Marc Effron, HRExaminer Editorial Advisory Board

Marc Effron, HRExaminer Editorial Advisory Board

Memo

To:  All Employees

From:  Marc Effron, CEO

Re: Competency Model departure

____________________________________________________________

It is with mixed emotions that I announce that Competency Model will be leaving our company after more than 30 years of service.  CM, as he was affectionately known, originally joined us as a bright new idea and quickly made an impact on our organization.  He helped to bring order out of chaos and served as a shining example of the types of behaviors and capabilities that we should all embrace.

Not a corporate native, CM was born in Academia and raised in Consultancy, so he was slightly difficult to understand at times.  He used words that didn’t quite sound like our company and, well, was rather verbose.  That being said, those who were able to invest significant amounts of time with CM often found some value in the interactions.

Everything that CM did was with the best intentions.  His efforts to become highly involved with our hiring and promotion processes didn’t work quite as intended, but he certainly gets credit for giving it the old college try!  CM left a lasting impression on our company and will be remembered for his effective, err no, helpful, or should I say business focused, I mean CM could really . . .

Ah hell, you know I never liked that little bastard anyway.  I mean what exactly was he trying to do around here all those years?  We all know it takes a while to settle in. But if no one likes you after all that time, then doesn’t that say something?  It’s not like we’re closed to new ideas.  We weren’t sure about Engagement Survey when she first joined but now we can’t wait to see her!  And Talent Review!  Who among you didn’t think Talent Review would be a total bureaucratic nightmare?  But now we’re all big fans and are happy to spend time with Talent Review!

I think the real problem with CM is that he just never fit it.  He never sounded quite like us. We spoke about business results; he could only focus on bite-sized behaviors and capabilities.  And he always sounded a bit academic. Remember when he said we weren’t precise enough in describing what it meant to “win” here?  We knew exactly what we meant, but he kept trying to slot it into 68 categories.  “That sounds like being Results Driven and Creating Strong Followers!”  Sorry Doc, it actually sounds like exactly what we said – winning here means building a team that can destroy the competition.

Not to pile it on, but a little focus wouldn’t have killed CM either. Yes, we understand there are twelve important behaviors that make a good leader.  Couldn’t he have told us which three to really pay attention to this year? And the twenty things he’d list under each of his points to “help” us better understand him. Really?

We will not be filling CM’s position. Instead the senior team and I have identified the four outcomes that define a successful leader and we’ll hold everyone accountable for those at bonus time.  We’ll have our recruiters ask candidates to discuss how they’ve delivered similar outcomes.  When we put people in new jobs we’ll make sure they can deliver those outcomes too.  If you have questions about how to apply these outcome in your job, ask three people for suggestions.

This seems so easy – I feel better already!  I’m not sure why CM needed to make everything complex when a simple solution was so obvious. Speaking of which, I’ll be sending another note shortly about some impending departures in our Compensation group.



 
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