How to Use This Resource

Each of these five sections is divided into the following areas:

• Featured Expert presents a video introduction by a leading expert, which highlights the conceptual material covered in the section. Video Q&A segments with the expert provide insights and advice on how to handle challenges, avoid pitfalls, and plan for success. Also included are insightful articles by the featured author.

• Relevant Articles presents popular articles from Harvard Business Review, Harvard Management Update, and the Balanced Scorecard Report. Longer articles begin with a one-page In Brief summary that highlights the main points covered in the article.

• Tools & Cases offer case studies and practical tools that enable you to practice and apply the key concepts presented in the section. Clicking on a tool opens a separate window for viewing, saving, or printing the document. The cases lead to either Harvard Business Review or Case in Point cases. HBR cases present a scenario and then feature responses from leaders in the field. Case in Point cases develop an online scenario, followed by an outcome, a summary of best practices, and key take-aways.

• Video Insights presents additional advice from experts in the field—as presented through faculty seminars, expert interviews, and other media. The Faculty Seminar Series are one-hour lectures from Harvard Business School.

• Essential Concepts leads to a complete and comprehensive Harvard ManageMentor topic, an online interactive learning experience that includes essential concepts including media-rich key ideas and interactive exercises, as well as an interactive scenario, tools, steps, and tips.

• External Sites contains links to sites external to the Center. These include relevant sites on the Internet as well as daily feeds. (In the Introduction section, an organization can also customize “company links” to documents and sites within an organization.)

Navigation
Each of the sections is presented in the same format with a consistent navigational structure. Click the tabs at the top to move between sections.

To access the elements contained within a section, click the underlined links. To return to where you were, click the Back button or, occasionally, close a secondary window. You can also use the “breadcrumb trail” to navigate.

Setting Priorities Following the Assessment
If you completed Assessing Your Talent Capability, the self-assessment recommended in the Introduction section, consider your results to help you prioritize your learning needs.

To connect your results to the different content sections in the Center:

You will notice that many of the questions above lead to the Strategy section. This is a critical area that is most often overlooked when planning talent management systems and programs. Aligning your talent management strategy with your organization’s strategy is important whether you are thinking about an entire organization—or the future needs of your unit or group.

Using Talent Management Resources for Blended Learning
The Talent Management Center is a collection of video clips, articles, cases, and tools. While the Center is not designed to be a linear course, elements from the Center can certainly be incorporated into a course.

Some suggestions for blended learning:

• Assign articles for pre-work before a class
• Use video clips to add engagement during a class
• Use cases in class to spark discussion
• Use tools in class to apply what has been learned
• Handout articles and tools as class take-aways

In particular, the cases are ideal for classroom use.

The Harvard Business Review cases are text-based. Assign the case (without the expert commentary) for class pre-work. During class, review the case and use it to facilitate a discussion about (1) what led to the particular situation and (2) what might be done to improve the situation. Following the discussion, hand out and discuss the expert commentary. The HBR cases include:

• HBR Case: The Best Intentions
• HBR Case: We Googled You
• HBR Case: When a New Manager Stumbles, Who’s at Fault
• HBR Case: The Cane Mutiny: Managing a Graying Workforce
• HBR Case Study: Mommy-Track Backlash
• HBR Case Study: Succession and Failure
• HBR Case Study: Indispensable

The Case in Point cases are online cases. Assign the case (up to the decision point) as class pre-work, or go through the case set up in class. Once you reach the decision point, facilitate a class discussion. Following the discussion, unveil the case outcome and the lessons learned. For each Case in Point, a Facilitation Guide with Handouts is available from Harvard Business School Publishing. Alternatively, an individual can review the entire case online. The Case in Point cases include:

• Case in Point: Aligning Strategy
• Case in Point: Delegating for Growth
• Case in Point: Retaining Talent

Focus: Increasing Talent Management Effectiveness
Research shows that most organizations have talent management practices in place, yet they report they do not have an adequate talent pipeline. The two most common causes: (1) talent practices are out of sync with the organization’s strategy and (2) executive management is not actively promoting the need for and a belief in talent management.

