74 management talent
As the skills shortage bites, keeping hold of your best
people is becoming all out war. ‘Talent management’ is
more than just a buzzword: it is a process of attracting and
retaining human capital, and companies practising it are
winning, says Wilf Altman.
g in to
in
tu e talent
n
t h Recently
three high-powered
executives defected from
supermarket chain Tesco.
It was the latest and most
pronounced instance of the
ferocious battle for brainpower
sweeping through the
boardroom. Across the globe
companies of all sizes are
having to face the fact that in
tough times survival and
success depend on attracting,
developing and retaining key
staff. Companies, like countries,
are realising that their future
prosperity depends not only on
natural resources or even on
financial capital, but as Fortune
Magazine noted recently, on
human capital.
“We’ve lost some good
people,” Tesco said when three
of the company’s senior people
left, “but we’ve also recruited
some good people. That’s what
happens in companies of our
size.” Where organisations have
a strong team at the helm it can
limit scope for others to move up
and head hunters are quick to
prowl for younger talent just
below main board level with a
good chance of a senior job with
another concern.
getty
The battle starts at the top. If
engineering & technology 8 march - 21 march 2008 www.theiet.org/engtechmag
a chief
executive or
managing director fails to
achieve targets, they are
unlikely to last more than three
or four years. Finding and devel-
oping management talent is
becoming a tougher challenge
for businesses of all sizes.
Ambitious smaller and
medium sized companies recruit
senior managers from larger
concerns. The challenge of
running even a small but
growing company, and the
prospect of stock options can
have more appeal than waiting
for promotion in a big firm.
The new paradigm is talent
management, which focuses on
developing and retaining good
people. Companies that are
known to practise talent
management have a better
chance of attracting recruits at
all levels. One of the challenges
they face, says Professor Cary
Cooper of Lancaster
University’s School of
Management, is to “identify and
develop the next generation of
talent. What do we do to develop
them and groom them for senior
jobs? What skills will be needed
in the next five years?”.
Hearts and minds
What is talent management,
or talent development?
“Organisations often try to set

up talent management
processes,” say the authors of
‘The Essential Guide to
Managing Talent’ but real
success comes when you
“engage with the hearts and
minds of individuals.
Individuals joining an
organisation need to feel that
they are valued and that their
contribution will make a
difference”.
A decade ago, management
consultancy Mckinsey
published ‘The War for Talent’,
which predicted that the most
successful firms would be those
that made attracting, developing
and retaining their key staff a
major strategic priority. You can
win the war for talent, the
consultants advised, but first
you must elevate talent
management to a burning
corporate priority. To attract
and retain the people you need,
you must create and perpetually
refine an employee value propo-
sition – senior management’s
answers to why a smart
energetic, ambitious individual
would want to come and work
with you rather than with the
team next door.
Obviously the talents that
Microsoft or IBM look for in
their employees are different
from those needed by engineers,
consultants, retailers or banks.
In ‘The Circle of Innovation’,
Tom Peters examines different
approaches to hiring talent.
Perhaps the most extraordinary
is that of Steve Jobs, CEO of
computer manufacturer Apple,
who hires people with an
“intriguing background and
extraordinary tastes”, for
example artists, poets and histo-
rians. Their magic, according to
Jobs, is that they have exposed
themselves to “the best things
that humans have done and then
brought those things into their
projects”. Job’s original
Macintosh team was a
“marvellous mix or artists and
engineers. Their aesthetic
interests were as strong as their
techie interests”.
A new study by management
consultancy Accenture has
found more than two-thirds of
executives are deeply worried
about the threat of not being
able to recruit and retain the
best talent. The survey of more
than 850 top executives from the
US, UK, Italy, France, Germany,
Spain, Japan and China found
worries about talent
management were growing,
with 67 per cent this year putting
it second only behind compe-
tition as the key threat, up from
six out of ten last year.
Nearly half of British execu-
tives were worried about the
effect of low employee morale,
with nearly a third pointing to
another talent management
issue – instability at the top – as
a major concern. Four out of ten
of the UK sample were also
concerned or very concerned
about their ability to maintain a
‘You can win the war for talent,
but first you must elevate talent
management to a burning
corporate priority’
corporate culture, with 46 per
cent worried about managing
remote staff efficiently.
Globally, nearly two-thirds of
those polled put competition at
the top of their list of five key
threats. The health of the global
economy and an inability to
attract and retain the best talent
came joint second, followed by
company reputation (62 per
cent) and the inability to develop
new products and services (just
over half).
