Finding Talent in the Digital Age

Modern organisations have a problem: they struggle with finding talented people and many are literally starving for personnel. The problem is well acknowledged and receives much attention. But there’s something funny going on in the world of recruitment and HR. We go to great lengths and spare no expense, to find and select the most talented people. Yet once we find these talents, we almost immediately put them in a boring office building, to do an uninspiring job with all kinds of conditions & restrictions. And then we wonder why they leave after only 6 months. Awkward.

Several studies in the field of modern HR have shown that today’s talents have substantially different desires than those of say, 20 years ago. It seems that salary, career and job security are no longer considered a primary requirement. But then what do these talents want? When asked they state that they want work with impact & purpose. They want to pursue mastery and grow their skill set. And they want a high degree of autonomy. Unfortunately, it seems that many organisations are still stuck in the narrative of the industrial age and give little room & attention for these demands. This creates demotivation and to me it is obvious. If you see employees do their work without motivation, the results are not going to improve any time soon. Motivation is imperative.

Motivation is something that comes from within people. It is something that intrinsically drives people to do something. But then what creates this self-motivation? Just think about this. What motivates people to protect elephants, whales or orangutans? Do they want to make a career? Are they doing it for the money? No, they do it to help the animals, right? But how many times have you seen a whale on TV thanking Green Peace activists for their help? We need to realise that if humans didn't exist, those whales would probably be doing a lot better. But even if there weren't, there wouldn't be anyone to worry about it. So why are we doing it? We do it for people, for ourselves. The most obvious conclusion is that motivation comes from something that makes us happy and feel good about ourselves. And when people feel good, their results are usually a lot better. Life is too short to spend it on things you don't like!

Motivation It is what drives people to do something. It usually is either there or it isn’t and it cannot be bought or faked. Abstract values like money, career or job security are no longer motivating. Instead, the talents of the 21st century look for work that has meaning and community value. They want to work with people who are equal in their field, learn and grow. And they want the autonomy to decide when and where they work. But formost, they find motivation in something that excites them, their passion.

Organizations that manage to put together teams that are motivated for the work they do, are or will become, much more successful and their employees much happier. Successful organisations of the 21st century:

1) Select people based on motivation, not on knowledge and skills.

2) They focus on why they do something, not on what they do.

3) Their employees know exactly what motivates them.

4) And they focus on improving people skills

To find out what really motivates you, just ask yourself this simple question: "What motivates you such that you would work on it even if you wouldn’t be paid for it?"

If you like to know how we do this, just give us call !

Evert Bleijenberg MBA

SWARM Organisation

Handwritten by Author without the help of A