Upload
melloneyjewell
View
16
Download
1
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Citation preview
Building a winning team is all about bench strength. If you look at the composition of any sports team, you’ll see all types of talent: veterans, who think
about retirement and post-career; up-and-coming mavericks, focused on excelling and obtaining the next endorsement deal; and
rookies, attempting to learn all they can in their first year. As leader of this motley crew, the coach is responsible for keeping the play-ers engaged, building a strong bench, and ensuring every position on the field is filled or ready to be filled with capable talent at any given time, despite injuries or trade deals — all in an effort to win the season.
Managing Talent and Organizational Bench Strength: Are You Game-Ready?by Oliver Conze, Vice President, Solution Management, SAP and Lillian Reaume, Vice President, Human Resources Center of Excellence, Nakisa
SubScribe today. ViSit inSiderProFiLeS.wiSPubS.com.
This article appeared in the APR MAY JUN 2012 issue of insiderPROFILES (http://insiderPROFILES.wispubs.com) and appears here with permission from WIS PUBLISHING.
As any sports fan knows, every season endures a
range of highs and lows. And most often, it’s not the
team with the strongest individual player that wins,
but the team with the best bench strength. Build-
ing a strong bench can be just as important as
creating the starting line-up. Just like sports
coaches, today’s human resources (HR) depart-
ments face similar challenges. So, where does
your organization stand in the rankings?
Meet Your Newest Team Members: The Millennials We are entering an unprecedented era comprised
of a multi-generational workforce, which calls
for new approaches to management. Workplace
demographics now include three different genera-
tions, meaning that fresh-out-of-college recruits will
find themselves working alongside colleagues the same
age as their grandparents. As 72 million Baby Boomers
(born between 1946 and 1964) prepare for retirement,
members of Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980)
and Generation Y (born between 1981 and 2000) are
getting ready to fill their shoes. The impact of these
changes will be significant; Generation Y, also known as
the Millennials, is the biggest demographic to start work
since the Baby Boomers, and is expected to make up 30%
of the workforce by 2013. So how can HR prepare for
the different working styles of a multi-generational
workforce? Just like sports coaches, HR profession-
als are responsible for managing this diverse mix.
Inside every organization, the Millennials
are demonstrating new ways of working. This
technologically savvy generation is mobile,
connected, f lexible, and f luent in social net-
working. As social media becomes an in-
tegral part of the work world, on the field
and off, mobile devices are emerging as the
dominant communications and interaction
platform, allowing employees to manage al-
most every aspect of their professional life.
There are almost 1 billion people on Face-
book, and over 4.6 billion cell phones are
in active use. Millennials sometimes refer to
their mobile device as their “command center”
and can’t imagine a day, much less a week, be-
ing disconnected. For some, the work morning’s
first task is to check Facebook on a smart phone.
As these trends (often referred to as “business social”)
continue to grow, so will their impact on HR.
In past generations, loyalty to the enterprise was
paramount; the ultimate goal was to attain a “job for
life.” However, newer generations are a different breed
that switch jobs on average every two years.1 Millenni-
als are career-focused with high expectations for their
development, and if their employers don’t meet their
expectations, they won’t stick around for long.
91% of employees are willing to change jobs, but 55% of leaders are not expecting it.
A multi-generational workforce calls for new approaches to management. Is your organization toeing the line?
SubScribe today. ViSit inSiderProFiLeS.wiSPubS.com.
Fighting the Global War for TalentWith the ability for people to easily and readily
collaborate and network, and with about 50%
of people able to work remotely, it’s not a
huge surprise to see a decrease in employee
retention. In a recent survey, Express Em-
ployment Professionals found that 77% of
leaders say retention was not a problem or
only a slight problem in 2011.2 Yet, accord-
ing to a recent survey by CareerBuilder,
91% of employees are willing to switch
jobs, and 55% of leaders are not expecting
it.3 In fact, according to a recent Employee
Performance Survey, 21 million Americans
are considering changing jobs in the next
year.4 With the cost of employee turnover
estimated at up to 250% of the annual sal-
ary per exiting employee, such effects could
be detrimental to employee retention and
organizational growth.
The global war for talent is continuing to be an
issue in various regions and industries. While the
spike in growth has slowed somewhat in China, Aus-
tralia, India, and other parts of Southeast Asia, the over-
all demand for talent everywhere has not. With talent
already in short supply, ensuring you can develop and
keep what you have and win over the talent you don’t
have is critical to your organization’s success.
We have all heard the stories of CEOs of large
companies leaving with no replacement. Total
chaos ensues. Stock prices drop and share-
holders are angry. This scenario is a night-
mare for an HR professional. But with the
right strategy and tools, you can avoid
this scenario and identify which positions
are at high risk, define how many people
should be ready if and when the need
arises, and have clear insight into what
talent can fill them.
What’s Your Game Plan for Stepping Up to the Talent Management Plate?Evidence shows that many organizations
are not prepared for succession manage-
ment. According to Bersin & Associates, 77% of
organizations have little or no view of existing
talent gaps in their business.5 This is not surpris-
ing, considering that only 35% of organizations do
any succession planning at all — and of that 35%,
planning is only performed for the top 10% of the busi-
ness. In a 2011 survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, CEOs
rated talent management as the number-one area where
they expect dramatic change during the next year.6 Given
this increased attention, it’s even more critical that HR
executives set aside time to identify where they are and
Employees are increasingly willing to switch jobs. What
are you doing to keep them?
Social media has and will continue to play a
role in finding, retaining, and developing talent. Organizations
must speak the language of tomorrow’s top talent.
