HR guide to

supporting
Talent review
Supporting our people to be exceptional everyday
Contents
How to use this guide

Managing talent the Mitie way

Introduction to talent

The process - An overview

The process - Before the meeting

The process - During the meeting

The process - After the meeting

The templates

Resources
How to use this
guide
We are committed to supporting our people to develop and grow with our business
and to putting the right support, attention and resources in place to enable each Mitie
employee to achieve their full potential. Our line managers, leaders and HR teams play
a critical role in making this happen.

This guide outlines our talent management processes and tools and each person's
responsibilities along the way. It also highlights where our talent management process
and performance management process interact and compliment each other.

We want to provide you with all of the information you and your leadership teams will
need to ensure the talent of your business area is identified, reviewed and supported
throughout the year. We will provide you with all of the templates and materials
needed along the way.
Managing talent the
Mitie way
Our talent strategy

As a business we require the very best from our people every day. We also want them to
develop and grow with us, to achieve their potential, meet their goals and help Mitie
deliver the exceptional every day. By identifying those who have the most potential to do
more, we can plan for the future needs of the business and make sure we have a healthy
pipeline of people ready to step up and take on bigger and broader roles.

Our approach

For us, talent management is all about:

• Identifying the potential in our people and supporting them to thrive.
• Understanding the talent profile of our teams, business units and the business.
• Understanding the critical roles and the succession pipeline into them.
• Identifying and mitigating any skills gaps or talent risks.
• Being able to support our people to address their developmental needs or play
to their strengths.
 Introduction to talent
Introduction to Talent

Performance v Potential

It’s important to understand the difference between performance and potential. In Mitie we think
both are important, but use them in different ways;
• We use the MiReview process to review performance. This is all about reflecting and
considering how well an individual has done against existing measures of success and objectives
in their current role.
• Our talent review process is about looking forward and assessing individuals' potential; their
suitability for future challenges and for bigger and broader roles.
• We often review both performance and talent at the same time and they are intrinsically linked.
It's helpful to consider what a person has achieved to date as well as their aspirations, where
they'd like to get to and an assessment of the potential they have to progress at Mitie.

Performance Potential
How well you perform now How well you could do in future, bigger, broader roles

Based on specific job related objectives Based on alignment to the Mitie Leadership framework
v
Measure of success in current role How likely you are to succeed in future leadership and
senior leadership roles
 Full-year Performance Review
The Process Full-year performance reviews provide the manager and
employee with an opportunity to come together to reflect on
the employees performance throughout the year -
considering both what they've delivered as well as how they
An overview delivered it.
This meeting is often used to agree new performance
objectives for the year ahead, although some managers may
There are key touch points and critical activities that are carried
choose to do this in a separate, follow on meeting.
out as part of our talent management process, notably at the end
of and mid-year. Ongoing support, development opportunity and
growth is wrapped around this activity and should happen
throughout the year.
Full-year Calibration & Talent
Review
Half-year Performance Review
Senior leadership teams meet to calibrate the ratings
collectively once a year. This allows us to ensure we are
Half-year performance review meetings provide an applying a consistent and fair assessment approach to all of
opportunity for managers to meet with their employee to our people and that ratings have been awarded fairly.
review their progress against their objectives and We often combine this session with a broader talent review.
development plans. It’s important that people are clear on By covering off both performance and potential in the same
how they are doing and receive regular feedback - no one session we are able to build a real clear picture of the talent
should be surprised by their full-year performance rating profile of each business unit. These sessions tend to focus on
when it's issued! This meeting is also an opportunity to revisit the SLT members immediate reports, although others may be
both the objectives and development plan to see if they are discussed by exception. The outputs of these meetings are
still relevant or whether any adjustments should be made to shared with our executive team and combined.
make them more relevant for the remainder of the year.

