Talent Management Processes for a Diverse Leadership Team

A Study Conducted by ORC Worldwide Global Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Practice, Funded by Industrial Relations Counselors, Inc. November 2009.

The goal of ORC’s recently completed study, Talent Management Processes for a Diverse Leadership Team, was to understand which talent management practices work best for uncovering high potential talent from non-traditional populations and making sure that talent is able to penetrate the senior leadership levels in substantial numbers. The impetus for this research, conducted with funding from Industrial Relations Counselors, Inc., came from our continued dialogue with those in our formal networks and with others for whom we provide guidance on talent management strategy and practice. Both our own and other recent research indicate that organisations are still searching for the right lever to pull to achieve, and sustain, progress on diversity in the leadership ranks.

Forty-seven organisations (see Appendix A for list of participants) participated in an on-line survey regarding:

• Identifying high potential talent globally
• Constructing career paths that accommodate diversity
• Managing developmental experiences so that a diverse high potential pool has the opportunity to grow, be tested, see and be seen by the top of the house
• Building accountability into the system
• Assessing organisational culture as related to its potential impact on the success of the groups studied
• Evaluating current demographics in the leadership ranks of women, racial/ethnic minorities, and nationals of countries other than the headquarters country (herein aft er referred to as non-HQ nationals or NHQNs)
• The survey questions are included in Appendix B.

We also conducted interviews with four employers who are among the most successful in terms of advancing non-traditional leadership talent to learn more about how they implement various practices, and the ways in which these practices have impacted their organisation cultures and contributed to the achievement of higher rates of representation. Examples from these organisations (Xerox, Kraft , the BBC, and McDonald’s) are incorporated in the report under the heading “Case in Point”. Click here to read the executive summary.