SubScribe today. ViSit inSiderProFiLeS.wiSPubS.com.
where they need to be. It’s time for HR to step
up to the plate.
What factors should organizations consider
when developing an effective talent pipeline?
It starts with understanding how to engage
the next generation of talent. As we’ve iden-
tified, Millennials are digitally aware, hyper-
connected, and in control of their careers.
They are demanding more input into their
advancement, and if they don’t receive this, they
won’t hesitate to switch teams. When developing
talent management strategies, organizations
must consider these new work styles. So, what
should HR organizations do to create an effective
talent pipeline?
Build bench strength you can count on. Not only
should you plan for emerging technologies like social
media and mobility, but HR organizations must also
ensure an iron-clad strategy for the age-old cliché:
have the right people, with the right skills, in the right
place (including remote workers), at the right time. To
do this, you need the right information. And as we all
know, with so much information out there, we can’t
do it on our own. Choosing technology that caters and
adapts to your business processes, not vice versa, is
key. We need technology that has effective analyti-
cal capabilities built-in so that we can construct
the best strategy for our organization. With this
technology, we can predict, execute, monitor,
and analyze to make the correct decisions for
our organization’s success.
Choose the right tools for a winning
succession plan and talent pipeline.
Choosing tools that speak the language
of the Millennials, while still supporting
your Generation Xers and Baby Boomers,
will help you retain and nurture talent.
Solutions that allow your next-generation
talent to interact with the latest technolo-
gies, such as motivational games and social
networking sites, will enable them to col-
laborate and work in ways familiar to them.
Flexible access to data anytime, anywhere,
is also vital to maximize user adoption across
all generations. Web-based, real-time solutions,
delivered through a single, intuitive user inter-
face and available on multiple devices, prove to
be the most successful. Tools that incorporate these
modern technologies will make talent easier to de-
tect throughout the organization by creating a unique
way for your employees to regularly chart and share
their developmental aspirations. This will ultimately
lead to higher engagement levels, better perception
Effective talent pipeline management begins with effective information management.
HR must become a strategic business partner, driving executives to develop a strategy that engages the entire enterprise in an ongoing, flexible talent management process.
SubScribe today. ViSit inSiderProFiLeS.wiSPubS.com.
Oliver Conze ([email protected]) is Vice Pres-ident of Solution Management at SAP. He leads the team responsible for strategy and
Go-to-Market for SAP’s global portfo-lio of talent management solutions, en-abling organizations to attract, retain, develop, and better engage top talent. Oliver has been with SAP for over five years in various positions in corporate strategy, portfolio management, and product management. Prior to SAP, Oli-ver worked for an international manage-ment consulting firm. He holds master’s degrees in management science from Stanford University and Karlsruhe Insti-tute of Technology, and a PhD in busi-ness administration from the University of St. Gallen.
Lillian Reaume ([email protected]) is the Vice President of Human Resources COE at Nakisa. Her scope is to provide thought leadership and as-
sist with the development of solutions for Nakisa’s global portfolio, enabling organizations in their strategic human resources efforts. Lillian also leads the HR team at Nakisa and has over 17 years of diverse senior leadership expe-rience in the automotive, financial, and high-tech industries. Lillian holds a mas-ter’s degree in business administration from the University of Windsor and is nearing completion of a PhD in business administration from Capella University.
of the value add of HR services, and increased
retention rates.
Develop a “people-centric” approach. It’s
not just about employing the latest technologies.
Organizations must develop a “people-centric”
approach to succession planning in order to
secure the commitment of talent. Research shows
that Millennials expect regular and transpar-
ent feedback on their progress and a clear idea
of where they are going and how they will be
rewarded. Embedding career planning into the
succession planning process will provide valuable
information for HR professionals, enabling them
to highlight potential multi-generational talent
from all areas of the organization.
Stay Ahead of the Game: Integrate Succession and Career Planning with an Enterprise-Wide Talent Management StrategyTo build a sustainable talent pipeline, succes-
sion planning can’t be managed as a standalone
administrative HR activity, but must be part of
an integrated and enterprise-wide talent manage-
ment program with career planning weaved into
the process. By integrating recruiting, compen-
sation, and performance management systems,
learning and development programs, and men-
torship and recognition programs, future maver-
icks can be identified and cultivated at all levels
of the company, leading to a much more sustain-
able bench.
To stay ahead of the game, HR must continu-
ally have its finger on the pulse of business needs
and make talent pipeline management part of
the company culture. HR departments must con-
centrate on developing a strategy and a range
of tools that provide real-time functionality and
engage every member of the enterprise in an
ongoing, f lexible talent management process. By
doing this, organizations can ensure they have the
best talent in the best place at the best time. Only
then can HR “bring it home,” earning its seat in
the board room by delivering bottom-line bene-
fits and a sustainable, committed bench of players
that will keep the organization on top of its game
for seasons to come.
1 Kaye, B. and Jordan-Evans, S. “Love ‘em or lose’em, getting good people to stay.” San Fransisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. (2008).2 www.cioinsight.com/c/a/IT-Management/Employee-Retention-Failures-Revealed-145261/ ; http://employers.expresspros.com/ca/3 www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/retention--a-top-concern-for-employers-130731538.html4 http://talentmgt.com/articles/view/act-now-to-prevent-a-talent-exodus-in-20125 www.bersin.com/Practice/Detail.aspx?id=1033115996 www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/ceo-survey/pdf/15th-global-ceo-survey.pdf
SubScribe today. ViSit inSiderProFiLeS.wiSPubS.com.