The majority of leaders agree that managing talent is a huge task. Keeping someone, you can’t afford to lose is a losing battle, even after accounting for the costs of hiring and training new employees.

Reed Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn), Ben Kasnoha (entrepreneur), and Chris Yeh (investor) – propose in their book “Alliance: Talent Management in the Network Age” an exciting and refreshing perspective on team collaboration and how to manage talents. Building an alliance as a way to manage talents.

A leader’s job is not to put greatness into people, but rather to recognise that it already exists, and to create an environment where that greatness can emerge and grow.

Brad Smith, Intuit CEO

The Alliance is a handbook for business owners, managers, and staff that want to abandon the outdated concept of lifelong employment, which flourished from the 1950s to 1970s. The old model of employment was excellent for stable times. Large corporations offered their employees a tacit arrangement: we provide long-term jobs in exchange for loyalty. Because both parties expected a lifetime relationship, both parties were ready to commit and invest in the relationship. The situation is now very different.

Reed Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn), Ben Kasnoha (entrepreneur), and Chris Yeh (investor) – propose in their book “Alliance: Talent Management in the Network Age” an exciting and refreshing perspective on team collaboration and managing talents.

Bye, family, and welcome the team

Let’s look at sports, how coaches manage talents, and how d the relationship between employer and employee works. In a sports team, being part of the team does not mean lifetime employment. Nevertheless, specific benefits and trust apply. Teams win when their members trust each other enough to embrace the team rather than their own glory. In fact, winning with the team is the best method for team members to achieve their goals and improve their personal reputation.

How to manage talents? How can I build trust and loyalty with my employees if I can’t provide indefinite employment? How do I build relationships with my employees when our ultimate goals and values have every chance of being different?

What are the key components of talent management?

The solution for talent management strategy: Build an Alliance with tours of duty. Employees of original value will probably start with a rotational or transformational tour, while employees of higher value will start with a Transformational tour.

Rotational. The Rotational tour is not personalised to the worker and is usually reasonably interchangeable – it’s easy to change the worker into or out of a predefined role.

Transformational. Unlike the rotational tour, the transformational tour is personalised to each employee. The leading concern is not so much time but the mission’s objectives.

Foundational. The employee sees his life’s work as the firm’s goal and vice versa. The employee sees his job at the firm as his last job, and the firm wants the employee to stay until he retires. The Foundational tour accepts and formalises this reality.

Align Employee Goals and Values with the Company’s

Your task is to align company objectives and a particular goal of the employee, not with his whole life. Your company is not like a family. You do not have to fully embrace the values and ambitions of your employees, but you must accept them. Three steps to align:

1. Communicate the firm’s mission, the Why, and values.
2. Understand the essential aspirations and values of each employee.
3. Align the employee, manager, and firm.

Implementation to better manage talents

Define the purpose

You will hire workers on a rotational or transformational tour. Agree:

• What is the objective of the tour?
• How does a successful tour outcome look for an employee?
• How does a successful tour outcome look for a company?

Feedback

You have to implement regular feedback sessions. The yearly review is not enough.

Acknowledging that an employee can quit is considered the best technique for building trust and thus nurturing those cases that persuade people to stay.

Reid Hoffman, Ben
Casnocha and Chris Yeh – The Alliance

Projection

Start to look at the next tour before the current one is completed. Before you begin a new tour, the employee in question should help hire and train a successor to carry out the plan of the previous tour.

Get ready to manage change

The Alliance is moral, not contractual. The tour aims to build trust through honest communication and arrange a long-term relationship on a volunteer basis. The purpose is not to lock employees into roles they dislike or lock companies with ineffective employees.

Broken unity

If an employee leaves a firm in the middle of the tour without any investment in the transition phase, they are not respecting the Alliance. This worker can not pretend to get any benefits as an Alumni network and recommendations. Suppose the company broke the relationship without motives. In that case, you cannot expect the employee to become an ally in the future by giving a good review and recruiting customers and future employees …

Poor Performance

A soccer team would never let go of a player because he had a bad game. However, in the case of a repetitive low performance, the team will more likely trade or release him.

Early Move

The worker can organise the transition. It is undoubtedly best to support than to block such a move.

In conclusion, knowing how to manage talents is key

To conclude, in the industrial era, the firm offered indefinite employment. In return, the worker worked hard and gave up all kinds of personal desires and values for the firm’s interests. Now a progressive firm cannot expect this to work. Knowing how to manage talents to get a high-performance team is key.

Talent is genuinely the most valuable resource. Consequently, employees should be treated accordingly. Successful firms excel because they use alliances to recruit, manage talents and retain an unimaginably professional team. David Gousset