RPO and Talent Management Blog by Ochre House | Ochre Talk

Government Talent (Mis)Management?

I’ve always been intrigued by what goes on behind the doors of Westminster and “Number 10” and it appears – if the news is to be believed – that the Prime Minister’s methods of “talent management” leaves something to be desired. Assuming the reports are correct (and it could a be very large assumption) it would appear to be another case that demonstrates that political parties are an exception to the rule that unless you engage, develop and work hard to retain your staff, they will walk out the door.    

I can only assume that the “higher calling” to national duty, or the underlying and deep-rooted belief in the cause, is still what sway people into, and then to stay in politics. Sadly most organisations in the business world cannot rely on such deep-rooted engagement to the greater cause and have to work hard to create it. According to the attached comments on a survey by PWC, it would appear that the C-level understand very well the challenge they face and mostly are not ignoring it. What will be interesting though is how able HR is to rise to the challenge given the rationalisation of corporate functions over the past 18 months, also to what extent strategic partners are engaged as enablers as these HR functions have been run so lean.

If the C-level don’t commit to the investment that is required to enable HR to face up to these challenges, the end result will mean they are in fact no different to our friends in Westminster!

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