Business owners and managers are tasked with getting the most possible productivity out of their team - it’s all about motivating and inspiring people to do their absolute best.  The Talent Review is a  tool that managers can employ to ensure that they’ve got the right people in the right jobs, and can really make an impact on performance when done correctly.

A Talent Review is a process by which a business owner or manager takes stock of their current staff by asking two questions:

1. Is there anyone on this team who is (or appears to be) struggling with consistently hitting their performance objectives?
2. Do I have the best possible hire in each position in my company or organization?

Question #1 is fairly straightforward.  Chances are, you can immediately think of one or more resources whom you know are not delivering to expectations on a consistent basis.  If that’s the case, you have an obligation to the business to take action.  For many of us, the “not-so-fun” part of managing a team starts with telling someone that they aren’t performing at the level expected…so we avoid doing it.  You don’t need my help to figure out what to do in this instance.  Coach, and then monitor results.  Make changes if the situation doesn’t improve.

Question #2 is much more complicated, but it’s where the real payoff lies if you can determine the right answer.  Sometimes, the answer may be that you have a superstar employee, but you have them in the wrong role.  Many managers are hesitant to move A-Player staff members because they’re worried about losing that person.  That’s counterproductive thinking.

Think of it like the manager of a sports team who takes a high-performing player and puts them into a different position on the team because it’s much more suited to their skills - like a baseball manager who moves their leadoff batter into the second or third spot because such a move increases their chance of scoring runs.  Done haphazardly, reactively, and without forethought and analysis, such moves can be risky and even destructive to team production.  Done well, however, and you can turn a good team into a World Series contender.

The methodology for addressing this situation is a process I call the Talent Review, and it’s a tool that you should master.  Simply stated, the Talent Review is the process by which you analyze each position in the company, asking the question, “Do I have the best possible hire in this position?”  The process begins with reviewing the Job Profile for each position, and then scoring the team member currently in that role against the benchmark score for a “perfect hire” that’s contained in the job profile.  The goal is to make an emotions-free assessment about whether or not it’s time to make personnel adjustments that will have a positive impact on team performance.

I advocate the continuous use of Talent Reviews by owners and senior managers, because performance is never static.  It’s an especially important process to consider if any of the following are true:

• You’ve had the same team in place for longer than 12 months, with no adjustments to personnel.  Time to look at that lineup.
• Your hiring process is ad hoc, or you’re getting inconsistent results from your interviewing process.  Time to validate your original decisions.
• Your business or team is not hitting the performance objectives that have been set.  Time to analyze the problem at what is likely the root cause - wrong people in the wrong jobs.
• You have high staff turnover.  Time to find out if you have the wrong person managing staff.

Think of the Talent Review process like any other investment decision - by dedicating a little bit of time on the front end, you can dramatically cut your risks and improve results over the long run.  Cutting risk and increasing reward - two no-brainer reasons to consider a Talent Review for your business or organization.