Today's Top 10 Talent-Management Challenges

Harvard Business Online June 20, 2008, 

Tammy Erickson on the dilemmas and problems managers and c

1.      Attracting and retaining enough employees at all levels to meet the needs of organic and inorganic growth. Essar has grown from 20 thousand employees to a staggering 60 thousand in the past 3 years and 55% are less than two years in the organization.  

2.      Creating a value proposition that appeals to multiple generations. How to create an employee experience appealing to diverse needs, preferences and assumptions. The Gap has 153,000 people - stores have high % of Gen Y employees whereas leadership ranks are of  of Gen X  and Boomers.  

3.      Developing a robust leadership pipeline. Lack of individuals ready to move into senior client manager and leadership roles is a critical challenge. Lack of a robust talent pool from which to select future leaders. Gen X cohort is small and precious but the problem is many Gen X are simply not excited about being considered for the top roles.

4.      Rounding out the capabilities of hires who lack the breadth of necessary for global leadership. It's easier to identify and assess experts in specific functional or technical arenas, but much more difficult to determine whether those individuals have the people skills, leadership capabilities, business breadth, and global diversity sensibilities required for the nature of leadership today. Increasingly, the challenge of developing these broader skill sets falls to the corporations.  

5.      Transferring key knowledge and relationships. The looming retirement of a significant portion of the workforce challenges all companies, but particularly those who are dependant on the strength of tacit knowledge, such as that embedded in customer relationships, a key to Mercer's business success.

6.      Stemming the exodus of Gen X'ers from corporate life. exodus of mid-career talent is a problem : people in whom the organization has invested heavily : and pinned  hopes for future leadership on.

7.      Redesigning talent management practices to attract and retain Gen Y's. For firms that depend on a strong flow of top talent ( like consulting firms), creating talent management practices and programs to attract and engage young entrants is critically important.  

8.      Creating a workplace that is open to Boomers in their "second careers." smart companies are looking for ways to incorporate the talents of Boomers and even older workers in the workforce. In many cases, this requires rethinking roles and work relationships.

9.      Overcoming a "norm" of short tenure and frequent movement. Some industries have a  disposable view of the talent.   

1.      Enlisting executives who don't appreciate the challenge. Many business leaders have been brought up to believe that people will queue up because of the company's brand. A transition must be made from traditionally "buy talent" culture to "build talent" culture. All must share this thinking.