Talent Progression in a Digitally Distributed World

Airbnb announced employees can live and work anywhere, following Coinbase, Stripe and many others in embracing a globally distributed workforce. More will follow.  Hiring talent without the constraint of place creates value for both employees and employers, allowing  more freedom and choice on both sides.

However, large companies with globally distributed workforces present a new challenge and opportunity:  How do they manage talent progression over time?

Great companies not only hire well, but accelerate the careers of employees, and build leadership teams from within, through deliberate practice and sustained effort.  GE's famous rotational program, the rigorous analyst training programs on Wall Street, and Amazon's Pathways program are examples of best in class models from the previous generation.  

What does a digitally native Leadership Development Program look like?   New tools and pathways for three core capabilities:

Identification.  Remote work presents new challenges for finding promising leaders.  Without the physical office routine, it will be harder for each side (the company and the employee) to provide credible signal to the other party.  Credible signals are costly. Companies need to invest in meaningful opportunities for employees to demonstrate leadership potential.

Consider small projects designed less for the outcome of the project as much as the demonstration of specific skills associated with leadership.  A tailored program, analogous to the an 20% free time initiative from Google, in which employees develop passion projects can operate as the lab for testing and iterating on skill identification.  Provide opportunities for colleagues to excel, and be rewarded with increased opportunity, under a well designed structure for talent evaluation.  

Acceleration.  What is a remote first equivalent to the executive rotational program?  Leverage the best of what the educational community is learning about hybrid learning.  Rotational programs worked well because executives in training learned by physically sharing the same space as colleagues across the company. Understanding, empathy and comradery flowed from proximity.

We know digital tools alone cannot provide understanding, empathy and comradery.  They do help tremendously with understanding.  A functioning internal Knowledge Management system allows employees anywhere to demonstrate a commitment to learning more about the company and their colleagues.  Global talent initiatives should follow the hybrid learning approach for empathy and comradery.  Promising talent will need to co-locate with colleagues at times, but those periods will be enhanced by thoughtful remote sessions before and after building measurable affinity and understanding.  

Talent teams need systems to track both process and outcomes - how frequent are promising leaders getting in person touch points with executives across the organization, in what level of substance, and what is the assessment both the individual and the executive of the progress, and continued opportunities, for career growth?  

A great learning model here comes from global consulting firms.  With so many offices all around the world, they have developed models for digital and in person gatherings designed to increase exposure between current and potential leaders from different geographies.  

Lateral Movement.  Perhaps the most difficult area for distributed teams will be how to reposition a potentially great employee who isn't in the right role within the organization.  In the office setting, it is easy for an employee to observe the workflows, dynamics and individuals of another team and raise their hand for a chance move laterally.  In Zoomworld, you only see the meetings you attend, so employees who haven't landed in the right role/team, will leave the company, rather than find a new home.  

This is a problem.   Like much of the above, the challenge is reduced by thoughtful data collection.  Regular employee surveys are a gift.  Both anonymous and non-anonymous surveying - short, focused collection of input - allows Talent teams to identify problem areas before an unexpected departure.  Talent teams should be rigorously consistent in data gathering, and proactive with promising talent that begins to waver.  

One benefit of distributed teams is the friction to change roles is reduced -  no physical office means you don't have to actually move when you change departments.  Companies can lean into this benefit by actively helping talent find a better home within the company when needed.  A bit of alchemy, girded by data, will allow teams to provide individualized support at scale to emerging leaders.

Data and Intentionality

All of the above should be built around continuous data input -  from promising employees themselves, from their managers, and from their peers.   The digital transformation that has allowed for global workforces also enables the ability to seamlessly collect and analyze data.  5min surveys are an incredibly underutilized tool.  Real-time input and feedback, as well as longitudinal data over time.  

The goal is creating a fair, transparent and efficient pipeline for promising talent to thrive.  Listening to and measuring the input of the team should anchor everything.