The challenge of acquiring and retaining talent is possibly the single largest issue taking up senior management time across businesses. Growth of business, it seems, is inevitable but the largest bottleneck is talent. Very often, the concept of ‘talent management’ is neither understood nor practised. In this blog we would like to initiate a discussion, especially for businesses that have people as their primary resource, to bring out the issues, share ideas, get comments and who knows…maybe the process of finding solutions.

We will interview senior professionals who are dealing with talent as a major part of their job from across industries and functions. We invite you to challenge the premises and arguments that they put forward and extend some of your own.

Our first post is an interview with Subhash Kamath. Subhash is CEO of Bates David Enterprise, a reputed advertising agency. He has the reputation of being one of the best talent managers in the advertising industry and a passable cover for Bob Dylan. Advertising and music are his two biggest passions besides Single Malts, Cigars, sea food, good mutton curry, films, theatre … you get the picture right?

Here is his take on the issue of ‘Managing Talent’

1. What are the key principles of talent management?

I believe all employees, anywhere in the world, senior or junior, in any
category or business, work for 3 fundamental things:

• Growth
• Appreciation
• Reward

Each of these goals is manifested in different ways and a combination of the three works to motivate an individual. Of course a lot would depend on the seniority of the person, the environment of the organisation, the competitive situation and the kind of business the organisation is in.

For example, ‘growth’ traditionally meant a larger portfolio or responsibility, larger team to handle and which consequently meant a promotion/ better designation/ stature within the organisation. And this was usually given once a year at “increment time”. But nowadays, growth doesn’t necessarily mean that anymore. Continuous training and learning opportunities, attending external workshops or conferences all add to a sense of growth. Especially with a much younger workforce today, growth can also mean ‘more variety’, ‘more excitement’, doing something totally different/ new, no ‘sameness’ etc. So you can actually give a young person a tremendous sense of growth without necessarily upgrading him/ her to another hierarchical level.

‘Appreciation’ is one of the most important aspects in talent management, and yet, one of the most ignored. “Appreciation” can be demonstrated in many ways: Independence and freedom to take decisions, public recognition as a ‘star’/ ‘lister’, on the spot cash bonuses/ rewards in kind (trophies/ books/ prizes), media profiling …….and sometimes it’s just about putting in a good word or a pat on the back. How often do today’s bosses actually say, “Thanks for all the effort, you’ve genuinely made me and the company proud”….? It can make all the difference.

‘Reward’ is basically seen at a monetary/ perks level and for today’s generation, these rewards need to come in leaps and bounds! Otherwise, they have ample job offers to choose from. But if there is a consistent delivering on the ‘growth’ and ‘appreciation’ front, the relationship between the employee and the organisation is not purely transactional and in many cases, an employee may actually choose to settle for less money, because he’s enjoying his job so much.

Any talent management process needs to focus on all aspects of these 3 main
parameters and constantly refresh and rejuvenate these parameters.

2. How would you measure the success of a talent management process?

One obvious measure of a talent management process would be the rate of attrition. If you can consistently manage a lesser rate than the rest of your industry/ competitors, then you know it’s working. But given today’s scenario of blooming job opportunities and salaries, and younger ‘promiscuous’ mindsets, attrition is and will be a given in any fast growing category. The true measure would then be how fast and well are you being able to recruit and induct people to replace the ones who are leaving. Management of the ‘churn’ would be a key indicator. Beyond that, employee morale could be a good measurement of success. i.e. if one could actually quantify the strength of the relationship.

3. Is talent management an organisational process or is it a matter of individual style?

Ideally, it should be an organisational process, driven by the very top. Unfortunately, it does boil down to an individual style and passion very often.

4. How good do you think the advertising industry at managing talent? How would you rate it against media, music, films and IT?

The advertising industry has been pathetic at inducting and managing talent. It has never really invested in this aspect at all. That’s why you almost never hear of any successful HR case study from this industry, even though it’s totally a talent business and people are your only assets. All the industry has done is to undercut each other and poach each other’s talent, rather than create strong processes to bring in/ retain talent.

5. Is it necessary for a talent manager to be well known or an established player in the industry?

Not really…. good experience always helps. But it’s passion for people and innovative thinking that would really make a difference.

6. How large a role does managing egos play in managing talent?

A tremendous amount! If it’s about people, it’s about egos all the time. Especially in India. You constantly have to manage egos, insecurities and emotions on the job. The western culture is far more pragmatic about it. We Indians tend to be extra emotional when it comes to our jobs. We tend to place extra importance on status, what the other is earning, job security etc. So ego management is key to talent management in this
country.

7. Do the principles of talent management change for a ‘creative business’?

I don’t think the principles differ at all but the manifestations do. It is still about Growth, Reward and Appreciation. However creative people possibly need much more reaffirmation that they are growing and through rewards and appreciation. That explains the number of creative awards in advertising or films and music. Growth is also not just linear growth in terms of designations and salary. The creative person needs to feel he is growing in creative expression. It may well be that this creativity finds expression outside of his area of work. So a Prasoon Joshi, besides advertising, writes songs and dialogues for movies, someone else may be experimenting with music or cooking and so on.

The nature of a creative profession is such that the definition of a great idea is one that has not been seen before. So insecurity is part of the package. Therefore a greater need for appreciation, reward and growth.

8. How can the advertising business address its crisis of talent?

This is a tough one and I must admit it is ‘work in progress’. The key thing to recognise here is that the situation around advertising has changed completely but we are still operating in the old way and that is not working. The advertising business has lost its sheen and respectability as a frontline profession. With squeeze on margins, the ability to pay to get talent is compromised. There are a variety of options available to the potential employee that was not there before.

Here are a few ideas…and there are no short term solutions:

Change catchment policy. MBAs are no longer joining advertising nor are MICA graduates. With the change in the ‘language and vocabulary’ of advertising, creative talent is also not necessarily coming from the kind of backgrounds that were earlier sought. We need to look at smaller towns. Find talent that does, for e.g., radio programming and jingles for local stations. People from here will still find advertising a great career option. Head-hunters also need to play an active role in finding talent from these places.

Catch them young. Go to undergraduate institutes rather than postgraduate ones. Evangelise the profession and find the people who are truly keen on pursuing a ‘creative’ profession. Maybe we need to change our systems and throw them straightaway into jobs. Have a year long induction and then bring them into the system.

Big groups like WPP, IPG, Omnicom should look to start undergrad institutes in the smaller towns.

Catch them young and infuse them with passion about the business. The business is getting tired. Induct the youngsters with excitement. There will be a much better and committed crop.

Charge for the intellectual property that is ours so that we can pay better. The industry with its constant undercutting to get business, has lost the ability to pay well. As a result it has also lost its respect with clients.

Relook at structures. I find that the work we do now increasingly needs people with different skills and maybe geographies coming together for projects. So we need to look at structures that are more around coalitions rather than the ‘team’ as it used to exist before. Yes, clients will still want the teams but increasingly need the coalition as well. And today with technology, it does not really matter where people are based. So structure around project teams coming together quickly and disbanding is the way to go.

Stock Options. Most agencies have not looked at these as a way of retaining talent. The concept of building wealth for employees must become a norm. I am sure there will be ideas that others have and will try it. At this juncture, all of these are worth it.