The world is your competitor

Access to good talent continues to be a problem for companies of all sizes. It used to be normal for me to find a bunch of Canadians working down in the States and a bunch of Americans working up in Canada… almost like how the people that live in the burbs work in the city and people that work in the city live in the burbs. I’m sure that happens all over the place.

But the more recent phenomenon has been where people are leaving their jobs to go work in some other part of the world. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are hungry for skilled people like Doctors, Engineers, Teachers, etc… so too are China, India, Japan and Korea; the list goes on. The significant amount of growth around the world is causing major pressure on resourcing good people.

So when it comes to people in your organization, if you plan on retaining your talent, or even attracting new talent, keep in mind that these people have a world of opportunity open to them and if they are so inclined, can take a job in another country just as easily as they can for your competitor around the corner.

If you don’t have a well defined talent management strategy, then its probably time you start thinking down this path. Smart executives know that their key asset is their talent. Some are beginning to put processes in places to protect their investment in this asset, others are still too busy dealing with yesterday’s problems… which one are you?