Ideas
from Chicago: Talent Hot and Cool Spots
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Tess Walton -
More from Stacy Chapman (Aruspex co-founder) from her recent trip to the HCI
conference in Chicago. Helen Handfield-Jones, one of the authors of the War for
Talent, gave some interesting insights there, suggesting that one talent
strategy for your entire organisation isn't sufficient - rather, you need to
determine your strategies based on "heat factors" for that group of talent.
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Handfield Jones describes the four items which
determine how "hot" a particular type of talent is in your organisation as
below (and we have translated them into workforce planning questions in
brackets):
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The value creation impact of the role (how critical
it is to achieving your business strategy)
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Performance difference (does high performing talent
make a significant difference in how much value the organisation gets from this
role?)
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Demand trends (is your need for this role growing or
shrinking?)
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Supply constraints (what is happening outside the
organisation that will affect your ability to attract and retain this talent?)
She then divides the workforce into three types of
roles: talent-intensive; specialised skill; and low skill - and recommends
different talent approaches for each.
Of
course we agree with Handfield Jones! The Aruspex methodology reviews roles
relative to the importance to the organisations strategy, considers
Capability, Availability and Productivity of groups and the respective demand
and supply. By using our methodology, you will be able to
identify your future talent hot spots, and develop the right workforce picture
to enable you to build effective plans to ensure that any looming gaps are
dealt with.
Remember, a hot spot is determined by a number of
factors, but any one of the four points in Handfield-Jones' approach might
cause it - so be sure that you are planning with more than numbers, and with
more than your internal metrics. If you need help identifying your hot spots,
or in implementing strategic workforce planning in your organisation, use the
resources on our website, or
contact us.
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Book
Review: Flight of the Creative Class
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Richard Florida's earlier book "The Rise of the
Creative Class" introduced us to his three T's of economic development -
Technology, Talent and Tolerance. This, his latest book, explains how these
play out on the world stage. According to Florida, the dynamic nature of
creative class workers, who seek not only fulfilling jobs, but also tolerant
and vibrant communities and cities.
This new class of workers does not define itself by
national boundaries, but is highly mobile, willing to relocate for the best
social, cultural, and economic opportunities....leading to an increased ability
for cities like Toronto, Dublin, Bangalore (and Sydney and Melbourne) to
attract talent more than ever before.
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Florida's "Agenda for
the Creative Age" is:
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Tap the full creative capabilities of everyone
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Invest in creative infrastructure
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Leverage universities as talent and tolerance magnets
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Educate people for the creative age
While these are
recommendations for an entire nation (the US), there is much that can be drawn
for individual organisations competing in the talent market. Florida's work is
well worth reading, and may help to change your view on your own global
workforce.
From the middle of the
book we get this interesting quote: "The economic leaders of the future will
not, I believe, be emerging giants like India or China, which rank far down the
list...even as they are becoming global centres for cost effective
manufacturing and the delviery of basic business processes. Instead they will
be a host of smaller countries...that have build dynamic creative climates,
investing in talent, leveraging technology, and increasing their effort and
ability to attract creative talent from around the world". One of the smaller
countries Florida names in that group is Australia. Are you designing your
workforce to meet this opportunity?
Go
to creativeclass.org to read more
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Thought
for the Month
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| "We no longer think of
immigration as a gatekeeping function but as a talent-attraction function
necessary for economic growth"
NZ's Minister for Research,
Science and Technology
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In
our next issue...
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Cool new tools
- We'll be launching some great new workforce planning tools and resources on
our website next month
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