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Deepening the Leadership Talent Pool:Strategies for Winning the War for TalentBy Nancy Brooks, Principal Partner and Scott Schulz, Director of Business Development, 7th Wave Solutions Pop quiz: What is the most pressing challenge that will determine whether companies succeed or fail?
B) The ability to harness new information technologies and manufacturing techniques? C) Attracting, developing and retaining leadership talent? D) None of the above. E) All of the above. Companies will face all of the above, but experts in the industry and the consultants that make it their business to help organizations improve their performance agree that one pressing issue dwarfs all others: leadership. More specifically, the challenges in finding, retaining, and developing leadership within the organization. Thirty years later, the words of Fred Fiedler, and Martin Chemers still ring true. In their popular, practitioner-oriented Improving Leadership Effectiveness: The Leader Match Concept, published in 1976 and still widely used as a basis for leadership training, they accurately predict: "The quality of leadership, more than any other single factor, determines the success or failure of an organization." In Jim Collins' Good to Great, one of the most prevalent factors resulting in the transformation of companies to consistently great performance was myopic (read: focused) and dogged leadership at the top tiers of the organization. While many organizations are listening and responding by aggressively pursuing and developing their leaders and leadership systems, some of these same organizations have been ratcheting up their efforts even more due to the perfect storm they see developing on their radar: By 2010 it is expected that the US will face a shortage of 10M workers. Over the next 15 years, 70M Baby Boomers will be retiring - only 15M workers will enter the workforce in that same time period. Senior leadership from the Baby Boomer generation is rapidly 'graying' and some companies anticipate a loss of greater than 50% of their senior leadership. Recent surveys show that between 20% and 40% of the current workforce will begin looking for new jobs immediately as the economy improves. Clearly the 'War for Talent', which some have even dubbed 'WWII for Talent', will be fierce, it will be global, and there will be fatalities. So, what are the strategies for winning this war? Assess - Understand what you have, what you need, and what gaps exist - as they align with your strategic objectives. While many organizations are cognizant of their internal dynamics and its impact on individual performance, they often rely on seat-of-the-pants assessments of their talent pool and its readiness state to future organizational operations. To comprehend a company's leadership status fully, individual performance against the key objectives of the organization must also be examined. The results must provide the necessary metrics and developmental plans for improvement at both the individual and organizational levels. An important aspect of any assessment initiative is to identify specific needs and to assess performance - not potential - against those needs. Organizations must also be willing to ask "why?" if individuals aren't performing effectively and examine the organization's role in underperformance. Leverage - While comprehension of available talent and leadership gaps is essential, in light of dwindling talent availability, winners in the war for talent must leverage their existing human capital. Once root causes to underperformance are identified, strategies to foster continuous improvement and to generate the environment necessary to enable effective performance must be developed and implemented. Develop - Dynamic and innovative companies understand that tomorrow's challenges are inherently more difficult, and these companies work diligently to improve their processes, technologies, supply chain, and financial strategies. Unfortunately, many of these same organizations are not as attentive to their human capital, and seem to view Human Resources in the context of humans are the resources rather than providing resources to the humans. While assessment provides the means to understanding the skill and experience gaps in future and potential individual leaders, organizations have a responsibility to their performance as well. Organizations that create and deepen their existing talent pool by recognizing and surmounting both individual and systemic deficiencies are those that will thrive. ### About the author: : Nancy Brooks, Principal Partner of 7th Wave Solutions and Scott Schulz, Director of Business Development at 7th Wave Solutions can be reached at www.7thwavesolutions.com, 617.532.0578. Increase Your Profitability Across Your Organization Learn more about Boston University experts instructors!
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