Talent – I dislike that word!
Barrie Bramley looks at the preoccupation many companies have with ‘talent’and the confusion it’s causing; as those who are grappling with it struggle to work out what to do with it? Barrie looks at the problem of scarce skills in the market place and the fact that when there’s a shortage of people with skills, you want to ensure that you ‘acquire’ the best people available.
Talent. I love that word!
So different from ‘employees’
So different from ‘personnel’
So different from ‘human resources’
Talent! Just uttering the word, per se, makes you puff up and feel good about yourself!
Talent! I do indeed love that word!
- Tom Peters
Talent. I dislike that word!
So difficult to define
So difficult to see
So difficult to measure
Talent! Just uttering the word, per se, make you want to run and hide, even put your head in the sand until it goes away!
Talent! I do indeed dislike that word!
– Barrie Bramley
It’s not Tom Peters I have an issue with. I enjoy him. I love the style with which he puts his thinking out there. It’s the sudden preoccupation many companies have with ‘talent’ that has my attention. It’s the confusion it’s causing, as those who are grappling with it struggle to work out what to do with it?
All this grappling is not without reason. There is a crisis looming. Some would even suggest the crisis has arrived? From where I stand the crisis is not primarily a talent crisis, it’s a shortage of skills crisis. To be more accurate, in the ‘Northern Hemisphere’ it’s a shortage of young people to replace retiring Baby Boomers, and in the ‘Southern Hemisphere’ it’s an abundance of young people lacking some specific skills. Put this all together and there is a problem of scarce skills in the market place (in some specific spaces). Of course when there’s a shortage of people with skills, you want to ensure that you ‘acquire’ the best people available. And there you have it; ‘the war for talent’ is born.
This is where the confusion begins. For example – you manage to capture the attention of someone with a scarce skill that your company needs. This new person clearly must fit into the ‘talent category’? You’re paying them a lot of money. You’ve spent some significant time, energy and resource capturing their attention. The competition had their eye on her as well. So talent she shall be. Expectations of grandiose proportions develop. Hopes of extra-ordinary performance are announced in the boardroom.
But you have over-looked a key point. Just because they have a scarce skill doesn’t make them superhuman. You only need a 50% pass mark to attain most university qualifications. Someone had to come last in the class. You may have just hired that particular person!
I don’t really dislike the word. I’d just like to suggest that not enough is being done to think through this recent upsurge in a focus on talent. It’s not a new concept either. Businesses have, since their inception, understood that getting the best possible people is a competitive differentiator that mostly works in your favour. Investigate the story of your own company or the one next door in a completely different industry. They’ve been on a ‘search and retain’ mission for talent since they began.
Separating out the issues in order to gain clarity is paramount in order to avoid wasting time, resource and energy.
While I think there are a few issues that need to be put onto the table for discussion, simply appreciating that a different strategy is required when one is attracting the attention of someone with a scarce skill and someone with enough talent to shoot the lights out, changes everything.
Talent! It’s certainly an interesting word : )
Barrie Bramley is a founding partner of TomorrowToday.biz and works in our ‘future of work’ research team. He is a strength-perspective evangelist and invites you to engage him in further conversation. He can be e-mailed on barrie@tomorrowtoday.biz
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I think if you’re looking to appoint people after the skill becomes scarce then you’ve missed the boat already. It’s not to say that you can’t jump in and swim after it. Hell, often you don’t have a choice. You might find the tide’s just right and catching up is a breeze. If you do you’re lucky because, in my experience, the implications of jumping in and finding the tide is going in the opposite direction has far reaching consequences, and is much more common.
I reckon the search for “talent” should be an ongoing pursuit, whether you think you need it or not. Although “talent” is very often different to different companies, and even subjective to similar ones, one thing is for sure and that is – “talent” is scarce.
Never stop looking for it and don’t ever take it for granted when you find it.
Well, that’s my ten cents worth before the lights go out.
Regards,
Gregorious
So Gregorious how do you know Talent when you see it? I don’t know the answer to this question? I agree with you that Talent is scarce, but when I’m sitting in front of someone, how on earth do I know if they have Talent?
Do you have another 10 cents worth to add?
Dunc
dunc – you need to be a talent(ed) scout
I also don’t think that you can “know it when you see it”. I think that genuine talent is something that emerges over time, whether due to you not seeing the real person at first or the fact that it takes time for people to adjust to new environments. Whatever the reason, I don’t think that true talent is going to be evident just after the new person has unpacked. Rather, I think it’ll take time to confirm what you’re hoping (or not). Don’t be impatient and allow for the time it may take – even more reason why you need to be looking before the scarcity arises. Barry – we may need you back at TSA sometime to check out the talent that is emerging here…
Gregorious Smitherman
Talent is much more than scarce skills. Capability is part of Talent and includes intelligence, knowledge, thinking capability and interpersonal skills. Also part of talent is the capacity build with and care for something greater than one’s own interest and this includes emotional intelligence, spiritual evolution and context awareness. Organisations have for a long time been obsessed with skills and often appointed a skilled person who did much damage to the balance of the organisation. True talent have both aptitude and attitude and will stay with organisations that have both. So before going out there to chase talent, first make sure talent will recognise your organisation as a place with the right culture, vision and mission .