Sharpen the systems, COOs! 🧠
If you are weighing Talent Experience against Talent Management, consider them two sides of the same strategy. One is the daily journey employees feel, the other is the systems that hire, grow, and retain them.
In this issue, we explore key moments that matter, including onboarding, continuous feedback, and workplace wellbeing and culture. We then pair them with structural levers, including strategic recruitment, performance management, learning and development, and succession planning.
📰 Upcoming in this issue
🧭 How the Best Managers Shape Careers
📋 “Shape Up or Move On” is Redefining Performance Management
🧠 Talent Experience vs. Talent Management: What Drives Engagement
📈 Trending news
Make Business Interruption a Core Operating Metric
Turn Workplace Friction Into Performance Gains
Translate Tech Complexity Into COO Ready Dashboards
🧭 How the Best Managers Shape Careers
New research reveals that managers who coach monthly and broker connections experience a doubling of the number of internal moves. The surprise is that stretch projects matter more than promotions for long-term growth.
Key Takeaways:
🗣️ Career Conversations: Managers lead structured monthly discussions to clarify skills, aspirations, and practical next steps that employees can take immediately.
🧪 Stretch Over Status: Rotations and scoped stretch work build capabilities faster than title changes, accelerating readiness for bigger roles.
🕸️ Network Brokering: Effective managers introduce mentors and cross-team sponsors, expanding visibility and opportunity beyond the home team.
📊 Skills First: Teams map current and target skills, align projects to gaps, and track progress with simple, shared scorecards.
📋 “Shape Up or Move On” is Redefining Performance Management
A tougher stance on underperformance is emerging, but it must be handled carefully to remain lawful. This article explains how to set expectations, document reasonably, and avoid legal pitfalls.
Key Takeaways:
⚖️ Lawful Process First: Follow a straightforward capability procedure, provide warnings, and allow improvement time. Without these steps, outcomes may be unfair and subject to challenge.
🧭 Clarity and Support: Define objectives, training, and reasonable adjustments, then review progress regularly to ensure employees have a fair chance to succeed.
🧾 Evidence Matters: Keep notes, metrics, and feedback records to ensure decisions are based on objective performance data rather than opinion.
🛡️ Bias and Risk Checks: Stress-test plans for discrimination, retaliation, and whistleblowing risks, and align exits with consistent, documented criteria.
🧠 Talent Experience vs. Talent Management: What Drives Engagement
A new piece argues that “talent experience” delivers stronger retention and performance than traditional management. It focuses on journey design, manager enablement, and real-time feedback.
Key Takeaways:
🌟 Experience First: Design end-to-end moments, from onboarding to growth, so employees feel seen, supported, and motivated every day.
🧰 Manager Enablement: Equip managers with coaching tools, conversation guides, and data, turning check-ins into real development time.
📊 Continuous Listening: Use pulse surveys and lifecycle feedback to surface issues early, then close the loop with visible actions.
🔁 Skills Over Roles: Map skills, not titles, to projects and learning paths, increasing mobility, belonging, and measurable engagement.
Why It Matters
Blending experience and management cuts wasted time and spending by aligning daily moments with clear systems and evidence. When surveys, competency measures, and psychometrics inform hiring, development, and reviews, organizations reduce mis-hires, lower turnover risk, and focus budgets on programs that truly move engagement.
The result is steadier performance and a reputation for fairness and growth. People see a clear path forward, and leaders act on data instead of guesswork.
Until next edition,
Chloe Rivers
Editor-in-Chief
COO Intelligence
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