If this describes your talent management dilemma, whether for an organization or for your particular unit or group, begin by reading the article featured in the Introduction section:

• Make Your Company a Talent Factory  by Douglas A. Ready and Jay A. Conger
• Q&A with Christopher A. Bartlett

In the Strategy section, be sure to look at the featured John Boudreau offerings:

• How Specific Is Your Talent Strategy? with John W. Boudreau
• Q&A with John W. Boudreau
• Where’s Your Pivotal Talent? by John W. Boudreau and Peter M. Ramstad

Also read these articles under Relevant Articles in the Strategy section:

• Market-Driven Approach to Retaining Talent by Peter Cappelli
• Capitalizing on Capabilities by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood
• Linking Human Capital to Strategy: The Role of Philosophy and Values by Katherine Kane

Focus: Creating a Retention Culture
Effective talent management strategies require that you keep good people on board! Good hiring and development practices will be wasted, if you cannot retain those people. If you are having trouble retaining top talent in your group or organization, pay particular attention to the Retention section.

Begin by reviewing the Tamara Erickson offerings:

• Strategies for Building Loyalty with Tamara J. Erickson
• Q&A with Tamara J. Erickson
• What It Means to Work Here by Tamara J. Erickson and Lynda Gratton

In Relevant Articles in the Retention section, be sure to read the articles:

• Dealing with the Real Reasons People Leave by Judith A. Ross
• A New Approach to Keeping Your Best on Board by Lauren Keller Johnson
• Leading Clever People by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones

You may be having trouble keeping certain populations. To reengage and retain valuable older workers, look at:

• Managing Middlescence by Robert Morison, Tamara J. Erickson, and Ken Dychtwald
• It’s Time to Retire Retirement by Ken Dychtwald, Tamara J. Erickson, and Bob Morison

And to think about how you retain women and minorities, review:

• Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce
• Leadership in Your Midst: Tapping the Hidden Strengths of Minority Executives by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Carolyn Buck Luce, and Cornel West

Focus: Fundamentals for Junior Managers
Junior managers likely want to focus on the nuts and bolts of talent management: hiring the right people, developing those employees, and then retaining that talent.

Junior managers should start with the introductory material for each of the Recruitment, Development, and Retention sections:

• Hire for Your Future with Boris Groysberg
• Q&A with Boris Groysberg
• Who Have Your Recognized Lately? with Thomas J. DeLong
• Q&A with Thomas J. DeLong
• Strategies for Building Loyalty with Tamara J. Erickson
• Q&A with Tamara J. Erickson

Especially helpful for junior managers are the complete and comprehensive Harvard ManageMentor topics, contained in the Recruitment, Development, and Retention sections. These online programs present a broad range of essential concepts through media-rich and interactive content:

• Harvard ManageMentor 10: Hiring
• Harvard ManageMentor 10: Developing Employees
• Harvard ManageMentor 10: Retaining Employees

Junior managers would also gain insight from the following articles, video, and tools, listed below by section:

• Hiring Without Firing by Claudio Fernandez-Araoz
• The War for Managerial Talent Harvard Management Update
• Hiring for Intangibles by Judith A. Ross
• Managers: To Make a Good Hire, Take a Good Look Inside by Liz Simpson

• Faculty Seminar Series: The Power of Supporting Players in High-Performance Industries with Professor Thomas J. DeLong
• Should You Play Favorites? by Lauren Keller Johnson
• A New Game Plan for C Players by Beth Axelrod, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Ed Michaels
• Feedback that Works by Cynthia M. Phoel
• Worksheet for Using the Performance and Potential Grid (tool)
• Manager’s Planning Worksheet for Development Discussions (tool)

• Dealing with the Real Reasons People Leave by Judith A. Ross
• A New Approach to Keeping Your Best on Board by Lauren Keller Johnson
• Making Flexible Schedules Work—for Everyone by Ellen Ernst Kossek, Mary Dean Lee, and Douglas T. Hall
• Employee Retention: What Managers Can Do Harvard Management Update

Focus: Developing High Potentials
Whether you are developing high potentials for the organization or for your particular unit or group, your focus should cross the sections on Strategy, Development, Retention, and Successions.

