The Three Ls of Talent Readiness

By Tim Donahue
Perfecting the Talent Readiness formula for “Right People, Right Place, Right Time” involves many complexities, from shifting global demographics to the role of rapidly-evolving technology. But the business case boils down to the Three Ls – Leadership, Leverage and Legacy.
Leadership
The ever-shifting competitive landscape means that with leadership, mastery is a long-term goal. A [...]

Critical Position IT Pulse Survey

Demographic trends are colliding with a global economic recession – how will this affect the supply of critical information technology workers is unknown.
 
Many are aware of the demographic trends affecting information technology occupations.  An abundance of senior workers nearing retirement and surprisingly, a dearth of younger workers entering the field. 
 
While the current global recession [...]

Employee Concessions Could Give Rise to Labor Union Membership Growth

The end of The Great Depression saw a significant rise in union membership.  From 1935 to 1940 labor union membership as a percent of the workforce rose from 13% to 26%.
 
While union membership has declined to 12% in 2008, the global economic recession may usher in a resurgence of union membership.
 
Recent news reports include stories [...]

How Bad Is It vs. How Could We Make It Worse

It struck me recently that in over 30 years of consulting this is the first recession where  I have had to cope with Cable TV!  I am no longer sure that the constant flow of bad news is creating a self fulfilling prophecy.   Last week I began counting the “sighs” from those on one News [...]

The List: Provocative Ideas for Talent Management

In point of fact, we are no strangers to tough talent issues having survived many of the business challenges of the last several decades.  But balencing the demands of the business with a ready flexible pool of talent given the demographic changes, will require an increasingly sophisticated set of solutions that many companies have not [...]

Talent Readiness Beyond the Demographics: How are you preparing for the future?

We all approach this ‘workforce crisis’ issue from different perspectives.  For some of us, the issue is quite real and our organizations are worried about a range of issues, including impending retirements, brain drain, a revolving door in key markets, a lack of talent in certain disciplines, generational issues, and looking for actionable insights.  Meanwhile others of us [...]

Demographic Trends – The U.K. Workforce…..Brewing Risks

The UK is a country of 60.6 million citizens that has fallen into the trap along with most other developed countries.  Its population growth has fallen below replacement levels.  The U.K.’s current fertility rate of 1.8 births is below the the replacement rate of 2.1.  At this point, the U.K., like its counter parts in [...]

Outsourced Contact Centers – The Service Imperative

At 12 PM a caller contacts a major U.S. airline to make a reservation and is connected to India. At the same time, a cell phone customer has a question about their new wireless plan and is connected to the Philippines.
Having your customer service call answered by someone in another country is one of [...]

The Information Technology Perfect Storm

The concept of workforce planning has been a core Information Technology (IT) initiative for quite some time. For the most part, it is a mathematical or formulamatic exercise focused on predicted labor growth minus anticipated departures equals hiring needs. Oftentimes there are bells and whistles in the process: but if we are being candid, the [...]

Speeding Up Talent Globe-Hopping

Globalization and the increasing pace of business are reshaping a key aspect of talent readiness: International assignments.
Since 2000, global assignments shorter than 1 year have nearly tripled – rising from 10% to 27% of assignments. That is one finding of the latest Global Relocation Trends Survey Report by GMAC Global Relocation Services, released in 2007. [...]