Commentary
What Becomes Of Talent In A Tough Economy?
- by Kendall Allen , April 13, 2009
But, when the world we inhabit battens down, and there is angst in the air, if not downright strife -- it's sometimes hard to know how to think about talent. Courting and hiring it; incubating and nurturing it; expanding our own and running with it. We don't really want our stance on talent to change; we advocate furthering it in every way. But we're often forced to operate differently. And, that can get uncomfortable -- squirrelly.
The way I think about the altered states of being as they relate to talent is: what is the thread to carry through all this to the other side? If you can stay true to talent, and develop different aspects while in this altered state, even as you limit your hiring, training or active pursuit -- you likely come out with a broadened perspective. Opportunity as it relates to talent is not always a specific job to fill or score -- nor progress made along a traditional path. This is what the consideration looks like right now for the people I know thinking about talent:
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You Were Hiring Yesterday, Not Today. Maybe Tomorrow?
Regardless of your exact vantage point on recruiting, if you are charged with courting talent and supporting the building of an organization, a down market creates a new level of stark clarity. And this state doesn't just refer to talent executives but to business owners, hiring managers, and team leaders of all ilk up and down the org chart. You may have frozen your hiring budgets or had them frozen; you may only be able to staff to hire for anticipated new business; you may only seek one or two secret-weapon investment hires; you may be stuck with a troop of talent you never got quite to where you wanted to be, before things locked down.
Talking to people I know across the spectrum, the trick seems to be pairing an almost surgical approach to recruiting with an intensified focus on internal enrichment of your talent. That is, keeping people already in-house engaged, accountable, working well together and afforded interesting, rewarding challenges. Not as simple as it sounds -- tricks rarely are. It's key to not get torn between the internal and external focus and keep the external in check, as it painfully narrows.
The most positive thinkers in this area say you can turn the external focus back up when you need to, and your house will be in order and healthy. Herky-jerky hiring has its impact, which ideally can be minimized through having a plan. True, so many are going through the same pain -- but keeping it together through these patches bodes well for life on the other side of all this.
Home on the Ranch
Continuing on the above point -- if you are not hiring at all anytime soon, and perhaps have reduced or changed the shape of your organization radically, you have a wholly different imperative on keeping talent flush. The charge is getting the organization you have to collaborate in new and more productive ways -- to regenerate from within and situate you for future growth, while working through the potential malaise resulting from some mix of the doldrums, worry and outright change. The people I talk to insist that a few tenets help keep the faith through these patches: - Making sure that everyone knows, believes in and furthers the core business, especially if there has been a course shift. - Assuring that the path forward to expansion of that core and growth itself is clear, even if slow. - Trusting in the positive relationships and connections that exist internally within teams. - Committing to nurturing functional, thriving teams through focus on increased trust, shared attention to results, the ability to deal with conflict and other values of great teams.
If you've previously invested in talent , you'll want to keep the religion of situating for success. That is, getting this valued talent into the right situation for success now and in the future, instead of focusing merely on the immediate task at hand. Directive, compassionate leadership is especially important during periods of great strain.
Your Own Relationship With Talent
Career path takes on a whole new tenor in a down market. It's intense. The mention of it can sound aggressive, misplaced. At its best, though, career path really is about the livelihood of talent over time.
There's the always-on macro look at your career, and how you have developed and shared your talents and plan to do so into the future. But when times get tough, a few scenarios can trip you up: if you find yourself disengaged and shifting gears, looking for new work, considering a new beat, or trying to sell-in, adapt or further your talents potentially outside your comfort zone. There's also the interesting spot of preserving talent and navigating career path in a tense management environment within any given company. No matter how much you are contributing, it can be daunting to engage on issues of career and fulfillment when the air is thick as butter, conference doors are closed, and frowns abound. But, breathe deep.
We should take care of talent -- dialed up or dialed down, in ways big and small -- through any given patch. There really are no rules on how to put the blocks together. And talent well-tended even in the toughest of times always represents opportunity.
BRAVO for your insight and for putting the subject on the table. Funny " the right butt in the right seat" seems to be a credo I have read from many experts in the talent biz.
However, as a "talent" who believes there is always a level to evolve to.....I see this time as perfect for visionary talent hunters to speak with some "out of the box," not "on demand this moment' possibilities.
For particularly in the media world there seems to be increasing agreement the BUSINESS MODEL has to change; one can't sell in the product the way it has always been done..hence even the changing upfront strategies........so would now not be a good time to see who might be the energy or at least UNIQUE contributor to shifting that model towards the future...
"Skate to where the puck is going, not to where it's been" me (via Warren Buffet via Wayne Gretzky)
Thanks for another great one, Kendall!
Being an Executive Search Consultant in this general sector for over twenty years, I was recently asked to do a Q&A on this general subject as it relates to the global economic tsunami we are experincing. I would love to share it with you:
A BETTER PLACE TO BE
Q&A
Q1: Gary, you’ve been in the Media, Entertainment and New Media/Digital space most of your life and doing executive search in the sector for 20 years…….is this the worst you’ve seen the market?
I actually get a little riled when I’m asked that question, which unfortunately, these days is often. I honestly believe that all of the factors that were in place, let’s say two years ago, when the sector was in a high speed upward trajectory, are still there and no less significant. We were just starting to experience the confluence of Technology, Media & Telecom. Nothing tangible has changed that. It still is a great time to be in the business and a great business to be in.
