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Assessing and
evaluating
performance
by Global Expert Systems
The Six Pillars of Talent
Management
The popular magazine and most literature
on the subject will all invariably refer to
some version of the six pillars or tenets of
Talent Management. According to the Talent
Management mag, these pillars are as follows:
1. Recruitment and retention; In addition to this, there is currently a lot of debate on
2. Assessment and evaluation; whether or not a 360 assessment should be anonymous.
3. Compensation and benefits; Our position is that for strict employee performance
4. Performance management; evaluation, anonymity, where and when it’s possible, is
5. Learning and development; highly recommended. However, the 360 model is also now
6. Succession planning. very commonplace as a competency assessment tool. Here
If the above are the pillars, we will contend GES would recommend a little bit more openness and
that for talent to be most effective it must rest suggest that employees play an active role in selecting those
on the foundation of a clear corporate vision who will assess them, though we give the final sign-off to
and strategy, buy-in from senior management, management.
together with systems, policies and procedures Like most forms of evaluation or critique, it is extremely
that are objective, transparent and fair. GES also important to temper the feedback process since most
supports the use of technology and modern of us are not good at handling negative opinion. For this
software applications, for there’s no getting reason, performance evaluations should be conducted by
around this in today’s world. persons who have been trained to engage and dialogue with
So, today we will focus a little on the second employees when it comes to critique, however good or bad.
pillar — assessment and evaluation. Further, we on this question. Performance evaluation is a must and Finally here are some more recommendations to
state that if talent management is ultimately about hiring and an effort-reward system should always be linked to it, if give legitimacy to performance evaluation within your
retaining the right persons, then there must be some form not it simply defeats the purpose. It is important to note organisation:
of ongoing assessment and evaluation of the employee’s that ultimately the reward system should be aligned to the • Always link evaluation to some tangible or
performance. The reasoning behind this is quite simple. organisation’s mission, out of which the key performance visible output:
Performance evaluation has a number of functions: indicators will originate. o Reward
1. Reinforce the core values of the organisation; Additionally, GES recommends procedures and systems o Promotion
2. Align job function to the employee skill set; that are agreed upon by all and that are clearly accepted to o Salary increase
3. Highlight areas for self-improvement and professional be fair and objective. Of course, some kind of benchmarking o Training and development
development; is required and it is wise to shop around and to do the • Make sure that all stakeholders are
4. Uncover the need for training and development within necessary research when thinking about implementing involved in and buy into the performance evaluation
the organisation; performance evaluation. your organisation chooses to implement. This is especially
5. Highlight the gaps and requirements for talent within so if your staff is unionised. Do make sure that your
the organisation; The 360 Degree Assessment Model union representatives have agreed to your policies and
6. Inform strategies for compensation, pay and GES supports the 360 degree assessment model where procedures.
promotion aligned to performance. the employee is evaluated by self, a manager, a peer, an • Do not overlook the need for counselling
Now, of the six pillars we mentioned above, one can external party and a subordinate. since, oft times, a performance evaluation may reveal
clearly see why performance evaluation would be one of The benefits of 360 degree assessments: personality traits and behaviours that are truly unknown
the most contentious, if not the most controversial within 1. The elimination of one-sided or top down assessment; to the employee being assessed. And this can have dire
the organisation. This is so because of issues of perceived 2. It’s easier to detect inconsistencies; consequences for both the employee and the organisation if
fairness or lack thereof, bias, inconsistency, objective 3. The employee is a lot more comfortable with this not handled well.
systems and procedures and a whole myriad of other model because s/he is assessed from all angles; All in all, talent management will not be effective without
problems commonly associated with this practice. So we 4. They inspire a sense and fairness and justice; performance evaluation as this is one of the mainstays and
ask the question, is some kind of evaluation better than no 5. They tend to be more transparent since it may be a true and tested pillar of this practice.
evaluation at all? more difficult for assessors to collude and conspire. Next week we will start an exciting three-part sub-
Well, the GES consulting position is clear and standard 6. They tend to be user-friendly and driven by software. series on: “The Talent Management Challenge – Managing
multi-generations in today’s Caribbean
workplace – PART I”
Don’t miss 1st Caribbean
& Latin American Conference
on Talent Management
on September 25th at the
Savannah Hotel, Barbados
and September 26th at the
Kapok Hotel, Trinidad. Feel
free to visit Global Expert
Systems online at http://www.
globalexpertsystems.org/index.
php/event/first-caribbean-latin-
american-conference-on-talent-
management/ or email us at
info@globalexpertsystems.org
for more information.

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