Execution and the People Process

In their best-selling book “Execution: the Discipline of Getting Things Done”, authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan claim that organizational execution centers around three core processes: the people process, the strategy process and the operations process.

The people process does three things.  It evaluates individuals accurately and in depth.  It provides a framework for identifying and developing leadership talent ….. and it fills the leadership pipeline that’s the basis of a strong succession plan.

I was recently struck by an article entitled “Assessing Undergraduate Business Education: Interviews With 4 Leaders” (Chronicle of Higher Education, April 14, 2011), where Carl P. Zeithaml, dean of the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, describes a faculty review system that is much more ‘execution oriented’ than any I have been involved with.  Here is his description:

We have an annual review-and-planning process for all of our faculty. They complete a detailed report that looks at their teaching, their research, and their service. They write about their goals from the previous year and how they did on them. We have a peer-based system, so everyone within the same academic area reads everyone else’s report. And then we have a meeting that usually takes a full day for each of the academic areas that I and a senior associate dean attend. One by one, everybody leaves the room and we talk about them and their report. They get a memo with peer feedback, and then their area coordinator and I meet with them to discuss their progress.

I believe that Bossidy and Charan would approve of the time and effort that Dean Zeithaml devotes to faculty review. What do you think?