All “leavers” are Alumni. Whether you loved them or not. You and they have invested heavily in each other. They leave with vast amounts of your data and, above all, relationships. Why let this value slip away, simply because they are leaving your organisation? Your organisation is not the center of the universe. In fact since careers are micro-businesses you should think of your organisation as a very temporary vehicle for these. So, why not maximise return on your alumni? Maximise the chances of referred business. Minimise the chances of litiagtion. Maximise the performance of those left behind.
White Paper: DRAFT V1
Alumni Programmes for senior long service employees (£150k +): – an alternative to so-called “outplacement”
Ciarán Fenton, Founding Partner, Fenton & Co LLP
October 2011
The purpose of this paper is to promote a change in the management of leavers by using alumni programmes to create benefits for both leavers and organisations alike.
At best, exit conversations and processes are currently as good as the highest levels of emotional intelligence of those involved. At worst, the process is traumatic for the leaver and damaging to the organisation.
There is an opportunity to change this by reframing the relationship between the parties and by acknowledging that since all leavers, whether highly rated or not, form part of the collective intellectual property and network into which the organisation has invested, then a higher return on that investment in the future can be achieved by retaining value through alumni programmes.
The first step is to reframe the relationships in a leaving context. Currently the relationship is often, although not always, framed in a “parent-child” mode[1], and I use these terms as Eric Berne intended and acknowledge that leavers would not necessarily recognise themselves in these patterns. The stronger “parent” organisation negotiates an exit with the weaker “child” leaver. Even with basic alumni programmes in place, neither the leaver nor the organisation benefits from future activity. In addition, its reputation suffers with those remaining as well as with those who might join it.
The proposed reframing consists of a conversion of this “parent-child” dynamic to an “adult-adult” dynamic whereby the “macro-business” negotiates and works with the “micro-business” leaver. This merely reflects the reality. The senior executive is a professional services firm “on legs” and there is no difference between him/her and any business. So, if their careers are businesses then all the art and science of business can be applied to them. It also means that their relationship with the organisaton was one of joint venture partner or service provider and this changes the context of the exit.
Provided the firm commits to a belief that all alumni are valuable – de facto, then this reframing enables the parties to convert the partnership relationship to an alumnus relationship, provided that the alumni programme is robust and meaningful. Otherwise the reframing will be derided as mere semantics.
If the firm demonstrates with real resources and with case studies rather than asserting the value of alumni, then the leaver will value and want to be part of the give and take culture of the best alumni programmes.
Once the reframing process is complete, the organisation can move to the second step which is to give each leaver an alumnus induction programme instead of so called “outplacement”. Whilst there are exceptional providers this process receives very mixed press[2]. The main complaint is that some providers increasingly offer standardised services, which some say offer little value. Few employers track whether outplacement works.
The advantage of replacing outplacement with alumnus induction is the extent to which a significant proportion of the spend can drive value to the organisation which would normally have been lost through outplacement. The objective of the induction programme is to create a bespoke strategy for the leaver following an assessment of transferable skills and options including new fulltime roles, non-executive directorships, philanthropy and business opportunities within a rich alumni programme context.
Whilst Alumni programmes are very advanced in academic environments they are in their infancy in businesses. This is because a short term out of sight, out of mind culture still dominates many business cultures despite growing evidence of the impact of disintermediation, social networks, virtual teams and the decline of the “social contract” between employers and employees.
Professional services firms are particularly ideal contexts to develop strong alumni programmes but the process should work for most sectors. McKinsey for example has nearly 23,000 alumni whereby former consultants make and sustain professional relationships. They see this “dynamic network is a lasting benefit of a McKinsey career”[3]. Alumni are also provided with a restricted access portal. This paper proposes an even more radical engagement with alumni. This would involve an investment of time, resources and the redirection of “outplacement” funding. Whilst the returns on first analysis may seen purely “soft” it is the contention of this paper that hard cash returns from new business and improved performance would quickly follow. The detailed processes required to maximise the probability of these outcomes will be detailed in a forth coming paper.
© Ciarán Fenton 2011
Management for Business Leaders
Strategy – Performance - Transition
Fenton & Co LLP
33 St. James’s Square, London SW1Y 4JS
t +44 (0) 207 754 0335 f +44 (0) 871 433 6145 w http://www.fentonllp.com
[1] Eric Berne, Transactional Analysis
[2] For example August 20, 2009, Wall Street Journal, headlined “Outplacement Firms Struggle to Do Job,”;
[3] http://www.mckinsey.com/alumni.aspx
Just punch Antonio Horta-Osorio’s name into Google and you will see a wide range of reactions to this story. These include warnings about heat and kitchens, the importance of delegation, the value of a COO as well as many column inches on sleep.
