Top People Are Prime Targets for Other Companies

More than one in two employers are convinced that other companies are actively seeking to hire away their top people, according to survey of over 1,400 CEOs and human resource professionals from more than 700 companies across the globe.

The study explored the role played by senior management in a broad range of leadership development areas including management succession and the nurturing of the next generation of corporate leaders. According to the study’s findings, 56% of organizations report that other employers seek to recruit their best people. Only 4% strongly disagree.

Other companies actively try to recruit our leaders.

Strongly disagree 4%
Disagree 11%
Agree 43%
Strongly agree 13%
No opinion 29%

As aggressive competition becomes increasingly adept at replicating products, services, operating models and marketing strategies and worldwide demand for certain skills sets rises, senior and operational leaders are realizing that talent is the last remaining source of competitive advantage. So, it is no surprise that there’s a global war being waged for talent. No organization today is immune from the stresses of effective retention or competitive recruitment. CEOs and HR staffs are right to feel enormously vulnerable and many are stressed seeking ways to hold onto their rising leadership.

Even though most organizations report that other companies have targeted their top performers, survey respondents are not necessarily positive about their own leadership pipeline. Nearly half the respondents (47%) expressed doubts about the strength of their middle-level pipeline, and only 27% said their company has a sufficient number of qualified internal candidates that are ready to assume senior manager/executive positions.

At the same time, those organizations that have strong leadership programs are more likely to feel as though they have qualified candidates at both levels. Programs that were rated highly generally had a combination of key elements: assessment and feedback, coaching and mentoring, formal classroom training as well as action learning.

Engaging an Aging Workforce

By 2050, the world population will be over nine billion. Despite this growth and the flooded employment market, employers worldwide report difficulty in filling positions. Many are facing an HR paradox: How to find the right people at the right time, with the right skills in the right place, and fill the gap in the midst of plenty?

On a global scale, birth rates are declining and populations are aging. This means that there is a smaller pool of working-age talent from which to draw. The world average life expectancy was around 52.5 years in 1960. But today it is 68.9 years of age –31% higher in just 40 years. The percentage of individuals over age 65 who are in the labor force jumped about 40% from 1998 to 2008 … and this trend is set to continue.

Combined with these demographic challenges is a broader, more strategic challenge of the global talent mismatch. According to Manpower’s Annual Talent Shortage Survey, 34% of employers worldwide experience difficulty filling needed positions. So it’s not just about having the workers available amidst a shrinking pool of talent. It’s also about having the right people with the right skills needed to drive businesses forward.

Experienced workers will make up a larger percentage of the workforce and employers will need to find ways to keep them engaged. They will need to train managers to manage a multigenerational workforce that includes the young and the old. The skills mismatch is set to accelerate, creating an imbalance between supply and demand.

On June 28, I will be presenting on this topic at the SHRM 2011 Annual Conference and Exposition. I hope to see you at SHRM.

The Prevailing Winds of “Cautious Optimism”

Do you feel like some days you are taking one step forward and two step backwards? For every economic prognosticator, there seems to be equal parts optimism and pessimism, and the stock market follows suit. Well, that’s because many leaders seem to be approaching this year with cautious optimism. In fact, recent research we conducted told us that 58% of senior leaders believe this year will be one of caution with limited hiring and renewed investment in talent development.

Like most people, employers aren’t sure what to expect in the year ahead. So it’s not surprising the survey findings reflect this uncertainty with a majority hedging their bets and expressing caution. The rest of the respondents seem fairly evenly divided between optimists and pessimists, with some 22% believing it will be a year of growth and recovery marked by increased hiring and new talent development initiatives and a further 16% believing it will be similar to 2010 with sluggish hiring and postponed HR initiatives. Very few (3%), however, anticipate more cutbacks and restructurings.

There is at least one positive sign of corporate confidence. Four out of five employers plan to renew or step up their investment in developing talent, a hopeful sign organizations are shifting their 2011 focus from cost-containment to growth.

