Strategic Assessments (4)
Master Sun: “The weather means the seasons.”
Cao Cao: “The rules of the ancient military state that operations should not be carried out in winter or summer, out of concern for the people.”
Wang Xi (Quoting from Li): “This is the meaning of the saying, Don’t go into another’s territory at an unfavorable time.”
Adaptation: Talent Strategists study the markets they work in with particular attention to seasonal factors. These can be understood in terms of climate.
The market for a particular set of skills or type of employee may be considered hot or cold. Consider whether the market for the talent you must attract is hot or cold. In hot markets you may need to use extraordinary maneuvers in order to gain momentum. In cold markets it may be possible to achieve extraordinary results with ordinary tactics.
Get as much demographic information as you can. Remember that victory most often goes to the prepared. Think about the challenges you face in the same way as you imagine that the marketing department would prepare a demand generation effort to support the sales force.
Secure the support of the marketing group in collecting demographic information. Nurture this relationship carefully. You will need them on your side if you are to win.
Another element that can be subsumed under weather conditions is the availability of workers in a given age range. Does your company have a disproportional number of baby-boomers on the payroll by comparison to key competitors?
If so, how will your recruiting efforts be impacted as they begin to retire? Should you be concerned about replacing them or would it be better to institute a post-retirement part-time worker program to prevent wisdom from departing en masse.
Talent Strategists understand that time (weather conditions or seasonal factors) and momentum are intrinsically related to one another. To attempt to achieve momentum in the market without embracing the realities of the business cycle and relative climatic conditions that may offer resistance is folly.
The work of Talent Warriors brings order out of chaos in that they use the weather as a predicate in their planning. By mastering timing considerations and developing a thorough understanding of the climate they work in, Talent Strategists discern the path to sustainable competitive advantage by fully appreciating current weaknesses and transforming them into strengths. The outward sign that this has been mastered is that one makes weather for the organization and becomes a recruiting rain-maker.
Application: If a challenger begins to appear on the same campuses that you have traditionally recruited from seasonally consider how you can position your organization on those campuses all year long in order to achieve or sustain advantage.
A retailer might achieve a timing advantage by initiating a Christmas holiday recruitment campaign two to four weeks earlier than rivals have in the past. To make this tactic work one must know the current market conditions and the historical behavior of rivals.
Assessment of these factors is an ongoing process. It is not sufficient to perform your analysis once and file your demographic information away.
Work with strategic assessments in the same way that a virtuoso musician practices scales. Frequent consideration of these factors leads in the course of time to breakthroughs in the strategic planning process and the evolution of tactics that will surely yield competitive advantage when deployed at the right time.
Review the hiring history of the organization as a prelude to projecting and anticipating the future requirements you will be required to meet. Devise a list of time-based queries to help you understand how seasonal factors will impact your efforts:
- Where have the greatest recruiting challenges been encountered in the past?
- How long does it take to fill open requisitions for employment in each category for which the company competes for talent?
- How long does it take to fill open requisitions by salary level?
- How long does it take to fill requisitions by region?
- How long does it take to fill positions by hiring manager?
- What are the turnover rates by discipline?
Consider these and other time-based elements carefully to determine where the advantage lies. Discover whether the timing advantages lay with you or with your adversaries. Pay particular attention to what can be done to transform your timing weaknesses into strengths. Also consider how the timing strengths of opponents can be used against them.
How can you hope to shape the destiny of your organization through staffing programs without embracing the rhythm of the market?
How can your tactics succeed if your timing is off?
How can you prevail in your recruiting campaigns unless you know when to mobilize and when to wait?
Encompass the seasonal factors and weather conditions that matter to your organization in your planning process. Then form your assessment of where advantage lies in each category through comparison with the advantages and weaknesses of your opponents.
The questions above are only points of departure. They may not be relevant to your situation. Think for yourself.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 8:40 am and is filed under The Art of War for Talent. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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