TM - February 2008 - (Page 47)

established for current success. Hence, organizations continually replicate themselves. High potentials look, think and behave similar to the current leadership, often shunning the entrepreneur or outlier — that bright employee who marches to the beat of his or her own drum. To effectively assess an individual for future competence, new definitions of current competencies will be required, as well as identification of competencies not yet on the corporate radar. These will need to be based on future trends and the organization’s ability to practice sustainability. Here are a few examples of how to take current competencies and redefine them to reflect future needs: • Strategic thinking • Makes sense of the world and recognizes where the business needs to go next; understands global business implications and what that will mean in terms of redefining and reinventing the current business model; knows how events in one global sector will impact other sectors. • Creates a compelling vision to be on the forefront of change. • Partnering • Builds trust by focusing on long-term common goals and sharing key learning. • Works effectively with a diverse constituency; recognizes and works with cultural differences; able to mediate solutions. • Builds alliances with influential people, both internally and externally to the organization; understands social networking and actively pursues connections. • Promotes joint development, marketing. • Business acumen • Understands unrelenting shareholder demands for profitability and the increased pressure of institutional investors on markets. • Balances fiscal responsibility with corporate social responsibility initiatives. Given the changing nature of work, competencies that span several aspects of new work arrangements will need to focus on skills and attributes associated with influencing, negotiating, inquiring and motivating. The volatility of certain markets is likely to encourage people to move in and out of organizations. To remain nimble, companies will structure themselves around core initiatives and outsource or partner externally to provide supporting or noncore services. This places a premium on those leaders with a skills cache spanning multiple competencies who also possess the ability to “drop in” on a given situation and take charge. Byron Reeves, Ph.D., the Paul C. Edwards Professor of Communication at Stanford University and co-founder of Seriosity Inc., recently said, “If you want to see what business leadership may look like in three to five years, look at what’s happening in online games.” Reeves teamed up with IBM for a study to look at massive multiplayer online role-playing games. The result is a very interesting glimpse into how leaders develop and operate in environments that are highly distributed, global, hypercompetitive and virtual. One of the observations of the study is that, given the opportunity, people will step up, take charge and respond to feedback, as defined by the results of their game play. The global playing field also requires leaders to master a cadre of global skills, such as respect for human rights, management of volatility, concern for the environment and community, and creation of safe havens for workers to come in from their communities and escape discrimination. After all, no organization can move forward if its workers don’t feel safe and valued. Challenges Where do we find tomorrow’s leaders? Just about anywhere. Minting top-notch MBAs is no longer the sole province of the United States. India and China, for example, have ramped up their business school offerings and are turning out highly qualified management candidates. Talent managers also are referring to a new global manager profile in their recruiting efforts. The profile of a leader who has lived or studied in two or more countries outside of the individual’s home country, speaks two or more languages, holds an MBA from a leading institution with a global focus and enjoys learning about new cultures has emerged. The individual also must have a high emotional intelligence quotient, be a peacemaker, be decisive and be able to respond rapidly to nonstandard situations. As work changes, individuals will get more opportunities to participate on teams that take them out of their current technical specialty or comfort zone. This movement creates a major challenge for talent managers to set up parallel learning and development programs within the organization. What used to be the dual-career ladder will give way to parallel learning tracks where individuals can go in and out based on the activities of current assignments. This will compel development programming to be extremely flexible and available 24x7. And, chances are, people will need greater guidance in planning their future, as the number of options will increase substantially. “Up” will no longer be the only direction. William Gibson once wrote, “The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet.” The future of leadership is here. We just haven’t recognized it yet. Carlton D. Becker is principal at BowmanBecker Consultancy LLC. He can be reached at editor@TalentMgt.com. talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com 47 February 2008 http://www.TalentMgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - February 2008

Talent Management - February 2008 Editor's Letter - Talkin' 'Bout My Generation Contents Human Performance - Achievement Motivation: Top Talent At Any Age Leading Edge - Who's On First? Foundations - Managing the Next Generation Workforce Viewpoint - Talent Strategies That Work Are Talent Strategies That Stick Those Who Have Left: The Value of Building Employee Relationships Alternatives to 360s: The Manager's Role Compensation and Benefits For X&Y Build A Multigenerational Performance Management Strategy Development's Role in Creating A Culture Of Inclusion Tomorrow's Leader: Identifying the Next Generation Integrating Talent Management Systems Strategically Seagate Uses Yearlong Evaluations to Help Integrate Talent Efforts Western Union: Connecting Strategy and People Globally Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources Full Potential - The Best Time to Change? Right Now!

TM - February 2008

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