This document discusses how the world of work has changed in recent decades due to globalization, technology advances, and changing workforce attitudes. Many businesses still need to adapt their talent strategies to today's workplace. It presents examples of traditional ("Kevin") and modern ("Sam") employees and career paths. The challenge is that organizations develop specialists but then lack leadership skills for senior roles. Solutions proposed include analyzing talent architecture, creating a systematic talent plan aligned to business strategy, and helping with plan delivery through initiatives to accelerate team performance, simplify processes, and build talent flow.

1. Thinking
Talent Architecture

2. The world
of work
has
changed
The world of work has altered radically in
the past decade thanks to the
globalisation of business, the advance of
technology and the change in attitudes of
the workforce.

3. People who joined the workforce in the last 10 years have a widely different
agenda.
66%
66% will leave by
2020
63%
63% say their
leadership skills are
not being developed
54%
54% expect to have
up to five employers
in their lifetime
52%
52% say career
progression is top
priority
DELOITTE PWC

4. Many businesses still need to adapt to
these changes and operate talent
strategies which have relevance to today’s
workplace.

5. What is it?
• Kevin has a job for life
• He will work his way up from
post room to boardroom
• He puts the job first, even at
weekends
• He knows what is next job is
and is willing to wait
• No one at his firm is part time
• His wife does not work
• He works in manufacturing
• He manages people and
budgets from an early stage
• He certainly does not type
• You don’t have to worry about
Kevin
• Sam moves jobs every three
years
• He is willing to change career
• He sees work life balance as a
right not a luxury
• He expects to believe in the
vision and direction of the
business
• His girlfriend earns more than
he does
• He works in data
• He has specialist skills
• He types
• You have to worry about Sam
SAM KEVIN

6. What is it?
• Deidre has a job not a career
• She does not expect to be
promoted
• The job is chosen to fit around
the family
• She knows what is next job is,
it is the same one
• Earns less than her husband
• She works for a man in a
support role
• She has support skills
• You don’t have to worry about
Deidre
• Sam moves jobs every three
years
• She is willing to change career
• She is ambitious for
progressions
• She sees work life balance as a
right not a luxury
• She expects her career to go at
different speeds and to decide
this herself
• She earns more than her
boyfriend
• She works in data
• She has specialist skills
• You have to worry about Sam
SAMANTHA DEIDRE

7. Sam’s progress to the top is halted because they lack the senior
management and leadership skills required. Like dozens of others, they have
been trained for task excellence, not for organisational leadership.

8. The challenge is that the organisation has developed and paid Sam as a
specialist because their skills are in demand in the new workforce. Why get
Sam to manage people when he’s so valuable in what he does?
This becomes a problem for Sam and the organisation when it comes to
filling more senior manager roles. They simply do not have the breadth and
track record to get the job. It’s problem for the boss too because they need
a replacement to be able to move on. The classic succession gap

9. What has
happened?
THE BOWTIE BOMBSHELL
graduates
Middle management
Senior executives
Most companies are strangled by the
bowtie model which demands, and funnels
its brightest people into, specialism at the
expense of future leadership skills.
You don’t fix this by creating generalists at
the bottom. You fix this by working with it.
Breadth
of skills

10. 11
Execs &
Top Teams
Specialists
Back office and support
Staff
Individual contributors in
front line roles
Contingent labour
Middle
Managers
First line
manager
Senior Commercial
Role
Execs &
Top Teams
Expert
Back office and support
Staff
Individual contributors in
front line roles
Contingent labour
Specialists
Senior
specialist
Senior Commercial
Role
Middle
Managers
First line
manager
“HSBC
260,000 staff
100,000 in IT
80,000 in risk
Only 80,000 to
do the rest”
Past Now
Where the value is generated in business has shifted dramatically, primarily driven by digital

11. The progression of people within businesses is different in four key archetypes
Up or out Grow everywhere Middle aged spread Start up
Value doers above all
else
Fluid roles
Multi task
Organic careers
Informal processes
Dive in and take risks
Pivot business models
very quickly to find
new opportunities
Well defined roles
Success is clearly
defined
Career paths are fairly
linear
Attrition is good
Stable businesses
Growing very fast
Need people at every
level
A very high number of
vacancies to fill
Demand at all levels
Nearly all tech driven
and American
Most areas shrinking
or flat
A few growth areas
New skills required
External hiring
increasing at mid to
senior levels
Talent pipeline
blocked
Markets are changing
faster than the
business
Annual
promotion cycle
Rapid promotion
at all levels Dead mans shoes + As needed

12. The old career paths to senior leadership are not working as they are too narrow
13
The old career mechanism of moving up
within a function is creating, functional
experts without sufficient breadth
This is true for the new specialisms and the
older commercial routes
Finance may be the one exception
LEADERSHIP GAPS

13. Changing career paths to senior leadership.
14
New senior leaders need to have a
different set of experiences that match the
key decisions they re being asked to make
• Digital
• Multi Channel
• International
• Partnerships
Career path management is rising up the
agenda in most organisations we talk to
NEW CAREER PATHS

14. This leaves us two major problems
Talented people like Sam have no where to go but to the exit door
The leadership cannot be replaced from within
1
2

15. SENIOR
MIDDLE
JUNIOR
MIDDLE
JUNIOR
SENIOR
SENIOR
Sam will not wait around in middle
management for years. They will jump ship
to senior management elsewhere or run
their own show. They will not end up
running your company, but someone else’s.
YOUR CORP THEIR CORPHIS CORP
What
happens
to Sam?