Half-year Talent Review Continuous Support &

Development
Senior leadership teams often come back together for a mid-
year talent review meeting. This is an opportunity to revist
the talent profile generated at the full-year meeting. They can It's the line manager and employee's responsibility to ensure
check that people are progressing as expected, that agreed that there is ongoing support, development opportunity and
actions and activities are underway and review progress growth taking place throughout the year. A Personal
against them. Development Plan should be tailored to the employee's needs
and aspirations.
The process
Before the talent review meeting
It's really important that everyone fully understands the purpose of the meeting and the expected outputs. Well before the talent
review meeting takes place;

Managers should: HR Business Partners should;

1.Support their direct reports development throughout the 1.Ensure all mangers and employees are clear on the process
year. and that all performance reviews have taken place.
2.Carry out an end of year performance review meeting with 2.Schedule the calibration and talent review meeting - ensure
their direct reports - they should discuss a rating but make it sufficient time is blocked out to allow for a thorough and
clear to the colleague that this it's provisional and subject to comprehensive review of all relevant employees.
change through calibration. 3.Prepare a consolidated view of all performance ratings for
3.Consider where each of their direct reports should be discussion in the room - this is often summarised as a
positioned in the 9-box grid and be prepared to discuss this in distribution curve.
the meeting. It's often helpful for managers to seek feedback 4.Prepare any templates that will be populated or referred to
from the employees' stakeholders and peers to support both during the meeting.
their performance rating and -box grid position.
4.Be prepared to provide feedback on the direct report of the
other SLT members during the session.
The process Facilitator tips
During the meeting Schedule a longer meeting than you think you'll need,
as they always run over!
The meeting is usually facilitated by the relevant HR representative, supported by their L&D Business partner. It’s helpful to
remind people of the purpose and expected outputs, their role in the process and give them an indication of how long has Ask the L&DBP to support in capturing notes of the
been allocated to discuss each person's set of direct reports (a tip here is to schedule a longer meeting than you think you'll discussion, it's almost impossible for one person to
need, as they always run over!)
facilitate, populate the templates and capture all of the
• Use the agenda template to ensure each element is covered. feedback.
• Use the meeting slides template to capture outputs (Tip - ask the L&DBP to support in capturing notes of the discussion,
it’s almost impossible for one person to facilitate, populate the templates and capture all of the feedback. The feedback or Remain neutral and keep the conversation on track
development suggestions are important to capture as they should be fed back to the employee to support their without controlling it.
development).
Challenge participants where necessary and ensure
Calibration & Talent Review Agenda decisions are fact based with evidence being used.

10 mins Meeting Intro & aims Decisions should not be made on hearsay, so specific
examples, brief stories and facts should be used.
15 mins BU Ratings profile
If there's disagreement with somebody's talent rating,
try to gain other opinions before providing evidence.
5 mins per person in Person by Person review
scope for discussion Ensure ratings are consistently and fairly judged using
the same criteria, no matter to whom they report.
15 - 30 mins Succession Planning and Risk Capture
Succession planning: Consider more than one person
15 - 30 mins Skills Profiling for each critical role to build a strong pipeline.

15 mins Next steps and close

The process 3. Person by Person review (Schedule
time based on around 5 mins per
employee in scope for discussion):
Facilitating the Calibration & Talent review meeting 9-Box grid

