Wednesday, July 1, 2015

CHROs, Talent, and...Pro Sports?

This is the first in a series of posts about SHRM's Global Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) Summit that was held in conjunction with the national conference. It was an amazing collection of senior human resources executives from around the world who gathered for an in-depth and inspiring meeting in Las Vegas.

-------------------------------------

So how does the infamous war for talent, Gen Y, succession planning and...the National Football League (NFL) make it into a CHRO session? Louis Montgomery Jr. from Korn Ferry presented a unique perspective on the interplay between the challenges of the world of work and professional sports.

Crazy idea? Not as crazy as you might think.

Organizations Are Not As Smart As They Believe 
As we continue to discuss how the world is getting smaller and the talent supply is shrinking, the case study of the NFL is an interesting one. The league has 32 teams...yet only 8 have won the Super Bowl three times or more.

How is it that "corporate" success possible for some, when the talent supply is available to every organization? How is that the selection process that is so scrutinized and researched, including extensive interviews and assessments with potential new "hires" still results in failure for so many organizations? In fact, a number of these teams have never won a championship.

Why?

Start Inside First
The parallels between the challenges of sports and our varied organizations raised a couple of interesting questions:

1 - What internal support do you have in place to develop future leaders (or players in sports)?

2 - Have you critically examined your current talent to understand who is a diamond and who might be a blocker of your company's success?

3 - Once you've identified your top talent, are you building specific plans to move them to their ultimate potential?

Keep this in mind...your CEO twenty years from now may be an individual contributor today. Do you see their potential? What are you doing about it?

How About You
The challenge of an incredibly small talent pool in professional sports far exceeds the challenges we face in traditional corporate settings. 

Now that you know that, it's time to first take a look at your current team, and make the investment necessary to turn then into long-term stars.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.


2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing from the CHRO Summit. I love the NFL analogy, my boss is fond of saying teams don't win the Super Bowl because everyone is an All-Pro, they win because they play as a great team. Good coaches (and managers) identify there stars and put them in position to make the big plays, but also get the most out of all their players.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BubbleBall. The Better Ball. More fun than soccer, safer than football, cheaper than hockey,.. bubble ball soccer

    ReplyDelete