Don’t miss the development boat…
Chris Bones, principal of Henley Management College, argues that the war for talent is marketing hype – organisations would do better to concentrate on developing the talent they have.
It was Malcolm Gladwell’s article in The New Yorker in July 2002 that first exposed serious flaws in the argument put forward for resourcing strategies stressing the importance of a ruthless concentration on the attraction and retention of ‘high potentials’. His article concentrated on the talent strategy pursued by Enron and the role this played in the Enron scandals.
Gladwell argued that the application of McKinsey’s views on talent management as a single-minded focus on a small and privileged group of employees – and the association of significant reward, recognition and endorsement from the very top for this ‘elite’ – had underpinned and exacerbated the Enron management system failure. At the time, I welcomed Gladwell’s contribution but I wondered whether HR professionals in the field had swallowed the model so far that it would be difficult to stop the bandwagon.
A review of the latest research does suggest I was overly pessimistic, but worries remain. Most organisations see the management of talent to be an inclusive process and applicable to all. It is interesting, however, to note that despite this strongly held belief, most organisations are still putting their efforts and resources into activities demonstrating the exact opposite. In a recent CIPD survey only 28 per cent of organisations said they included all employees in their talent management strategy, with nearly half saying their strategies only cover a minority of employees.
Most organisations parrot the same mantra when it comes to people being their single biggest asset, but what happens between the rhetoric and the experience of the practice on the ground? I think some of the answer lies in the types of activity with which organisations of all sizes, and from all sectors, are familiar and comfortable. For example, succession planning in any organisation I have worked in has really only applied in any significant way to those towards the top end of management layers and high potentials.
To make the development of talent an inclusive, value-adding activity organisations will need to adopt process and activities that allow all of those employed to feel they are included.
Action learning is one of the most powerful development techniques available. It is simple to describe, highly resource-efficient in its application and can be applied to learning and development needs at any level, yet many organisations do not use it at all. Many of our world-class development institutions, including my own, use it as one of their core processes; it forms the basis for many of the leading quality improvement approaches; it is central to any activity where acquiring a skill is the object and yet it is rated by many in HR as far less effective than an MBA which is, by definition, a highly selective development process.
Many employees have an external role or responsibility that, if linked to their internal development needs, could provide a powerful lever for change and growth. School governors, scout leaders, special constables and members of the Territorial Army all work for us. Few I suspect have linked these activities with their work and even fewer have been encouraged to use these links to think through how they build their latent capabilities to fulfil their
ultimate potential.
Talent development can only take place successfully if an organisation understands the capabilities it needs to ensure it can deliver its strategy, understands how best these can be identified and, where gaps exist, how they can be closed. Any organisation needs a wide range of talents to succeed – not just those associated with leadership at the top – and the challenge for professionals in the field is to think through how to define these and how to develop them.
The biggest concern I have, however, is the lack of any discernable strategy for developing talent in many organisations, especially in the SME sector. Here employers must wake up or sleepwalk into failure.
The future of work and employment is going to become even more challenging than it has been over the last 10 years. Labour markets in the UK will get tighter, and those you want to attract and retain will become more demanding. A key demand is to have access to development support to fulfil their potential. If you won’t make it happen for them – they will find someone who will.
