I'm part of an exciting talent network, Linden Lea, set up by Stephen Hoare, an experienced journalist and co-author of a new book on talent management. I couldn't resist inviting him to do a guest blog on his book and how it's relevant to portfolio careerists. Here's what he had to say...
Picture a giant chocolate cake with layers of cream and cherries and delicious chocolate icing on the top. Someone comes along and helps themselves to a humungous helping. They eat it in front of you so that all you have left for yourself and your co-workers is a sliver, and a few crumbs.
How fair is that? Actually, it’s what many employers are doing in the name of talent management. They select one or two people to be the chosen ones and pay them eye-watering sums of money to retain their “unique” skills.
This “winner takes all” approach is, of course, madness. Imagine how de-motivating it must be to be told, in effect, that you don’t matter. Would you stay loyal and work hard for that company?
In FT Briefings Talent Management a book I have co-authored with Andrew Leigh we explain why the best performing companies believe in letting everyone have a fair share of the cake. By encouraging their people to be the best they can be, workers go the extra mile, productivity leaps and profits follow. Hey presto! There is suddenly more cake to go round. It’s enlightened self-interest.
I imagine the topic of talent management is going to divide portfolio careerists. Are you where you are because someone else has taken all the cake or are you convinced you are contributing to your clients and building up your own skills in the process?
Some of you may think talent management has nothing to do with me. It’s only for big corporates, or investment banks with cash to splash. That’s a tad naïve. We’re living in an interconnected world of business and whether we like it or not we’re all part of the bigger picture.
The consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers – one of our case studies incidentally – has just published a report on the Future World of Work. Crystal ball-gazing, they predict three possible scenarios for talent management – all of which may co-exist. One is called the Blue World where a few giant global corporates begin to assume part of the functions of national governments. (It’s Cleggeron’s “Big Society” to the power of ten. Under this scenario HR directors become talent scouts.
Then there is the tree-hugging Green World where talent is geared towards building a sustainable future. There is also the Orange World in which talent asserts its independence and projects are farmed out to talent networks, agile teams of highly capable individuals coming together to share their skills and expertise.
The report arrived too late for us to include it in our talent book but we could already see the signs of this new attitude towards talent particularly among Gen Y the internet savvy generation born in the early 1980s and now starting to make waves in the workplace.
The advent of social networking has unchained talent to form strategic alliances and networks who are already working together and sharing that bigger vision (or cake, if you’ll excuse the metaphor). Unlike the oldies who clung to jobs for life in the expectation of a modest pension and a gold watch, portfolio careerists are not afraid to use their talent boldly and creatively. This book and this author salutes them.
Picture a giant chocolate cake with layers of cream and cherries and delicious chocolate icing on the top. Someone comes along and helps themselves to a humungous helping. They eat it in front of you so that all you have left for yourself and your co-workers is a sliver, and a few crumbs.
How fair is that? Actually, it’s what many employers are doing in the name of talent management. They select one or two people to be the chosen ones and pay them eye-watering sums of money to retain their “unique” skills.
This “winner takes all” approach is, of course, madness. Imagine how de-motivating it must be to be told, in effect, that you don’t matter. Would you stay loyal and work hard for that company?
In FT Briefings Talent Management a book I have co-authored with Andrew Leigh we explain why the best performing companies believe in letting everyone have a fair share of the cake. By encouraging their people to be the best they can be, workers go the extra mile, productivity leaps and profits follow. Hey presto! There is suddenly more cake to go round. It’s enlightened self-interest.
I imagine the topic of talent management is going to divide portfolio careerists. Are you where you are because someone else has taken all the cake or are you convinced you are contributing to your clients and building up your own skills in the process?
Some of you may think talent management has nothing to do with me. It’s only for big corporates, or investment banks with cash to splash. That’s a tad naïve. We’re living in an interconnected world of business and whether we like it or not we’re all part of the bigger picture.
The consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers – one of our case studies incidentally – has just published a report on the Future World of Work. Crystal ball-gazing, they predict three possible scenarios for talent management – all of which may co-exist. One is called the Blue World where a few giant global corporates begin to assume part of the functions of national governments. (It’s Cleggeron’s “Big Society” to the power of ten. Under this scenario HR directors become talent scouts.
Then there is the tree-hugging Green World where talent is geared towards building a sustainable future. There is also the Orange World in which talent asserts its independence and projects are farmed out to talent networks, agile teams of highly capable individuals coming together to share their skills and expertise.
The report arrived too late for us to include it in our talent book but we could already see the signs of this new attitude towards talent particularly among Gen Y the internet savvy generation born in the early 1980s and now starting to make waves in the workplace.
The advent of social networking has unchained talent to form strategic alliances and networks who are already working together and sharing that bigger vision (or cake, if you’ll excuse the metaphor). Unlike the oldies who clung to jobs for life in the expectation of a modest pension and a gold watch, portfolio careerists are not afraid to use their talent boldly and creatively. This book and this author salutes them.
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