On the feedbacks and suggestions received and considering the current economic development post the downturn times of last year, the Delhi & NCR Chapter planned to have three consecutive Special Events to cover the current issues on the role of HR in Talent Management with a strong focus on retention. The subsequent session, after the ‘Role of Leadership’ in June 2010, in continuation to the theme of Talent Management, the July2010 focussed on the role that Coaching and Mentoring plays in retention.

The July 2010 event began with a presentation by Mr. Marc Effron, a renowned and noted author of the book ‘One Page Talent Management’. He says, “Talent Management should have 3 basic attributes; Simplicity, Accountability, and Transparency.” For this, he presents a simple 3 step solution:

Step 1: Start with the Science i.e. to say what is actually needed to be proven to achieve the proposed business goal.

Step 2: Eliminate Complexity, Add Value i.e. identifying the minimal number of steps and data needed to take us from the core science to the business outcome.

Step 3: Create Accountability and Transparency i.e. make the complete process of talent management transparent and accountable.

His book defines the process of Talent Management in 3 key functional areas, viz., Performance Management, Associate Engagement and 360° Feedback. He designs all these 3 areas in accordance with his book and explains them in accordance with the 3 Steps solution he provides.

He further on informed that this strategy has already been adopted by companies like American Express, IBM, MasterCard and Avon which have enormous employee base and have registered positive and effective feedback on this model. According to them, line managers are more satisfied, the companies are making faster, more fact based talent decisions and they are able to make talent move the way they want and whenever they want.

The first session ended with a short summary by Marc and question-answer session. Answering the questions, he spoke about the simplicity-complexity trade-off which occurs when it becomes difficult to take decisions on simple metrics and some amount of complexity is to be added. And therefore, said that there has to be a right mix of simple and complex tasks.

The audience really appreciated Mr. Effron’s session. Mr. Rajneesh Bawa, Vice President, NHRDN Delhi & NCR Chapter, was requested to kindly hand over the memento to Mr. Effron.

The second session was a panel discussion on Coaching and Mentoring. Mr. Rajneesh Singh, Vice President, NHRDN Delhi & NCR Chapter, began the session with the introduction of the moderator, Mr. Rajesh Rai, Director, HR, United Colors of Benetton, who then introduced the panellists comprising of Mr. P.V Ramana Murthy, VP, HR, Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages; Dr. S.K Kalra, Professor, HR and OB, IMI and Mr. K.K Vij, CEO and Executive Director, Escorts Construction Equipments Ltd.

The discussion began with each of the panellist’s view about coaching and mentoring.  PV gave an insight into the emergence of the concept of “Mentor” from Greek Mythology and coaching brings about the best out of a person’s ability. Dr. Kalra in response gave an example from the Hollywood movie, Coach Carter, stating the difference between the two phrases. Mr. Vij added that coaching is to do with imparting a skill-set to employees to get a particular work done whereas mentoring has to do with changing the mindsets.

Responding to Mr. Rai’s question on how coaching and mentoring can be implemented and the basis of choosing a mentor, PV explained the GROW model used in their company which stands for Grow, Reality, Options and Way Forward. According to him, a manger has to act as a coach and help in breaking the conditional mindsets which lead to performance and personal growth and further to transformational growth. Mr. Vij with a help of a simple story brought out a fact that to convince the employee to undergo coaching, the best way is to make him realize and have self introspection.

As the discussion progressed further, all the three panellists agreed on the fact that 90% demand of coaches is met internally because external coaches fall very heavy on the pockets of the companies and secondly, the building up of trust between coachee and coach is important which is possible only if there are internal coaches. Also the panel stressed on the fact that the culture to this approach should be top-down.

On retention of talent, managers play very important role as they become the best mentors and coach because they can assess the capability and the ability of their employees very closely. According to Mr. Vij, when the manager knows what an individual is capable of and adds value to the job and the organization and thus sets an example to the subordinates, and hence aids retention. This brings about a positive attitude and the sense of trust and belongingness in the employee towards his organization.

Dr. Kalra spoke about the concept of Reverse Mentoring where he said that it is not always the employee who learns but there are incidences when the mentor or the coach also learns leading to a bi-directional change. PV highlighted the self actualization stage achieved by the managers as in the Maslow’s Need Hierarchy. According to him, when a manager undergoes a program, he develops and creates a positive culture in the organization; he earns respect for himself and his organization and attains the self-actualization stage. This helps him concentrate more on his performance and less attention to the distractions.

A number of questions were put forward to the panellists; however, due to overshooting the time of the session, a few questions were taken. Mr. Vij highlighted on the credibility of the HR Professional of the organization because at times there are CEOs who require coaching and mentoring and on his he sighted his own example and highlighted the importance of HR.

With a vote of thanks, mementos were presented to the panel and the moderator. The event ended on a very positive note with the announcement of the third event to be held on August 20th, 2010 on the continued theme of retaining talent with a focus on engagement practices.