Why the "T-word" is on Fire

 Talent. Tell me one organization that says they have enough of it these days? 

You’ve been hearing it for years, “The War for Talent” “The Rise of the Gig Economy” “The Increasing Talent Gap…”

It took a while, but it finally appears that C-suite executives are acknowledging the fact that they have a real talent problem in their organizations. Why it took so long is beside me, but as a California resident, this is one type of wildfire I enjoy seeing grow.

The practice of marrying a bold business strategy with a bold talent strategy in this age of disruption is invaluable. Today, there are far less business leaders willing to argue against an investment in talent, so it’s not so much a question of worth, but rather a question of return.

Where does one start? A new competency model perhaps… removing ratings from performance reviews... finally tackling that succession planning problem you’ve known about for years? It’s nearly impossible to know what the right answer is for any organization without stepping back to take a holistic view of the employee lifecycle/experience. 

So often organizations want a silver bullet to solve their talent challenges. The truth is that talent challenges will always exist. After all, we are talking about people here... 

Instead of trying to solve for individual talent issues in a vacuum, organizations need to start getting real about the systemic and often cultural elements that impact their ability to attract, develop, and retain talent. 

What is needed more often than not is a bird’s eye view of the current and future talent landscape. Fully understanding the organization’s talent journey from past successes and failures to future opportunities and disruptions requires a blend of data collection and outside of the box thinking. 

What makes you as an employer attractive beyond compensation? What skills does your organization need, and perhaps equally important what skills do talented employees want to acquire? How is knowledge onboarded and later transferred when talented employees decide to leave? What are the most effective methods for talent development? The list goes on and on and I didn’t even mention career paths…  

A good first step is an aligned talent strategy comprised of a series of prioritized actions. No one solution is going to sustain your organization’s talent management success. Not even the world’s best competency model or most objective performance measures will halt the onslaught of talent concerns facing your organization today. No single intervention, regardless of how sexy a consulting firm makes it look, will solve all of your people woes. 

While every organization in one form or another will face talent challenges; not every organization will approach them strategically. 

Be one that does.

Michael Leytem is an independent talent management consultant and leadership coach. He is currently authoring his first book titled “Catching Leadership” which is anticipated to be released January of 2020.  For more information on ways to start the talent conversation for your organization visit www.catchingleadership.com