July 26, 2017
Over the past few decades, more and more organizations have established internal organization effectiveness (OE) groups and capabilities, with the idea that OE groups can help them restructure, manage change, and optimize business performance. Each OE group approaches the task uniquely. Some provide hands-on consulting services; others build out a standard tool set that enables others inside the company to maximize their organization effectiveness; others take some type of hybrid approach.
While there is no single right answer for how to do OE “right,” there has been a growing challenge for OE groups: finding good talent. Organizations find themselves on the hunt for OE human capital more frequently than in the past. The demand for these highly specialized skills and expertise is growing, forcing employers to tap into new venues for finding the experts they need. The workplace itself has also become more fluid, and not every need requires a permanent, full-time employee.
Clients have shared with us that they find it especially challenging to fill out their OE teams, where talent searches can go on for 18 months or more. As you might imagine, top candidates in the field are few and far between. When an organization looks to ramp up its OE capabilities, it is often looking to hire two or more practitioners — at a time when the prospects of hiring just one is a challenge. The OE team members already on board in the organization are typically at capacity, dealing with more work than they can effectively handle.
This talent challenge poses several key questions for those leading and building OE practice areas:
- Are there alternative talent pools where good OE talent can be found?
- Are there alternative staffing solutions that will help the organization bridge the gap while it searches for full-time practitioners?
- What are the most effective hybrid delivery models that can leverage external partners to keep pace with internal OE workload demands?
- No search required: Talent searches are time-consuming and costly; this solution circumvents that process because your consulting firm has already found the talent for you.
- Proven commodity: After having worked with your firm on a client basis, you already have a grasp of their people’s skills, knowledge, and capabilities. Plus, the person will already be familiar with your culture, which means fewer potential surprises on both sides.
- Flexibility: Perhaps your needs don’t quite add up to a need for a full-time employee, or maybe you need the extra help only for a set period of time. With this contingency model, you can arrange for just the amount of support you need, for as long as you need it.
