From Talent Acquisition to
Talent Development
by Carol Dominguez and Paul Catiang

“I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum." - Bishop Desmond Tutu

The call for leaders in business is one that is always out there; there can never be enough decisive individuals who can delegate and manage people while working to accomplish whatever goals they and their companies have set. Particularly in business process outsourcing, whose explosive growth shows no signs of stopping. It’s not uncommon for professionals in their early to mid-twenties to be thrust into a position of leadership as a result of stellar individual performance and an urgent need to fill middle-management position. This new breed of leaders, or leaders by default, has resulted in an increase of issues unique to first-time managers without much experience in leading and managing people.

John Clements recently conducted a survey involving 37 team leaders and supervisors, which yielded several surprising answers. The average age of the sample population was 25 with an average of two years’ experience working as an individual performer. The majority of them rose through the ranks to their current position because they are results-oriented, self-motivated, and self-managed young professionals.

And almost all of them—94.5 percent—expressed that the most challenging aspect of their job was handling people. They experienced difficulty in motivating and supervising their former peers. Establishing authority over their peers was likewise challenging, as they were of varying ages and backgrounds, and the survey participants lacked experience dealing with a wide range of personalities. Lastly, as most leaders do, they had to contend with handling problem behavior.

Some other challenges were functional in nature, such as time management. Of the sample population, 65 percent said they were accustomed to the time pressure inherent in an agent position, but experienced renewed time pressure coping with the demands of the new job. Some others—13 percent—cited learning and upgrading the communication and technical skills required by their managerial position. Specifically, they mentioned presentation skills, report preparation, data interpretation, and enhanced computer skills.

When asked what helped them overcome the challenges they named, most of the respondents cited training, the few who reported no relief from training were those unable to attend scheduled training programs. Others had the habit of sharing with other team leaders, both under formal and informal settings. Others resorted to self-study and personal solutions. One team leader, frustrated by his employer’s failure to celebrate good performance, would treat his team out for snacks and an occasional movie. Another team leader took to the bookstores in search of self-help management books.

The participants almost unanimously said that the most useful training to them would be people skills, particularly in motivating others, applying team dynamics, establishing authority, and most of all, handling problem behavior. About one-fourth of the respondents also named functional skills training as a program that would be useful to them, specifically presentation skills, report generation, and advanced computer skills. Also included were time and stress management, two growing concerns among young, first-time managers.

With regard to leadership skills, the respondents expressed a need to be an effective conduit between management and the agents, and to have better knowledge of their companies’ global strategy and goals. They also wanted to learn from industry experts and understand how to apply these lessons in their own context as leaders in their own right. Lastly, they cited wanting to understand their companies’ best practices and learning how to enhance their performance.

First-time managers and leaders encounter similar challenges at this stage in their careers. As a matter of fact, 35 percent of new managers fail (Don’t Blow your New Job, Anne Fisher; Fortune Magazine), and 50 to 80 percent of new managers fail to live up to the expectations of those who promote them (Bristlecone Learning, LLC). Dr. Linda Hill, in her essay Becoming the Boss, has attributed this to new managers adjusting from certain myths of leadership with its realities. New managers contend with changing their view of leadership as a position of authority to one that fosters interdependency. Corollary to this, leadership is less formal authority and being on top of the ladder and is more a position one has to earn through hard work. New managers need to shift from the need to assert control to the need to gain the commitment of their teams. On the topic of teams, leading entire teams and keeping the bigger picture in mind becomes more important than one-on-one management. Finally, new managers learn to change their focus from keeping the operation in working order to making changes that ensure their teams will perform better.

These are the key issues that John Clements, in partnership with Harvard Business School Publishing, focuses on: developing new managers by helping them transition from individual contributors to managers and retaining young managers.

“John Clements is moving from talent acquisition to talent development,” says Grace Alcid, a John Clements consultant. “There’s so much demand for talent and new leaders, and one way to address this issue is to develop the talent pool within our clients’ companies. If they help their new managers make the transition to their new positions, they’ll be more effective in retaining their employees.”

“It’s the guys investing in talent development who will come out ahead,” rejoins Gie Sicat, also a John Clements consultant.

In addition, Alicia Morales says that in order to meet the target of one million total BPO jobs by 2010, new leaders have to be developed.

”We believe that by offering these one-of-a-kind learning products to the Philippine market, we are in fact taking a major step toward enhancing business and economic competitiveness,” says Carol Dominguez, President and CEO of John Clements. “We believe that we can help make enhance the leadership skills of professionals in the Philippines through our partnership with Harvard Business School Publishing, and make us all the effective managers and leaders needed by today’s business community.”

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For more inquiries concerning Harvard Business School Publishing products available through John Clements, please contact Grace Alcid and Gie Sicat through:
grace.alcid@johnclements.com and
gie.sicat@johnclements.com.