This is the largest session of the meeting. It involves a review of each

relevant person (we usually focus on direct reports to the SLT
members and other more junior colleagues by exception).
1. Meeting Intro & aims (10 mins):
Each SLT member is expected to talk about both the performance
HR Facilitator reminds the attendees of the purpose of the meeting, rating and 9-box grid position of their people, while other managers
the outputs that they are aiming to achieve and each person's role. in the room provide feedback. This is where the facilitator may need
Tip – it's often helpful to set some ground rules (stick to time, to probe the managers to provide objective evidence to back up
challenge constructively, actively participate, be objective). their review, they may also need to challenge the managers
suggestions to ensure there is a consistent performance benchmark
and that everyone is being assessed against the same objective
measures and expectations.
2. BU ratings profile (15 mins)::
Tip - There are a few different ways you can approach the facilitation
of this section for example you may choose to ask each manager to
Start the session by reviewing the ratings distribution for the BU as a Distribution Curve take turns talking about their people or you may choose to talk about
combined picture and a comparison to the standard distribution
colleagues by rating i.e. start with all of the employees rated
curve. It's also useful to be able to show ratings split by grade and by
“exceptional” - this sets a good precedent for the rest of the
team or line manager.
discussion as the room will have a benchmark of what they consider
great performance looks like. You would then work through each
Review the overall ‘shape’ of the ratings and compare to the
person rated “Out-performing” and so on.
‘expected distribution’
• Does it feel right given the overall performance of the area?
It’s really useful to have a co-facilitator who can capture notes, adjust
• Where it's out of line? i.e. more ‘high performers’, too few ‘low
and ratings and populate the 9-box grid, while you lead the
performers’ etc, if so focus on these areas.
discussion, manage the feedback and keep everyone to time.
 5. Skills Profiling (15 - 30 mins):

The process
Skills Matrix

Use this opportunity to discuss the skills profile of the BU;

• What are the high-volume roles?
• What are the most critical roles?
• Which roles do we recruit most frequently?
Facilitating the Calibration & Talent review meeting • Which roles do we struggle to recruit?
• What roles do we anticipate needing in 12 -24 months
time?
• What are the most critical skills for success in the BU?
Tip - All of this information can be used to build your talent
4. Succession Planning & Risk Capture plans for the year ahead, including recruitment, retention and
(15 - 30 mins): learning and development.

Flight-Risk Matrix You might also want to use the diversity demographics for the
During this session you should focus on succession into the SLT
BU to shape these plans.
roles for your BU. We ask managers to think about;
• Who could be emergency cover for the role (this person
might not necessarily be right for the role longer-term)?
• Who is ready to take this role on immediately? 6. Next steps & close (15 mins):
• Who could take the role on in time with development and
support? It’s important that the team recognises that talent management
It's useful to use this session to consider if any of these is an ongoing process – it’s not about this meeting as much as
nominated colleagues are considered flight risks and to lead a what they do afterwards. Managers should be asked to provide
Succession Plan
conversation on whether and how the team might want to relevant colleagues with feedback and support based on the
migtigate this risk i.e. does the colleague know they are discussion. They should support their people to build a
considered a successor, do they have an active development bespoke personal development plan to support their specific
plan in place to support them to develop into this role, are they needs and aspirations.
paid correctly, can we give them more exposure to operational
activities to stretch them or do we need to have a contingency
plan in place should they decide to leave.
After the meeting Opprtunities to
Continuous Support & Development
learn & grow
We believe that each of us is responsible for owning and driving our own development, but as a line manager
It’s important that our managers recognise that talent management isn’t a one off meeting. They are responsible for supporting you can help your team members to understand what opportunities and resources are available and which
and developing their people throughout the year. The meeting is simply an enabler to doing this, as is the performance would benefit them in their personal development journey. We have a wide selection of formal learning
management process. resources available to all Mite employees.

After the meeting they should make sure their colleagues receive feedback and that they use the output of the meeting to support Licence to Licence to
their ongoing development. There’s no point identifying people as high potential but not letting them know. Equally, if people's
E-learning Catalogue Apprenticeship
Operate Lead
performance isn’t where it should be. It's important that they recognise this and that managers support them in understanding how
they can improve.

Any colleagues whose performance rating has altered should be made aware and understand why.

