A Quiver Full Of Arrows

Operating in the 'Niche' is a pipe dream for many of us, it is the elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow & we want to get there fast. After all, this is where premium is commanded for a desired but exceptional premise.Quality, super refined & well accredited is seemingly a vaulting pole into success & financial security. Well-intentioned mentors also tell us to play to our strengths as career spans are too short to dabble in generalities.This has in my observation, led to a bulk of resumes mention 'specialists' in their trade.

With business mega-trends evolving significantly in the last few years, employers now seek new skills & super-specialists that bring them to the table to stay relevant in their markets; Social, Digital, Total Rewards,People Capability, Analytics & Tech, Supply Security,Chief Design Officer, Chief Business Officer, the job descriptions sound newer year on year.Talent Acquisition Leaders - pardon me, if these already sound so 'last season'.These are also roles, where war for Talent is most intense & therefore salary compa-ratios are most aggressive.

However while riding the wave is sweet, what is one to do when the organization capability is built & a new hero takes centre-stage, to whom all the adoration shifts.This is where the scramble often begins; with niche skills, degrees of separation are higher & transferable strengths are lower, hence begins the disenchantment & the eventual job hopping.Herein lies the danger of talent being commoditised, in the long run this isn't great either for the employee or the employer.For the employee, how will you be valued, if everybody else is the same & for employers, if people are truly your competitive advantage, then they surely must be unique.

The other problem is when the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. The Learning manager may easily misconstrue an issue as a Learning Continuum gap or the Talent manager may believe it to be a 9 Box Talent Mapping issue, the Culture specialist will want to apply Hofstede where they can & the D&I leader's first step will be to run an Unconscious Bias diagnostic.This is a classic example of missing the forest for the trees. Truth be told, business issues are rarely uni-dimensional & often require a multi-disciplinary mindset to solve.Therefore the Head of the function must have completed stints in various sub-functions to have a holistic & balanced perspective of their domain to craft innovative & forward -looking solutions to keep the business winning.

The key takeaway here is to take on new roles despite the apparent lack of superstardom, early diversity in experience is critical to building a width of strengths for the future & will also help in continuously adding new skills to staying relevant in the here & now.Like Arjuna, we must focus on ours goal like 'the eye of a fish' but also have a quiver full of arrows at our disposal.

No tool is omnicompetent. There is no such thing as a master key that will unlock ALL doors - Arnold Toynbee, A Study Of History