What should talent managers make of the argument by the 'think-tank' Tomorrow's Company that talent is abundant rather than a scarce resource? They say that organisations can - and must - increase the supply of talent by making use of the full diversity of people. Such diversity not only increases the supply of specific skills but it offers the particular sort of talent that will be needed if organisations are to be successful in the future. Only a full range of people will be able to offer the breadth and diversity of thinking required to respond innovatively to tomorrow's challenges. This seems beyond dispute and resonates well with our own advocacy of moving away from an over-prescriptive approach to talent that is evident in so many organisations competency frameworks.
The report advocates looking for talent beyond the obvious sources. For example, it describes the possibilities that global companies enjoy of sourcing untapped talent in geographic regions beyond the rich nations of the world. Another approach is to source the talent needed for a particular requirement from outside the organisation. The report also recommends maximally engaging talent by allowing people the maximum latitude in how they work, noting that 'many talented people tend to be non-conformists'.
In all these arguments the report is really looking at how to increase the supply of an essentially scarce resource. The same implicit scarcity is also evident in the remark that tomorrow's leaders will be 'more exceptional' than their forebears with an even greater need for quick and brave decisions and to live with ambiguity. Talent is not abundant by this argument but its supply can be increased by looking and appealing to the widest array of people.
However, the report also asserts that talent is 'not a rare quality, but a diverse, multifaceted one, that exists, in everyone'. This seems a very different idea and a rather less useful one. While it may be true that everyone has talent in some form or other, not all these facets are positive and productive for organisations.
As we note in our recent book on talent management, organisations use talent in both an inclusive and exclusive sense. In the inclusive sense, all employees (though not everyone) are part of the stock of 'talent' because they all play a part in the organisation's success. By contrast, talent also refers to elites - particularly, the current and future leaders who need to be exceptional individuals. Almost by definition, members of such elites are not abundant. Nonetheless the report offers extremely useful advice on the elite qualities and on the need to look everywhere for people with these qualities. It is an argument for diversity being an absolute necessity for tomorrow's success.
References
Tomorrow's global talent. Tomorrow's Company, 2009.
Charles Woodruffe, Wendy Lyons and Jasmin Silver. Holding on while letting go. A director's guide to contemporary talent management. Human Assets Limited, 2009.