1st person to respond to is Syndee Watson

 RE: Week 1 DiscussionCOLLAPSE

How well do the 7 principles, if properly implemented, address the concerns raised in this week’s readings? Cite specific examples to support your position.

      In Conaty and Charan’s book, The Talent Masters, the authors described, “If businesses managed their finances as carelessly as they manage their people, then they would all be bankrupt” without the utilization of the 7 principles, I think this statement would be true. Using a rigorous talent assessment, continuous learning and improvements, enlightened leadership team, working values, business partnership with human resource, meritocracy through differentiation and creating a culture of trust and candor an organization will create a strong alliance with its leaders, HR, and staff.

Rank these 7 principles from 1(easiest) to 7 (most difficult), based on how easily a company could implement them. Explain your rationale for your rankings.

1. Continuous learning and improvement- Provide continuous training and development for their staff
2. Rigorous talent assessment- create comprehensive recruitment process so that you select right candidate and implement annual reviews to retain the people
3. An enlightened leadership team, – to become an effective leader, one must “recognizes that his top priority for the future is building and deploying the talent that will get it there.” Leader must first look to advance his/her skill and attributes so that that can remain effective in his/her role
4. Working Values-Everyone wants to feel appreciated if they company recognize and reward people for their hard work
5. Meritocracy through differentiation- “Differentiation breeds meritocracy; sameness (the failure to differentiate people) breeds mediocrity.” By “recognizing and rewarding leaders through their talents, behaviors, and values,” an organization can foster growth. In the story about Sue, she knew she wanted a management position, so she knew she had to differentiate herself from her colleagues, she was “able to build relationships, adapt to changes, and made high-leverage decisions hat delivered numbers.” 
6. A business partnership with human resource- “active and effective business partners, raising the same, if not higher, level as the chief financial officers.” Most organization looks at HR professionals as the “cost center and not a profit driver,” thus making it hard to create a partnership. If the organization utilize the HR department as the talent management team, they will in turn have a more efficient, productive, and effective workforce.
7. A culture of trust and candor- “Candor gets the truth out. It enables keener observations, greater insight, and better descriptions.” Most organization, while they recognize the need for change, they sometime don’t want to hear the harsh truth of how things really are and what can be done to fix it. I think with anything building trust is the hardest thing someone can do, it takes time, effort, open communication, and mutual respect.

If you had to chose just one of these principles that would have the greatest positive impact on your organization, which would it be and why?

I would choose a business partnership with human resource. “HR has nothing to do with administration. Its about people, pure and simple, finding, training, motivating, and retaining great talents.” Creating a partnership with the HR can drive “individual, team, and organizational performance.”

References

Week 1 Lecture Notes: Conaty, B., & Charan, R. (2010). The Talent Masters

HR as a Strategic Partner: The What, Why, and How of Strategic HR 

2nd person to respond to is Shara Savage

 RE: Week 1 DiscussionCOLLAPSE

Hello Classmates,

I am truly blessed to work for a company that uses the 7 Principles quite often but maybe not consistently.  Here are my thoughts and responses:

How well do these 7 principles, if properly implemented, address the concerns raised in this week’s readings?

The seven principles are a great way to guide the C- Suite and HR partnership at any organization.  Providing there is proper implementation they are valuable.  In Sue’s case, thank goodness these seven principles are in use.  For example, the consideration of enlightening leadership team and the use of talent mastery and the culture in which they operated and communicated by having ongoing engagement with each other (Conaty & Charan, 2010).  A good reflection of these principles is the focus of increasing business productivity and the following thought “HR function will only be as strong as the CEO wants it to be, and if the CEO does not have high expectations for it, HR will remain the second tier. Just as the CFO is the trustee of the financial system, the chief human resources officer is the trustee of the people system.” (The Talent Masters)

Rank these 7 principles from 1 (easiest) to 7 (most difficult), based on how easily a company could implement them.

Here are my rankings:

1. An enlightened leadership team, starting with the CEO
2. Meritocracy through differentiation

• Rigorous talent assessment

1. Working values

• A business partnership with human resources

1. A culture of trust and candor
2. Continuous learning and improvement

I based my rankings on my own experiences.  I listed continuous learning and improvement as more challenging principles to implement.  Many companies have education departments or learning and development leaders; however, genuinely engaging people and developing them in their needs is a challenge.  Many things are posted but not easily retained.  It truly takes a dedicated team to become accredited with their training teams.

If you had to choose just one of these principles that would have the greatest positive impact on your organization, which would it be and why?

I would choose rigorous talent assessment as an area that could have a positive impact.  This is due to new needs that need a quicker fulfillment time and recognizing internal folks who have had an impact but may not necessarily be qualified by degree or department. “Crucially, they integrate the people reviews with each of the others, gathering and updating the information as the person progresses” (Conaty and Charmin, 2010).

References:

1.  Bill Conaty and Ram Charmin, The Talent Masters, 2010

2.  Week One Lecture Notes JWI,522 Strategic Partnering with the C-Suite

Warm Regards,

Shara