INTRODUCTION
There’s a war on for talent; the spoils, as ever, will go to the victors. But what’s behind it?

The talent war is driven by:

Sections
THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

HYPER COMPETITION

PROLIFERATION OF SMALL COMPANIES

HUMAN CAPITAL SCARCITY

TALENT DEVELOPMENT BEST PRACTICES

RECRUITMENT POLICY

IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL

JOB CHALLENGE

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP

VARIED EXPERIENCE

CONTINUING EDUCATION

PERSONAL GROWTH EMPOWERMENT

RECOGNITION AND REWARD

THE USE OF TALENT DEVELOPMENT GROUPS

IMPROVING TALENT DEVELOPMENT

The information age is the very antithesis of the industrial age model. The requirement for highly customised product and service offerings, the advent of mature markets, and the need for employees to work in a constantly changing, unstable and global environment has meant that increasingly fluid structures are now the norm. The management of people is now largely participative. Their development is as much dictated by the employee as it is by their organisation .

The knowledge economy fuels the talent war because quite literally the only competitive advantage left for organisations lies in their ability to change faster than their competitors, and this requires “cleverness” versus “clout”.

HYPER COMPETITION
The world has become one market almost overnight. The economic trends in all regions now follow the same pattern with the exception perhaps of the burgeoning Chinese economy.

Information systems and flows bring complete transparency to product features and prices. No longer is it able to sustain long-term competitive advantage through simply being a market leader. Competition between major brands has never been stronger and the advent of e-business has opened up large markets to a new breed of entrepreneurs who see the ‘click’ as important (if not more important) than the ‘brick’.

In low growth economies, with stock markets behaving erratically, and the need to deliver profits in a sustainable way, the only measure to adopt for many organisations right now is cost reduction. But, as one enlightened chief executive once said – ‘you can’t save your way to prosperity!’

To win in a market of hyper competition you have to do things differently and fast. This requires innovation, creativity and risk taking. This in turn requires the engagement of all the talent available to the organisation. It used to be that only the best secured the future of a business, now it’s the rest as well!

Graduates place international travel and overseas assignments high on their list of their employment priorities. Employees, as never before, are likely to make dramatic moves to other locations if these moves fulfil their personal growth or life ambitions.

Flexible working arrangements, taking time off to travel, and a much less structured view of career development have continued to undermine many of the carefully thought through talent development plans of many organisations. Employee mobility now plays a substantial part in organisation’s ability to attract, retain and grow the talent it needs.

PROLIFERATION OF SMALL COMPANIES
The numbers of valuable employees leaving large organisations to join or start up smaller ones is a phenomenon which has existed for some years. It is likely to continue. Why? Ask those leaving these large organisations and they will tell you that the bureaucracy, slow decision-making, internal politics and the culture were grinding them down (along with a number of other big corporate traits).

The message is clear that talented people, who take seriously their desire and ability to make a contribution to an organisation, are kicking against the operating style of big businesses and opting for the freedom to achieve in a less structured, less controlled environment. And who could blame them?

In their desire to keep stakeholders happy the one group of stakeholders organisations often overlook are their employees. Yet these are the resource the organisation cannot function without, and whose discretionary effort they so desperately need.

The proliferation of smaller companies is undoubtedly linked to the failings of larger organisations to manage their talent successfully.

HUMAN CAPITAL SCARCITY
The demographics tell the story. Ageing populations, ageing workers, early retirements, falling birth rates, a reduction in 35 to 44 year olds, and a lack of students joining the labour market is creating a scarcity of human capital in frightening dimensions.

Where will organisations get their much-needed future talent? How will they attract them? How will they keep them? The answer lies in having to re-think their whole approach to employment. Biases based on ageism, gender, nationality and origin will need to be replaced by an embracing of diversity and flexibility, and this will require a whole new mindset when it comes to talent development.

To win the talent war organisations are adopting one of four approaches or a mix of them. The four approaches are:

THE EMPLOYEE VALUE PROPOSITION APPROACH

To address the talent war as an organisation you use a clear Employee Value Proposition to attract, retain and develop the talent you need. There are four broad employee value propositions:

	‘Go with a winner’
	‘Big risk, big reward’
	‘Save the world’
	‘Lifestyle’

The approach is essentially a culture and goal alignment approach. Thinking behind it – the best performances are willingly given. Discretionary effort is the key to talent development.

KEY QUESTIONS:

	What are our corporate goals and values?
	What attitudes and behaviours do we seek in our employees which align to our goals and values?

How do we recognise and reward those supporting our goals and values with personal growth and development opportunities ?

THE DEFINED PATHWAY APPROACH

To address the talent war as an organisation you use a clearly defined and communicated Training and Development or Career Development Pathway as your approach to attract, retain and develop the talent.

The defined pathway approach is essentially a mapping approach. Thinking behind it - make career progression clear and you will attract talent. Career development is the key to growing talent. The key is to provide more than one route for each individual’s potential development. Route maps can take the individual horizontally, diagonally or vertically. Room should be given to the occasional maverick!

