Managing talent in a passion-driven job market

The fact is that many people are not excited about the work they do each day. Indeed, recent surveys have stated that four out of five people are not happy with their current jobs. That is 80%, which sheds new light on the 80/20 rule. Just think about that the next time you are sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on your way to work. As you sit there, looking at your phone (when you shouldn’t be), notice the cars around you and realize, for every five cars, four of those drivers are not happy at all about the workday they are heading to face.

The question then becomes, as a business owner, leader, or HR manager, what should you do about it? I would contend that the best investment you can make is in talent management. Every organization is looking to create and protect its competitive advantage and those often come in two flavors — resources or capabilities — and talent (your people) help you create, sustain, and protect both. However, it is common, that when we think about talent management, the systems we create around it are usually geared towards the long-term goals and strategy of the enterprise. In essence, we funnel people into the vision, goals, and strategy we have for the company. That manifests itself in how we recruit, manage, appraise, and develop talent. Through each of those phases, the interactions are guided by the organization’s interests…