Friday Apr 26, 2024
Friday Apr 26, 2024
Monday, 14 October 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
I enjoyed being a speaker and a panellist at the SLASSCOM HR Summit for 2013. The theme for this year was ‘Attracting, Developing and Retaining Talent in Challenging Times’. There was a variety of thoughts expressed and a wide range of actions proposed. The central issue was how Human Resource professionals should act strategically in managing talent. Let’s look at the wide range of talent challenges.
Managing talent strategically
The meaning and usage of talent has changed over time. Today, we call it as a special natural ability or aptitude such as a talent for drawing. Also, it represents a capacity for achievement or success; ability: young men of talent. We often hear the term as a talented person: The cast includes many of the theatre’s major talents. In essence, talent has moved from currency to capability. Yet, capability has its own currency value. In that sense, it has not lost its original meaning.
How would talent linked to HR professionals? As we are aware Strategic HRM is an approach that defines how an organisation’s goals will be achieved through people by means of HR strategies and integrated HR policies and practices. In brief, SHRM is the linking of HRM with strategic goals and objectives in order to improve business performance and develop organisation culture to foster innovations and flexibility.
Global talent challenges with local relevance
What Dave Ulrich highlighted as talent challenges several years ago still have high relevance. According to Ulrich, “HR should be defined not by what it does but what it delivers”. We can see five Cs as talent challenges.
i. Connected World
With the rapid expansion of markets, managers are struggling to balance the paradoxical demand to think globally and act locally. Globalisation requires that organisations increase their ability to learn and collaborate and to manage diversity, complexity, and ambiguity. Sri Lankan organisations should be geared to explore the gold mines the globalisation offers, while avoiding land mines. SHRM has to cater for competency development of employees. Their enhanced knowledge, attitude and skills will lead to competitive advantage of the organisation. That is the only way to survive and succeed in a “flat world”.
ii. Creating Value
The drive for revenue growth puts unique demands on an organisation. Being creative and innovative, encouraging free flow of information, keeping in touch with the rapidly changing need of customers are some of the key strategies involved. This focus got further reinforced in the wake of the current global recession.
Sri Lankan organisations need to take note as to how best they can assess the real customer needs on a regular basis, whilst being dynamic providers of goods and services as progress partners, is the order of the day. SHRM should work hand in hand with business leaders in providing people with right competencies in ensuring the required performance. Appropriate measuring tools such as the Balanced Scorecard should be employed.
iii. Competence in Technology
Managers need to stay ahead in the effective use of information, and should learn to leverage such information for business results. Else as Ulrich says, it will be a case of “being swallowed by a tidal wave of data without new ideas”.
In Sri Lanka, too, an increasing awareness on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for economic and business development can be seen. Despite multiple initiatives from both the private and public fronts, the real utilisation of hardware and software assets, with tapping the full potential of our bright, young “liveware” is yet to be done. SHRM should cater for technology leadership, in using ICT for employee development.
iv. Capitalising Knowledge
Knowledge has increasingly becoming direct competitive advantage, posing a challenge to organisations to ensure that they have the capability to find, assimilate, develop, compensate and retain competent individuals.
Sri Lanka, in the face of brain drain, particularly in industries such as ICT, needs to find ways and means such as gain-sharing, in order to retain such intellectual capital within the country. A reverse brain-drain is a strong possibility with the growing optimism in the business circles. There are opportunities for SHRM to play a vital role in this respect.
v. Change, Change, and More Change
Perhaps the greatest competitive challenge organisations face, is adjusting to the need of embracing non-stop change. The ability to learn rapidly and continuously, innovate ceaselessly and take on new strategic imperatives faster and more comfortably has become the order of the day. In other words, organisations need to be in a never-ending state of transformation, perpetually creating fundamental, enduring change.
A key challenge lies in the sustaining the dynamism in the face of global changes, not being a victim but becoming a victor. SHRM role is immense in this aspect, where organisations have to plan and implement how people factor can be utilised for the goal attainment. Tourism can be a case in point. Experts have forecasted an acute shortage of professionals in time to come, with the wake of business expansion. SHRM strategies, action plans and implementation should cater for bridging such gaps.
