Two Cheers For Internal Candidates -- And How To Create The Best

Brendan has been writing about internal candidates, and we thought we'd enter the fray. There are upsides and downsides to building your talent pool v. external hiring & hoping it works, as Brendan noted. This post is about the internal pool.

Integral to the buy/build decision are answers to the following questions:

• *You've created a talent development process (I mean, you've done that...correct...?)
• *You've invested in not only the identification but the acceleration of your people's performance (ditto...?)
• *You're focusing on a talent-based performance management culture, not one that rewards surviving

We've written about how this could happen. In brief you must:

• *Intentionally create a newcomer socialization process
• *Measure and monitor performance to get people to the point where they are considered for promotion
• *"[You need to] manage the person's development intentionally so that they leverage their talents to perform. That happens through three things, in this order: diagnose, design, deliver"

Let's focus on that last one. Once you've identified people's talent, you have "diagnosed" them. Now, through assignments and performance monitoring, you may have identified people who need to have their potential amplified. This happens through coaching, not through surviving.

Our leadership coaching guru, Scott Eblin, recently wrote about what he works on with his CEO coaching clients. Here is his list in full:

Improving behaviors that feedback has flagged.

Communicating in ways that drive results and build relationships.

Building a “first-team” mindset and approach across their leadership team.

The highest and best use of their time and attention – and their team’s.

Aligning senior leadership behaviors with the culture that supports the strategy.

Establishing an effective personal operating rhythm.

Framing and following through on goals at work and outside it.

Managing and optimizing personal energy.

Using me as a strategic sounding board and “thinking out loud” partner.

Having a safe and confidential place to vent.

He notes: 

Senior leaders don’t get many places where they can think out loud without it being a signal. A coaching relationship is one of them. The earlier in your career you have someone in that role — a coach, a mentor, a trusted peer outside your reporting line — the better. Start looking for that person now if you don’t already have one.

Building the best internal candidate pool "costs money." But spending that money means you know the quality of developmental experiences that pool has had. When you churn people or buy external candidates, you're taking a lot of risk that they're ready to succeed in your environment. Not that you shouldn't take risks, but you should question whether it makes strategic sense to take them as a way to make up for "saving" on development expenses. 

We at Pythia Cyber know coaches who work with technical executives. Some coaches focus on operational work, some can provide therapy. 

Ask us how you can create the best internal candidate pool.

(image credit: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)