Three basic rules on talent management from Netflix’s Patty McCord.

The 3 basic rules in talent management.

Let’s not waste any time and jump right in! Below is a list of the 3 rules Patty McCord used while creating a successful talent management strategy at Netflix:

• Know the problem you are trying to solve and hire someone that can do it.
• Give people continuous feedback to proactively guide them in the right direction.
• Tell people when they are doing it right.

Now that we understand the rules of the game, let's get a better understanding of how we can apply each one to your organisation.

Rule #1 | Transparency leads to better overall results.

Each and every organisation runs into challenges, even Patty McCord doesn’t have an escape plan for that. What she does offer is a refreshing way of tackling these challenges in terms of transparency, but also in how it can influence the hiring process of new talent. According to Patty, every employee in your organisation should be aware of how the business works. This goes from top to bottom, and all the way back up again. Because everyone knows about the challenges that the company is facing, it is easier to be aligned as a team. For management, this means a shift in terms of transparency. Making everyone aware means that you also have to share precise and honest communication on where the organisation is heading, where the teams are going and what problems you are currently facing. So what’s the upside of this? Well, it’s simple - the more people are involved, the more possible solutions you will have! But what do you do if one of your employees has a different opinion to management? Well, you can ask these two questions:

• If you were in a management position, what decision would you have made?
  And more importantly:
• If you were in a management position, what information would you have wanted to help make the right decision?

You’ll be amazed by the solutions and ideas that employees from throughout your company can come up with. But what if the right solution doesn’t come to the table? Well, in that case at least everyone is aware, and it won’t be a surprise if you hire someone that can fix it.

So, does that mean more transparency leads to better solutions for your challenges? No, it means much more than that! By involving your employees more in the company strategy, they feel included, valued and therefore will be more engaged as well. If there’s one thing you want for your talent, it’s for them to be engaged. That’s because engaged employees are employees who stay with you for the long run!

Rule #2 | Practise (radical) honesty to boost growth

Let’s start by saying that honesty, radical or not, isn’t something that you create within your organisation overnight. Your employees need to get comfortable with the idea and there is no better way to realise this than by practising! According to Patty, you should start by taking baby steps. This can be done, for example, by inviting people to speak their minds or give feedback during a meeting. Simple questions like: what do you think? How do you feel we should tackle this? Or does anyone have a different opinion? All of these can help boost honesty in your organisation. At Netflix, they also started out with a companywide feedback-day. A day on which everyone could share feedback, both positive and critical with any colleague within the organisation. Plus, they organised debates between people with opposite mindsets to discuss a problem and find its solution. This led to better collaboration and understanding between departments. Simple initiatives like these can help to create an environment in which honesty becomes part of the company culture. In time this will lead to a continuous feedback cycle that not only benefits your employee's personal development, but also the overall culture and company results.

Talking about honesty, Patty admitted that if she could have a do-over, she would have called the concept total honesty instead of radical honesty, since this fits much better. If that isn’t a serious case of practise what you preach, we don’t know what is!

Rule #3 | The power of positivity.

Finally - focus on positivity. People tend to take radical honesty as a free pass to give critical and harsh feedback in an unfriendly way. In reality, it is much more about encouraging and confirming the desired behaviour. Telling your employees something nice, like they did well, or giving them a compliment is what changes behaviour. This also ties back to the fact that Patty strongly favours getting rid of annual performance reviews. Not because she doesn’t want people to get the feedback from a talk of that sort, but because she believes that to perform better, feedback should be given in the moment when it brings the most value. Just like how points of improvement are given right there, in the moment. Another way to retain talent is by giving people the right opportunities to challenge themselves. Let them do difficult things which gets them out of their comfort zone, or make sure that you have a talented group of people working together. Talented people tend to bring out the best in each other, as they want to raise their game, learn, and keep up with one another. The positive mindset will reflect your entire talent management strategy and suddenly you have a whole team of brilliant people. As an employee you want to raise your game, continue to learn and keep up with the others. That positive mindset will reflect in your entire talent management strategy, from hiring to retaining!

Now you know how Patty McCord would approach a talent management strategy. We can imagine this must have inspired you to set up a new, or refreshed strategy to attract, retain and develop talent in your teams. Well, in that case we have some good news, because there will be more! Together with Patty we’ll create a complete GoodHabitz Masterclass. In this online course you’ll get more best practises, tips and tricks from Patty.