Home :: News & Topics :: Talent in Tough Times: Opportunities, Risks and Strategic Actions
December 2008
People issues come rapidly to the forefront in a down economy. How do you keep employees thinking forward and moving forward? No one has all the answers, but there is a silver lining to this cloud!
After grieving the present situation, it's important to take a deep breath and a positive stance, then examine the big picture. Surprisingly, there are hidden opportunities to seize. In addition, identifying any talent risks you face puts you in a good position to address them early in the game. Taking strategic action can give you a degree of control that's very practical. So let's begin with a few ideas that will help you put things in motion.
Talent in Tough Times: Opportunities, Risks and Strategic Actions
Opportunities
This economy presents hidden opportunities you might not have considered. Three of these involve aligning talent with strategy, acquiring fresh talent, and broadening existing talent. Alignment of Talent With Business Strategy This is a good time to evaluate what really drives the business. Minus the nice-to-have's and the want-to's, are the right people in the right places doing the right things? Step back and examine your organization's course and its implications with respect to human capital—because you now have the chance to take a proactive approach and ensure your talent is aligned with business demands and strategies. Some organizations might have had talent aligned under a well defined strategy, only to change the strategy as a result of the economy. Others might not have aligned their talent yet, having had a fast-paced business in earlier years. In either case, getting the workforce to align with the business vision is critical to the success of that vision. It's not just a matter of waiting it out. Particularly if you're downsizing—or more accurately, right-sizing—it's important to re-evaluate your employees. Competencies that were top priority for yesterday's business plan might not be as important now. To optimize the potential of competency modeling, work from the top down: Examine your strategy, your value in the marketplace, and outcomes you need from those in each business role. Key competencies that drive those outcomes belong in your model. Newly Available Talent, Discount Prices You may have talent gaps that are best filled by external candidates. Perhaps you couldn't hire them in the past because salary requirements were too high or the right candidates weren't available. The good news is that you're now in a buyer's market! If their companies appear to be stagnating in this economy, truly gifted individuals might seek a new employer. They won't want to be jobless for long, and frequently the price is right. Expanded Skill Sets for Existing Talent Every organization benefits from flexible, versatile, responsive employees who can adapt to changing circumstances. Leaner organizations must do more with less, often necessitating cross-training and increased exposure to more tasks, functions, people and aspects of the business. Take the opportunity to broaden your employees' skill sets and knowledge. You'll directly increase their value for times of feast or famine.Risks
We've looked at opportunities, and now this section covers talent risks such as survivor mentality, poor engagement and turnover. In the next section, we'll talk about strategic actions. Survivor Mentality Layoffs or pending layoffs tend to create a mindset characterized by short-sightedness, a continuous fear of job loss, lack of motivation and a sense of paralysis. Some employees might be laden with guilt because they were retained and their colleagues were not. Missing individuals are a tangible reminder of losses. The risk to your organization is diminished momentum and morale, which inevitably decreases productivity, innovation and competitive advantage. Your aim should be to counteract this trend by focusing employees on the here-and-now business vision and goals. When the economy opens up, you can be in the forefront instead of lagging. Turnover Employees who become concerned about the state of their organization could look elsewhere. Top talent in particular always has a marketplace. There's also a tendency for supervisors to take employee loyalty for granted because they think their people don't have options. Treating employees well might no longer be a priority. You can mitigate this risk by instructing your supervisors and examining your retention tactics. Be sure the most talented performers get a consistent, clear message that they're central to the business. Providing broadening and cross-training opportunities help them experience ongoing growth. Poor Engagement Low engagement levels are closely related to survivor mentality. Distracted by turmoil outside the company and changes within, employees often lack a wholehearted, concentrated focus on job tasks. Another common occurrence is that key people must take on a great deal of the burden following layoffs. Too much broadening, stretching and cross-training overloads them so they lack enthusiasm and effectiveness. The manager-as-coach role is of primary importance when addressing this engagement issue. Managers should place a strong emphasis on encouraging, coaching and developing their people instead of over-focusing on their own achievements. Additional measures that mitigate engagement risks can be found in the next section of this article.Success Strategies
Employee development strategies are the answer to talent concerns in tough times. Investing in development puts you in the driver's seat—and strategic actions need not be costly or even monetary at all. Here are some tips for getting started:- To increase your employees' sense of purpose, value and ownership, communicate that you're in partnership with them, and together you will move forward by focusing on business priorities, solving problems and working as a team.
- Make sure your messages are clear, consistent and encouraging.
- Reassure your people that they'll continue building their competencies and growing their skills.
- Depending on your budget, develop your employees in small ways, such as giving encouraging feedback, and/or big ways, such as enhancing your leadership development program.
- If you lack the time and money to take people offline for training, emphasize and structure on-the-job development opportunities.
- Take steps to develop your high-priority top talent.
- Encourage and support your managers to be good development coaches as part of their skill sets, and stress the importance of setting the right tone.
- Add new talent if possible, but leverage the talent assets you have because those people are already part of your culture and they are integral to future success.
