Good talents are hard to find

Once, a man went to an exotic country and came across a stall selling handmade handheld fans. He asked for the prettiest and longest lasting one, and the seller charged him the equivalent of  P5,000! After using it the first time, it broke, so he returned it for a refund.

The seller listened to the complaints and finally asked him how he used the fan. The man demonstrated flapping the fan as one would typically do.

Then the owner said, “Ah! No wonder! You have been using the fan wrong. This is the way to use it.” The owner then held the fan and frantically moved his head left and right.[1]

What the seller meant is that the buyer should do things by himself.

You have a project. It would be best to build a team to work on the project, but you cannot find good people for your team, and so you do the thing by yourself. You cannot understand why it seems so difficult these days to build a strong team for the future.

I know the struggle. I have built teams in the past. Some that were tasked to lead lacked the competence to do things. Others are not there delivering what is needed to grow the business. What is worst is that some people we had do not have the competence and the character to get the job done. So, for a while, I ended up having to do most by myself, but not much can get done that way.

To find people is easy. Great people have the talent, skills, energy, and character to build great organizations and grow the business. But finding great people is a struggle and it is never easy. Ending up with poor hires is a costly mistake. Either they leave because they do not fit or you have to let them go because they cannot deliver, this costs the business. It is preferable to acquire great talent and create an environment they love, and hope the arrangement will work out for them.

The following reasons would explain why:

1. A talent war is ongoing

While the pandemic has lessened jobs and caused retrenchments, the re-opening of the economy requires additional hiring and filling up of vacancies.

2. Demographic disruptions

Generation Xers are close to retirement. Meanwhile, the Millennials comprise the majority of the workforce. And Generation Z may be the majority workforce by 2030. Each generation carries a different set of values and skills.

3. Skills shortage

Leaders lack the skills to lead the younger generations. Institutions may not be churning out graduates equipped to take on the work challenges caused by fast-evolving technology.

4. Enter the gig economy

There was a time when you were self-employed, you were viewed as someone who could not pull a job, but now it has become a status symbol. Technology allows local talents to fill in the gap of the Mass Resignation happening in  western economies, and they earn well. And their IG photos of doing work by the beach and surfing in the ocean cause envy and motivate others to do the same.

5. Discovering entreprenuership

There are well-employed talents forced to do home businesses during the lockdown and now have grown it into a full-time business, and have no plans of re-entering full-time employment.

6. Technology fuelled options

The earlier generation people were much more likely to stay in their employment for years because they did not have a lot of options, and it was challenging to look for another job or company to work for. Today, there is the internet, and people can discover new careers and locations (perhaps in their hometowns). And if they are not happy with their current employment, they are on their devices exploring other options.

7. Toxic bosses and culture

Bosses, untrained and unskilled in leadership, will always produce a toxic culture that automatically drives good and promising talents away and retains those that are not.

The power that used to belong to employers and the bosses has now shifted to the employee. Great talents do not just dismiss toxic culture; they also dislike boring cultures wherein they cannot find continuous growth, training, and development. And when you ask why people prefer to stay despite better offers from competition or enticements from headhunters, they say they like their companies because of the culture. Yet culture implies the way the leaders behave.

Employers and leaders need to build strong teams comprising promising talents because they cannot succeed alone. Or else they will have to frantically move their heads left and right, wondering why.

(Francis Kong runs his highly acclaimed Level Up Leadership 2.0 Master Class Online this May 24 to 26. For inquiries and reservations, contact April at +63928-559-1798 or and for more information, visit www.levelupleadership.ph)