HOW do we identify what leadership talent we will need to make our own organisations truly competitive in the future and what are the challenges in attracting tomorrow’s talent?
If organisations are to identify, engage, attract, inspire and develop tomorrow’s talent they need to think about their current and future leadership.
They need to ask themselves if they have the right sort of leadership in their organisation.
Is the era of the leader who takes up all the space in the room, now under question?
Leaders of the future need to create space for other people to innovate, work across boundaries and prepare for the complex challenges that lie ahead.
Perhaps now is the time to consider who will take us forward.
The Lonely at the Top survey was recently conducted for Odgers Berndtson and The Times.
A total of 295 chairs, executive directors and independent board members in companies in the FTSE 350 took part.
We knew that directors have a difficult and stressful job, but advances in information technology and globalisation have intensified that to a very large degree.
What we drew from the survey was the resilience leaders need to cope with the non-stop barrage of events coming at them and decisions to be made.
The survey found that 47% of directors’ biggest worry at night and weekends was unfinished work.
With Britain’s biggest companies increasingly becoming global businesses, stretching across time zones and employing tens of thousands of people, 17% worried about not knowing what was happening in corners of their companies.
Identifying and engaging future leaders is no easy task.
There are many issues to consider, not least our understanding of where that talent is now and how we attract it.
We must ask ourselves if we are over-reliant on traditional methods of engaging our future top talent.
We need a compelling and structured route to market.
In order to better engage our target talent pool earlier we must understand how we can inspire them.
Information must be accessible, instant and compelling.
We must remove potential barriers and work harder to sell ourselves in a highly competitive marketplace.
Organisations must understand that their employer proposition today will not necessarily be as compelling going forward.
Critical factors in making an organisation attractive include perceptions of employer values, brand profile, corporate social responsibility, work/life balance, technology, travel, reward, recognition and peer group credibility.
In order to inspire, employers need to realign perceptions and help top talent understand true employer value and worth, be it a big ticket agenda or ability to be a force for good in society.
To be successful at identifying, engaging and attracting tomorrow’s leaders, employers need to define their brand; set values and communicate these; reposition themselves if necessary; engage with the target market as early as possible; use role models; reward appropriately; enhance reputation; and be credible as a long-term career option.
Most sectors will have to work harder, be more creative and collaborative, and sell themselves better if they are to compete for tomorrow’s top talent.
Bob Greenwood, Odgers Berndtson