16. CEO
MIDDLE
JUNIOR
YOUR CORP
Filled from outside with untried,
more expensive external hires
What
happens
to Sam’s
boss?
RETIREMENT

17. 1 million senior managers will leave their
jobs to become independent consultants
by 2020
MBA&CO
FACT

18. Nearly 9 out of 10 global HR and
business leaders (86 percent) cited
leadership as a top issue.
Yet only 6 percent of organizations
believe their leadership pipeline is
“very ready”—pointing to a
staggering capability gap.
DELOITTE
FACT

19. The internal talent response to date
More activity and more talent initiatives then ever, supported by the
proliferation of new tools and new solutions (most of which are good)
The leadership cannot be replaced from within
1
2
2
But, too often not strategically driven, sustained or successful. Often a
strong L&D slant and lack of bite
Not bought into by the leadership as a systematic answer to how to move
forward and deliver the strategy

20. The result
Corporate constipation
Organisations are getting blocked up
in the middle. People are not
progressing and are blocking the
progress for people below. It does
not matter how much you add below
they only rise so far then move out.
At the same time the blocked middle
does not have the new skills so more
and more senior specialists are
added. And the middle does not
have what the top needs, causing
external hires and further cementing
the middle in place as they have no
where to go

21. How can we help?

22. Structural survey of existing talent architecture,
matched against business needs and external
environment
Three point plan
release the pressure
1
2 Creation of a systematic talent plan that
aligns to a strategy
3 Help with delivery of talent plan
Let’s really understand what is going on, where the business is
heading, what the trends are and how the demand is changing
Design a talent systems that aligns to the
business strategy and insights and with buy in
Help where needed, particularly
around early talent

23. 24
26
45
319
62
114
231
45
37
85
8
12 1
6
Level 6 Level 4Level 5 Level 2 +3
19
Exec
46% 43% 38% 30%
54% 57%
62%
70%
390 167407 39
17%
Internal
promotions
External hires
Exit rates
8% 7% 7%
Totals
It helps to understand
the shape of the
business and the flows

24. Level 6 Level 4Level 5 Level 2 +3 Exec
Extrapolation of future business shape by end of 2018
And to understand the
future shape
Current shape
of the
business

25. 26
Level 6 Level 4Level 5 Level 2 +3 Exec
25%
50%
70% 70%
75% 50%
30%
30%
Internal
promotions
External
hires
17% 12% 10%Exit rate
And to then understand
which initiatives need
to be in place to keep
the business the right
shape

26. 27
To accelerate the performance
of teams and access to great
people
Accelerate the
performance of teams
by helping them to
work better together
in the new world and
get to value quicker.
Start by focusing on
key leaders
Simplify key Talent
processes, starting
with recruitment, to
get faster access to
the right talent
Accelerate the
development of key
people to provide
faster access to ready
talent when needed
Support the business
to work smarter with
new systems and
more established
global ways of
working.
How we win
Speed Collaboration Innovation
The difference we will make
Strategic intent
Where we will play
1. Invest in leadership development around
creating a GB approach to change,
innovation and collaboration
2. Align top 60 behind the talent strategy,
talent beliefs and taking talent work back
into the business
3. Support taking the leadership work back
into the business as a “Participation sport”
4. Access to good enough development suite
for all
Kick starting through leadership
Simplification
Building talent flow
1. Simplify and roll out new global recruitment
process from “attract to offer”
2. Build relevant selection criteria for
recruitment and promotion and train
managers
3. Build a new Employee Value Proposition
aimed at more junior hires
4. Build new on-boarding processes
5. Actively manage new cohorts of starters
1. Invest in succession support for level 4 and
actively manage the “chessboard” of
experiences and moves for this group
2. New transition to leadership support
programmes at each level
3. New professional early career entry level
programmes
4. New “unique contributor” offer for
specialists
5. New Potential model
Working smarter
1. Marketing Way roll out
2. Talent data systems
3. Full suite of functional academies
4. Global mobility to support initiatives
5. Review location of Global ways of working
The overall approach is focused around
clear strategic choices and a phased
approach to actions

27. William Jodrell ~ Partner
will@thegreenhouseproject.co.uk
+44 7968 439 701
Rupert Angel ~ Partner
Rupert@thegreenhouseproject.co.uk
+44 7710 344 493