“In today’s multi-polar world
– where economic power is
distributed among multiple
centres of economic and
business activity – the war for
talent has gone global,” says
Mark Frost, Accenture’s group
chief executive management
consulting and integrated
markets. “Additionally, new
technologies are transforming
the nature of work, the skills
demanded, the manner in which
work is sourced globally, and the
ways in which people collab-
orate. Leading organisations
must build capabilities to under-
stand and source talent more
strategically, based on clear
definitions of skills gaps and
needs for the future,” he adds.
Global challenges
Globalisation was a growing
issue for the executives
surveyed. More than half said
they were concerned or very
concerned about the impact of
the global economy on business.
www.theiet.org/engtechmag 8 march - 21 march 2008 engineering & technology
75
A fifth said their organisations
were not adequately equipped to
succeed as global enterprises.
“Rapid global business
expansion presents significant
management challenges and
opportunities,” says Frost. “As
companies expand and enter
these new markets, their success
will depend on streamlining
their global operations and 
key points
Talent – six steps
to success
L Talent management is
everyone’s job in your
organisation.
L Talent is the single most
important force creating strategic
value for your organisation.
L Ask yourself: why would a
smart energetic and ambitious
individual want to come and work
for you?
L Talent is the engine of the
modern organisation and
engagement is the mystery
ingredient that can transform the
engine’s output.
L A human capital strategy is
essential to support your
organisation’s strategic goals.
L A talent powered organisation
is an organisation that invests in
building distinctive capabilities
and in managing talent to
produce extraordinary results.
76 management
general topictalent
specific bit
in a nutshell
what is ‘talent management’?
In this extract from
‘The Essential Guide to
Managing Talent’,
authors Kaye Thorne
and Andy Pellant
explain what talent
management is and
how it works
We would prefer to call it
‘talent development’, as it is
actually quite difficult to
manage talent. Talent slips and
rolls around an organisation
and often before you realise
it, it has disappeared out of
the door.
Organisations often try to
set-up talent management
processes, but real success
comes when you engage
with the hearts and minds
of individuals. The organis­
ations that achieve most
success with this are those
where the visions and values
of the organisation are aligned
with the individual.
Fundamentally, talent
development needs attention
to make it happen. It also needs
a holistic approach, like
customer service, quality
standards, and health and
safety. You cannot just give the
responsibility to one person
and hope that it will happen.
There has to be a belief and a
commitment to make it happen
from the CEO and the executive
right through line management
to the newest recruit.
Organisations can convince
themselves that talent
management is being carried
out when they create a
system to define the steps or
outline a process to manage
talent. However, talent
development only happens
when you create a culture
based on shared values
and beliefs, where thinking
and feeling emotions
are engaged and the
getty
leadership demonstrates
engineering & technology 8 march - 21 march 2008 www.theiet.org/engtechmag
its commitment through its
behaviours and attitudes.
Individuals joining an
organisation need to feel
that they are valued and
that their contribution will
make a difference. It is
easy to say that this is
happening, but far harder
to have concrete evidence
of its application.
In any discussion about
talent development, it is
important first to emphasise
the development of all
individuals. No organisation
should focus all its attention
on developing only part of its
human capital. What is
important, however, is
recognising the needs of
different individuals within
its community.
In the search for an
effective process for
developing talent, most
organisations recognise the
need to do it differently. The
challenge is often to identify
how and where to start. We
wanted to identify models
and case studies that provide  differentiating their products management is the hardest
relevant examples of how to and services. At the same time, attribute for commercial
move from the theory to senior management must competitors to replicate. It may
practical application. maintain and strengthen their be time consuming and hard
We also recognised that company’s core values and work, but talent management is
talented people do not corporate identity, as well as ultimately essential to create
necessarily fit into an easy secure a diverse and highly competitive advantage.”
system of classification. collaborative leadership team Companies that still doubt the
People are talented in many with knowledge that spans value of attracting and devel-
ways. Some may have a disparate markets,” he adds. oping talent should bear in mind
particular aptitude for doing Modern managers have a key that today and in the foreseeable
something which may be role to play in developing team future we have to compete with
primarily skill based. Others members or risk losing them to around 200,000 new computer
may be gifted artistically and more progressive rival firms, science graduates leaving
yet others may demonstrate according to Andy Hornby, who Indian institutes every year and
their talent in more courageous was headhunted from a senior the 820,000 engineers who
ways and may be seen as management position at ASDA graduated in China recently.
