There is no doubt about it, in talking with CEOs across industries, company sizes and geographies, talent is top of mind. Our clients are growing rapidly in most cases and unanimously interested in scaling successfully. Although there are many tools required to lead the pack in the post pandemic world including some of our favorites such as SIOP (Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning), sometimes referred to with a broader term as Integrated Business Planning (IBP), nothing can be rolled out successfully without talent.

As people are “on the move” for new opportunities, those clients with compelling cultures and leaders are winning the war on talent simply by retaining the best people. Developing and training talent can go a long way, and, of course, attracting top talent (interim and/or long-term) is also required to supplement retaining and developing talent to make quick progress and rapidly jump to new levels of performance. Listen to our recent video on this hot topic.

One Tip to Implement This Week:

Since I’ve been writing this newsletter for many years, I realize I often say, “take a step back and think about your situation”; however, it simply holds true. Think about your leaders, top performers and employees who are a constant problem, and ask a few questions:

  • Are they A players? Frequently, A players are overloaded (give your most important tasks to the person already overworked because you know they will deliver results) and underappreciated. Who are they? Have you talked with them recently? What would make a difference to them? Do not ignore them. Your competition won’t!
  • Are they problem employees? Unfortunately, every company has at least one. As my HR mentor used to say, invest time with these employees to help them turn around. Frequently, they will. On the other hand, once you have invested this time and they remain a problematic C player, get them out. There is nothing more discouraging to an A player than having to deal with C colleagues.
  • And what if they are a solid B? Raise the bar. Develop your people. Provide resources and hold them accountable.
  • Do you have the talent you need to scale rapidly? Most likely, the answer is no. If so, can you build it quickly? If not, think about consulting or interim talent to build it quickly. If you need it long-term, consider following a parallel path of hiring interim talent while searching for long-term talent and/ or seeing if key employees/ rising stars are capable of rising to the occasion while the interim talent is on board.
  • Will your talent be prepared for fast-forwarding 5, 10 or 20 years into the future? Technology is moving at a breakneck pace. Will it leave your talent in the dust? If you are to overinvest anywhere, invest in talent as it provides options.

Please keep us in the loop of your situation and how we can help your organization’s talent scale quickly and emerge above and beyond. Several of these types of ideas are included in our new eBook Emerging Above and Beyond: 21 Insights for 2021 from Manufacturing, Supply Chain & Technology Executives. Download your complimentary copy.