Winning the Talent War

"High flyers" are high-potential employees expected to progress rapidly in their careers with the prospect of eventually filling senior positions. One cannot, however, simply recruit high flyers at will - to earn their status they must go through a necessary process of building an identity with the organization and developing loyalty to it. This book emphasizes the paradoxes involved in this process. It is a guide to the complex strategic issue of replenishing core leadership within the context of future uncertainty and within new organizational structures. 1. Introduction.

2. The Selection Paradox.

3. Roll up for the mystery tour recruiting high flyers.

4. According to their needs motivating and retaining the highflyer.

5. Hire em fire em versus one big family - organisational responseto uncertainty.

One day all this will be yours developing high potentialstaff.

7. A great exaggeration the death of career management.

8. Get out the crystal ball best guesses for the future. "This book should be read by human resource practitioners who are setting the future strategy for their organisations.", , , EuroBusiness# Charles Woodruffe has worked as a management consultant for fifteen years. His company -- Human Assets -- is based in London and specializes in creating and implementing strategies to ensure that clients have the staff they need, now and in the future, to fulfil their business strategies. Charles and his colleagues deal with choosing and developing people as well as with their motivation and retention. They work for a range of organizations in the private sector as well as having clients in the public sector. Present and past clients include NatWest Bank, Nomura International, Unisys, HSBC, Canada Life, ESSO and the Bank of England. Charles brings together his degrees in business and in psychology to find effective, practical and lasting solutions to the issues his clients face in the HR arena. He has published widely with articles in Leadership and Organizational Development Journal, People Management and Competency as well as earlier publications in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. His book on assessment centres is in its third edition. Charles can be contacted at: cw@humanassets.co.uk Careers went out of fashion for a reason. They did not seem well suited to the dynamic organizations that are needed to cope with an environment of change. However, having high potential staff is a real concern for an organization — they are a vital component to an organization’s success both in the short and the long-term. In the long-term they will become the leadership of the organization. In the meantime, they fill key executive positions. Choosing, developing, motivating and retaining these people is critical to success. Organizations need a strategy to cover these aspects of human resourcing, while recognizing the contemporary environment, e.g. gaining commitment of staff by offering commitment. This book will help the present generation of leaders to engage and retain the people who are required for current and future success. They are in short supply — there is a battle for their talent. It is a battle that will decide whether an organization has the right people to help win the commercial war. Careers for life are apparently gone, yet one of the most valuable assets an organization has is its knowledge ? its people. A company?s competitive edge will rely on having the best knowledge available. The dilemma facing companies today is how to attract the best people and to keep them in an environment of constant change. Winning the Talent War deals with the complex issues of the strategy behind replenishing the core leadership and management of organizations, within the context of uncertainty about the future and within new organizational structures. It is about ensuring the organization has a strategy to attract, develop and retain those people who have high potential and who are expected to move ahead rapidly in their careers with the prospect of filling senior positions in the organization. High flyers are the life-blood of the organization?s future; they cannot just be hired at will, they need to go through a process of building an identity within the organization and developing loyalty to it. Winning the Talent War provides:

• strategies for the sustainable development of high flyers
• a practical resource for attracting, motivating and retaining senior management
• real life examples and cases from organizations around the world

CEOs, senior managers and HR directors will find this book an extremely useful guide to developing strategies for creating a competitive edge through the talents of their people.