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Dr. Denis Cauvier Presents at #TALeague 2018 Conference – Mumbai, India

I recently had the pleasure to be the opening keynote speaker in Mumbai, India for the #TALeague 2018 Annual Conference, organized by www.peoplematters.com   This sold out event had 450+ delegates from Business, HR & Talent Acquisition Leaders.  It was a wonderful experience to connect with so many positive professionals representing a wide spectrum of Indian Employers.

In my keynote Talent Acquisition to Talent Management – A mindset Shift I shared that the timing and need for this type of conference is critical as organizations are constantly seeking ways to obtain an edge in the war for talent. I shared recent research that shows the following factors that can create Executive Insomnia:

  • Competition
  • Geo Political
  • Economic Changes
  • Regulatory Changes
  • Commodity/ Currency Changes
  • Profits/Cash-Flow
  • Brand Reputation
  • Employee Attraction/ Engagement/ Retention

Not surprising as the above illustrates that the most common factor causing senior leaders to loose sleep involves TA & TM issues.  No doubt you have heard the philosophical question of “which came first the chicken or the Egg”? This question is a metaphor describing a situation where it is not clear which of two events should be considered the cause and which should be considered the effect. The reality is that both the egg and chicken are totally dependent on each other. This notion holds true within high performance HR teams. The challenge occurs when silos emerge between TA, TM & LD. Often each thinks that their contribution is more meaningful than the others. These functions when aligned with each other and performed strategically not only make their counterparts’ lives easier they contribute to the bottom line.  When TA professionals immerse themselves into the world of TM & LD and factor in the company’s performance management expectations, learning & development protocols, ongoing career advancement opportunities, engagement efforts all through the lens of the firms mission/vision and values can they deliver their talent acquisition magic. When TA is in alignment with TM & LD major improvements happen within productivity, learning curve, levels of engagement and all these drive profits.

Sadly, according to CEB/GartnerTA’s influence is declining within their organizations. “Unfortunately, under the traditional role, the advice provided by recruiters is essentially ignored. Only 25% of hiring managers currently say that recruiters influence their hiring decisions, and only 35% are satisfied with recruiting’s impact on their business results.”

The solution moving forward is integrating of TA/TM/LD. This role is often referred to as aTalent Advisor. This “consulting” role provides expert advice on internal talent optimization& how to dominate the external talent marketplace.

The Benefits of this mind shift change to talent advisor to Hiring Managers:

  • Better informed about future talent challenges/opportunities.
  • Greater strategies to counter competitor talent actions.
  • Obtain more innovators, technologists, specialists, diverse talent, and potential leaders.
  • Spend less time on talent management, even as their talent results continually improve …all driving the bottom line.

The Benefits of this mind shift change to the talent advisor:

  • Increase in job security, as technology takes over more traditional recruiting tasks.
  • Value to company improves with increasing strategic impact on business.
  • Status within the company rises as hiring managers recognize consulting value.
  • Increase in career opportunities with consulting skills being developed.

Too many organizations view HR/TA/TM & LD as ‘Cost Centers’. For over 30 years, I have advocated that HR needs to be seen and held accountable as a ‘Profit Center.’ Today’s hyper competitive and disruptive business environment requires an agile workforce to survive let alone succeed. To accomplish this we need to change our focus from spending money on talent related issues and instead start making strategic investments. When we think in terms of investments, we expect certain returns from these investments. HR and all of its critical components is no different. Each investment needs to be analyzed to consider the business case rationale before proceeding, and then measured to determine the actual contribution made to the bottom line. To help HR/TA/TM & LD professionals build their business cases for the initiatives they propose to the C-Suite. I shared my HR PROFIT Modelplus several case studies from my international consulting practice.

To further understand how to make the shift totalent advisorI offered and expanded on the following five points:

  1. Reality immersion
  2. Educate hiring manager
  3. Set partnership goals
  4. Candidates vs. potential hires
  5. Strategic metrics