However, the biggest surprise is how tolerant the reaction has been to what used to be a major taboo issue: struggling to cope. Thanks to AHO, and his courageous Chairman for backing him, this elephant has been comprehensively outed in the boardroom. They have done for work-place stress what Stephen Fry did for bipolar disorder: smashed the taboo. Millions of individuals will benefit. Clever businesses should seize the opportunity to revise their policies on workplace stress. Performance and well being will soar if they do.
For this reason AHO and his Chairman get my vote for greatest contribution to business in 2011.
Ciaran Fenton
Fenton & Co LLP
The proposed legislation on “protected conversations” is in danger of missing the point
Lucy Kellaway (Lucy Kellaway) and others have recently commented on the proposed legislation in respect of its pros and cons from a practical point of view. Fair enough, but there is an opportunity now to start to reflect in legislation the reality of the workplace in the 21st. Century, that is: we are all micro-businesses selling our services to organisations, which are themselves merely coalitions of these micro-businesses for increasingly brief periods, and we are doing so in return for cash and “soft” benefits. The “conversation” required, whether protected or not, is the reframing of the “deal” between ourselves and organisations. What do we need from the organisation? What does it need from us? On what terms? It’s that simple except that it requires an Adult-Adult transaction – not a Parent-Child transaction as in days of yore. If this reality were reflected in legislation, then Lucy Kellaway’s view that we all need to be told to pull up our socks from time to time can and should still happen but more in the nature of a breach of an SLA rather than a “telling off”.
Ciaran Fenton
Fenton & Co LLP
David Beckham is one of the icons of our age, whether you like him or not. Yet in career terms there is no difference between you and he in the sense that he sells his services in return for cash and soft benefits. It’s just that there are probably more zeros in his revenue stream than yours. What’s notable about his career is the way it’s managed by a plethora of sophisticated and highly professional managers. This keeps his career on track as it does any business. Similarly you are a professional services firm on legs and the business of your career requires management whether you do it yourself or you get someone else to do it. With the demise of the social contract between employers and employees there is a growing management vacuum particularly at the top end. I believe this will be filled not, by career consultants, coaches, mentors or outplacement providers but by career management consultants (CMCs) with front line business experience with a blend of management consulting and managing agency skills as in sport and the arts. Who knows, in twenty years time there may even be a Big 4 of career mangement consulting?
Ciaran Fenton
Fenton & Co LLP
A job interview is about selling the services of a micro-business. All the art and science of selling applies.
Job interviews are no different to any other professional services sales pitch save that, as a micro-business, you are looking for soft benefits as well as cash. The aggregated learning around the art and science of good quality selling applies. There are hundreds of books on the subject. I believe these can be reduced to seven steps in an interview, provided you feel that the interviewer has the emotional intelligence to operate on an honest “adult-adult” basis. Otherwise, you may need to moderate the following approach:
- surface “the need”, very accurately
- demonstrate, rather than assert, your ability to meet the need
- ask where you tick the boxes and, precisely, where you don’t, especially if this is about “chemistry”
- address any negatives head-on; they are looking for reassurance, not perfection. Nobody is perfect, not even the interviewer
- ask for explicit feedback on where you compare unfavourably against the competition; offer specific reassurances on these. Ground their fears and address them candidly. This coud be the deal breaker for you
- don’t forget to ASK for the job, as in a sale. This may feel uncomfortable
- above all, leave the interview knowing as much as possible about where you stand. If the outcome is a surprise you haven’t sold properly. They either need you or they don’t. Either way the outcome must be a win-win for both parties.
Ciaran Fenton
Fenton & Co LLP
Send “outplacement” to Room 101
The Cambridge Business Dictionary defines outplacement as “help with finding a new job that a company gives to someone they can no longer employ” and declares it a noun. But the word does not match this definition. The word suggests that companies find jobs for leavers. They don’t. They help by paying providers to do so. The word literally means “placing outside”, not helping to find a job. In this the word is accurate and a synonym for redundancy. So the word represents yet another fudge in the language we use around how we manage relationships at work. Does this matter? I think it’s critical for economic survival in the 21st. Century that we reframe our working relationships more authentically and this is reflected in our use of language. People are as cynical about “outplacement” as they are about “employee engagement” and all the other double speak in so-called “human resource” management. Who wants to be a human resource? I propose that “outplacement” is sent to Room 101 and replaced by Alumni Programmes.
Ciaran Fenton
www.fentonllp.com
Headhunters beware. Job finding and recruitment will change beyond recognition within five years
Here’s an example. Thanks to HL for sending it to me.