• How Specific Is Your Talent Strategy? with John W. Boudreau
• Q&A with John W. Boudreau
• Where’s Your Pivotal Talent? by John W. Boudreau and Peter M. Ramstad
• Who Have Your Recognized Lately? with Thomas J. DeLong
• Strategies for Building Loyalty with Tamara J. Erickson
• Succession Management with Boris Groysberg

To develop your high potentials, read also from the following articles listed below by section:

• A Market-Driven Approach to Retaining Talent by Peter Cappelli
• Capitalizing on Capabilities by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood
• Linking Human Capital to Strategy: The Role of Philosophy and Values by Katherine Kane

• “A Players” or “A Positions”: The Strategic Logic of Workforce Management by Mark A. Huselid, Richard W. Beatty, and Brian E. Becker
• Let’s Hear it For the B Players by Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan
• Designing High-Performance Jobs by Robert L. Simons

• What It Means to Work Here by Tamara J. Erickson and Lynda Gratton
• Leading Clever People by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones
• Job Sculpting: The Art of Retaining Your Best People by Timothy Butler and James Waldroop

• Are Leaders Portable? by Boris Groysberg, Andrew N. McLean, and Nitin Nohria
• Developing Your Leadership Pipeline by Jay A. Conger and Robert M. Fulmer
• How to Grow Great Leaders by Douglas A. Ready

Focus: Senior Management and Successions
If you are concerned about developing senior managers and preparing for successions, you will want to focus primarily on the Successions section, but also look at the Strategy section.

Start with the introductory material on managing successions:

• Succession Management with Boris Groysberg
• Q&A with Boris Groysberg
• How Specific Is Your Talent Strategy? with John W. Boudreau
• Q&A with John W. Boudreau
• Where’s Your Pivotal Talent? by John W. Boudreau and Peter M. Ramstad

For articles with a focus on integrating succession planning into leadership development:

• Are Leaders Portable? by Boris Groysberg, Andrew N. McLean, and Nitin Nohria
• Developing Your Leadership Pipeline by Jay A. Conger and Robert M. Fulmer
• How to Grow Great Leaders by Douglas A. Ready
• Are You Picking the Right Leaders? by Melvin Sorcher and James Brant
• Ending the CEO Succession Crisis by Ram Charan
• Almost Ready by Dan Ciampa
• The New Road to the Top by Peter Cappelli and Monika Hamori
• Help Newly Hired Executives Adapt Quickly by Michael D. Watkins

Finally, for a focus on CEO successions, view the 1-hour Harvard Business School video on:

• Faculty Seminar Series: Irrational Succession: The Role of the Board in CEO Selection with Professor Rakesh Khurana

Focus: Human Resource Professionals
You may be a Human Recourses professional whose domain is the entire organization. Likely your concern is the underpinnings of your talent management program and practices, and you will want to focus on the Strategy section—yet read critical articles across all sections.

Start with the introductory material:

• How Specific Is Your Talent Strategy? with John W. Boudreau
• Q&A with John W. Boudreau
• Where’s Your Pivotal Talent? by John W. Boudreau and Peter M. Ramstad
• Q&A with Christopher A. Bartlett
• Succession Management with Boris Groysberg
• Q&A with Boris Groysberg

For articles, across the sections, with a focus on talent management strategies:

• Make Your Company a Talent Factory by Douglas A. Ready and Jay A. Conger
• A Market-Driven Approach to Retaining Talent by Peter Cappelli
• Capitalizing on Capabilities by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood
• Linking Human Capital to Strategy: The Role of Philosophy and Values by Katherine Kane
• The Risky Business of Hiring Stars by Boris Groysberg, Ashish Nanda, and Nitin Nohria
• Hiring for Smarts by Justin Menkes
• What It Means to Work Here by Tamara J. Erickson and Lynda Gratton
• Inner Work Life by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer
• Developing Your Leadership Pipeline by Jay A. Conger and Robert M. Fulmer
• Growing Talent as If Your Business Depended on It by Jeffrey M. Cohn, Rakesh Khurana, and Laura Reeves
• How to Grow Great Leaders by Douglas A. Ready

And for a look at why people have become our most valuable resource, view the 1-hour Harvard Business School video on:

• Faculty Seminar Series: Managing People for Competitive Advantage with Professor Christopher A. Bartlett
• Q&A with Christopher A. Bartlett

Viewing Requirements
The Talent Management Center includes programs with interactive exercises and activities developed using Macromedia Flash. The program is best experienced with the Macromedia Flash Player version 7 (or better) plug-in. If you do not have this plug-in, it is available for free Internet download here:
http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer

The Center also requires the Adobe® Reader® version 4 (or better) plug-in. If you do not have this plug-in, it is available for free Internet download here: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Getting Help
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