Your Top Performers
Are Your Blueprint for
Beating the Competition

by Herb Greenberg and Patrick Sweeney

When the leaders team at SAP unveiled the company's innovative vision for the year 2010, they knew that to accomplish their goals, they had to accelerate the development of their current top performers and redouble their efforts to identify people who had the potential to become their next top performers.

According to Paul Orleman, director of top talent management for SAP, the company, which had been renowned for innovative technology since its founding in 1972, was now intent on also becoming known for developing great talent.

But how does one of the world's largest companies become an incubator for finding and keeping top talent? Particularly when its key competitors, with very deep pockets, are doing everything they can to pirate that talent away?

"This starts with understanding the individual goals of each of these highly talented people, and letting them know the leadership of the company is committed to their futures," Orleman explained. "Our philosophy of hi-potential development includes having them work on real strategic issues that are vital to them and to our organization."

SAP is taking a five-tiered-approach to building upon its innovative and competitive culture, which includes:

1. assessing the strengths and growth opportunities of the organization's top talent;
2. developing growth plans for each of those key individuals;
3. recognizing the gaps that exist between the current level of talent in the organization and the organization's future needs;
4. looking more deeply inside the organization-to recognize future leadership that can be developed; and
5. hiring new individuals who will have the potential to flourish in SAP's culture.
   

This commitment to finding, developing, and retaining top talent took on a whole new meaning in 2004 when SAP decided to create software solutions for small and midsized companies. SAP was changing the playing field of software development for everyone. As a result, their prospects and clients were changing. So, their employees would have to change as well. What new skill sets would be needed to achieve these ambitious goals? How would these new products be developed? Marketed? Sold? The implications were enormous. Many things would change, including how their employees would now work with their clients. Did they have the talent and skill sets internally to succeed in this new arena within the time line they had in mind? How would they develop the talent they had? And attract new top performers?

One step, according to Orleman, was to administer in-depth personality profiles to the current hi-potential employees, to gain objective insights into each of these individual's—and the organization's—strengths. "We wanted to build upon those strengths," he said. "So, we wanted to be as clear and accurate as possible about exactly what those strengths were. And we recognized, of course, that we could not objectively evaluate ourselves. So, we turned to outside experts in this area."

Without revealing trade secrets, it was established that SAP's most talented individuals are all extremely bright, very independent thinkers, with a strong goal orientation. They are adept at thinking on their feet, don't get mired in details, and are very comfortable taking initiative. While you might expect top performers in a software development company to be rules-driven, they were the exact opposite. Certainly there are many individuals inside of the organization who maintain policies and procedures. But to continually create innovative solutions, top performers at SAP need to be independent thinkers.

And therein lies the solution and the challenge.

To remain innovative and to keep its competitive edge, it is vital for SAP to find and develop individuals who share these qualities, who can thrive in this unique culture, and who have the potential to be top performers and future leaders of the organization.

How does a company renew a culture that has remained constant for more than a century? Particularly when it started as a small foundry and machine shop business and has grown into a world leader in resort hotels and championship golf courses, premier furniture, engines and power systems, and kitchen and bath products?

From modest beginnings, Kohler Company has come to stand for integrity, understated elegance, craftsmanship, and the highest consistent standards around the world.

"Kohler has a results-orientation, with a drive for innovation and continuous improvement. Another constant in our culture is that we are gracious and trusting," explained Michael Grubich, Kohler's director of talent development and diversity.

Gracious. Now there's a word that you don't always hear in business circles.

"But gracious is at the heart of who we are. Contributing to a higher level of gracious living for those who are touched by our products and services is the starting place for our approach to each other and to our clients," he said.

One of the key challenges is to identify and develop talent that can help transform the company from what was once an American-based, multinational company into a world-class global organization. As Kohler acquires other businesses, enters new markets, introduces new products, opens new plants, and is introduced to new customers around the world, one of the primary goals is to identify and develop top performers who cannot just succeed today but will help lead the company in a world that is constantly changing.

How can Grubich tell if an applicant or employee in the United States or in China has the potential to be a top performer? And possibly a leader?

Everyone takes an in-depth personality profile to determine his or her strengths, motivations, and areas that need to be developed. Then top performers also receive 360-degree evaluations, where they learn how their behaviors are perceived by their peers, direct reports and those to whom they report. Those who are identified as having leadership potential are introduced to cross-functional experiences, and then provided wit11 the chance to manage opportunities in different businesses and, possibly, different parts of the world.

"We are looking for individuals who are driven for results, are innovative, have extremely high standards of performance and are continuously looking for ways to improve. Those are our constants;' he said.

And can they achieve results, while also being gracious?

Graciousness is expressed in Kohler's culture by how employees pay attention to quality, while, at the same time, are very concerned for others.

Having core values that have driven the company for more than a century and identifying and developing top performers who embody those values is how Kohler keeps at least one step ahead of the competition-in a world that is ever-changing.

Herb Greenberg is the Founder & CEO and Patrick Sweeney is the President of Caliper, an international management consulting firm based in Princeton, NJ.

For nearly half a century, Caliper has been helping companies achieve peak performance by advising them on hiring the right people, managing individuals most effectively and developing productive teams. The accuracy, objectivity and depth of our consulting approach enable us to provide solutions that work for over 25,000 companies.

To find out more about how Caliper can help you identify and develop people who can lead your organization to peak performance, please visit us at www.caliperonline.com, write us at information@calipercorp.com, or call us at 609-524-1200.