Keeping talent has become kind of a multi-player video game every business has started playing. The newest trend — talents — have been the focus of a lively debate among the top brass across industries. Originally, these people were linked with startups due to obvious differences in their business models, business agility and overall company culture.
However, with traditional businesses desperately trying to keep up with digitalization and hybrid work modes, and rushing to apply new methodologies in an attempt to remain competitive in the rapidly-changing world, talents have become a desirable asset left, right and center. In fact, obtaining them has become a major part of many companies’ goal-setting methods.
Just exactly what talents are you’ll have a difficult time discovering. In recent years leading to now, businesses have been using this term abundantly only to be unable to define its meaning when asked to.
As a result, there are too many answers to this one simple question, as everyone seems to have a different definition and traditional businesses generally have no clue how to go about things.
Let’s try to solve this conundrum! In their book First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman recognize three types of models: skills, knowledge, and talents.
“Skills” encompass the usual how-to of the role; “knowledge” refers” to qualifications; “talents” are defined as “recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior.” Let’s stick to this explanation for clarity’s sake.
It also makes it easier to compare “talents” to terms businesses are familiar with, which usually equal what is known today as soft skills.”
For example, to qualify as a talent, a person is required to possess some of the following soft skills: conflict resolution, adaptability, decision-making, communication skills, innovation, execution, and the ability to manage others.
Of all these skills, innovation is what makes a talent stand out from the rest. Coincidentally, this troublesome term is also the first stumbling block that makes the business transition all the more complicated.
Back to our talents, a rather burning question is: how to attract such incredible people and keep them loyal to a business? There are some tips that may help in this regard. Let’s consider some tips!
Table of Contents
1) Offer Ultimate Job Flexibility
It’s difficult to ignore the fact that more and more people are turning to remote work, some of them even going freelance or digital nomads. The hype is real and businesses would do best take this trend that’s spreading like wildfire into account. The probability that your next wunderkind talent may be working as an expat in Japan is equal to that that they may be freelancing in Cambodia. Needless to say, they are unlikely to get back to the office in the States no matter the offer, as they’re driven by a completely different type of motivation businesses are versed in.
Hence, the first obvious tip would be: apply a hybrid work model and offer different contract types.
There are multiple options when it comes to hybrid work. The usual six work models include:
- Partially remote work, with flexible office space – no permanent offices; rented flex space used for periodic collaboration (but not connectivity)
- Almost entirely on premises – limited remote work, large office space the majority of managers and workers
- Partially remote work, multiple hubs – multiple offices with the workforce dispersed among them
- Partially remote work, large office space – the majority of managers and workers spend most, but not all, of their time at the office
- Almost entirely off premises – mostly remote work with no office space
- Multiple microhubs – management and employees are dispersed across small microhubs located in different cities (or countries, depending on the scope of your business operations)
As for contracts, consider flexible contract types. Some remote workers may run a business of their own or benefit from lower taxes for freelancers somewhere in the wide world striving to attract capital by any means possible.
2) Provide Seamless Technology
“No article about business can go by without mentioning new tech and that should be indicative on its own.While volumes have been written about team management tools, project management apps, and online communication, some other crucial tools that can make or break a business remain obscured for no obvious reason.
Employee scheduling apps fall into that category. No business deploying hybrid work models should disregard them, as they will, indeed, make things considerably easier.” Says
It’s also important to keep an eye on the trending tools, which presently include:
The current trends include the use of following tools and approaches:
- IoT for asset management
- Cloud-based software for remote work
- Artificial intelligence for business automation
- Inventory management software for supply chains
Other tools may also come to mind. Consider your business goals and needs in detail when choosing the apps for your employees, talents included.
3) Look Into Continued Learning and Upskilling:
“eLearning has been around for a while, and it seems to be getting more popular by the second. Hence, any serious business should seriously consider meeting the needs of learners. Offer specific training programs your employees will appreciate!” Says
4) Increase your efforts in knowledge sharing:
It is one thing to seek knowledge; it is quite another to share it. If a business wants to keep its employees interested and happy, it must look into effective ways to share knowledge. Encourage and foster knowledge sharing and deploy a formalized knowledge management process. What’s important is that knowledge is available to everyone within the organization at a moment’s notice.Overall, there’s much to do to attract talent, so why not start with these tips?
