Does Talentrio need to be implemented in one go in the whole company?
No. Talentrio is designed to be rolled out organically in your organization. You can chose to do a trial run with one group of people, say Marketing or a client team and then progressively rollout to other groups. Usually clients do a complete rollout after they have used Talentrio with a few trial groups. Progressive rollouts also helps your organization understand how Talentrio best fits you and also how to leverage it the most.
Do we need to make any changes in our current processes to use Talentrio?
No. There are absolutely no changes needed in any of your people related processes such as performance management or project management. Talentrio works more like a diary and a social technology that connects people. It does not affect any of your regular people and HR processes and surely it is not a replacement for any of those at all.
How long does it take for employees to adopt Talentrio?
Usually it takes about 3-4 months for complete rollout and adoption of Talentrio in the company. Much like any new business software, it helps if the company leadership and managers take initiative in underlining the importance of appreciation, feedback and people connect in the company and also practice what they preach.
What are the best practices for making Talentrio run successfully?
Much with any change in any organization, first task is to create a set of “Champions and Knowledge Experts”. These individuals spend the time to understand the power of the tool, and then make themselves available to others proactively through townhalls and discussions. It is also important that managers are awakened to the value of frequent Appreciation and Feedback. Once they practice that, everyone else is likely to not just follow but also make it part of their way of being.
It also helps to align the organization’s communication vocabulary with the Values and Competencies defined in Talentrio. This creates a consist way of communicating and reinforcing.
What if certain employees do not proactively adopt to Talentrio?
Many people just take longer to adopt new ideas. When it comes to employee engagement, there is no forcing anyone. However, once there is regular usage amongst majority of the users, the late adopters will join in as they will understand the value of what they are missing out. Also, we have designed
Talentrio in a way that it is valuable for the individuals and the company even if there is partial adoption and usage. There are also many design/social techniques we are using to “rope in” the late adopters over time.
What if certain managers do not adopt to Talentrio proactively?
What the company leadership can do is – 1) Clearly communicate the value of appreciation and high frequency feedback. 2) Make “whether a manager gives frequent feedback or not” an important expectation and factor in their growth. 3) Walk the talk – by themselves leading the way by giving appreciation and feedback regularly and abundantly.
Applying the “fishbowl management” principles we share certain aggregate engagement measures on everyone’s profile to encourage them to be more engaged.
Fishbowl Management Definition: Fishbowl management is the process whereby the activities (both action and inaction) of the key influencers or kingpins, are made visible to one another, as fish in a fishbowl. By placing kingpins in a fishbowl one can greatly raise the stakes of inaction.
What if there is drop in usage of Talentrio in the company in some pockets of people?
Different functionality may be used to varying degree in various parts of the organization – and that is perfectly ok. For example, in some cases, the teams may have strong project management tools that are used extensively, in that case they may not use Assignment Functionality.
However, there is a possibility that it is a sign of disengagement and there may be other issues to look into like – manager who does not like others to get visibility or does not like to follow processes and create an aura of their own importance.
Causes of lack of engagement can not be inferred easily and require conversations with key people and team members to gain understanding.
How do we calculate the ROI on Talentrio use?
There is no meaningful way to calculate ROI on a new way of being. Much like it would be tough to quantify value of “mindfulness practices” in life or work. One has to believe from there experience that high frequency positive interactions, feedback and mutual edging on has significant impact on the culture, productivity and creativity of an organization.
Isn’t face-to-face interaction and one-on-one coaching between managers and employees better than using Talentrio?
Of course, face-to-face interactions are very powerful and very critical in building a great coaching culture. Talentrio is an enabler in this mobile world where people are traveling, working from home, being stuck in meetings. Talentrio creates “an electronic diary and communication” that helps in increasing the volume of communication through short quick “twit like” interactions – all organized and shared smartly.
Will Talentrio alone enhance our company culture and motivate our employees to produce more?
Of course not! Software alone is only a tool that can enable / catalyze certain changes or way of being. What makes a real change in any company’s culture is “strength of belief of leadership” and their “actions”. If the leadership values openness, appreciation, coaching culture – and act consistently and persistently in alignment with that – then and then only real results are possible. We just make execution really easy and exciting.