Developing talent pipelines to support global growth
In a recent HR conference, Jacqueline Moyse, Head of Organisational Development, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group (MOHG) discussed developing a talent pipeline to support global growth.
She advised, “Align what you’re doing in HR with the business and particularly the senior management. Goals should be linked into the vision of the organisation and the business strategy.” Her first task was to resource global growth.
She said, “To achieve this we need the right people in the right jobs, with the right skills, at the right time.”
Training as a change agent
According to Moyse, MOHG approached the project as change agents and marketers rather than just trainers.
She believes that there is so much to be learned from marketing and the way that it approaches consumers, PR, and branding. The programme is heavily branded, with a new name, logo and advertising collateral that is distributed among employees.
Stakeholders must be involved throughout the process and it is helpful to identify difficult general managers and pockets of resistance. Moyse pointed out that it is important to communicate throughout to ensure everyone knows what’s happening and has input.
Succession management
At MOHG they have created a sustainable talent pipeline and are able to pull relevant information from the dashboard, such as who has completed their review.
The organisation is also launching an innovative e-learning module on how succession management can be done better. Moyse recommended keeping a record of competencies for every employee.
Through Profile—the hotel group’s online employee database—managers look at different colleagues and gauge their competency rating. If they have a vacancy they can look at core competencies and pull up the data to see who fits the criteria.
Moyse advised that it is important to get competencies right in the first place because they will feed into other things such as development plans and personal profiles. If you want to develop people and their careers, don’t start from a rocky foundation.
The number of transfers between hotels has gone up significantly. MOHG transferred 29 senior managers from other properties around the world to the newly opened hotel in Macau.
If that trend continues they will save a huge amount in head hunting fees, observed Moyse.
Developing talent pipelines to support global growth
In a recent HR conference, Jacqueline Moyse, Head of Organisational Development, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group (MOHG) discussed developing a talent pipeline to support global growth.
She advised, “Align what you’re doing in HR with the business and particularly the senior management. Goals should be linked into the vision of the organisation and the business strategy.” Her first task was to resource global growth.
She said, “To achieve this we need the right people in the right jobs, with the right skills, at the right time.”
This is done in six steps:
1. All colleagues design their success profiles. This helps get buy-in of colleagues and understanding of competencies.
2. Training materials are customised with industry-relevant manuals, videos, reference guides and an online test site. Hyperlinks are built into the system, which takes employees to training materials.
3. Regional coaches are trained in performance management and the new online system.
4. Every senior manager attends a two-day training programme on managing people development and performance. This programme concentrates on soft skills and how to coach people and give feedback and provided lots of opportunities to practice techniques and conversations.
5. Train the trainer for learning and development and performance.
6. Process is cascaded throughout the organisation.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
