Full Employment Has Its Drawbacks: Dealing With The Crunch Of Executive Talent
By Gary Kaplan© ASA News. January/February 2000.
Looking for senior executives? Join the crowd.
After more than 25 years as a corporate executive recruiter over three generations of managerial sea changes, today's top managerial landscape presents a whole different picture, unlike anything that has gone before. In a drum-tight labor market, where high-demand CEOs, CFOs, CIOs and key senior executives are hard to come by, let alone retain, what's an organization to do to ensure its life and prosperity when everyone else is on the same manhunt?
Much as we are reaping the benefits of an upbeat economy and boom times, this hidden problem is causing some consternation in executive suites today. Where are the talented managers needed to move the organization forward? The simple answer is they are fully employed - at someone else's company, being kept close to the vest with stock options, guaranteed bonuses and compelling perks. Another answer is that today's and tomorrow's senior managers are either out starting or co-founding their own companies or else envision a different work future/priorities than their fathers and grandfathers experienced.
The new hire must bridge the gap between the company's traditional method of operation and forging its future direction.
The days of the "company man" are long past as is his anticipated progression upstairs and over to a larger office. For their part, women are starting and running their own companies, too. They also have recognized the potential pay-off of entrepreneurship in both financial and quality of life terms. Instead of lengthy employment in one place, a candidate's resume evidencing increasing responsibilities in several companies, spiced with some international exposure, is highly valued these days. What used to be called "job hopping" is now celebrated as diversity of experience and valued for its fresh insights and turn-on-a-dime flexibility in an intense global marketplace.
Loyalty to the company also is gasping its last breath. Today's workers take less pride in belonging to a specific organization and greater pride in job satisfaction and racking up a personal best, always with an eye towards moving up and out into a larger fishpond. Such an attitude is mercenary perhaps, but understandable in light of the corporate down-sizing, rightsizing, re-engineering and continued accelerated merger and acquisition activity of recent memory.
What then of the generation after the baby-boomers? Gen Xers, remarkably different in their work style, respond to a collaborative, collegial environment. They don't mind paying their dues early on, but they need a sense of forward motion. They feel they bring a lot to the table and they want to have a say in what transpires. A superior's few gray hairs do not automatically translate into respect and obedience anymore. After Gen X, the labor pool shrinks dramatically, creating even higher demand for quality people.
While entrepreneurship and self-motivating interests hallmark the great American tradition of innovation and growth, larger organizations have different needs from their senior managers. Their talent is in motivating the work force, shepherding the work flow and growing the bottom line, quite different skills characteristic of building a business. When the time comes, the best entrepreneurs are able to make the transition to the corporate skill-set of administration and delegation, even though they may still long for the days of hands-on presence and the adrenaline rush of victories. Lacking that, they sell-out and move on or are wise enough to recognize their unique contributions and leave the business of the business to others.
Meanwhile, smart companies are growing the talent in-house. A healthy organization promotes from within first, which includes investing the effort and expense in executive education, expanding skills and responsibilities, and providing ownership of some kind. Mind you, this is an investment without guarantees that the talent will stay; nearly 95% of new hires come from the ranks of the fully employed. Internal promotions are closely watched by employees, for then they see a future within the company, restraining the urge to seek their fortunes elsewhere (perhaps in your competitor's offices). If you neglect to tend to internal human resources, then the ship gets deserted - or raided - mighty fast.
But, when needed, recruiting externally does have its rewards. Outside hires bring new perspectives and contribute new learning to the organization, especially in highly competitive environments. New blood keeps the organization contemporary, opening it up to fresh concepts of doing business, and updates its vision. The new hire must bridge the gap between the company's traditional method of operation and forging its future direction. By the same token, the company must make a commitment of patience, resources and accommodation to capitalize on new talent. To end up with the best of the best, finding and retaining key talent begins with recruiting right and then allowing the new hire to get the job done.
Given this picture, the upshot is that today's executive leadership should be keeping close tabs on the current and emerging talent and be prepared to deal with their career path issues, either from hires within or in the search outside the organization. Effective oversight of executive "assets" assures the organization of management strength and depth to carry out its business objective, especially in light of certain change, including the repercussions of a key executive being hit by the proverbial truck.
In essence, dealing with today's crunch in executive talent is, in reality, a vision test of the organization as it looks at the road ahead.