The Rare Find by George Anders (extract)
Ciaran Fenton
Fenton & Co LLP
www.fentonllp.com
White Paper: Alumni Induction Programmes as an alternative to so-called “outplacement”, especially for Long Service Leavers
Click here or read below:
White Paper – Alumni Induction Programmes, especially for Long Service Leavers
Ciaran Fenton
www.fentonllp.com
White Paper: DRAFT V1
Alumni Induction Programmes, especially for Long Service
Leavers, an alternative to so-called “outplacement”
Ciarán Fenton, Founding Partner, Fenton & Co LLP
October 2011
The purpose of this paper is to promote a change in the
management of leavers by using alumni programmes to create
benefits for both leavers and organisations alike.
At best, exit conversations and processes are currently as good
as the highest levels of emotional intelligence of those
involved. At worst, the process is traumatic for the leaver and
damaging to the organisation.
There is an opportunity to change this by reframing the
relationship between the parties and by acknowledging that
since all leavers, whether highly rated or not, form part of the
collective intellectual property and network into which the
organisation has invested, then a higher return on that
investment in the future can be achieved by retaining value
through alumni induction programmes.
The first step is to reframe the relationships in a leaving
context. Currently the relationship is often, although not
always, framed in a “parent-child” mode1, and I use these
terms as Eric Berne intended and acknowledge that senior
executives would not necessarily recognise themselves in
these patterns. The stronger “parent” organisation negotiates
an exit with the weaker “child” leaver. Even with basic alumni
programmes in place, neither the leaver nor the organisation
benefits from future activity. The organisation’s reputation
suffers with those remaining as well as with those who might
join it.
The proposed reframing consists of a conversion of this
“parent-child” dynamic to an “adult-adult” dynamic whereby
the “macro-business” organisation negotiates and works with
the “micro-business” exiting senior executive. This merely
reflects the reality. The senior executive has always been a
professional services firm “on legs” and there is no difference
between him/her and any business. So, if their careers are
businesses then all the art and science of business can be
applied to them. It also means that their relationship with the
organisation was one of joint venture partner or service
provider and this changes the context of the exit.
1 Eric Berne, Transactional Analysis
Provided the organisation commits to a belief that all alumni
are valuable – de facto, then this reframing enables the parties
to convert the senior executive’s relationship to an alumnus
relationship, provided that the alumni programme is robust
and meaningful. Otherwise the reframing will be derided as
mere semantics.
When the organisation demonstrates with real resources and
with cases studies rather than asserting the value of alumni,
then the exiting senior executive will value and want to be part
of the give and take culture of the best alumni programmes.
Once the reframing process is complete, the organisation can
move to the second step which is to give each exiting senior
executive an alumnus induction programme instead of so
called “outplacement”. Whilst there are exceptional providers
this process receives very mixed press2. The main complaint is
that some providers increasingly offer standardised services,
2 For example August 20, 2009, Wall Street Journal, headlined
“Outplacement Organisations Struggle to Do Job,”;
which some say offer little value. Few employers track
whether outplacement works.
The advantage of replacing outplacement with alumnus
induction is the extent to which a significant proportion of the
spend can drive value to the organisation which would
normally have been lost through outplacement. The objective
of the induction programme is to create a bespoke strategy for
the exiting senior executive following an assessment of
transferable skills and options including in-house, nonexecutive
directorships, philanthropy, and business
opportunities within a rich alumni programme context.
Whilst Alumni programmes are very advanced in academic
environments they are in their infancy in businesses. This is
because a short term out of sight, out of mind culture still
dominates many business cultures despite growing evidence
of the impact of disintermediation, social networks, virtual
teams and the decline of the “social contract” between
employers and employees.
Professional services organisations are ideal contexts to
develop strong alumni programmes. McKinsey for example
has nearly 23,000 alumni whereby former consultants make
and sustain professional relationships. They see this “dynamic
network is a lasting benefit of a McKinsey career”3. Alumni are
also provided with a restricted access portal.
This paper proposes an even more radical engagement with
alumni. This would involve an investment of time, resources
and the redirection of “outplacement” funding. Whilst the
returns on first analysis may seen purely “soft” it is the
contention of this paper that hard cash returns from new
business and improved performance would quickly follow.
The detailed processes required to maximise the probability of
these outcomes will be detailed in a forth coming paper.
© Ciarán Fenton 2011
Management for Business Leaders
Strategy – Performance – Transition
Fenton & Co LLP
33 St. James’s Square, London SW1Y 4JS
t +44 (0) 207 754 0335 f +44 (0) 871 433 6145 w
http://www.fentonllp.com
3 http://www.mckinsey.com/alumni.aspx
