Last week a group of unique people from the talent space came together for the first Talent Camp to delve into transformational work – building the talent function of the future. I’ll get deeper into the ”work” in the next post but I wanted to share something else remarkable that came out of Talent Camp …… community. The mission behind Talent Camp was to bring together a group of smart, passionate people and explore what the talent function would look like if the catalyst behind its “new” existence were a business need. A call to action, if you will, that positions the talent function at the heart of transforming the organization to meet the growing demands presented by the shifts taking place across the business and societal landscapes – driving organizational effectiveness.
The setting on the Oregon Coast was spectacular and a metaphor for our transformational work. A wave is not independent from the ocean just as the organization cannot be separated from the talent that brings it to life each day to drive its success. And, the Coast with all of its remarkable elements is in a state of perpetual change and interdependence. Our meeting place, a 4500 sq. ft. beach house, would serve as a place to open minds and facilitate discussion over the course of 2 ½ days. It would also mean that each of us participating in Talent Camp, who in most cases didn’t know one another, would need to quickly establish a foundation for honest, challenging and meaningful dialogue. We devoted our first evening session to establishing group agreements. 
What time would we begin each day? How much personal time was needed / desired? What was important to each of us in providing an environment that nurtured productive dialogue? What values do we hold around collaboration and communication? And, what would be our comfort level with connecting to the outside world via social media while we were together? This was not an easy conversation. Not because the group was reluctant to discuss it but because their hunger to dive head first into our primary discussion was evident and bursting through, so we took a meandering path. This was time well spent and provided an important foundation that would serve us well over the course of our time together.
What was remarkable was the ease with which the group came together. Every aspect of what would be necessary to be together for this period of time was met with ease. Everyone naturally assumed roles as needed to ensure our shared environment was conducive to being together and immersing ourselves in the work we had come together to explore. Our days were long and our formal conversations began at 9 or 10 am and went until 10 pm. The group’s collective energy created a respectful environment for honest, tough dialogue yet work and play seemed to fuse together as one. We organically found a balance between structure and openness that allowed us to challenge assumptions, wrestle with paradigms, tear things down, and begin again – after all this was transformational work and the path is not linear but an iterative process that unfolds through a process of discovery. People stepped up to lead discussions and everyone stayed engaged and committed to crafting a vision for the future of the talent function, that ultimately led to more questions than answers. There was an ease and a comfort that each person helped to foster through their engagement and persistent commitment to the group dynamics.
Social media played a significant role in how this group came together. With the exception of two people, who I knew, each connection to people attending Talent Camp began with a relationship that grew out of social networking. I do believe that the insight we gain through social networking interactions are quite revealing and in this case helped to bring together a unique group who worked collaboratively to advance a critical conversation around the future of the talent function.
Part 2 of Talent Camp will get into our discoveries and outcomes.
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I’m a strong proponent of the idea of “collective engagement” as a means to enhancing a company’s employment brand and talent attraction capability. If you’ve heard me present on talent strategies, read anything about crowdsourcing or explored the platform that’s been in place at InnoCentive you get the idea. InnoCentive is an excellent example of the potential inherent in collective engagement. It began as a consortium of pharma companies that were willing to pay out big dollars to solve big problems – like finding an ALS biomarker. It has since evolved into a very diverse platform from every perspective. My corporate experience has consistently demonstrated the power of unlocking ideas to solve big problems by bringing together a diverse mix of people to work on a project. The outcome is far better than if a homogenous group took on the same challenge – I use diversity in the broadest sense of the word – gender, ethnicity, geography, experience, etc…..
Collective engagement to enhance a company’s employment brand and recruitment strategy gets directly to the heart of where business and talent intersect. It offers companies new ways of thinking about talent attraction by engaging them at a granular level in their business. Prospective talent can learn first-hand about the company’s business – its industry, products, markets and even its culture. Companies benefit from the direct talent connections and expand their knowledge base through the project experience – new ideas that generate innovative practices to advantage their products, market positioning, processes and customer engagement. Ideally, social networking can accomplish this as companies invest in building an interactive community culture. The key is listening and exercising a commitment to continuous learning. Much of what we see happening today on social networks is still at the transactional level and companies are missing out on the deeper benefits of collaborative learning.
This week the U.K. Times Online introduced ‘Business Wisdom’. Beginning on Monday, March 2nd, leaders from four industries will present business challenges they foresee on the horizon. The CEOs from each company will then share something about their specific opportunity each week through a video message. People wishing to participate will be able to join a collective conversation and contribute ideas to help solve the challenge. Through a “peer review” process the Times will present possible solutions back to the CEOs. Its encouraging to see the Times leading this initiative and business leaders taking part in the process. Collective engagement has the potential to further momentum as companies find themselves with greater challenges around global competition and resource constraints.
Any company can weave collective engagement into their talent and business strategy by taking advantage of social networking platforms, committing to community building, listening to people interested in their company, and engaging in conversations. Over time there’s the potential for this type of collaboration to redefine how companies define an “employee” and where business contributions comes from. Ideally I’d like to see an Innocentive approach where contributors are rewarded for their contribution. As social networking evolves and companies recognize the value of collective engagement the opportunity is not only with recruitment strategies but also in how companies invite their workforce into the conversation to advance collaborative learning, a topic for another post. I’ll be following the ‘Business Wisdom’ initiative and may even participate. Maybe I’ll see you there!
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Welcome to the Talent Synchronicity Blog! I hope you’ve had a chance to explore some of the core content about Talent Synchronicity and my background on the other pages in the site to get a feel for my experiences and how I think about the business of Talent. In the blog section you’ll find me writing on a range of topics around Talent and business. My interests and passion revolve around trends and events that influence how we think about Talent, how organizations can develop and implement strategies that enable engagement and collaboration with Talent, and the inherent value at the heart of relationships between Talent and organizations. My perspective has been shaped from being on the front lines leading talent functions and multi-million dollar retail operations. It continues to be shaped daily through awareness, conversations, experiences and gazing over the horizon to envision how business and Talent will collectively define and transform the future of work.
On occasion, you may even find a word or more on yoga. Yes, yoga! I’m a dedicated practitioner and as my practice deepens through workshops and teacher training programs, there are a number of correlations to creating dynamic and collaborative workplace environments. Yoga is about nurturing, shaping and establishing “union”. Whether looking at the union of body and mind or the union of people and companies, it’s about how the pieces come together to create a stronger, more connected and solidified whole.
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