Parable Of The Talents

Jun 28, 2014 1 Min Read
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There goes a story about two men who were given two talents and one talent respectively. The first man immediately put his two talents to work and successfully gained two more. The second man hid the talent in the ground and it never grew.

What is the correlation between the parable of the talents and talent management in the corporate environment today? Well, the ability of organisations to manage their global talent efficiently will mark the difference between success and failure.

The upcoming trend regarding talent management is managing global talent mobility. As reputable companies work to align their global mobility plans closely with talent management, the aim is to respond with greater agility as populations age and the world’s economy continues to shift.

Moving forward, the strategies below are things business leaders ought to consider:

1. Retain the best

In the future, it is likely that talent in their organisation will come from internal promotions. The challenge is how to convince organisations to take a longer term view of investment in talent mobility.

2. Grow talent from within

The demand for homegrown future leaders is prevalent in Asia. As such, many organisations are accelerating the progress of high-potential employees into leadership roles.

Singapore, for example, is encouraging local talent to gain exposure abroad in the hope they will take the country to the next level as an international business hub.

3. Adapt and survive

The preference of the individual employee will become a major factor in mobility decisions, with employers customising their strategy accordingly.

The safest bet is to be adaptable and flexible to meet the specific requirements of each generation of employees.

4. Manage millennials

The millennials are focusing more on their passion and opportunity rather than on monetary awards. These are the ones looking for job satisfaction, fulfillment and career progression. They also possess a strong desire to work abroad.

With connectivity and channels of communication at our fingertips, we should see the workforce becoming essentially borderless and limitless. Talent mobility will become a vital strategic tool to develop talent where jobs are, relocate talent to the jobs and moving jobs closer to sources of talent.

Lay Hsuan wishes to overcome the hurdle of a writer’s block so she can continue to write to inspire readers. She strongly believes words have the power to make or break a person. To read more articles like this, click here! 

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Lay Hsuan was part of the content curation team for Leaderonomics.com, playing the role of a content gatekeeper as well as ensuring the integrity of stories that came in. She was an occasional writer for the team and was previously the caretaker for Leaderonomics social media channels. She is still happiest when you leave comments on the website, or subscribe to Leader's Digest, or share Leaderonomics content on social media.

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