Q2: Then why are most of the players in the sectors so cautious/solemn and the numbers off?
Well first of all, this is nothing new. 1990 & 1991 were tough years in our business as was the bubble burst period of 2000 – 2003. There were also down troughs in prior cycles that hit the sector as it was evolving. The frustrating point is that all of those periods were triggered by mechanical or hard/real correctors that had a visual, well understood basis to them. This is not the case today. Yes, the financial market is in disarray and as a result has to redefine itself, however, the TMT sector is unchanged as far as the plans, programs, strategies and unlimited opportunities that still present themselves with a maximized presence in the digital universe being the ultimate destination. Consumers are in place, demand is identified and still there and the where-with-all for content and technology creation is in place. The only thing lacking is the confidence to pull the trigger. The mass psychology and emotion of this “happening” is just stifling action.
Q3: Are you actually suggesting that the industry platform is in good shape?
I think it’s actually better than that! Every component of our business, whether it be technology, content, mobile, video, Telecom, OOH, social networks, streaming or even the traditional underpinning of TV/radio are in a better place today than ever before. If you could temporarily or artificially remove the P&L from the picture it would be in the best shape it has ever been in. New consumer routes and interests have been discovered; enabling technology continues to develop and evolve; the level of sophistication between provider and consumer seem to have reached an equilibrium point; new products and services are on the delivery table and in the beta tube; it all feels and sounds good.
Q4: Knowing that we can’t remove P&L from the picture, how do we move from your upbeat snapshot to a working reality?
If you can accept as true most that I previously stated, we’re then dealing with basically two determinants, right now……….one soft and one hard. The soft determinant is actually the more difficult to deal with, that being, state of mind. Mass inherent thought process doesn’t change quickly, but it can and does change when respected or influential members of the group stand up and demonstrate confidence and subsequent action. I believe that given the historical creative and aggressive DNA of the industry, that action will happen. There just continue to be too many revenue streams to be tapped and business ventures to be executed for the body of superior industry management not to stand up to the challenge.
The second determinant impacts the sector externally and that, of course, is the financial or funding component. The basic, still resonating point, is that the money is there but frozen. So, how do you free it up and start the stream flowing once more. It all goes back to confidence and cause and effect. By nature, the financial community is turned on by opportunity and return on investment. In it’s most simplistic context, as someone once said, “build it and they will come”. Take action steps with supported confidence and the financial community will not be far behind.
Q5: With all we hear about reductions in staff and lay-offs, is there still any hiring taking place in the industry?
There’s always a need for strategic hiring and operational replacements and improvements. Again, the business is not sick. There is still mid and long term development occurring as well as new ventures that require creative management with specific skills and experience sets. Those with clarity of vision and strength of conviction will identify the opportunities that always exist in these times and then staff to them.
www.gkleinassociates.com
What 'kind' of talent do we need when resources to perform are stretched thinned; when familiar best practices go north of discomfort zones; when people are paralyzed by fear to do the wrong thing?
Is there a new kind of Talent 2.0 needed for winter chill? Or just 1.0 Talent who were good at exuberant spins when things were liberally and deliberated unconstrained?
As business models change to push better, faster and cheaper - who really as these talents that we should be looking for? Talented retrenched hedge fund managers from AIG?
What is the new genetic code for the talent definition in a recession?
Looking forward to a more granular definition for Recession Warriors that will bring us out of this "malaise" :)
Isn't it interesting in a robust and upbeat economy that companies sometimes settle for less than the best talent. Either because of the need for a position to be filled immediately, the false belief that maybe this person can be trained up, or the lack of choices when everyone is hiring. A C-level executive at one of my former companies stood in a room of about 100 account executives that worked for the company and said to me "about 40 of the people in this room are way over their heads in their job....but we can't do anything about it".
In a more challenging economy, are decisions always based on talent or based on sheer dollars? At a time when companies have the ability (if not the obligation) to raise the level of their talent, many are doing just the opposite. They settle for someone on staff or interviewing who can "get us by" versus the best possible talent for the job.
Even more disturbing is the fact that so much pressure is put on individuals to reach a certain level of productivity. Which, as I hope is not often the case, leads to the "stretching of the truth" on time sheets to reach the corporate goal to keep the job. Shouldn't we "know" who the people are that are of most value and have the most talent?
Ultimately, the most talented people find and are rewarded for their work. Would you rather it be for you...or your competition??
You've identified many issues that are relative to keeping a vibrant and productive organization no matter the time—up or down.
I may be reading between the lines because I sense fragmentation in the first part of your paper. Why would we behave differently toward talent? If a company vision is to attract talent, it will continuously do so. When the group is looking for warm bodies, that's a different story, usually to negotiate paying less because there is an abundance of talent available! (Consider the comments about AIG so worried about loosing talent if they didn't pay up!)
From my coaching perspective, in tight times, nurturing, as you mentioned can take many forms:
1. Invest in further advancing skills.
2. Rewards and appreciation for the job well done based on what the person values like comp time or a weekend cruise! A plaque won't deliver the message as well.
3. Integrate different paths into the career plan to create a multi-dimensional horizon. When the "storm clouds" clear, this person will be even more valuable to the company.
The investment mindset plus the value of sustainable talent are part of the company's culture. That wouldn't change no matter the climate.