Topgrading

A recent study done by the Human Capital Institute et. al. validated several points that we have been talking (or preaching) about for years with mainly anecdotal data as backup.

Here are the highlights:

- Only 17% of the 352 companies surveyed have access to reliable data to know whether initial assessments (when hired) correlate to future job success.

- Only 21% of those surveyed have access to data that can discern gaps between job requirements and existing employees’ skills.

- Only 23% of those surveyed have confidence in data about which high performers are considered “flight risks.”

In other words 1) Companies don’t measure hiring success (whether or not the person they hired turned out to be an A player), 2) Performance and talent management systems are ineffective, and 3) Few companies take care of their high performers (to be sure they retain them as long as possible).

The first and last step of Topgrading is to measure your hiring success rate and the percentage of A players throughout your organization.  It’s an overused phrase, but what gets measured gets done.  Few companies are measuring the effectiveness of their talent management processes, and hence, few companies actually do a good job getting the most out of their people.

It appears as though picking and retaining the right people still presents a major opportunity to differentiate your organization from all others, competition or otherwise.