Wanted: Senior Talent For Corporates

The pipeline of senior management talent has shrunk to 17 per cent in Asia, according to a survey. We delve into the reasons for this dismal statistic.

It appears that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find appropriate talent as one moves higher in the echelons of seniority. 

According to the ‘Global Talent Market Quarterly 2013' from Kelly Services, a dearth of senior management is a worldwide trend.

"The primary reason for this is that most organisations have not invested in leadership-development. They have not taken a long-term view of the available in-house talent or groomed them to take up leadership positions," avers Rashmi 

Mansharamani, corporate head (HR), Wave Infratech. The problem is compounded by increasing attrition rates at senior levels. "With the strong success rate of small- and mid-level companies, there is an even stiffer competition for the senior-level talent as the ‘small' companies offer lucrative propositions in terms of opportunities, which large companies fail to match. Also, at the senior level, talent seems to be an under-managed corporate asset, which over a period of time turns into a talent crunch," explains Sakaar Anand, VP, HR, CA Technologies, India.

As demand far exceeds the supply, senior managers are taking to job-hopping. "There has been growth in year-on-year salaries, with experienced professionals staying in the same role likely to receive a salary increase of 10 per cent-15 per cent while those changing roles can receive 15 per cent-20 per cent salary increases. The shortage of experienced talent is also driving Indians currently based abroad to relocate to India in order to capitalise on the growing employment opportunities," illustrates Tulika Tripathi, MD, Michael Page, India.

Organisations are turning inwards to bridge the gaps in senior management. "Identifying young talent and nurturing them through the leadership pipeline will ensure greater retention. Significant investments of exposing (job rotation) talent across the organisation value chain will help in developing senior leaders," suggests Subramanian Suryanarayanan, national head - HR, Tata AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd.

"At Trident, home-grown talent is developed through job rotation, rigorous training and development and sponsored study programmes," says YPS Kanwar, CPO, Trident Group. However, the situation may be marginally better in Asia, according to Noor van Boven, global talent director, human resources, TomTom International BV. "The ‘Global Talent Risk Report' of the 

World Economic Forum in fact shows that the problem is greater felt in North America than in Asia. This has a lot to do with the shift in vacancies and movement of labour from the West to countries such as India, and the other BRIC countries. If you compare the situation of the developed economies and the US in particular, Asia is in a stronger position. When you look at the age demographics, you see a significant lower  per cent in retiring baby boomers in Asia than in North-America," says Boven.

Thus, organisations need to develop focused strategies to tackle the problem of scarcity of talent at senior managerial levels.

Few tips on nurturing talent at the top:

• Put potential leaders in jobs before they're ready – offer opportunities for actual role-play;
• Put a good feed-forward system in place;
• Move on the under-performers now;
• Create a winning EVP (Employee Value Proposition) – know/identify what motivates people, intrinsically and extrinsically;
• Recognise the winner and reward appropriately based on the complexity of the assignment.