- Then Ditch Boomer Thinking in Favour of X-er Integration -
Diversity, innovation, six sigma, decentralisation, Jack Welch’s 70/20/10, Kai-Zen, Feng Shui. All of these (and others) are strategic focus areas that most companies have invested large amounts of resource and energy into with the intention of creating a distinctive value proposition. But the significant focus of the day has shifted and thanks to ‘The War for Talent’ - a well-written research document - ‘Talent’ has taken centre stage on the organisational agenda of precedence.
In a globalising world, with a shortage of numbers in the developed world, and a shortage of skills in the developing world, it’s right to ensure the attraction and retention of the best possible people inside of an organisation. Along with this and its associated challenges is the emergence of a new ‘kind’ of worker. From a values perspective they have been described as Generation X, with Generation Y following on their heels. A fundamental building block in engaging with the skills shortage crisis, is understanding these generations - specifically their value system and worldview. The challenge lies in building the best possible model to ‘attract, recruit and get the best from them’.
What then, is the younger set of today looking for? Insightful observations that can act as signposts include:
Continue reading ‘STUCK WITH TALENT THAT JUST WON’T GROW UP?’
One of the most common criticisms of generational theory is that it is nothing much more than pop psychology. While it is true that many people use generational theory in its crudest forms, applying it when all they know about it is what they heard in a one hour keynote session at a conference, this does not mean that the theory itself has no substance. It is also true that some people use it as a “blunt instrument” - applying it with no regard to other dynamics and segmentation models. Again, just because some people use it badly, doesn’t discredit the theory itself.
One of my favourite PodCasts is 
If you’ve picked up a 
Ernst & Young is ranked first in Business Week’s ‘
TomorrowToday is undertaking a series of global studies to understand the impact of the current credit crunch and economic downturn. The first study is investigating what can be done to get the most out of one of a company’s powerful resources – talented staff.
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. 
I am a huge fan of Eric Chester, an American author, speaker and consultant who focuses on understanding what he calls “Generation Why” (what a cool title!! I wish I had thought of that first). You can see his excellent work at 
“Never before has ‘HR’ (Human Resources) been so redundant within the corporation; yet paradoxically, never before has it been more critical.” In this article, Keith Coats offers a viewpoint on how companies can make the transition to the connection economy and arrive in tomorrow’s world with the requisite skills to not only survive but succeed and lead in the business world today.
Every now and again, TIME magazine has a seriously excellent, long and in depth, feature article that grabs my attention. I am not a subscriber, but always check TIME editions out on the newstand. These features are well researched and worth keeping.
A new generation of students - those born Internet-ready - is working it’s way throught the school system, and is about to hit the workplace, with all of its training rooms and courses. This “Millennial generation” (sometimes called “generation Y”) has a distinctive set of characterizing traits and unique learning interests that presents a serious challenge to existing educational institutions and methodologies.
Regular readers of this blog will know that many of the contributors are passionate cricket fans. (For our American readers, that’s the mysterious game that, in its purest form lasts five days and can end in an exciting draw!) Our fanaticism for the game is shared by at least 1 billion Indians. The world’s largest democracy has just had an unprecedented auction for international cricket stars, for the newly formed Indian Professional League. In the league, a number of Indian provincial teams get to “buy” international super stars to play with them. Each team can only have a maximum of 4 of these stars on the field at any time. They must also have four players under the age of 22 from India in the teams. The rest of the team is Indian. The bids in the auction will be paid to the player as a salary (I think I saw correctly that the Indian players in each team will be paid the same as the top paid international super star in their team). The contract is for three years.
Today the world wakes up to the most expensive oil ever. Those who believe in market dynamics of supply and demand will have an interesting time explaining this. The problem with oil is not that there isn’t enough oil around, but rather to do with where the available oil is to be found.
In the past six months, a slew of free online services has popped up to answer this question, offering widgets for budgeting, automatic bill pay, mobile alerts, and social networking. All are fighting to be the anti-Quicken. Although Intuit’s venerable personal-finance software commands 70% of the market, its $30 to $100 price tag, hundreds of features, and required hour or two a week of data entry are unlikely to appeal to a generation raised on Halo and diagnosed with ADD. Sure enough, Quicken’s 15 million users have an average age of 47. If personal finance for most folks is like personal hygiene–an unpleasant chore motivated by necessity–Quicken is Old Spice.
Here’s an article I’ve just finished reading, written by Nicolas van der Meer a 2nd year TOPP Trainee at Standard Bank)
Pfizer has recently launched a wonderful new initiative for their most talented staff: the outsourcing of the drudge work associated with most jobs. It’s quite a simple concept, really - top end, talented staff spend a fair proportion of their time doing admin or dreary work that does not best utilise their talents. If you could someone else to do that work for them, you’d free up your top talent, keep them focused (and excited) and get more out of them. Nice.
I get questions every month from businesspeople looking for something about the newest generation of workers. They’d like an updated version of Twentysomething or Beyond Generation X, books I wrote in 1991 and 1996. Along with Bruce Tulgan’s Managing Generation X, they’re the classics on managing and motivating young employees. The thing is, the young employees we were talking about in those three books are well established in the workplace today, and the next generation is showing up with a whole new perspective, a different set of values, a distinctive work ethic. They’re as different from Generation X as they can be. By and large, it’s the Gen-Xers who are managing them, and who are looking for help in understanding just what the Millennials are all about. Thus this article. I think you’ll find a fairly comprehensive treatment of Millennial employees.
Over the years I have been doing presentations about attracting and retaining talent, I have watched global lists of “Best Companies to Work For”. Very consistently, SAS Institute, a privately owned software company based in the USA, has been rated as one of the very best. 
The Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum’s 2007 Performance and Talent Management Trend Survey was recently released. It polled more than 725 (primarily North American) HR and performance professionals, executives and talent management experts. The basic summary: everyone, everywhere is doing pretty badly on the issue of talent management.
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