ET Now GBS 2024: Goals must stretch employees to keep 'em feeling motivated

Marc Effron, founder of the Talent Strategy Group, who advises governments and top companies worldwide, said organisations can build better talent more quickly by answering two critical questions. The two queries that Effron poses to leaders are "Can you sustain high performance?" and "Do you have a selectively deep bench?".

To sustain high performance, he recommends that the contract between an employer and employee should be looked at as the three big promises. These are "three big challenges and goals" that are specific, important, measurable, and aligned with organisational success.

The goals that he referred to are meant to challenge. "These goals need to really stretch people so they can feel motivated to achieve them," he said.


"Regular coaching is also vital," said Effron, who advocates for a quarterly "2+2" process where managers meet with direct reports to discuss "two observations and two feedforward suggestions."

The transparent nature of the feedback process helps employees continuously improve and maximise their contributions, according to Effron.

Managers must have regular, transparent, coaching conversations with their team members and enforce and reinforce those performance-driving behaviours that maximise workforce potential and organisational success.

Effron stresses on the importance of identifying "performance driving behaviours" that truly impact outcomes and suggested making these behaviours 30% of performance evaluations to encourage their demonstration.

Rewards should also be differentiated, based on these behaviours to motivate high performance, according to Effron.

When building for a deep talent bench, he vouches for first determining which roles have the "most impact on revenue, operations and risk." The aim is to place "your best talent in the most critical roles, where they can really move the needle."

Taking stock of the talent is paramount. He believes leaders must "frequently assess talent quality and depth" across the organisation.

For high potential talent, Effron suggests creating "focused development plans" centred around "big developmental experiences" to accelerate growth. "You need to accelerate the growth of your top performers through hands-on learning," he said.

Overall, Effron is a proponent of a "disciplined talent production process" that treats people development with the same rigour as quality control systems. "If you methodically grow talent to meet clear specifications, you'll build the workforce your business needs to thrive," said Effron.