Ah, the “Law of Unforeseen Consequences!” It is now 15 years since McKinsey first published their article, “The War for Talent.” I wonder whether anyone – including McKinsey themselves – could have foreseen what this would launch.
At the time of publication McKinsey were responding to the growing global economy, forecasting a looming shortage of people with the right skills to enable businesses to achieve their objectives, and hence predicting an idiomatic ‘war’ as companies ‘fought’ to attract the "talent" they needed. Even with the economic downturn the demand for good people remains and, arguably, has even grown.
Yet, despite this, little seems to have been done to mitigate this need or alleviate the problem. In fact in many ways actions taken by ‘Management’ could be said to have made the problem worse. Certainly that appears to be the case when the HR Director of a leading international recruitment firm writes about the “War on Talent.” More than merely an ironic spin on McKinsey’s article, this is a not-so-subtle indictment of the manner in which organisations misuse and abuse what they themselves often call their greatest asset. Certainly you need to give more than a little consideration to what the lady says, because she should know. After all, hers is a multi-industry perspective rather than a single organisation one.
Even then much of what she is saying is simply addressing specifics and symptoms. To really get to the heart of the issue you have to start by changing attitudes towards people. You have to stop seeing employees and start seeing people. And that is where the “Law of Unintended Consequences” comes in. Perhaps the single most unfortunate by-product of McKinsey’s original article is the growth of a whole HR sub-industry around “Talent Management.”
The misguided belief that it is all about managing talent is a blind alley. It is a homeopathic remedy that fails to recognise or ignores the fact that talent comes with and from people. You don’t go out and hire talent. You hire people. You don’t manage talent; you manage people. You cannot create, maintain or sustain employee engagement of any description if you focus on managing talent. The talents that you are looking to see expressed, enhanced and developed come with all the physical, psychological and emotional accoutrements of the people of whom they form an integral part.
That is why you have to make your people FEEL like assets. After all, your people are what make (or break) your brand. Each and every one plays a part and success is unobtainable without them doing what they do best. The key thing is that feelings are attached to people, not talents. Those feelings come from the identification, utilisation, optimisation and recognition of talents, yes. However, they are still part of the total person.
So if you are fighting talent wars you need to stop right now and think about which one you are actually fighting, and even if you should be fighting at all. After all, it is impossible to build and fight at the same time. And as a manager you are first and foremost a builder; your legacy lies in what you build and leave behind. What will your legacy be?