Mission
Developing a Sustainable Global Workforce through talent management.
Vision
Driving Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Growth through the nurturing, training and development of 500,000 young people by the year 2030.
INTRODUCTION
“Oysters open completely when the moon is full; and when the crab sees one it throws a piece of stone or seaweed into it and the oyster cannot close again so that it serves the crab for meat. Such is the fate of him who opens his mouth too much and thereby puts himself at the mercy of the listener.”
- Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 – 1519)
Labour Politics Kills Organizational Growth
Organizations play politics; not government politics but politics with the people who work in their organization. Many organizations lose “The War on Talent” either because they lack vital skills and competencies in their recruitment and selection process or they do not address the needs of their current workforce in a timely and efficient manner.
A person’s CV only says to an extent the skills and competencies they possess, but getting to know the individual through training and performance tests eventually unveils their true nature. This is why most successful organizations prefer a pre-employment training to put to the test the people they have recruited to identify their actual traits. These traits are not written on their CVs but are expressed through the quality of the individual’s work. Of course this training may be expensive but it sure does save the organization from the risk of employing an average employee or a less competent individual for the particular role.
Obviously, not all positions or vacancies necessarily need this approach. However, if the role is a strategic or technical one which is vital to the success of the organization’s core mission, then this is very necessary. Other organizations also save themselves the trouble by head-hunting people with a proven track record in these technical or strategic roles and poach them from other organizations. This also works though it is described in some circles as unethical.
Talent retention is a difficult process. Why? Because employees are human. We have ever changing needs and wants that may not be satisfied immediately by the organizations we work for. This makes us want to leave for seemingly better pasture. Our work motivation gradually gets dampened. Our frustration leads us to expose our current problems to outsiders. We tell our friends how much we hate our jobs, and become like oysters who decide to take a break when the moon is full. We open up to stretch out and look for other opportunities. When a competitor company sees the quality we possess and becomes aware of our constant complains, they swoop in like crabs with offers that prevent us from closing our shells and eventually become meat to them. Sadly not every employee who gets head-hunted is happy in their new role. Like sheep, we follow the money instead of the quality of work and work opportunities that can help us build life-long fantastic careers. Obviously the money will come later, but we can’t wait because we have bills to pay. Once we get lured into a different organization, we enjoy the money and the pleasures.
However, the work load is so massive and the expectation is so great because the employees and management of our new organization expect us to deliver on the results to which we were brought to achieve. That huge expectation causes the careers of most employees to take a downward toll. Most are unable to fulfill their new mandates because they weren’t fully trained in their previous work roles and thus do not have the requisite experience needed at the time to deliver upon these new results. Money is a good work motivation. However, most employees put themselves out there as possessing the ability to work extra hard or successfully in a new role. Eventually they break down because their internal psychological motivation for taking up the job in the first place was the money and not career development. Understand this: a poached employee is one who is expected to deliver results. These organizations have no time to train you. An employee with an entry level career experience is advised to choose to work in an organization that has proper succession planning and management techniques designed to provide opportunities to help build a long-term successful career path. An organization that is focused only on hitting targets and scaling in revenues, without focusing on the career development of their younger generation is a no go area. Most of their leadership have already developed skills and traits to take such organizations to a higher level. These organizations are meant for individuals who have high level competencies to transform such an organization to become an industry leader or prepare it to enter a new market.
Game Theory
Game Theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with the analysis of strategies for dealing with competitive situations where the outcome of a participant’s choice of action depends critically on the actions of other participants. Game Theory has been applied to contexts in war, business, leadership, science and many other professional fields of learning. It explains human conflict and how individuals cooperate within a competitive situation. As humans, we act differently when we are comfortable and calm than when we are faced with pressuring circumstances. Most people make rash decisions at this time because they are unable to calm their environment and reason to make better judgement.
It is the responsibility of an organizational behaviouralist to identify employee challenges through periodic counselling sessions. Sadly, many organizations do not have professionally trained psychologists to cater for the emotional welfare of their employees. Human resource managers can only do little by handling the technical aspects of an employee’s welfare. Every organization needs a trained psychologist to handle the emotional welfare of employees. You will be surprised to know that people don’t only quit their jobs because of the money but also because most employees have no one to talk to when they are faced with a challenge. There is little your boss can do when you need emotional help. There should be an independently trained psychologist who does not work directly with employees but is responsible for providing career advice and managing an employee’s emotional learning environment.
Many issues persist in the labour market. Not all these issues are premised on rewards and remuneration. Some have to do with sexual harassment, poor succession planning and management, organizational health and safety, etc. In Africa, most organizations have these structures but rarely use them.
In a game of chess every piece has its role, direction and movement. Not all pieces on a chessboard can move in the same direction or perform the same role. The chess board explains division of labour. The pawns literally offer themselves for sacrifice, the knights attack, the bishops are mischievous characters and the royal band hides at the back line. The twenty first century is gradually changing the world of work. New organizational roles are being created on demand. Automation is laying off individuals whose jobs were previously manually operated by hand. This century is no place for the lazy individual employee or organization who refuses to learn and train others respectively.
“According to the rule for military operations, there are nine kinds of ground. Where local interests fight among themselves on their own territory, this is called the ground of dissolution.”
- Master Sun Tzu, “Art of War”
In organizations where management and employees don’t see eye to eye on certain issues, productivity is low. Obviously, management and employees cannot always see eye to eye. However, management must have employee concerns at heart and not only so, but must work on getting the expected deliverables to the employees to enhance mutual cooperation and the overall success of organizational objectives. The ground of dissolution is no place for an organization that has a sustainable mission and vision statement. In the game of employer-employee relationships, both parties must have mutual consent. The Game theory for talent retention seeks to eliminate all “political” relationships into long-lasting “family ties”.
Conclusion
Employees need attention and will do anything to get it. Their antics may range from rebellion to dishonesty and disloyalty to insolence and indolence. No one likes to be ignored. A classical example is seen in the life of Pietro Aretino, a young Roman servant boy during the sixteenth century. When Pietro craved attention as a writer of verses, he decided to publish a series of satirical poems ridiculing the pope and his affection for a pet elephant. This attack put Pietro in the public eye immediately. He was loved by some and hated by some. What I’m basically saying is an unhappy employee will do everything possible to be happy. Below is what Pietro had to say for himself:
“Even when I’m railed at, I get my own quota of renown”
- Pietro Aretino (1492 – 1556)
In today’s world of work, there are employees like Pietro. When they don’t get what they want from management, they’ll upset everybody. However, some employees may support them though their strategies for getting attention are violent. They will still get renown among the common employee folk because they will be seen as preaching the needs of the employees. You can’t fire such employees on grounds of disobedience. They’ll take legal action and have a say in court. A jury may even support them.
Let’s make talent retention work. As organizational leaders, let’s have our employees’ needs at heart. This is a collective global effort. Let’s share our thoughts and concerns as employees with our superiors.
“People feel superior to the person whose actions they can predict. If you show them who is in control by playing against their expectations, you both gain their respect and tighten your hold on their fleeting attention.”
- Robert Greene, 48 Laws of Power
Richmond Engel Bennah
