Managing Early Talent Development Programs through a Crisis: A Tool for Practitioners

Produced by: The LDP Connect Enterprise Council

“The complex choices that will confront someone going through a crisis are likely to defy a simple decision tree...”

C O N T E N T S

1. What is this document?

2. How to use this tool

3. Guiding principles of your programs

4. Realities and drivers

5. Building support for your decision

6. Conclusion

7. Contributing members

The COVID-19 crisis of 2020 put a great deal of pressure on early career talent recruiters and managers. The unprecedented societal changes associated with the crisis forced employers to make difficult, and rapid, decisions on whether to welcome summer interns and new full-time hires – and a host of other associated logistical items. This brief guide is intended to be a tool for those still navigating that crisis, or who find themselves working through the pressures of some unanticipated situation requiring rapid strategic thinking about the future of their early career talent management programs. It should help with fleshing out a full picture, balancing needs of different stakeholders and focusing clearly on what is important. How to use this tool This document was assembled by a sub-committee of the LDP Connect Enterprise Council, and draws much of its content from debrief conversations in which members discussed how they worked through their decisions in the Spring of 2020 - what went right, and what went wrong. Although this guide is being published while still in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, we believe that progress has been made, and there is already value to share with the community.

Introduction What is this document?

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What does your program stand for? Take a deep look at your program and what it is intended to achieve. Clarifying the true mission of your program and its primary “customers” will uncover areas of priority and areas of flexibility. It is also important to understand the overall talent management philosophy of your organization and how your program(s) fit (or don’t fit) within those parameters. QUESTIONS

• What is overall purpose of your program? • What is time horizon for expected value? If there are multiple horizons, which is

most important? • Does your program provide a long-term pipeline for the business/units? Ongoing?

Versus short term/fill jobs. • What is the prevailing talent strategy at your organization? Build versus buy, etc. Is

your program aligned with this strategy or counter to it? What level of strategic commitment (and investment) does your organization make in developing an early career talent pipeline?

• What is the nature of your relationship with your campus sources? Strong, weak, sporadic, easy to replicate?

• Who are the stakeholders in your program? How would you rank the importance of delivering value to participants, alumni, managers, leaders, the “company?”

The Framework Consideration A: Guiding Principles/Objectives of your Program(s)

The complex choices that will confront someone going through a crisis are likely to defy a simple decision tree. Instead, we offer a framework of three critical “buckets” of reflection, each with questions intended to help pluck priorities out of the noise that typically accompanies a crisis, and to clarify a way ahead.

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What is your predicament? A crisis presents us with conditions beyond our control that we’re forced to manage. Identifying these factors, and those that will directly affect our principles above, will help us define our true room to maneuver. Some might be safely ignored. Others critically germane.

QUESTIONS

• What non-negotiable rules and regulations in your department, company or government are you facing?

• Can your company afford to look long-term? Are there immediate financial (or otherwise existential) factors that constrain your action?

• What logistical considerations are you dealing with? (Housing, travel, relocation, physical work environment constraints, etc.)

• Beyond official regulations, what can be done safely and ethically? • What pressures are on your new hires/managers/leaders, and which group’s pressures

are most relevant to you and your program’s mission? • What is current perception of your brand – on campus, and globally? What constraints

does that create? • How strong is the business now, and likely to be? Will it be able to support the pipeline

you are creating?

Consideration B: Realities and Drivers

Once you’ve identified a preferred course of action, what can you do to build support for your chose direction among stakeholders? Practitioners may be asked to review the considerations and make recommendations to senior leadership on a way forward. The following questions will help you prepare to put substance to your stance. QUESTIONS

• What is the value proposition your decision? What metrics can be used to substantiate it?

• What can you do to tie your decision back to what you’ve identified in bucket A?

• What is likely to be the emotional impact of your decision on your most important stakeholders?

• Does your decision align with your stakeholder’s vision of what your organization stands for, or should become?

• How will you manage the messaging?

Consideration C: Building Support for your Decision

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Members of the community consistently report that they wish they had “communicated” better through the decision-making process of crisis management. As you weigh factors, choose alternatives and make decisions, consider how you will inform your community of stakeholders and those who support them: sponsors, new hires, assignment leaders, career services partners, support staff, mentors, etc. Regular communication that reveals a methodical approach to working through the crisis brings stability to your community and can buy you time.

Conclusion

LDP Connect Enterprise Council contributing members: Jennifer Baker – Fifth Third Bank

Nataliya Dragoman - BASF

James Garnett - Boeing

Julie Grzeda – GE

Dan Beaudry – LDP Connect