Can you spot the talent in this photograph?
Of course you can’t! It just portrays a group of people. Yet doesn't talent management fundamentally try to do the same thing? That is why the pervasive focus on talent management is such a potentially dangerous fad.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – talent cannot be divorced from people. You recruit and (ideally) retain people, not talent. Consequently if you want to manage the capability of your organisation more effectively you have to focus on your people. Focus on the people and the talent they bring with them will flourish. Fail to keep your people happy and the talent will evaporate.
In an article headlined “HR should focus on aggregate talent rather than individuals” in the latest edition of HR Magazine, published today, Professor Gary Hamel, suggests that HR focuses too much on individual talent. He recommends that it should focus on developing the “collective capability” and what he calls the “aggregate talent” rather than developing individual talent.
Undoubtedly the point that Hamel is making is valid. He does not, however, do himself any favours my diluting the term “collective capability” to “aggregate talent.” This latter term regrettably perpetuates the shift in focus from people to talent and undermines the very objectives Hamel is promoting.
To function effectively and sustain success any business, regardless of its type, has to be more organic: to operate more as an organism than an organisation. This means you have to create an environment where everyone works together to meet the organisational purpose. The collective capability is what creates the precision that powers and propels performance and sustains success. This necessitates recognising the discrete part that every individual plays, while at the same time breaking down the silo mentality that undermines organisational effectiveness on a grand scale. Trying to manage talent accentuates differences and therefore is more likely to perpetuate silo thinking rather than eliminate it.
But, other than by eliminating “talent management,” how else can we stop the inexorable forces that perpetuate silo thinking?
Experience tells me that Hamel is right: it will only happen when you recognise and value the “collective capability.” That in turn will only happen when you start to value people. The statement that “people are our greatest asset” is so much more than a cliché yet all too often you fail to recognise the value of your people. Many years ago I worked for an organisation that closed down a division and laid off every employee in that division. Not that unusual except for that fact that the top 10% of performers had been seconded to that division when it was created! If that doesn’t demonstrate that executives actually have no idea of the value they are destroying when they make people redundant, I don’t know what will. Certainly your primary asset will not feel that valued when every new initiative is justified by the number of jobs (i.e. people) eliminated.
The only way you can prevent such erosion of value is by valuing your people and accounting for and managing them as assets. That quantifies your collective capability. It also provides a basis for ensuring that your people are developed, and utilised, more effectively. Coincidentally this will ensure that you manage the talent your people offer more effectively.
So what are you going to do? Will you continue – ultimately fruitlessly – down the blind alley of “talent management” or will you endeavour to start valuing your people? Hopefully it’s the latter. In which case, you should not hesitate to contact me to help you get started.