“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”
~ Napoleon
I remembered that quote when I read Gerald Ledford’s article, “Talent Management: A Catchphrase Backed by Actual Ideas,” at Industry Week. The whole article is worth reading, but I zeroed in on Ledford’s fourth point about the employee value proposition.
“Employees make decisions about whether join a company, whether to remain at their company, and how hard they will work based on the “deal” they are offered. They consider the starting salary, but also other rewards including incentives, benefits, the work itself, career opportunities, and the degree to which they identify with the company and its values.”
Ledford and Napoleon both leave out something that’s vital if you want to develop the talent in your organization: relationships. Soldiers don’t fight for a bit of colored ribbon and people in businesses don’t work hard for a value proposition. When the chips are down, it’s relationships that win the day.
You can provide world-class talent development resources. You can offer great salary and benefits and opportunities for advancement. But they’re only the half of it. They’re the part that lives in the head, the ones you can count and analyze.
The other half is the individual person’s commitment. It’s his or her willingness to engage, dig in, and work hard. That lives in the heart. Relationships help it grow.
The value proposition is important. But remember that when the chips are down, people don’t work for a value proposition. They work for each other.
