Talent Redeployment and Outplacement Done Right

How much time do you think HR spends at talent acquisition, talent management, and talent development on a daily basis? According to the SHRM annual workforce report, the number one challenge HR executives face in the coming years is attracting, retaining, and rewarding top talent; therefore spending all of their resources in those areas. What’s interesting is that the HR global trends report of 2013 listed talent redeployment as the last priority among 15 other priorities, which means that if companies are not hiring, managing, and developing the right talent the right way, outplacement firms like Careerminds stay very busy.

Over the last 20 years as globalization has evolved and the war for acquiring and retaining top talent has become more important than ever before, the focus on skill and competency development  continues to drive people decisions. Research has been conducted that says compatibility or behavioral match between job and person are just as important as skill and competence match.

Many times companies see failures in the form of lack of competence, especially when the Peter Principle occurs, but the human synergy formula and research suggest there are as many failures from a lack of compatibility as from a lack of competence.

So what tools should companies use to measure people compatibility? The DiSC assessment has been widely recognized as one of the best compatibility inventories that identifies behavioral standards for success in a position as well as identify the appropriate behaviors for a specific job.

For example, a highly skilled computer scientist may be very compatible with the structured environment of a systems engineering position; however, that same skilled scientist may be very uncomfortable (behaviorally incompatible) with the less structured systems engineering department manager’s position. The technocratic style focuses on specialized takes in the face of complex technical issues and alternative solutions. The coordinating style of the department manager style must show versatility and a sense of urgency to cope with a variety of unrelated tasks and different types of people. The scientist’s level of competence remains consistent but his or her performance may decline as a result of being placed into an incompatible environment.

So what’s the point? Success sometimes comes first from high compatibility and then is sustained by strengthening competence. Careerminds uses this same theory of compatibility and human synergy when working with employees who are being redeployed in an organization or going through outplacement services and are being transitioned to a new position. We do this by having new participants complete a DiSC profile early in their career transition process that highlights several behavioral strengths and how they link to career exploration, resume writing, career marketing, and strategic interviewing. Career consultants are trained to identify competence and compatibility gaps and help coach them to determine the right position for them based on profile results. This is a huge benefit for job seekers concerned about whether they are compatible to a job or company culture.

Raymond Lee

Raymond Lee is the President of Careerminds, a global outplacement company based in Wilmington, Delaware. He has over 20 years of human resource, outplacement, and career consulting experience. He has his bachelor’s in psychology and holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Louisiana Tech University. He is active in SHRM and ATD. Raymond’s been featured on SiriusXM Business Radio, CareerTalk, and the Wall Street Journal and he’s published a book titled, Clocking Out: A Stress-Free Guide to Career Transitions.