And the source of real growth comes down to the quality of the talent in your organization. Talent, and the unique culture it creates, is the main source of competitive advantage and is becoming the only real source of sustainable differentiation. Having a solid, relevant talent strategy is the greatest enabler to delivering on business goals.

Executing strategic initiatives and delivering on near term bottom-line business goals are absolutely dependent upon a firm’s ability to manage talent better than their competition does. Aligning talent with business goals, through an integrated talent management strategy, is imperative to delivering on growth objectives.

Whose idea was that? Everyone’s.

Which deserves more reward – ideation or participation in idea formulation? Some organizations reward individuals for their ideas, while others believe it is better to reward participation in idea sessions.

Many leaders are reluctant to acknowledge that they are opposed to an idea because of their feelings about the individual who proposed it. While we live in a culture that celebrates individual contributions, we also desire reward for our own contributions to an idea's evolution and ultimate culmination.

Oftentimes, when one person drives their idea into action – and does not welcome ideas and feedback from others – it is doomed to failure. If you desire buy-in, collaboration, shared commitment and accountability, then give others the opportunity to offer their opinion and play a role.

While collaboration is invaluable, too much groupthink also presents a problem. How is the individual who brainstormed a new product feature (or new product) commensurately rewarded for his/her contribution? It is critical to share ideas with others and collaborate to deliver results.

However, when it comes to performance evaluations, a manager typically will review not only how much of a team player someone is, but also what s/he individually contributed. It is important to clearly articulate the organization's leadership model – i.e., what you value, your commitment to development and helping each employee succeed, and how successful performance is rewarded.

Both the employer and employee require an understanding about expected performance, results, reward, and the balance. If you, as manager, specifically and clearly define the terms for each employee's contributions and recognition, you will lay the groundwork for a high-performing staff and highly rewarding work environment.

Reap the ROI of your human capital investment

Are you receiving value on the dollars spent training and developing your workforce? Lost opportunities are a sunk cost and impact earnings so it is fiscally smarter to help your employees experience and internalize organizational opportunities.

When companies don’t optimize their talent investment, relationships and knowledge and valuable human capital are lost. You decide: are your organization/business unit/departmental recruiting and training policies and processes a drag on productivity?

The challenge is to allow individuals to grow and evolve in their careers. They need to take on new responsibilities, possibly make horizontal moves into new departments, change functions, and develop an understanding of the company from research, engineering, product/services marketing, prospecting, lead generation and sales perspectives. This will enable your top performers to thrive and deliver on established productivity, customer service and sales goals.

Leaders need to coach, mentor, and provide green field training opportunities that enable your staff to grow – experiential learning is paramount. Give your workforce opportunities to engage in simulations and real-time learning experiences.

If you offer the opportunities and incentives, you will work wonders when it comes to helping your leaders and staff take pride and ownership in their careers. Bright executives know they need to create their own opportunities. You need to help them do just that. They simply need to contribute insights and ideas, take risks, and add value outside their role's defined parameters.

As a leader, it’s your duty to support and guide them in this bottom-line enhancing process.

Overqualified for the Role? Great!

I was dismayed to read a recent article that advised recruiters and hiring managers to pass over the over-qualified worker. Seriously? The market is a gold mine for talent right now. As the economy stabilizes, many workers are making the move to find new jobs or change careers. And we still have a lot of high caliber talent among the ranks of the unemployed who are looking for new positions.

A new job's value isn't always defined as a promotion or progress up the proverbial career ladder. Many people are looking to make a change to be part of a different culture that is more aligned with their own values. Or perhaps explore opportunities to learn and grow. Or even find a role that provides the chance to do what they do best but with a more manageable and flexible schedule.

No one expects workers to stay with one employer for their entire career. In fact, we’re finding that often highly-qualified job seekers are taking what we term “bridging” roles - jobs that will fill a gap and get them to the next chapter in their careers. They take them for various reasons. Some take them to bridge their move into retirement. Some are open to contributing in new ways. Some do it so they can keep their skills fresh and relevant or learn new ones.

