Talking Talent with the CEO
Stakeholders in Talent Management: Who are They, What do they Need, What is the Goal?
…An important activity that needs to be revisited!
Situation with Talent Management World-Wide: …not an encouraging picture!
Boris Groysberg and Deborah Bell, of Harvard, reporting on one of the most comprehensive global studies found– a world-wide study of what is top of mind for corporate boards worldwide found? These researchers found that they were very worried about developing and enacting strategic plans that will enable their organizations to succeed. And what did they say was their biggest concern? …
- Not Competitive threats, Not rising costs, Not innovation, …Not
- Risk management, Technology, Debt, or the Regulatory environment.
This was a study of over 1000 corporations world-wide that was reported in 2014. According to a late 2018 interview with Dr.
Gorysberg, ‘the situation has not changed much…still a significant concern for Boards”.
The major conclusion of the study: Boards give their Organizations an ‘F’ in Talent Management!
The study: https://hbr.org/2013/05/talent-management-boards-give
Before going further we suggest the following chart can be instructive about why the failing grade; most importantly what might be done:
Who are the Stakeholders in Talent Management…and other key considerations:
Does this up the game for Human Resources…Sure does… and they now can make a bigger difference!
Three central mistakes, we believe contribute in part to the grade given by Boards:
- 1st: Human Resources does not ‘own’ talent management…there are multiple stakeholders with Human Resources as a key stakeholder… previous chart;
- the needs—the specifications for the ‘system’ should be designed to primarily meet the needs of the C-Level Team –get that right and good things occur
- 2nd: The End-State is not ‘managing talent’…which is an activity;
- The end-state of talent management is having in place a Pipeline of Talent that creates a competitive advantage for the organization,
- 3rd: Bad data is the ‘Achilles Heel’ of Talent Management…and central to why the bad grade in the Harvard study. We have found two activities that are ‘difference makers…foundational pieces for success;
- 1st: You must have solid qualitative information about your talent; Issue: What we are doing right now is not working. ; and
- 2nd: Distilling, formatting the information into actionable insights by segmenting your talent and key tasks…bringing them together in a picture of your bench-strength;
Bench-Strength:
As normal…comments, challenges appreciated. If you would like to respond to questions or offer a challenge/opinion please use the Contact Us section on the website.