AaronRichards works with clients to develop talent solutions that make an immediate impact on talent supply and people management as well as longer-term capabilities that take time to bear fruit, such as recruiting strategies and training programs.
CEOs worry about having the right people in key jobs—they know it's key to ensuring great decisions and execution. But most are frustrated by the time and effort it takes to kick-start their organizations' talent machine. Building a talent-rich organization is in fact a multiyear challenge. But three specific steps will not only have an immediate impact on a company's talent supply, they will also lay the foundation for longer-term moves.
- Quantify the talent gap. A rigorous analytic picture of the gap between the supply of and demand for talent makes the challenge visible. Suddenly the talent issue can no longer be shuffled off to the human resources department; it is now on everyone's agenda, including that of the board.
- Deploy existing talent more effectively and recruit selectively. Too many companies suffer from "grade inflation" and don't know who their top performers are. As a result, those individuals may not be in the jobs with the greatest impact on key decisions. Identifying those jobs and filling them with highly skilled individuals, recruited externally if necessary, can have a big impact on performance.
- Reduce the demand for talent. Organizations that simplify their processes and clearly spell out accountabilities can simultaneously lower costs and reduce the need for specialized skills. One South Africa-based mining company, for example, standardized production methods, equipment, engineering and so forth across all its mines and processing plants, making it easier for less experienced managers to get up to speed when they take over a new facility. That increased the available pool of managers and allowed higher-skilled people to take on jobs with larger spans of control.
These steps help leaders address their talent challenges quickly. They also build longer-term commitment for the actions that take more time to bear fruit—changing recruiting strategies, building new training and mentoring programs and the like.
People matter. Smart leaders understand that having the right people in the right positions may be the single most important contributor to business success. But great people can be held back in their performance by an unfitting culture, the wrong incentives, and inappropriate or non-existent training.
Companies perform best when their people strive for and are given the means to deliver their best potential. Our consultants work with clients to assess and develop their capabilities and to foster their engagement in the company. From the board of directors down to entry-level workers, companies must fill roles with people who have the talent and expertise to drive performance and build business, both in the short and long term. By partnering with clients on transitioning people to new roles and on developing people on the job, we ensure that your organization is fit for optimal performance.
Our consultants partner with clients to support human resource development efforts at every stage of the employee lifecycle, providing:
· Management competency evaluations
· Leadership and workforce development programs
· Trainings and incentives
· Career management and succession planning
· The development of internal centers of expertise
· Mentorship and knowledge management programs
We help companies retain and motivate the best people, while also improving and managing their capabilities and the organizational culture.