“Talent-management systems do not take out the human factor”

In times like these, when change is the master currency and everybody is constantly scrambling to find or adapt to the Next Big Thing, it may be good to remember the following point: just because a thing has been around for a long time doesn’t mean it’s not useful any more.

Today, we will look at how good old-fashioned “stakeholder mapping” can be a helpful tool for you to manage your career.

Many large organizations — in fact, according to a 2018 Kienbaum study, about half of them — actively work to set up systems to identify internal talents and provide career-development opportunities.

But while talent-management systems are great at promoting visibility, transparency and fairness, they do not take out the human factor. Systems don’t promote people. People do.

You probably know who would be in charge of promoting you. But when you sit down and write up your stakeholder map, don’t stop at your boss and their boss. They are important, but so are your current peers. How would they feel about you moving up? And what about your future peers? Would they easily see you as “one of them”? And don’t forget the views of internal and external customers: what would be their feedback on your performance?

As if that were not enough, you also shouldn’t forget the classic gatekeepers: people in organizations with limited but very specific powers to give or deny access to the people or information you need. The best-known gatekeeper is, of course, the executive assistant. With their approval, you might find yourself getting face time with the CEO, which would not otherwise be warranted by the importance of your project. But also the HR professionals, or those fun types down in controlling, may know stuff you need to know, too.

This may all sound horribly complex. Dealing with human beings often is. So, let me end with two pieces of good news. First, you are probably already mindful of the importance of managing relationships for your day-to-day performance, as well as for your career. Second, the golden rule of managing relationships is very simple: kindness. Always start with kindness.