TM - August 2007 - (Page 4) [from the editor] by Norm Kamikow T T Lost in Transition he Adirondacks in upstate New York are thought to be the oldest mountains in the world. Yet, in 1917, when T. Morris Longstreth set off on a six-month backpacking trip through the region, the mountains were still largely unexplored and untamed. persist in going it alone. As talent management professionals working in a discipline that’s in transition, such an approach can leave us exactly where we shouldn’t be, without knowing where that is. more important than “what you know,” and partnering with external entities actually increases the odds of success. As a talent manager, developing future leaders — who, no doubt, will need to captain their organizations through myriad transitions of their own — is one of your most important responsibilities. Many young, results-focused leaders need to be convinced that this kind of networking is worth so much of their time. But they are much more likely to be convinced if they see a role model operating in this way. As a talent manager, that role model should be you. By building your own professional networks, you’ll model leadership behavior and encourage others by example to develop their interaction skills, engage in collaboration and leverage their connections to support wider business goals. But that’s not all — you’ll also be doing yourself a big favor. By reaching out to your peers and the industry pioneers who have blazed the talent management trail before you, you’ll also keep yourself on track. Not only will you discover new ways to contribute more effectively to your organization, but you’ll also receive great directions to reach your own personal career destination. As a fellow traveler, I always appreciate hearing accounts of your journey through the new world of talent management. So, keep those cards and letters coming to Norm@TalentMgt.com. Enjoy the trip. Early proponents of integrated talent management didn’t have a map In “The Adirondacks,” his account to guide them as they tried to of the trek, Longstreth and his transform traditional practices. companions miss the opening to an They couldn’t observe what other organizations were doing, benchmark against someone As a talent manager, else’s success or ask developing future leaders for directions. — who, no doubt, will need to captain their organizations through myriad transitions of their own — is one of your most important responsibilities. old Indian trail on a hastily handwritten map and wind up wandering aimlessly in the deep woods as dark approaches. “Of course we weren’t lost,” he wrote. “We were merely where we shouldn’t have been, without knowing where that was.” Ninety years later, his rustic wit seems remarkably up to date. Stand-up comedians and media pundits still make jokes about how men can’t ask for directions, despite facts that dispute this popular prejudice — the latest research from AAA shows men who were lost stopped to ask for directions 34 percent of the time. For women, it was 37 percent, which is hardly a significant enough difference to justify the stereotype. Although that makes me feel vindicated personally, it doesn’t disguise the fact that about two-thirds of us (male and female alike) have a problem asking for directions — we’d rather get lost than get help. Trial and error just isn’t a reasonable navigational strategy, yet we August 2007 But they prevailed and mapped out a basic path for managing talent assets more effectively. A big part of the plan was identifying and developing the skills, competencies and emotional intelligence future leaders would need to guide their organizations through the challenges and changes ahead. Although there’s much about today’s talent management that’s based on precedent, prevailing wisdom and practical experience, there’s also a large component that is still unexplored, theoretical and shifting, just like the business world in general. That means talent managers continue to face the prospect of becoming lost in transition. There remains a real need to better understand what talent management success looks like as a destination and how to get there. Helix Commerce recently examined current research and leading industry publications with the goal of developing a talent management success model, including a list of the top 10 best practices. No. 8 on the list is “Developing cultures that foster teamwork and knowledgesharing practices.” How ironic. The study’s creators confirmed the suspicion that “whom you know” increasingly is Norm Kamikow Editor in Chief norm@TalentMgt.com 4 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://www.TalentMgt.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.