Six Bs for managing talent
It is interesting to look at several interrelated components of SHRM. I would go with Ulrich and Brockank (2005) in calling them six Bs. These six Bs essentially refer to choices an organisation has with regard to talent management. In fact they are strategic, as the consequences are long term, with high impact to the bottom-line. Let’s look in to each B in detail with regard to Sri Lankan context.
1. Buying
This covers the aspect of talent acquisition. With the increased competition among the organisations to become the “preferred employer” or “employer of choice”, attracting the right talent to one’s organisation is the key aspect in focus. Building of relationships with key sources of talent, use of referral hiring, building a web-based hiring strategy and targeting of potential employees can be considered as some of the key initiatives.
In the Sri Lankan private sector, especially in the services, a considerable shift is seen from the traditional methods of recruitment to more innovative approaches. With stringent policy framework and centralised approach to recruitment, public sector is lagging behind in most of these initiatives.
2. Building
Choices in developing talent are captured here. Identification of training and development needs is of utmost importance in this regard. Having clarity on program participants, presenters, designers, coverage, delivery methods and expected behavioural changes are some of the vital components associated.
A growing emphasis on training effectiveness with proper mechanisms to measure is seen in the Sri Lankan private sector. Use of Kirkpatrick model to assess training effectiveness at different levels is one such approach. Return on Training Investment (ROTI) has slowly become a critical factor in the local scenario as well, in justifying the monetary allocation for training and development.
3. Borrowing
This encompasses the choices in contracting for talent. In other words, non-core jobs of an organisation can be performed by outsiders, preferably adhering to pre-determined specifications and quality parameters. Forming of joint alliances, visiting benchmarked sites, retaining consultants, outsourcing of work, and maintaining relationships with former employees can be considered as some of the key initiatives.
With the ever-increasing focus on cost management, many Sri Lankan organisations growing have already resorted to ‘borrowing”. Pressure from trade unions and several outdated labour laws are seen as barriers in moving towards this direction.
4. Bouncing
Choices in shrinking the workforce are covered here. Rightsizing by way of involuntary downsizing has become a buzz word in this regard. Whilst the business case is clear, the humane aspect of treating the low performers not only firmly but also fairly is important.
In many volatile industries, bouncing is more becoming a business necessity. Industry pressures to stay competitive have propelled organisations to take this path. The employee-friendly nature of Sri Lankan labour laws has come to the rescue of some of the victims of bad management decisions by their respective organisations.
5. Binding
This refers to the range of choices in retaining talent. Having developed the knowledge and skills of high performers of any organisation, seeing them leaving is the last thing an organisation would like to see. Finding out why talented people leave and taking appropriate actions to arrest the outflow should be high in the HR agenda. Offering of a variety of financial and non-financial rewards to stay has also needs to be strengthened.
Encouraging evidence can be found in many leading organisations in Sri Lanka. Yet, the reality remains that, when overseas opportunities are galore with unmatchable financial offers, employees tend to seek better prospects. As we discussed in several earlier columns, effectively engaging the employees with a clear purpose can be a sure-cure in arresting the rot.
6. Boosting
Choices in promoting the employees are captured here. When a career ladder is available for them to climb, and when the organisation is genuinely providing the support and encouragement, chances of them contributing better in a more committed manner is high. Establishing criteria for new jobs, allowing volunteers to take up challenging tasks, evaluating candidates’ potential, supporting of new job holders are some of the key actions in this regard.
With rapid expansion of businesses, opportunities for promoting are on the rise, in many Sri Lankan organisations. With the increased responsibilities, the required knowledge and skills level also has to be expanded.
Way forward
Being strategic with regard to managing and developing talent is a vital component for organisational growth. Sri Lankan HR professionals have a pivotal role to play in synergising with other functional colleagues. The effectiveness of their contribution will be reflected in organisational, industrial and national performance.
(Dr. Ajantha Dharmasiri works at the Postgraduate Institute of Management. He can be reached on [email protected] or www.ajanthadharmasiri.info.)