Each person should be supported appropriately according to their 9-box grid position;

• If the colleague is in the RED section it would suggest they are not meeting the required performance level for their current
role. The manager should work with the colleague to understand their performance gaps and development requirements –
the formal performance management process may be required. The HR team can support with more information and
guidance on this process. We also offer McQuaig psychometric tools - allowing our
people to complete individual personality profiles or use the 360
• If the colleague is in the mid-section section (light grey) they should be given feedback from the calibration review to ensure
they understand the current view of both their performance and future potential. They should build performance plans feedback process. To access please complete this request form:
utilising the Mitie Learning & Development offer and in-role activities. L&D McQuaig Psychometric Assessment Request
• If the colleague is in the GREEN section they should be asked to complete the talent profile. The manager should then meet
with them to review it and to build a personal development plan aimed at supporting them to meet their predicted potential.
Get involved in our employee networks to support personal development.
Some business areas decide to bring this population together as a talent cohort and support them with additional
development activities. The HR and Learning & Development Business Partner for the BU can support here.

The outputs from the 9-box grid, the succession plan, skills and risk templates should all be used to shape the broader people plan
and talent agenda for the business unit. These should be referred to on a regular basis and progress tracked throughout the year.
After the meeting
Managing talent
As well as reviewing performance objectives and task related activity, it's really important to support your team members with their personal development plans and help them to understand what development areas
they should be focusing on and how.

The most effective development plans will focus on only 2 or 3 areas at a time and it's important that they include a blend of different types of learning activities, in the right proportions.

Formal learning
Only 10% of your development activity should be formal learning
such as:
• Workshops, courses or e-learning.
Learning through experience • Reading, watching videos, attending seminars
Research shows that the most effective way to develop
is learning through experience, this could include:
• Taking on a stretch project. Learning through others
• Picking up new tasks or responsibilities.
• Leading or taking part in a project. Development often takes place through others,
• Taking time to reflect on performance and adjusting whether formally or informally:
next time round. • Coaching or mentoring.
• Allowing yourself to try new things and make • Building and using your networks.
mistakes. • Seeking advice or guidance.
• Seeking regular feedback. • Speaking to your peers.
• Observing others or job shadowing.
The templates
Talent Review
9-Box grid
The templates
The 9-box grid is one of the most common tools used to
categorise and track talent in a business.

It's helpful because it provides shared definitions for talent

categories and a way to easily visualise how talent is clustered. It
gives managers a common language to help focus the discussion,
and it also defines actions that will be needed following talent
discussions.

Managers select a single box for each of the colleagues being

discussed based upon two primary factors: potential and
performance. The factor of potential addresses how much
further a person can progress towards bigger and broader roles in
the future.
Succession Plan
The templates
This document should be used to identify successors into our most critical roles.
• You should aim to identify a successor for each time frame:

Contingency Someone able to cover the role for a short period and as emergency
cover, they may not necessarily be the longer term choice.

0–6 Someone who is almost ready to step-up and with some support
could do so very soon.

6 – 18 Someone who has shown potential to be able to move up with

appropriate development and support.

18 months + Someone who shows potential for a bigger role, but may require
more experience and development over a longer period in order to
do so.

• Where there is no obviously successor you should flag this as a risk and agree actions to
mitigate this risk.
• The same colleague can appear in more than one box and under more than one role.
Flight-Risk matrix
The templates

This document should be used to identify and capture detail of any

colleagues who might present a flight risk.

• You should indicate the level of risk as either high, medium or low.

When defining the level of risk you should consider factors such as;

how critical the role is, whether there is an immediate successor,

how imminent the risk is.

• You should seek to understand the reason this person presents a

flight risk and identify appropriate actions to mitigate the risk.

Mitigating actions will vary depending on the individuals and could

include; identifying a suitable successor, providing more stretch and

development, providing more support, reviewing their reward and

benefits pack.
Skills matrix
The templates

This document should be used to identify and documents details of the

skills profile of the business area. It can be used to support broader

people planning decisions and the talent management agenda for the

year ahead.

Information should provide an overview of the most common and

critical roles and skills required for functional delivery both for the

immediate and medium term.

Resources
Talent Review

Talent review meeting email template

Calibration & talent review slides

9-box grid template

Succession plan template

Flight-risk matrix template

Skills matrix template

Talent interview form

L&D offer brochure

Licence to Operate SharePoint page

Licence to Lead SharePoint page

Apprenticeship SharePoint page