Crouching tigers, hidden talents

Multinationals know that if they are to win competitive advantage in today’s global marketplace then they need to succeed in Eastern markets. China and India are poised with the entrepreneurial spirit, the drive and determination, but possibly not (yet) the skill set to help them do just that.

But while the West is busy working out how to capitalise on Eastern resources, India’s increasingly powerful multinational conglomerate – and India’s biggest vehicle maker – Tata Group, are wasting no time in increasing their competitive advantage in the West. Tata has secured a £1.15bn deal to buy UK-based brands Jaguar and Land Rover from US-based car giant Ford. As part of this business initiative, there could also be a clever people strategy to buy into the skills and talents of the UK’s car manufacturers, with the knowledge that home-grown skills could be nurtured and trained likewise.

The BBC’s head of production talent Ian Critchley (see Profile, page 8) knows the importance of training. The BBC is the biggest training ground for the television industry and, last year, just under 40,000 people attended a training course at the BBC. This approach is bound to yield long-term business benefits, as organisations embrace the idea of a revolving door for their talent – and a more fluid workforce.

Changing workforce demographics along with the aspirations and expectations of today’s talent was one of the issues discussed at a recent Leading Lights lunch where nine prominent figures in talent management were brought together to discuss the real issues behind the hype (see Leading Lights, page 15). One solution offered by the panel was for a talent network, as opposed to a talent pipeline, characterised by knowledge
liquidity, freedom of choice and fluidity of career decisions.

However fluid career decisions are, though, people will still need to display latent capability. In his leader, Chris Bones (see Leader, page 5) discusses a powerful development technique: action learning. This is where organisations can link their employees internal development needs with the capabilities they have built in external roles. Bones argues that talent development can really only take place if the organisation really understands the capabilities it needs to deliver its business strategy.

There is little doubt that Tata, India’s growing global giant, is fully aware of the importance of its organisation’s capability requirements and that their workforce need to have the skills and the talent to compete worldwide. Earlier this year they announced they were establishing an academic training
programme with more than 300 local institutions in a bid to increase their IT talent pool in line with the needs of the global technology industry.
After all, if your staff don’t have the right skills for the future then neither does your business.

Katie Pattullo
Editor