In short, there is a lot of talent available today. The New York Times reports that the number for people in positions where their experience or education exceeds their job descriptions is roughly one in five American workers. This frequency inevitably increases in hard times. Academic research on the subject confirms that workers who perceive themselves as overqualified do, in fact, report lower job satisfaction and higher rates of turnover. But the studies also indicate that those workers tend to perform better. Moreover, there is evidence that many of the negatives that come with overqualified hires can be mitigated if they are given autonomy and made to feel valued and respected.

Perhaps you’ve been questioning hiring someone who may be perceived as overqualified. Go ahead. Tap the great talent available today. It’s to your advantage.

Stuck in a Groove?

One thing that often happens to management as they become more senior is they get stuck. As Seth Godin reports in a recent blog: “If you’ve been doing it forever, you discover (but may not realize) that the things that got you this power are no longer dependable. Reliance on the tried and true can backfire.”

We’re not talking about a lapse in memory or judgment, or a mental hiccup, due to “senior moments”. This is the reality of business life today – the skills and capabilities needed yesterday may no longer work today and the required competencies will likely continue to evolve and change over time. The old “we’ve always done it this way” spells disaster for operating in today’s ever-changing business environment. Consider the struggles that Blockbuster faces by not adapting to changing customer demands.

The best leaders make lifelong learning more than a slogan. It involves the continual pursuit of growth and knowledge that takes place throughout one’s lifetime. You can adopt this attitude for yourself and you can also foster it with your employees. Reassign people to new roles within the company or partner them with different people, or give them assignments outside of their regular scope of responsibilities. All of this will help to fuel innovation and develop new experiences and perspectives, which aid overall development – avoiding ruts.

Encourage these types of learning behaviors through regular discussions with employees. Help them to consider new ideas and new ways of doing things. And model this behavior yourself.

As the business environment changes, so too does it change how leaders need to lead. This may drive a need to create new leadership models in your organization. The goal is to align the business strategy with the leadership talent and succession needs.

Reflect, do you need to break out of a rut and keep your organization from becoming stuck?

Lack of Skilled Trades Intensifies Talent Mismatch

Despite high unemployment, many employers are struggling with a talent mismatch: individuals don’t possess the specific skills demanded by employers. In particular, lack of skilled tradespeople is making the issue more intense and there are no signs of it easing up any time soon, according to a new study released by Manpower, Strategic Migration – A Short-Term Solution to the Skilled Trades Shortage. This shortage is detrimental to the physical infrastructure, economic health and potential growth of nations and businesses.

Skilled trade shortages afflict 10 of the world’s largest economies, with the United States ranked number one as the most at risk. This talent crunch could potentially have a devastating effect on economic growth. Companies lack the talent they need to operate efficiently and prolonged unemployment of large sections of the workforce will continue to drag on the recovery and make turnaround unsustainable.

The shortage of skilled trade workers stems from several problems, including the retirement of older blue-collar workers without adequate replacements, technical training that isn’t meeting businesses’ needs, and the higher status accorded to knowledge work over more manual forms of labor among those beginning their careers.

Such workers can’t be offshored, but they can be onshored. When the right skills cannot be found within a country’s borders, strategic migration can involve recruiting from elsewhere to bring the necessary workers to the work, alleviating the immediate pressure of the talent shortage and allowing stakeholders the time and opportunity to work on long-term solutions to the talent mismatch.

In the short-term, strategic migration is a practical answer to the talent mismatch. The long-term approach will require employers to partner with governments, labor unions and academic institutions and individuals to train and reskill workers. Employers need to invest in developing their workers, provide for varied career paths for skilled tradespeople, understand how the aging workforce will impact their viability, and plan for growth by upskilling workers to provide the supply of talent to meet changing business demands.

Do you need to migrate talent to meet the shortfall in skilled trades?

Do you ask or tell?

