How Talent Mobility Helped Ally Financial Find and Keep Top Talent

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Having a robust talent mobility program mitigates the risk that high performers will leave, and helps companies build strong sustainable leadership pipelines. At Ally Financial, talent mobility isn’t just a way to keep top talent—it was a key strategy to help the business rebuild after the devastating global economic crisis.

Prior to the economic downturn, Ally was a subsidiary of General Motors Corporation and financed more than 90% of all U.S. passenger vehicle purchases. In 2008-2009, the firm faced serious financial difficulties due to a decline in the auto industry and losses in the mortgage markets, and was forced to accept $17.2 billion in loans from the U.S. government as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

"The intersection of crises and opportunity was serendipitous—it gave us an opportunity to create new, big jobs, from corporate treasurer to head of risk." Jim Duffy, Chief HR officer at Ally.

Rebuilding the company under those conditions was incredibly difficult, especially when it came to attracting talent. To keep its best people and recruit new ones, Ally’s leaders decided to adopt a more talent-focused business strategy, which would give high performers a chance to dramatically stretch their skills and take on leadership roles they ordinarily would not get so early in their careers at other organizations.

"Giving good people big jobs early, and adding a lot of accountability pays off."

Ally has become a place where people see opportunities to grow and take on new challenges. Duffy’s team implemented more rigorous performance management processes to ensure top performers were identified and promoted in a timely fashion, and that the performance management process was very transparent. The firm encouraged employees and managers to actively seek out new opportunities that would help them build their leadership skills.

More information about Ally's embrace of talent mobility is available in i4cp's new report Talent Mobility Matters, and an even more detailed case study is available via the i4cp member site.

Our research found that talent mobility has a high correlation to market performance and that leading companies use mobility to retain and develop their best people—but that managers hoarding talent is a major obstacle to a more agile workforce in half of the global employers surveyed.



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Kevin Martin

Kevin Martin is the chief research officer at the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp); the leading research firm focused on discovering the people practices that drive high-performance.

In addition to guiding i4cp’s research agenda and deliverables, Kevin also advises corporate and human resources leadership teams on best- and next-practices in a broad range of topics that range from talent risk management and corporate culture, to human capital strategy and organizational agility. He also serves as executive sponsor of i4cp's distinguished Chief HR Officer Board.

Prior to i4cp, Kevin worked for several years at research firm Aberdeen Group where he built one of the industry’s leading human capital management (HCM) research practices and then held a variety of roles of increasing responsibility which included SVP of Research Operations with general management oversight of the company's 17 research practices, and SVP of International Operations where he led the firm’s expansion efforts in to Europe.

A highly sought-after international keynote speaker on all aspects of human resources and talent management, Kevin has been recognized as a “Top 100 HR Influencer” by HR Examiner. His and his team’s research have been cited in leading business media, including Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Inc. Magazine, Bloomberg, the Financial Times, CFO Magazine, CIO Applications, and on CNBC.

He is also an occasional contributor for the Financial Times.

Kevin currently serves on the advisory councils for the University of Dayton's school of business administration and school of engineering. He also serves on the board of advisors for Bullseye Engagement. From 2005 to 2014, Kevin served on the board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Massachusetts, which included a two-year term as board chairman (2009-2011). In 2006, Kevin was awarded the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's "Big Brother of the Year".

Kevin earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Boston University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of Dayton. He resides in the Massachusetts with his wife (Laura) and their three sons.