Organizational “Love ‘em or Lose ‘em”

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Smart Talent Management

Competencies: talent management, strategic planning

Who benefits: organizations

Consultant Usage: senior level business and organizational consultants

What’s it about? I have just finished reading my colleague Ken Nowack’s most recent posting (see posting immediately below this one) about talent retention and I am having a Sherlock Holmes moment.  In particular the one in which he refers to the dog barking and Watson replies to the effect that no one reported a dog barking.  Holmes’ response was “precisely Watson, precisely” (I didn’t fact check this, it’s from my memory and it is close enough). 

It is what’s missing from the posting that intrigued me.

Dr. Nowack reports on two recent studies on the challenges facing organizations and the individual initiatives being taken by organizations to retain key talent.

He also sites Dr. Beverly Kaye’s well-known and powerful leadership guide Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em: Getting Good People to Stay along with his own research on the down side of poor management practices. 

All of this is well and good.  And there is a massive amount of similar information out there that confirms what is written in his posting. 

What is missing for me is the organizational view.  How do you approach talent retention from an organizational or systemic perspective?  Which is why I am excited about a book, Smart Talent Management: Building Knowledge Assets for Competitive Advantage, coming out September 8. 

I suspect the book will have limited appeal, in part because of the price.  And it’s not for everyone.  The book is written for academics, executives and senior level consultants.  Yet it appears to cover the much-needed global picture. 

I have only been able to access excerpts, however what I like the most is how the multiple authors fuse talent management strategies with knowledge management.  Here is an interesting quote from the previews: “The generation and acquisition of ideas and knowledge, their internal transfer and application throughout the organization, and the cross-border transfer of knowledge – all through the effective management of human talent – have become integral and important parts of contemporary management.”  The quote is also a reminder of the academic nature of the book.

The four main sections give you a pretty good idea of the book’s scope: (I) HR Planning and Staffing, (II) Training and Coaching, (III) Performance Management, and (IV) Organizational Learning and Development. 

In summary, think of this book as an add-on to the previous posting.  You do what Bev Kaye suggests.  You do what Ken Nowack suggests.  And you have organizations strategies, systems, and procedures that support the leadership and management practices needed attract, train and retain key talent and the knowledge those critical employees possess. 

 

[tags]retention strategies, employee development strategies, turnover, coaching, training, performance management, knowledge management, staffing, human resource planning, organizational learning, strategic planning, leadership, management practices, talent management, envisia learning, bill bradley, william bradley,  bradley[/tags]

 

 

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.