maverick in their approach supermarkets to the role of The authors of ‘The Talent
to life. retail director at HBOS, and two Powered Organisation’
years ago became chief (published by Kogan Page) go so
L ‘The Essential Guide to executive of the bank. far as to argue that talent has
Managing Talent’ by Kaye “In all consumer based become the most essential factor
Thorne and Andy Pellant, is
businesses,” he says, “we have to “in executing your chosen
published by Kogan Page
and priced at £18.99. get the basics right: strong business strategy. Talent is a
For more information, brands, aggressive marketing, fundamentally new factor of
visit www.kogan-page. low cost structures, and a production for any business
co.uk unique culture are all crucial to altogether more volatile,
success – but successful talent dynamic and transformational

than those described in conven-
tional economics. A human
capital strategy is essential to
support your organisation’s
strategic goals”.
Focused faculties
The immediate concern,
however, relates to finding
talented people. Many
companies send their most
promising executives to
business schools and recruit
from universities. The latest
trend is for companies to set up
their own corporate universities
to offer tailor made, rather than
academic, training. For
example, British Telecom
University in the USA focuses on
retraining to meet changing
demands placed on employees as
technologies are replaced and
practices redefined. Other
examples of corporate
universities owned and
controlled by a single company
include Motorola in the USA,
Barclays in the UK, Shell
University in Europe, AVAYA, a
leading Nielsen University, the
learning arm of Nielsen Media
Research and Unipart
University, and the Automotive
Components Parts Company,
which involves suppliers and
customers in its courses.
Of course investment in
training and development is of
little value unless effectiveness
can be measured at regular
intervals and there is definite
improvement. At the Royal Bank
of Scotland (RBS), significant
growth since the late 1990s
resulting in 135,000 employees
and 35 million customers in 30
countries today. The role of its
human resources function had
to be transformed from transac-
tional administration into a
business focused and value
driven business partner. “We
had to introduce a human
capital strategy to help our
businesses to make more
‘Modern managers
have a key role to
play in developing
team members or
risk losing them to
more progressive
It may be time consuming
and hard work, but talent
management is ultimately
essential to create
competitive advantage
informed business decisions,”
says Greig Aitken, head of
human capital strategy.
Information is gathered
through joiners’ and leavers’
questionnaires, external bench-
marking and ‘pulse’ surveys,
linked to an annual global
employee opinion survey sent
out to all employees. This
enables the group to monitor its
eight drivers of employee
engagement – employee recog-
nition, performance and devel-
opment opportunities, relation-
ships, total reward, the work
itself, product brands and
reputation, leadership, and
work-life balance.
“In an organisation of the
size and complexity of RBS, the
HCM strategy provides our
business leaders with an under-
standing of the link between
efficient people management,
superior customer service and
financial performance,” says
Aitken. 
www.theiet.org/engtechmag 8 march - 21 march 2008 engineering & technology
77
rival firms’
notebook
Case Studies
1. Peter Brett Associates
Engineering consultants Peter
Brett Associates was founded 43
years ago in Reading to provide
structural and civil engineering
advice to an architectural practice.
It is one of the largest independ­
ent consultancy practices in the
UK, employing some 540 staff,
covering all broad engineering
and environment related
disciplines in 11 UK and eight
overseas offices. Talent focus is
led by the HR team. “We are
proud of the investment we make
in our people,” says senior partner
Steve Capel-Davies. “By recruiting,
motivating and retaining high
calibre employees, PBA provides a
quality service for our clients. The
consultancy operates an annual
staff assessment programme
linked to training. We encourage
people to work for a further
degree or professional
qualification. In short, we
encourage people to develop.”
Peter Brett Associates was
voted the highest ranking multi-
disciplinary engineering firm in
the Sunday Times ‘Best company
to work for awards’.
http://www.pba.co.uk/
2. Asea Brown Bovari
ABB is an employer of choice for
engineering and science
graduates, offering “a huge
diversity of opportunities, coupled
with firm support for employee
development and a good work
environment”. ABB’s international
status is also highly attractive to
students who value the Group’s
multi-cultural composition, the
products, and leading-edge tech­
nology, as well as the opportunity
to work abroad, the focus on
development, and the opportunity
to job-rotate worldwide. To quote
a student: “My skills are constantly
put to the test in this complex and
challenging environment. Training
offered by ABB is central. ABB
takes care of its employees and
provides challenging
opportunities. Retention rate is
above many other competitors.”
http://www.abb.com/