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Creating a Sense of Community
- 10/18/11
Talent management is a 24/7 proposition for Whirlpool, one that holds leaders accountable and differentiates its talent needs and brand proposition in different markets.
At Whirlpool, the best talent wins. David Binkley, the company’s chief human resource officer, is well versed in how best to promote a successful, disciplined talent management system that is not only always on, but is as rigorous as any of the organization’s other operating systems.
TM: Describe Whirlpool’s approach to talent management.
Binkley: We refer to it as always on, 24/7, and it is a core business process. When we put the system together, starting about a decade ago, it was our intention to really build this like any other operating system in the company. We manage it like we manage market share. Leaders are held accountable in their performance, and ultimately their pay, for the execution of our talent systems. It is operationalized through a calendar that starts with our strategic planning process and gets deployed into annual goals. There are hard metrics for everything, and it’s a board approved process, and the board is very actively involved in the whole system.
TM: What kind of challenges impact talent at Whirlpool?
Binkley: There are several. It starts with the fact that we’re a global company. Talent strategies are incredibly different as we go across the enterprise and around the world. Growth rates in the U.S. and in Europe are moderate, and the talent challenges that go with that of retention, investment and development, making sure that you have appropriate flow through the organization are very different than the challenges we have in Brazil, India and China. There is more turnover, incredibly fast growth. There is clearly a war for talent. The talent strategy itself may not be different, but diversification and the differences going on in the markets drive different execution, different speeds of execution and different focus depending on where you are in the world. Competition for the best talent is very intense, in every market, and that’s at the intake level, the university level, or at the professional level when we need to go to market for unique skills or leadership talent.
TM: How do you deal with those talent challenges?
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