THE ACCELERATION POOL APPROACH

To address the talent war as an organisation you use the opportunity to join an elitist group with an Acceleration Pool as the way to attract, retain and develop the talent you need.

Acceleration pools differ from traditional succession planning because:

	They rest on the premise that whilst everybody in the organisation is developed only the best qualify for accelerated development.
	Whilst in the pool people are stretched by assignments, secondments, task force work and coaching.
	Movement within the pool (over periods lasting from 1 to 15 years) is based on high performance and continuing development.
	The pool offers no guarantee or presumption of upward movement or promotion.
	Individuals can move into and out of the pool, depending on their performance and the organisation’s needs.
	Not all members of senior management are expected to come from the pool (perhaps only 75-80 % of positions are met by pool members).

KEY QUESTIONS:

	How do we currently identify our best talent
	What percentage of our employees would we put into our acceleration pool?
	How should we manage people into and out of the ‘high potential’ pot?
	What do we do to retain the talent of those outside the ‘high potential’ pot?

THE BLENDED APPROACH

To address the talent war as an organisation you use a combination of four key ingredients to ensure that, at any one time, you have the right talent you need. The Blended Approach requires obtaining a balance of:

	Job Content (Stretch)
	Management Attention (Sense of Value)
	Self-Development (Personal Growth)
	Reward Alignment (Recognition)

Surrounding these four ingredients to success is the organisation’s response to four external factors:

	Its market position and standing.
	Drivers of change in its market-place.
	The mobility of employees
	The shape and size of the available talent market

TALENT DEVELOPMENT BEST PRACTICES
Organisations which take talent development seriously focus on ten best practices to build an infrastructure for talent development.

RECRUITMENT POLICY
The long-term success of your organisation will depend on your talent management, so don’t under-recruit the talent you need! In determining the level and type of talent you will need, consider the following:

	Competitive nature of your market–place: In which areas of your business will you need fresh talent to achieve competitive advantage?
	Your core business and your corporate competencies: What is your core business and what competencies are needed to continuously improve it? What talent must you acquire and develop?
	In which areas is your business most at risk: Where do you need to rapidly replace the average or poor with better talent?
	Into which markets will your business be growing: What talent will you need to give you a head start?
	There is always going to be a big demand for the best talent: How will you put together the most attractive employee-value propositions for them?

By definition you will lose some of your best talent. To whom might you lose them? What better offer will they provide? What best practices could you copy from them?

IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL
Can you currently identify the talent you have?

Potential is a combination of innate ability and application of that ability in the work situation. You need to be constantly identifying the potential of your employees.

This will entail bringing measurement and assessment to what are often very subjective and behavioural success criteria. The following will help you:

	Competency frameworks Have enough competencies to measure people but not too many for managers to assess. Up to 10 is reasonable Make sure that the competencies are forward not backward looking.
	Performance management systems
	Psychometrics Standard personality, fit and preference instruments may be used, but organisations are beginning to look at measures of emotional intelligence (the capacity for self awareness, emotional self regulation, self motivation and motivation of others, empathy and the ability to cultivate rapport with diverse people, social and interpersonal skills to support teamwork, networking, win-win negotiation etc).
	Psychologists’ interviews Some organisations employ psychologists to interview candidates being considered for promotion or new assignments. Using behavioural event interviewing techniques, psychometrics and techniques to identify/measure levels of emotional intelligence the objective is to more accurately predict success or otherwise in the new job. Psychologists’ interviews are normally used prior to making very senior or strategic appointments where the cost of failure can be extremely high.
	Assessment/development centres There are four generations of development centres.
	Personal development plans (in which personal aspirations are the focus versus performance).A Personal Development Plan is a contract and a process by which the employee will identify his/her personal development needs and plan to meet them. A PDP meeting should ideally be kept separate from the appraisal discussion. Whilst the PDP has relevance to the current job of the employee, it’s timeframe should be 3 to 5 years and should have relevance for: Personal and professional development Career planning Enhancement of employability Talent and knowledge management Prevention of burn out and other career hazards The PDP process is primarily owned by the employee and facilitated by his or her manager. The manager and employee use the PDP for talent development, increased employability and longer term leadership and management development.
	Potential reviews (carried out by senior managers and HR professionals without the involvement of the staff being reviewed). Operating at different job levels, Talent Development Groups (TDGs) hold quarterly or half-yearly reviews of the organisation’s needs versus the talent available. Having varying degrees of power their role is to bring transparency and objectivity to the development of talent for the organisation’s and the individual’s good.

JOB CHALLENGE
It has been said that the single biggest learning opportunity anyone has is the job they are currently doing. If this is the case, then be bold, aggressive and almost risky in providing job challenges. Particularly in the case of identified high achievers you will need to consider:

	Involvement in high profile deals
	Participation in high visibility projects
	Inclusion in strategic change initiatives
	Investigation of new market niches
	Involvement in problem-solving task forces.

All these can be used to increase the challenge of the existing job and can stretch and grow high achievers.

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