Note published on December 16 in El Economista, Capital Humano [Human Capital] Section by Blanya Correal.
We are closing a year that was mainly focused on the consolidation of the post-pandemic reactivation, not only of business activity, but also of a new era in labor, because whether we like it or not, the changes that we are living in the last 30 months had an impact on many preconceived definitions and, even though we may try to return to the past, we have now seen a different way of functioning in organizations.
This is probably the greatest problem at the internal level in companies, as the expectations and priorities of their collaborators changed. According to Mercer’s study on Global Talent Trends 2022, 41% of C-Suite executives believe that the pandemic has raised awareness of the real dimension of change in their businesses, which today requires a comprehensive transformation that encompasses all dimensions of the organization. This deep reflection inspires us in the re-dimensioning of the talent managing strategies.
In this context, making an evaluation of the talent inventory reaches another level, considering not only the aspects relating to peoples’ performance and potential. This inventory now requires that three key perspectives be included:
» 1. New expectations, new needs.
In the past, the talent inventory collected the characteristics of collaborators related with their competences, career plans and performance evaluations; this created an adequate perspective from the point of view of the achievement of results associated with peoples’ capabilities. Nevertheless, we are seeing more and more that this is not sufficient.
The talent inventory now includes much more personal information, relating to the way in which our collaborators conceive work and their preferences in regard to the way in which work is organized. This answers questions like: how much does remote work versus presential work help the productivity and motivation of this collaborator? what role can this person play in a hybrid work team? which personal or family challenges that have an impact on his balance does this collaborator have?
» 2. New definitions of career
Job position definitions have changed, careers are no longer planned as ladders; today, functional areas tend to disappear, and in their place, we are seeing organizations that are more focused on teams by projects or solutions.
Planning an organizational workforce in this context becomes a dynamic process that requires having total clarity of the experiences that people have had and also of the way in which they can be complemented with others in order to work effectively. Thus, it is no longer sufficient to just understand the individual’s capabilities, we now need to know how he works in combination with others.
» 3. New organizational culture
One of the most interesting variables in the new focus of the talent inventory has to do with culture. Making an inventory of what each person values the most and understanding how this relates with the connection that he has with his work team and with the company in general can represent a key differentiating factor in retention.
This is undoubtedly one of the most complex elements, as it requires a great deal of depth in the relationship with people, but it is worthwhile to work on it because of the impact that it can have on the sustainability of the relationship and in the design of the value proposition for the collaborator.
Lastly, one of the key aspects when making an evaluation of the talent inventory is having specific indicators that show progress or trends in the strategic elements associated to the business plan. Having a talent control tower has now become and indisputable necessity for true people management.
