The New Language of Talent Management

Capital is being superseded by creativity and the ability to innovate—and therefore by human talents—as the most important factors of production. If talent is becoming the decisive competitive factor, we can be confident in stating that capitalism is being replaced by TALENTISM.

- Klaus Schwab, Founder of the World Economic Forum

Preparing for an Era of Talentism

20th Century Capitalism 21st Century Talentism

A ruthless pursuit of customer delight with employees seen

as the ultimate differentiation

A ruthless pursuit of product efficiencies with employees seen as cogs in the machine

HR professionals have never had a greater opportunity to directly shape and impact the future of their organizations...

...they have also never been under so much pressure from CEOs to deliver, as an increasingly mobile global workforce shifts the balance of power from institutions to individuals

63% say availability of skills is a serious concern

93% say that they recognize the need to change their strategy for attracting and retaining talent

only 34% say that HR is well prepared to capitalize on the transformational trends that are impacting their business

Source: PwC - 2015 Annual Global CEO Survey

Succession Planning

Goals & Performance

LearningManagement

Rewards & Compensation

Recruitment

CareerDevelopment

Rethinking the Six Pillars of Talent Management

From square pegs for square holes to game-changers who can shape the future

1. Recruitment

20th Century candidates were judged on a resume of standard accomplishments. Skill requirements for specific jobs were well-defined, and paramount. Years of experience were a measure of ability.

Recruiting From the Past

81% of CEOs say that their business always looks to equip employees with new skills

Source: PwC - 2015 Annual Global CEO Survey

Recruiting For the Future

For every job, though, the No. 1 thing we look for is general cognitive ability, and it’s not I.Q. It’s learning ability. It’s the ability to process on the fly. It’s the ability to pull together disparate bits of information.

- Laszlo Block, Google’s senior VP of people operations

Recruiting for the Future

From extracurricular activity to a strategic recruitment and development tool2. Learning Development

Traditional learning programs were usually driven by the needs of the employer, with the aim often being to establish conformity across the workforce

One-third of Millennials rank training and development opportunities as a prospective employer’s top benefit

Source: “Multi-Generational Worker Attitudes” - Millennial Branding and monster.com

If They’re Not Learning, They’re Leaving...

Zappos Core Values1. Deliver WOW Through Service2. Embrace and Drive Change3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded5. Pursue Growth and Learning6. Build Open and Honest Relationships7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit8. Do More With Less9. Be Passionate and Determined10. Be Humble

Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO

Disruptive Companies Make Learning Part of the Culture

From bureaucratic annual reviews to dynamic business drivers3. Goals and Performance

Finally, one can only hope that 2015 will see the death of the annual performance review. These bloated, over-engineered, mandatory rituals are a waste of time, are hated by everyone and actually do nothing to foster high performance.

- Patty McCord, chief talent officer at Netflix from its inception through 2012

Business Moves too Fast for the Annual Performance Review

58% of executives believe that their current performance management approach drives neither employee engagement nor high performance

Source: Global Human Capital Trends 2015 by Deloitte

Current Review Systems are Broken

It’s liberating people. It has really helped to create teamwork instead of individualism, which is critical in a creative company. This is an opportunity for us to not just say that our people are our most important asset, but to actually live those words.

- Donna Morris, senior vice president of global people resources at Adobe

Adobe has Replaced Annual Reviews with Regular Check-Ins

From check the box corporate-driven org. charts to outside the box employee-focused experiences4. Career Development

Traditional career development was driven by tenure. Reaching the next rung on the corporate ladder meant managing people doing the job they used to do.

Millennials, who now make up more than half the workforce, are taking center stage. Their expectations are vastly different from those of previous generations. They expect accelerated responsibility and paths to leadership. They seek greater purpose in their work. And they want greater flexibility in how that work is done.

Meeting the Millennial Mindset

For each tour, the employee and the company clarify what each side gets out of the relationship, offering a number of different types of tours to guide employees at different stages of their career.

- The Alliance by Reid Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn), Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh

Disruptive Companies Create Employee Tours of Duty

From show me the money to a life of fulfillment5. Rewards and Compensation

In traditional organizations, compensation is often a zero-sum game. Individual rewards for individual performance. Salary, bonuses, stock options and pension plans linked to individual output, increasing exponentially as employees progress up the org. chart.

Show Me the Money

While millennial workers are ambitious and strive for financial success, 88% prefer a collaborative work-culture to a competitive one.

They also understand the value and the inherent potential of transparency, and they are perplexed at the secrecy and “need to know” cultures that were the norm in The Industrial Economy.

Rewarding Collaboration not Competition

- Forbes: 10 Ways Millennials Are Creating The Future Of Work

Clear career paths, including future earning potential are especially attractive in Brazil

Stock options or other forms of equity-based pay and high future earnings had a higher rank in China than other countries suggesting a long-term orientation

Secure and steady income in the present is particularly important in Russia

Tailor Compensation Packages to Global Workforces

- EY: Differentiating for Success - Securing Top Talent in the BRICs

From finding clones to fill retirees’ shoes to opening up the multicultural boardroom6. Succession Planning

In the Industrial Economy succession planning was about ensuring continuity at the top. It was about staying the course, not rocking the boat. Stability was the goal. Executives were often judged against their predecessor’s strengths, and groomed to follow in the their footsteps.

Finding Clones to Fill Retirees’ Shoes

With three decades of experience in the consumer packaged goods industry, it’s clear to me that diversity will become a competitive advantage in a global economy for companies that are willing to open their minds and embrace change. The best companies will build culturally-diverse leadership teams and workforces with divergent backgrounds, perspectives and ideas. - Denise Morrison, President & CEO at Campbell Soup Company

Global Economies Require Diversity of Leadership

A McKinsey study of European and Asian businesses revealed that companies with a higher-than-average number of female executives were as much as 47% more profitable than their competitors.

A study by the American Management Association found that companies with senior managers from non-European descent reported sales growth 13% higher than their competitors.

Source: HBR - 7 Traits of Companies on the Fast Track to International Growth

Pearson English Business Solutions of part of Pearson, the world’s leading learning company. Learn more at http://bit.ly/PEBS2015

Click here for the full White Paper featuring the concerns of global CEOs, success stories of industry disruptors, and a detailed new approach for the six core areas of talent management

Pearson English Business Solutions helps corporations develop talent to realize their potential enabling them to communicate, collaborate, and operate using the common language of business, English.

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The New Language of Talent Management