Each answer should be at least one paragraph long (500-750 words) and accurately reflect the text’s key points. Your answers should include direct evidence from the reading to support your argument.
Question 1
Case: Western Union Program Guides Team Development
The money transfer provider Western Union has adjusted to many market changes throughout its 160-plus year lifespan, which has allowed the company to increase its base of operations to almost 60 nations with a total workforce of over 11,000 workers. With recent trends pointing to a greater need to satisfy tech-savvy customers, Western Union hired a new CEO who spearheaded an innovative movement to improve customer service—this included the advancement of more digital and mobile interactions with customers, as well as an expectation that employees would “go the extra mile for customers.” These initiatives required a broad cultural change in the organization, prompting the collective development of managers and employees in teams.
The first step of this process involved getting the learning organization at Western Union to evaluate the usefulness of the company’s performance management system (including the use of performance reviews and rankings). It was determined that these efforts were both expensive and unpopular, which meant that improvements were needed. A new program called GPS (short for Guide.Performance.Succeed) was crafted to help leaders improve their teams. Establishing workable development goals for teams and providing continual feedback were key elements of this process. Leaders and team members were also held accountable for goals that improved talent development.
In order to successfully implement GPS, the learning and development group at Western Union designed a training plan called Leadership in Action. This program used “leadership circles,” which required groups of managers to be mentored by a senior leader who taught them the basics of GPS and provided opportunities for practice. The program was particularly effective because high-profile leaders such as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer were involved in the actual sessions—participants paid more attention.
Overall, GPS required participants to meet once a month to discuss various talent management issues, and key materials were sent ahead of time to enhance the discussions. Given that individuals are spread across the company’s large global footprint, meetings were conducted through teleconferencing. Discussion sessions focused on important themes such as establishing goals, effective communication, and coaching at work. All of these topics increased the level of talent development among team members.
Initial evaluations of these programs showed that employee engagement increased as a result of the discussion sessions. In addition, the learning organization at Western Union plans to use leadership circles in the future to facilitate new training and development opportunities.
Questions
- What are the pros and cons of focusing on groups in talent development? What support would be needed in leadership to ensure that the participants get the most out of their interactions with others?
- How would you evaluate the effectiveness of GPS? What about Leadership in Action? How could these programs be improved?
- How might you use leadership circles to facilitate other forms of talent development in organizations? Would this approach work well in certain companies over others?
Question 2
Case: Deloitte Revolutionizes Performance Management
Consulting firm Deloitte works with many organizations to improve their business practices. Recently, the firm looked at its own internal processes and determined that its performance management system needed some new life. With over 65,000 employees to rate, the goal was to make the process faster, continuous, and simpler. After gathering information on its current practice and investigating the science behind performance evaluation, Deloitte came up with a revolutionary way forward.
The current practice was a traditional method of cascading objectives from the organizational strategic level down to the individual contributor level. Managers would rate each employee at the end of a rating period based on how well he or she met those objectives. However, annual goal-setting did not coincide with business operations schedules, and the process consumed nearly 2 million hours a year. Since Deloitte is in the business of improving efficiencies and productivities for clients, it only made sense to radically change its own performance management system.
The science behind evaluations shows that ratings are often affected by unconscious rater biases and perceptions rather than factual performance outcomes. Deloitte’s employees often work in teams, and individuals believe that they are able to use their skills and strengths effectively at work. The firm’s new approach asks team leaders to specify what future actions they plan to take regarding each member of the team. This shift in thinking recognizes that raters’ assessments of performance may be inaccurate, but the way they plan to work with someone in the future says more about that individual’s actual performance.
Team leaders now report their future-oriented intentions, from endorsing that they would like to keep the individual on their team to recommending that the individual poses a performance risk that might endanger client relationships or team performance. Since an essential component of performance management is to facilitate improvements in performance, team leaders now check in with each team member once a week to review project status and priorities, provide feedback on recently completed work, and provide any needed course corrections. This frequent communication is initiated by the team member rather than the leader. In this way, each individual takes ownership of their performance and seeks out feedback and input on their performance. Deloitte has moved away from assigning each employee a single performance rating score in favor of ongoing feedback.
Questions
- What is your overall opinion of Deloitte’s new approach to performance management? What type of training would you recommend for managers, team leaders, and team members before switching to a system like this?
- What actions should be taken if an employee is ranked as a potential performance risk? How would compensation decisions be made without a performance score for each employee?
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