We know that leaders can inspire or undermine employees in their everyday activities. So it was refreshing to read Dan Rosenweig’s comments (CEO of Chegg) in the New York Times recently, commenting on his own leadership style: “I try very hard to be descriptive about how we want to define success and not necessarily prescriptive on telling them exactly how we want to do it — because, frankly, many of them are a lot smarter than me at what they do.”

Many of us struggle to build high-performing organizational cultures as we battle the challenges associated with allowing employees to take risks and potentially fail, or giving employees too little latitude to find their own way to the solution, leaving them ill prepared to be effective decision makers or make significant contributions to the success of the organization. Competitive pressures and cost containment leave us with little room for mistakes. What’s the best approach?

If you’re being prescriptive, then you may as well be doing the job. As a leader, I subscribe to the Just Ask leadership approach of asking before telling. Great leaders know just the right questions that direct employees in a way that helps them to find their own way to the solution. Descriptive leaders provide overarching direction and guidance, yet empower people to achieve the vision laid out for them with their own skills and ideas.

Both leadership approaches have some merit depending on what is warranted for the specific situation. But descriptive leadership styles are likely to produce a talent base that is resourceful, can solve problems, is results-focused, empowered and independent.

Have you considered how often you prescribe rather than describe a project brief or desired solution?

What's growing in your greenhouse?

You’ve made significant investments. You’ve put the infrastructure and systems in place. You’ve cultivated, nurtured and multiplied. Now it’s time to reap the rewards as you harvest the wealth of all you have grown… from your workforce, that is. And the last thing you want to see is your investment walking out the door just as it begins to deliver returns.

Why does retention matter? Your workforce provides a critical competitive advantage. While some organizations feel many employees can be easily replaced, the truth is that there is no way to easily replace the institutional knowledge, customer relationships and business opportunities that walk out the door with them. Losing top performers leaves organizations in the precarious position of plugging gaps that can leave them scrambling to meet objectives. And given the mismatch between demand for talent and the skills available, it may not be so easy to fill those plugs. We know that those with sought-after skills can leave, by choice. Investing in employee retention efforts can be the fabric that enables your organization to thrive rather than fade away.

An organic talent development process enables organizations to promote from within. Promoting from within is an opportunity that can have significant positive impact on the organization’s future success. It maintains the integrity of the company’s brand, fosters strong corporate identify, and provides continuity of the organization’s culture. It also instills confidence in leadership, provides hope for career advancement with the same employer, and leverages shared knowledge and the investment made to develop that knowledge. And, just as important, it’s a valuable retention tool in your engagement strategy.

With a strong, “ready now,” committed and highly-engaged workforce, you are a force with which to be reckoned. Investing in developing talent also breeds a culture of high-performance – one that your competitors will strive to emulate.

What are you growing in your organization?

Looking Beyond the Obvious

As the talent mismatch widens, employer’s need new mindsets for sourcing candidates. Look beyond the obvious supplies of talent and consider hiring candidates who fit with your culture and train for specific skills that are teachable to fulfill the requirements of the role.

To fill large and systemic talent gaps, expand the pool of available candidates and consider:

Internal role changes
The best source of new talent may already reside in your organization. Redeploy existing talent to new roles and locations. People are willing to move geographies yet employers are still learning how to capitalize on this trend. Consider redeploying existing talent before laying them off. As many as 18% of outplaced candidates are rehired by their past employer.

Consider skills transfers
Some industries are cutting their workforces, while others are growing faster than the talent supply. Consider the talent available in low-growth industries that can migrate to new fields. Review the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2008-2018 to see where the growth is and where the shrinkage is to come from. Some of these people may have highly valued skills – such as those in sales, finance and management – that can easily be transferred to a new industry. Be opportunistic in response to significant changes in local labor markets, such as businesses closing or relocating and leaving capable people behind. According to Human Capital Management, nearly half (47%) of jobseekers change industries to land a new role.

You can’t change what is happening relative to external trends or today’s economic reality. But you can change your workforce strategies in order to respond to those trends and position your company to effectively meet these challenges and beat the competition.

