How to improve your Talent Culture with co-creation

If the goal for an organization is to obtain superior performance at the individual, group, and organizational level, then this organization has to think about how to detect, develop and deploy employees’ talents. It also has to consider what kind of talent culture is desired.

When we talk about Talent Management, how much is really left to “manage”? Careers have become unpredictable and dynamic. This is the case for both the organization and the individual employee. Virtually nothing about careers can be planned or structured anymore.

The tension in the current employability labor market is that the individual perspective on careers cannot be set aside. More than ever organizations need to reflect on how they can integrate the individuals’ psychological perspective on careers with the more strategic perspective of the organization.

Companies who manage to establish a talent culture that facilitates a mature career dialogue between organization and individual will have the advantage in terms of facilitating innovation and adaptability. But how do you create a talent culture in which this mature dialogue is facilitated?

Together with Ans De Vos in her excellent book “Loopbanen in beweging” (2016, Acco), I believe that the first step to take is to define a clear and common vision on three questions. 1)“What is a career in our company?” 2)“What is the career deal we can offer our employees?” and 3)“What are the roles for every stakeholder?”. Answering these questions calls for a co-creative process as opposed to a traditional top-down process.

The arguments for a co-creative process lie mainly in the fact that there is no one right answer for this complex issue. Success lies in the creation of broad support for change:

1. I’ve written about the ambiguities in careers. These take different shapes and forms in every organization, and when people discover them together, this fuels change. Part of the goal of a co-creative process is to have the specific ambiguities spelled out for every stakeholder to be seen clearly and deeply understood.
2. When you allow people to experience a taste of an improved future together, you are already halfway in bringing that future into the present.
3. Improving your talent culture is about the whole system change. People will adapt their behavior if they’ve had a chance to explore the bigger picture. This way, they can convince themselves for the need to change through dialogue with all stakeholders.

A co-creative process is very different from a top-down one. Here are some tips:

1. Make a small diverse group of people owner of the process, NOT the content. Have them formulate a question that holds energy for all stakeholders, so many will be tempted to join in.
2. Have the process owners come up with a design that allows many people to enter the dialogue. Shape the design by applying the six principles of co-creation.
3. Have participants take up the responsibility for the implementation of the results of the dialogue.
4. In conclusion, there is no one right solution as to how organizations must approach careers and shape the talent culture. Therefore, creating a common idea is key if you want people to play a positive part in the talent management practices your company wants to implement. Co-creation can help.

Contact us if you want to learn more about the Career Discovery Trajectory to positively impact your talent culture.