from a multi-generational workforce, receive a copy of the presentation, or respond to these questions, please contact Kammy Haynes.