Vasant Kunj, New Delhi | +91 9810 232 822
India promises substantial growth opportunities in a context of relatively dim global outlook. This is an interesting phenomena as India aspires to become a 5 trillion USD economy. India fortunately is the fastest growing large economy of the world too. In this scenario, lack of talent availability may become debilitating. The premise is that while economy is sustaining a healthy growth rate, talent availability is going to hurt India. We need to focus on actions that will make us meet the higher goals of economy so that its benefits could trickle down to bring social equity and prosperity dispersion.
The backdrop of this paper, is a study that was conducted recently by a HR consulting firm CIEL, to identify latest trends in Indian talent market. It has gathered data/ feedback from across different industry verticals, in India. Its 2019 report presents ‘talent availability’ as one of the key challenges for 2019. The other key challenge springs from the first one – higher demand for compensation and benefits by those who meet the demands of the market.
We need to focus on actions that could help us overcome this challenge. To start with, we may want to review and understand both the terms – ‘talent’ and ‘availability’, with a little more caution. A better understanding of these terms may also open up probable answers. Interestingly both these challenges and actions required are in the domain of people management.
Talent is about the competence of a person that fits the requirement of a role. Talent is when you find the ‘right person, for right job, at right time’. This inherently addresses the challenge of ‘availability’ also. Availability challenge could either mean there is none available or not readily available that ‘fits’ the bill. The first meaning cannot be true in a country of so many people, where opportunities are always less than desirable. The second meaning about their being readily available makes sense and also helps us see in the right direction. It encourages us to take some action to ensure ‘readiness’ of available people by converting them into desired talent. Let us therefore try and focus more on actions and specially one that people managers, could execute.
The challenge could be related to the following key areas of action:
• Nurturing talent
• Identifying talent
• Retaining talent
Nurturing Talent
This is a common theme of ‘expressed’ despair in corporate circle that we don’t get the talent we require, there is dearth of skilled people. If you try and go one layer under this argument you may also find that most companies are trying to sieve from resume that comes to them. But have we attempted at some solutions? The answer most often will be NO. Or at best will relate to some half-hearted, visible activities like organising hiring labs or jamborees. Invest in nurturing talent that you require. You don’t need to go to campuses of repute. Instead invest in campuses around yourself. Create a structured intervention between the talent development community that should ideally include students, teachers and the technology managers of firm. If they co-invest in building talent for at least the last 12 months of academic schedule, there is no reason why you will not get enough candidates with right talent that you want. Identify, train, encourage and nurture right kind of knowledge, attitude, behaviours and discipline. The talent will come ‘pre-cooked’ to you and it will be ready to tough the ground running on day 1.
Identifying Talent
At the cost of sticking neck out and offending some people, let us question as to how many people who are tasked with the job of identifying talent and hiring them, have the skills to do it? Most people feel entitled to this role/ task. Many feel that their experience in a firm or across different firms and the number of interviews they have already conducted makes them ripe for another go. Truth is that most people, do not have any clue on how to interview a candidate, let alone identify good talent. By the way, the sad part is that it includes most people in HR also – they do not have the competence or training to identify right talent. Most people in talent acquisition for example learn on the job and are not trained to carry out this task. Candidates sitting in front of you, most of the time know what to say, because they are focused on ‘what you may want to hear’. But the person who is tasked with assessing fitment, has no clue. No wonder, a candidate is asked same redundant questions at different rounds of interview in the same firm. Some questions may also be standard across different firms. I have experienced this while conducting training on Interviewing Skills. So another action required is to train and use only trained assessors for identifying talent.
We also don’t have competency definitions in most companies. Some who have a competency framework may not necessarily match with key role requirements because they have been picked up from a handbook of competency mapping. We need to contribute to build an internally focused and pertinent competency framework with apt definitions that work on the floor. If relevant and specific competencies are defined well in behavioural terms (explained as to what behaviour will mean a competency), then it is easier for the organizational incumbents to understand, identify with it, live it and also then replicate it or find those who can replicate those behaviours.
Retaining Talent
Retaining talent is not as difficult as it seems. Difficult is to understand and do the right things that will retain people. Most organisations follow a fashionable routine that is happening in other organizations. HR fraternity is especially at fault on this one. There is a race to adopt new junkets in the name of employee engagement. As an example to illustrate this point, have you experienced or seen that while the HR team makes efforts to create a ‘fun’ event, many employees gather only for snacks, if at all. Find out sincerely how many of them feel engaged because of these activities? The answer may disappoint most of you. We must therefore create interventions that are really engaging. Superficial activities and parties cannot retain talent, it could help you keep your below average employees happy, not engage good ones to stay back. Good quality talent, looks for meaningful work, substantive values that operates on floor and culture that is supportive of challenging work. These things keeps them engaged with the organization and hence retains them.
If the HR is able to action the above 3 items, there is plenty of talent available for any kind of organization, any technology, any skill. Availability of talent is therefore a function of our understanding of what is a talent and also a function of what affirmative action is being taken by expectant organizations, to nurture, identify and retain them in meaningful roles.