It’s an astonishing 12 years since McKinsey coined the phrase ‘war for talent’, a concept that has guided the philosophy that talent is hard to find and companies must compete to nurture it.
New research from workplace think-tank Tomorrow’s Company, based on insight from HR and people managers in more than 40 global organisations, argues that the time has come for businesses to take a new, sustainable approach to selecting the people who lead, manage and deliver on the front line.
Tomorrow’s Company argues that the old model of managing and leading talent within organisations is broken; that we need to change the way we measure success in organisations, and fundamentally redefine what we mean by the word ‘talent’.
Over the next five weeks, Personneltoday.com will run a series of interviews with leading practitioners and advisers to look at exactly what this means for HR, exploring the case for a new approach to talent management, what that approach should look like, and how a leading global business is already making a difference.
Week 1: RIP the War for Talent?
Tony Manwaring, CEO of workplace think-tank Tomorrow’s Company, explains why the old, narrow definition and focus on what we mean by talent in our organisations – from leadership to shop floor – has led to poor decision making, poor performance and an unsustainable approach to business. He will put forward the case for a new approach to selecting the people who lead, manage and deliver on the front-line of organisations in the age of sustainability.
Publication date: 22 July 2009
Week 2: The need for a new type of leader
Gary Browning, CEO of Penna Consulting, argues that the war for talent produced a destructive style of leadership which, by focusing on a narrow definition of talent, missed the opportunity to look for, find and then exploit the latent talent in the business. The time has come, he argues, for HR to step up to the plate and raise their game.
Publication date: 29 July 2009
Week 3: Talent is a board-level issue
Ken Rowe, managing director of business psychologists YSC, believes the role of the CEO of the future is not just as the strategic planner but, as the research from Tomorrow’s Company shows, the chief talent officer. He says the challenge for HR is to focus on narrowing the gap between the CEO’s vision of the talent needed for an organisation to succeed, and the individual employee and line manager, where well-managed talent can make the biggest difference to success or failure.
Publication date: 5 August 2009
Week 4: Finding future talent
Tanja Kuveljic, managing director of careers and community youth website B-Live, argues that organisations who kid themselves that talent is scarce are doomed to miss out on the best people, who have the ideas and ability to make a difference to drive their organisations. The key, she says, is to jump out of the old models – such as safe graduate recruitment and the milkround – and create a talent pipeline to sustain your organisation for the future.
Publication date: 12 August 2009
Week 5: Talent 2.0 – How BT is managing for the future
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Caroline Waters, director of people and policy for BT Group, says innovation, engaged employees and a workforce that genuinely reflects the customer are some of the key benefits of redefining the approach to talent management and selection in her business.
Publication date: 19 August 2009
