Make Your People Before You Make Your Products: Using Talent Management to Achieve Competitive Advantage in Global Organizations

Chapter 2 The world as an open market for talented people

Executive summary

• There is a worldwide shortage of talent; in every geography, talent is on the move.
• Shortages occur at every level – executives, engineers, sales representatives, technicians, IT staff – and workers in fields such as oil and gas extraction, aerospace manufacturing and optical engineering.
• Demographic changes have exacerbated the problem. But for some companies and countries, the demographic edge is a genuine competitive edge.
• The multi-generational workforce means different expectations and outcomes for those involved in talent management.
• Satisfying this complex demographic picture means regarding talent as a community to be engaged rather than an audience to be addressed from a stage.
• This means creating meaning at work and creating ‘abundant’ working environments.
• To do so also means recognizing the different types of organizational structure that may exist. The classic hierarchy will need talent management that meets a different set of expectations than those in a networked organization.
• Effective talent management simultaneously requires great leadership (at all levels and not just through high potential talent programmes) and full engagement of the whole of the workforce (to ensure that all talent makes a full contribution).

A worldwide shortage of talent

The case for making your people before making your products is accentuated by the context within which global organizations are operating. ...