A colleague and I were recently lamenting over the raw defects that plague today’s hiring practices.  The result of our consternation - my first guest blogger.  Phil Rogers is the president and founder of New Zealand Business Development, a firm that helps NZ-based firms develop in the US market.  I’ve known Phil for a number of years and think you’ll benefit from his ideas.  Enjoy!  

“Whether you see it as marketing hype, a looming concern or a current reality, it’s impossible to ignore the demographic trends facing the global marketplace.  The dire nature of these events is dramatized in this YouTube video created by Ira Wolfe:

Despite the narrowing of the addressable population, there could be an innovation upside to a ‘Future of Talent’ shortages.

Currently, hiring managers seek a guaranteed win based on a narrowly defined candidate profile.  This approach encourages talent to specialize in both industry and function.  In the same way that too much Six Sigma killed innovation at 3M, the application of defect management techniques in recruiting processes are creating a less flexible workforce.  Those individuals seeking to change industries and functions are often ignored relative to the presumably safe and predictable industry lifers.  Given this narrowing criteria, would Lou Gertzner be offered the CEO role at IBM today?  Moreover, does industry specialization increase turnover as employees play off one competitor against another?

A talent shortage might force a change.  The learning capability and willingness to take risk shown by those that have moved between industries and functions is highly valuable.  Does a talent shortage mean that a future profile might be ‘the ability to improve process’ or the ‘ability to grow revenues’?  Is it possible that hiring for well toned general capabilities, with the right support structures, would actually deliver better business outcomes?  The economic costs of an inflexible workforce are high, but the cost of lost opportunities resulting from a lack of new perspectives and ideas is much higher.  A talent shortage might lead to a new era in innovation the same way that 3M’s labs are now coming back to life.  This places an ironic burden on CEOs, given that turnover in their own ranks is roughly 15% each year.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. 

This entry was posted on Monday, December 10th, 2007 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Human Capital/Human Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.