In Pursuit of the Young and the Old

As the global economy continues to improve, today’s talent mismatch will become more pronounced. That means employers need to think differently about how they fill their talent needs now and in the future.

For most of the twentieth century, the assumption that the working-age population would continue to grow formed the basis for future workforce planning. It is well-documented by the Deloitte and others that that assumption simply no longer holds true. Since 1990, the global labor market has doubled. By 2050, the world population will reach nine billion – yet, many employers still can’t find the right people to fill essential positions. Birthrates are declining and populations are aging.

To meet this challenge, we recommend that organizations redefine the parameters of their search for talent and focus on expanding the pool of talent. Consider:

Engaging an aging workforce.
Develop specific strategies to attract and recruit older workers. Develop plans to motivate older workers to stay on with your organization longer. According to Manpower research, only 14% of employers have specific strategies in place to recruit older workers. While only 21% of employers have strategies in place to retain their older workers. Fortune magazine and Ken Dychtwald report that many boomers are “un-retiring” and are prepared to reenter the workforce. Dychtwald advises unretirees to change their mindset, consider this a new beginning and target industries with older clients (such as banking).

Investing in younger workers.
Customize work experiences that leverage the unique attributes of Generation Y to increase their contribution and engagement. The underemployed and under-skilled are another potential pool, especially as local governmental agencies and others move to help them with training and other programs to enable their transition into the workforce.

Expand your talent pool: hire for fit and train for skills.

Check back tomorrow for final part in Owen's four-part blog series on Teachable Fit and learn more strategies to expand the search for talent.

Playing Matchmaker

Although the current global economic situation has increased the number of overall jobseekers, as many as 31% of employers worldwide are experiencing difficulty filling positions due to lack of suitable talent available in their markets. Really? Really!

As Manpower reports in its 2010 Talent Shortage survey, there are not enough sufficiently skilled people in the right places at the right time to meet demand. This gap will widen and intensify over the next few years as economies rebound, the nature of available work shifts, and several decades of lower birthrates throughout much of the world catch up to us.

Without an intentional approach to workforce strategy that embraces how the world of work is changing, organizations will be unable to effectively execute business strategy. Led by the CEO, organizations must apply the same rigor used to create an overall business strategy to create a workforce strategy. The resulting blueprint provides a line of sight into understanding the talent choices available today that impact an organizations’ ability to deliver on business strategies in the future.

You can’t change what is happening relative to the external world of work trends or today’s economic reality. (For more on our World of Work trends, see my article in Chief Executive.) But you can change your talent strategies to respond to those trends and position your company to gear up for growth in this context. Talent is the number one impediment or success factor to executing your business plan.

The key is to align the right talent approaches to your business strategy.

Check back tomorrow for the second in Owen's four-part series on Teachable Fit and hiring candidates for fit, not just skills.

Welcome to the launch of our blog, Talent@Work

The key to success in today’s hyper-competitive global economy is a comprehensive vision of where the company wants to go, the value it delivers and how it’s going to get there. To achieve this success, an organization must apply the same rigor in developing its workforce strategy as it does in creating its business strategy –unleashing the knowledge, innovation and creativity of every employee.

In architecting a workforce strategy, you must first understand how complex trends and shifting business realities will impact your organization – now and in the future. This then allows you to identify the right people for the right jobs, build the necessary leadership competencies and skills, and develop and retain your best talent.

Through our blog, we want to help you build an exceptional workforce that will drive high levels of performance. To that end, we plan not only to share our knowledge and expertise, but also to create a forum for discussion through which you can share your own experiences and insights. Ultimately, we hope to provide relevant and surprising information that will help you to make practical workforce choices – positively impacting your organization’s ability to deliver on its business strategy.

It’s about your people. They’re your strategic weapon. They’re the real power driving your organization forward. The world of work is changing. We can help make sure you're ready with a workforce that provides you with real competitive advantage.

Stay in touch and let us know how the world of work is changing for you.