Prepare for the upturn, focus on Talent Development

With the latest Federal employment report just in, The U.S. is inching it's way toward 9% unemployment and 6 million jobs lost since November 2007. And while Fed Chairman Bernanke says that we should see improvement in the economy by the end of this year, he also said that job losses will continue. Estimates have the U.S. inching past 10% unemployment by the end of 2009.

Business is down, but most business leaders plan to lead a recovery that is powered by improved employee productivity coming from increased use of technology, collaboration solutions, training, and talent management tools. I've spoken with several business leaders who are expecting revenues in calendar 2009 to be flat to modestly higher than 2008; this after they've laid off 6-10% of their workforce. This mandate for increased employee productivity has proved to be a boon for solutions vendors selling web conferencing & collaboration solutions, teleworking solutions, and training & talent management solutions.

As we all know, in a recession, people managers are tested. Employees are disillusioned, demotivated, and scared. One strategy to ensuring your employees stay engaged and committed, is to invest in your people and their professional development. So, how do you do this in a tough economy with increasingly slim budgets?

You buy training and talent management solutions "on-demand" from companies such as Taleo, SuccessFactors, or Cisco/WebEx.

Some good perspectives on Taleo's blogsite

Value customers will pay for: Entertainment, Community, and Information

Society is going through amazing change that is fueled by the internet. The younger generation, the "Millenials" (age 12-25), value Entertainment, Community, and Information that is user generated and served to them in a very personal way.

User generated content is king. Personalized presentment/delivery/structure. Millenials want to consume entertainment on their schedule on their chosen device.

Millenials seek to create community by creating online friends, get to know one another by understanding each others interests, likes & dislikes. They depend on references from their friends to select new music, entertainment, applications, information sources.

Companies can make money by catering to the needs of the Millenials, providing personalized services, providing entertainment on demand, supporting community and collaboration, providing ability to publish & share information.

Leading in turbulent times

We just discussed leadership and how best to lead your teams through turbulent times. How to lead your teams into a new world when the old models of leadership are inadequate. Organizational environments range from Stability-Complexity-Chaos. Everyone was in concensus that their organizations were operating on the line between complexity and chaos.

The key to successfully leading here is to have a strong vision of the future (think 20 years out – use your imagination!) and strong values that guide your behavior in how you get there (e.g. innovation, teamwork, customer-led, openness). Leadership by “Vision & Values” is the only way to lead in this environment – empower your teams with a charter and let them figure out how to achieve it. “Command and Control” only works in a stable environment or in case of emergencies. Employing this type of leadership in a rapidly changing environment leads to disaster. It’s not a game of pursuing the known, with a formula driven method. Its all about vision, risk, responsibility, and learning.

“leadership is the art of creating a future that would not otherwise happen and then enrolling people in the effort to make that vision come true”

To develop todays action plans that will take you toward your vision, you need to “Walk the Cat Backwards”. This process starts with vision (20 years out) and values. Leads to a mission (5 years out-must be achieved), strategy (differentiated approach to achieve mission), and goals and ends with objectives and action plans. “What/How” pairs: Vision (20 years out)+Values, Mission (5 years out)+Strategies, Objectives (this year)+Action Plans.