In fact for most, the McKinsey-coined 'war for talent' is just a straight fight to hire better and faster than (or from) the competition, whether that’s in shop floor coach class or CEO first class.
A war whose risks according to PwC (2011) have become the number one board room priority, with most boards planning to make 'major' changes to their talent strategy (83%) over the next 12 months. If only, as McKinsey themselves wryly observe, boards could get bums on seats more often (currently board air time devoted to talent is flat-lining at 10%).
But although the front lines still focus on the attraction and retention of talent, things are shifting in three new and important ways:
- 'A great bus to ride' - To ensure the bus only picks up - and keeps - the right people - increasing attention is now being paid on what your bus looks like and on what kind of a once-in-a-lifetime trip it offers
- 'Who's driving the bus' - Which in turn has shifted attention onto how talented the driver is - what kind of a seat they have as well as how much influence they (and others) have in scheduling the bus route
- 'The Magic Bus Theory' - Which has finally led to brands looking at how integrated, sophisticated and even mature their approach to talent is - as measured against competitors
Together, these three shifts of emphasis mean less that we are talking about a 'war for talent', and more about a 'war for talent management'. The question you should be asking yourself now is: Have we missed the bus?
Split into three short sections densely packed with links and references for further reading, The War for Talent Management is a free white paper which helps you digest the main concepts; but always with a view to guiding you around the talent management bus of the future for practical benefit. We then offer a phony war myth debunking conclusion perfect, well, for reading on the bus or the train.
