We have been through the Industrial age and now living through the midlife of Information Age. Knowledge Economy was an alliteration that caught amongst the business leagues post year 2000 has pushed the envelope further as it brought to bear an undeniable influence of Human Capital Assets and the Leaders of Talent Management.
Trend is more than ever before HR leaders are scaling to the peak of corporate echelons as well rounded true blue business leaders. Importantly Women who have been in the HR leagues are breaking the Glass Ceiling. What beckons is whether the powers of talent break new ground to take on both the challenges and opportunities of now and future.
We have seen a mushrooming trend of Entrepreneurs bloom in the Small Business arena picking the HR portfolio in the last two decades than any time in the past. This has plugged the gap as fillers to accommodate the frenetic pace of human capital intensive business albeit with tolerable in competencies.
Often times, HR folks are accused of being stereotypes & reactive support functionalists. Most HR leaders of the yore weren't acquainted with 360 Degree business imperatives while the dynamics of transformation agenda at Organisations expect challenging status quo & innovating against the run of business as a basic necessity to steer corporations in times of dynamic global change & uncertainty.
As Chieftains of the most important strategic asset of the firm - “TalentedPeople”, the imperative is to lend leadership & innovation on how they attract, engage, nurture, develop & retain top talents? This is a big problem areas and a big ticket question that is staring at most leaders.
Technology plays a crucial part in the talent management sweepstakes as is evidenced from the recent large deal acquisitions of IBM, Oracle and SAP. The three giants have admittedly consumed Kenexa , Taleo & Successfactors for their ability to bring in software assets that connect with the talents on the social networking fabric. They seek to listen to what they say & to see whats transacted on the social sites and derive meaning which will then guide their leaders in strategic decisions. Relationship analysis is the job handed to the new breed of employees- Data Scientists!! A Big Data Agenda for sure.
While technology plays a pivotal role, artificial intelligence isn’t yet there to replace the human touch. Particularly so when high touch and soft handle are required at understanding aspirations, limitations along with complex human relationship semantics - be it in the physical work world or the socially connected flat virtual world.
The shifts of global power and influence are certainly getting distributed from west to east. A new economic architecture is being evolved yielding to the pressures and pulls of an interconnected world grappling with change factors of changing political and economic horizon. Post the ushering of third world nations , facebook & likes are heralding a 4th World. They are both growing in enormity as well as in their telling influence.Recent uprising at Egypt have show us how !!!
In these times of uncertainty, change is a constant and predicting the change direction and timing the transformation with agility is the mandate for the Chief Executive of the Global , Glocal Corporations.
Machines and Software can change at the click of the button but to expect the vast talents spread across the chasms of generations, aspiration , cultures & geographies of most Global MNC’s is expectation wish list whose time hasn’t yet arrived.
It is in the above context that the Human Capital Executive is charted with a Premier Challenge of shifting gears from Run the Business ( RTB ) to Change & Grow the Business mandate ( CTB,GTB). Many Corporate Boards have realized this in the recent times. The Vineet Nayar's incredible story on Employees First & Customers Second at HCL Technologies is an example worth emulating.
The challenge presents the biggest realm of Innovation possibility for leaders to renew and redefine the ways they engage in attracting, engaging , nurturing , developing and retaining talented assets. For every talent is different from another and is unique therefore how we plan to accommodate their uniqueness , their life cycle in the companies those hire & engage them , customers they serve is the agenda that is the BIG Game Change at some of the smartest companies around.
These are challenging times , yet very interesting passage of time amidsts the Information Age. Knowing isn’t enough as it seems , predicting is the high stakes play for the future. People loath uncertainty - evolving certainty and delivering innovation & productivity is the sub rule of the big game change. The games have begun , it is the folks who recognize the subtle shifts and transform who will be winners ( importantly survivors ) into the future.
