Management and Leadership in Fostering Talent and Skills Utilisation

2010 DEL Skills Conference25 March 2010, Belfast, N.Ireland

Cristina Martinez-FernandezCristina.MARTINEZ@oecd.org

Overview

• The legacy of the crisis: a transforming economy

• Recognising talent & skills: organisations as skills systems

• Fostering talent & skills• Articulating mechanisms for talent &

skills utilisation through KISA• Skills and Training Ecosystems• Policy Implications

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A Transforming Economy

• Access to finances deteriorated with crisis - rapidly declining working capital, increase in insolvencies and bankruptcies, loss of talent & skills…

• …and exiting the crisis requires adaptation from agile systems and firms through new areas of growth such as green growth where skills profiles and business operations are transformed towards a low-carbon economy in ways yet quite uncertain…

• …so new management skills are also required to understand how talent and skills can be better utilised to foster creativity and innovation within the firm to respond to the changes ahead, compete and succeed.

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Organisations as ’skills systems’…

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BASIC SKILLS

Generic General IT user skills, oral communication, written communication, numeracy and literacy, office admin skills.

Routine Repetitive, more basic, low-knowledge intensive skills (e.g. packing chocolates in boxes in a factory line, making copies using a simple photocopy machine).

ADVANCED / KNOWLEDGE INTENSIVE SKILLS

Technical Skills required for problem solving; design, operation, rethinking and maintenance of machinery or technological structures or marketing plans; ICT professional skills, research skills (e.g. work developed by engineers, researchers, marketing professionals) and drafting skills.

Management Skills for business planning, regulations and quality control, human resources planning (recruitment, training and skills development) and allocation of resources (e.g. management of Intellectual Property, financial management, firm health and safety operations).

Social and communication Motivation and appreciation of people’s characteristics for individual and team working purposes, customer handling; appreciation and communication through networks and value-chain partners (e.g. ability to reach consensus and agreements, ability to recognise individual’s talent and team’s contributions to common goals).

Multi-language and cultural Ability to communicate in more than one language, appreciation of cultural characteristics of different ethnic groups (e.g. communications by a customer representative selling products/services in different countries, capacity to incorporate cultural differences in negotiations).

CONVERGING SKILLS

Entrepreneurship Specific skills required for creating and running new business ventures and innovative projects in existing firms such as risk assessment and warranting, strategic thinking, self-confidence, the ability to make the best of personal networks, motivating others to achieve a common goal, co-operate for success, and the ability to deal with other challenges and requirements met by entrepreneurs.

Green Specific skills required toadjust products, services or operations due to climate change adjustments, requirements or regulations (e.g. water purification and site remediation planning/engineering in mining, solar panels installation, wind turbines design, green management, carbon capture and storage techniques).

Source: OECD (2010) SMEs, Entrepreneurship and Innovation

…fostering talent and skills…

• Talents are a special natural ability or aptitude. With the right skills they can be a great asset for the organisation.

• Example - Core characteristics of the ‘entrepreneur’ as an ‘innovator’ in firms:– Knowledge. Ability to identify knowledge that is relevant– Skills. Strategic thinking, self-confidence, ability to co-operate for

success with others. Able to plan, organise and communicate, to plan and implement project development, team building, attribution and rewarding, recognition and proactive orientation to change and innovation, risk assessment and warranting.

– Attitudes. Initiative, a positive approach in the face of positive or adverse change and adaptability to learn (and unlearn) from life situations inside and outside the work environment.

Source: adapted from Green et al, 2007

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…through education…• Universities• Technical colleagues• Vocational Education and Training programs and courses.

However, SMEs participate up to 50% less in training activities than large firms.

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Fig 1 - EU training enterprises (% of all enterprises)

Source: Compiled from CVTS2 New Cronos, Eurostat

but inequalities are significant

Significant country differences in access.

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Fig 2 - Number of hours per employee participation in training by firm size

Source: compiled from CVTS2, New Cronos, Eurostat

Plus Systematic access gap: younger, better educated, high-skill occupations have greater access.

…so new approaches are needed…

• Knowledge Intensive Service Activities (KISA) provide a mechanism for using skills and talents that might be hiding below formal job profiles.

• KISAs are activities undertaken at work in collaboration with other professionals, in-house or outside the firm and including a high knowledge component. Examples are electronic commerce, information technology, market research and industry technology advice (OECD 2006).

• KISA provides a more creative platform where skills for problem solving or innovative solutions interact – not just high skills, also low skills can make a difference.

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…to skills utilisation through ‘Activities’.

Alternative Learning Activities key for:– Informal training– Human Capital

Development– Competence

building– Firm strategy– Innovation activity– Network

development– Local embeddeness

9Source: Outer Western Sydney Business Innovation Survey 2005,

n=119,

KISA usages by type by firm size

Martinez-Fernandez and Sharpe 2007

Use of KISA by firms is significant…

10Martinez-Fernandez and Sharpe 2007

…specially by small enterprises.

11Martinez-Fernandez and Sharpe 2007

Example: green skills

• OECD Survey in New Zealand and UK shows little ‘green’ VET in SMEs (18%);

• Survey shows firms use KISA as a way to acquire ‘green’ knowledge (56%);

• Survey indicates high-medium skills (31%) workers benefit from ‘ green KISA’ more than low skilled workers 6%).

• Managers need to consider other ways to foster skills utilisation and upgrade through KISA as a double dividend for training and fostering talent.

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Skills and Training Ecosystems…

• Interdependency of multiple actors and policies in creating and sustaining the conditions under which appropriate skills can be developed and deployed in clusters of firms in particular regions (Hall & Lansbury, 2006)

• Very related to ‘place’• Urban / Regional Networks• Partnerships to achieve relevant skills-

hubs

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…leverage skills utilisation in firms…

• A national industry concentration (eg. UK Automotive Alliance)

• A sectoral group (eg. Riverina Wine and Food technology Centre and the NEW York

Garment Industry Development Corporation); or• Regional cluster (eg. Sutherland Shire Hub

for Economic Development and the Shearer Training) (Smith 2005)

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…to achieve high-skill ecosystems

NSW Department of Education and Training, (2008)

Emerging Policy Implications

• New management skills are needed to foster talent and skills in flexible multidisciplinary/multi skill levels teams.

• Traditional ways to acquire skills do not necessarily increase skills utilisation.

• KISA provides a framework for skills utilisation beyond job profiles and skills levels but there is little recognition yet in management and leadership programs.

• High Skills Ecosystems reflect management and leadership practices at the firm/organisation level.

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Thank you

www.oecd.org/cfe/leed

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