Chapter 1: A Name on the Map
Three weeks into my new role as an HR Director, I’m still learning which of Renvoran’s systems tell the truth and which just present it neatly. The enterprise-wide capability map is supposed to be one of the better options. Eight thousand employees aligned to patterns of expertise, collaboration, and influence all matrixed together and providing multiple views that are fully customizable. Not surprisingly, senior leaders are where I expect them. Strategy near strategy. Customer operations branching toward delivery. Technology gathered around transformation. Seems pretty legit.

I start to see the same name connected in these webs over and over…Nathan Relleck. I have heard him mentioned at meetings, but I do not know him. He seems to pop up near several of the busiest intersections on the map. Strategy, transformation, customer work, talent. I click through, expecting one large program or an influential sponsor to explain the pattern. None of my exploratory clicks bring me clarity. His connections stretch across years of work and link people who otherwise have little reason to overlap.

I switch to the succession planning module and search for his name. Surely someone so connected…. nothing. I check the spelling, clear the filters, try another view. Still, there is no plan to bring this connected person up the chain. Ugh. Another data problem. At Renvoran, every dashboard has at least one untidy legacy or acquisition system bolted onto it.

“Hey do you know why Nathan Relleck is not in succession,” I say out loud.

The HR Associate working near me leans toward the screen. “I thought he was already on a plan.”

I write "Nathan Relleck" in the margin of my notebook, below three things more urgent, and turn back to the map.

This has to wait; there are more important problems to solve this morning.

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Chapter 2: Nathan, Nathan Everywhere

I find Nathan’s name again the next morning while prepping for a meeting about decision bottlenecks between Product Development and Customer Operations. Renvoran’s expertise AI engine is meant to reduce the need for sending messages asking who knows what and who to contact. I type in the problem query, and Nathan Relleck pops up second on the list. After yesterday’s capability map search, that seems pretty understandable. If he truly works across as many parts of the company as the map suggests, this is exactly the kind of problem he should surface for. This gives me some faith in the system.

 

I change the search anyway. I type Manager effectiveness in distributed teams. Nathan appears again. I try customer escalation ownership. Again, Nathan. The repetition is enough to make me open the evidence behind the ranking. There is nothing obviously wrong with it. Years of project work.

 

Positive endorsements from people in different functions. Expertise tags that align. Successful collaborations with good feedback. Previous referrals that led to more successful work. If the system is biased toward him, it has accumulated plenty of reasons to be.

 

Mara, one of my transformation leads, looks over my shoulder and glances at the screen. “Did you find Nathan again?”

 

“More like I cannot find him.”

 

She smiles. “Nathan is the fastest way to get things moving.” She means it as praise. There is nothing in her tone that suggests I should hear anything else. After she leaves, I run one more search. Nathan appears near the top again.

 

This time I don’t click his name. I scroll past him instead to see who connects.

Third. Fourth. Fifth. Sixth. The people lower down have less evidence or cause behind them. Fewer endorsements and narrower project histories. Less proof that someone else has already found them useful. I like the system and Nathan is either a jack of all trades or he has learned to trick the system.

 

I sit with that for a moment. The recommendations may be right. I’m less sure but more curious about what happens to the people no one scrolls far enough to find.

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Chapter 3: A Good First Impression

By midafternoon I  know there is an easier way to learn about Nathan Relleck than finding his name in another system algorithm. I send him a message.

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"Hi Nathan. I’m Claire Riston, the new HR Director responsible for Talent Alignment and Succession. I’m still getting oriented, and your name has come up a few times in work I’ve been reviewing. I’d like to understand a little more about what you’re working on and where our work might overlap."

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He replies a few minutes later. 

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"Welcome to Renvoran, Claire. Most of my work is cross-functional, so overlap is usually the easy part. Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time around manager capacity and operating-model work." We trade a few messages. He is concise without being abrupt, and there is just enough humor in his answers to make the conversation easy. Then he writes: "Given your role, I’m guessing you’re hearing a lot about manager capability."

 

I am. Almost every conversation about succession eventually gets there. The usual answer is that managers need more support, he continues. "Before you add anything, I’d ask them what they think they’re allowed to stop doing." 

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I read that again. In three weeks, I’ve heard plenty about what managers need to learn, improve, own, and do differently. Nobody has asked what should come off their plates. I haven’t. More interestingly, I haven’t told Nathan I’m asking managers that question. There are certainly some ways he could know. I have learned that Renvoran is not a place where information stays in one room for long, and I’m hardly conducting a secret investigation. Still, it is a good question. Better than most I’ve heard over my short three weeks.

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I add Nathan to the list of people I want to meet, then reopen the capability map. His name is still everywhere. Now I understand a little better why.

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Chapter 4: Colin Verran’s Top Person

Colin Verran doesn’t hesitate when I ask about Nathan. “One of my absolute strongest people,” he says, as if I’ve asked about a person whose reputation should have already reached me (it has). Prior to my question, we were reviewing Colin’s organization before a workforce planning meeting, and Nathan’s profile popped up. Colin talks about judgment, reliability, the ability to work across functions without turning every problem into another steering committee. It sounds consistent with what I’ve seen so far.

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What isn’t consistent is the reporting structure. The directory lists Colin under Reports To. The workforce view I opened this morning says Sponsor: Colin Verran. I point to the difference. Colin barely looks at it. “Same thing, really.”

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Maybe it is. Renvoran has migrated enough systems that I’ve already stopped being surprised when two of them use different language for the same connection or alignment.

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“I have not met him. What’s he like in a room?” I ask.

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Colin considers the question. “Prepared. Doesn’t waste time repeating everything everyone already knows. If the conversation drifts off, he brings it back where it needs to be.  He is good at remembering context. You can pick something up with Nathan six months later and not spend twenty minutes reconstructing it.”

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I wait. Colin reaches for his coffee. His answer is completely fair and it checks out with others I have talked to. But it did not land right for me. I asked what Nathan is like in a room, and Colin told me what Nathan is like to work with.

 

Qualities not personality. It seems those should be almost the same question. I look once more at the word Sponsor before closing the screen.