Comments on: Is risk avoidance adding more risk to your company’s talent strategy?

By: RecruitFest! Welcomes Susan Burns as Track Leader | RecruitFest!

RecruitFest! Welcomes Susan Burns as Track Leader | RecruitFest! — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:53:58 +0000

[...] finds some time to put her ideas to screen. Be sure to check out some of her recent thoughts on risk avoidance within talent strategy and using social networks for communication and engagement. She has made tremendous contributions [...]

By: Saleem Qureshi

Saleem Qureshi — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:38:12 +0000

@Susan
Brilliant blogpost!
Alignment, structure and clarity of the company’s talent philosophy are three opportunity areas for companies to address that will strengthen the overall talent strategy . Companies could expand their talent pool by expanding their view and focusing on individual potential and talent adjacencies – a concentric approach that looks expands the skills and experiences to be considered.This type of strategy does require a mind-shift and supporting programs to on-board talent, and can be integrated with cutting-edge technology to leap towards success in future.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:14:53 +0000

Afton – your spot on! Cultural fit is critically important for both the company and for the individual. It requires each to be brutally honest about who they are, what they want and what their willing, ready and able to do. Making a decision to diversify the company’s talent portfolio will only be successful if there is a clear understanding of the company’s overarching talent philosophy and supporting culture. There must be a solid commitment to embrace diverse thinking, new ideas, open dialogue, collaborative practices and continuous learning. Cultural fit can be assessed during the recruitment process but its only as effective as the company is honest about their internal environment. This is true beyond portfolio diversification, though. Even if someone has the exact skills, experiences and abilities that map to a role, a gap in cultural fit typically leads to faster turnover. I love the term talent-portfolio architect. It adds an important and distinct dimension to workforce planning. Thanks for the comment!

By: Afton Funk

Afton Funk — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:07:15 +0000

To riff on what Joe stated, when branching out and diversifying your talent pool, not only is it about carefully selecting the aptitude of a person with a different background and their ability to incorporate their experiences into a new environment, but also about the personality of that individual.

Yes, diversifying your talent pool also means finding people with different personalities, however the role of the talent-portfolio architect is to fit these new hire pieces into the larger organizational personality puzzle that already exists. The whole point of finding new and different people is to bring new viewpoints and ideas into the mix, but this effort will be for nothing if the individual does not fit somewhat into the personality of the organization and is therefore able to effectively exchange ideas with the other employees.

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:49:17 +0000

Thanks Joe. I so admire your work and appreciate the additional context you've provided around diversity. You're right! This isn't easy. Organizations will need to define and nurture a culture that supports success. They'll need to be clear on what they want and the type of work environment that will facilitate long-term success. The payoffs can be significant. The value and return on collective thinking and action has never been more apparent than what we've seen as an outgrowth form living in a more connected world. I've been a big fan of Innocentive and mentioned the site in this post. What I've also learned is that a significant percentage of the problems solved through their network have been solved by people outside of the immediate discipline of the problem itself. Organizations have the opportunity to begin to foster this same type of collaborative environment and innovative thinking. What we do know is that the future will not look like today. The pace of change is speeding up, not slowing down and business environments are growing in complexity. Building a talent portfolio that brings a more diverse and expansive base of knowledge can help the organization better navigate this new and uncertain period.

By: joe gerstandt

joe gerstandt — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:35:17 +0000

Susan-

Great post, I could not agree more. From what I have seen there are some organizations out there that have historically been driven by innovation and they seem to get this. Organizations that have not been driven by innovation until recently seem to struggle with this and I think it has a lot to do with not understanding the value of difference. Richard Florida, Arie De Geus, Scott Page, Frans Johansson, Jeff Howe, James Surowiecki, David Pink and others have conducted and/or examined research showing the critical role that the entry of new or different individuals or ideas play in fostering the growth, learning and creativity of organizations and communities.

But difference is kind of scary especially when times are tough and the future is uncertain. And truth be told, when you increase the diversity in a given social group you are also increasing the potential for tension and fragmentation…not only do business leaders need to understand the value of difference, they need to understand that the right kinds of relationship and communication skills are in place for an organization to capture the value of difference.

Thanks for the great post!
-joe