By Nicholas
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In a previous blog (Seniors are a country’s greatest asset), we asked “Why are seniors so adaptable?” The cope word, with some slightly different spelling, came out. KOPE is an acronym for Knowledge, Organisation skills, Planning skills and Experience.
I have decided to add another phrase – “Mature Talent”. Mature Talent is readily defined as people over a certain age barrier who can Kope.
Let’s look at each letter in that acronym KOPE:
• Knowledge – Mature Talent typically has a lot of knowledge. This is very useful in today’s knowledge age and global economy.
• Organisation skills – Mature Talent tend to be very good organizers. A good deal of these skill has been developed over the years through necessity.
• Planning skills – Mature Talent has faced many situations and problems. In order to work through these situations or solve these problems, excellent planning skills have been demonstrated.
• Experience – Mature Talent is definitely experienced. It is good to be able to fall back on experience in life in order to cope with situations.
Yes, Mature Talent is able to KOPE.
Project Management is a huge growth area in the business sector globally. Did you know that a huge percentage of projects fail?
Did you know that there would be a lot less Project failures if Mature Talent was engaged more for Project Management roles?
Your project plan may be sound. You have the tools, the technology, the time allotted. Do you have the right person in place to make all the moving parts work together smoothly?
Effective talent management for project professionals begins even before the planning stages of a project – with selective recruitment, ongoing training and advanced career development.
The well-rounded project manager encompasses the multiple skills that make up the Project Management Institute’s Talent Triangle, with the requisite technical project management skills, strategic and business management skills, and leadership skills to make projects work from the ground up.
The more mature an organisation is in managing this strategic talent, the better its performance compared to peers in executing projects that meet business goals, drive strategic initiatives and improve financial performance.
The more mature and experienced the project manager is, the better the project will be managed. Go back to that KOPE acronym.
In any business sector, strategic change is driven through projects and programmes. Organisations that have the right talent for executing strategic initiatives have a critical capability that gives them a competitive advantage.
It makes sense to utilise the experience of Mature Talent. After all, don’t we want the job done well, with a minimum of fuss or failure?
With the increasing complexity of projects and the ever-increasing pace of change, organisations recognise that it is no longer enough to focus their talent hiring and development on only textbook project management skills. There is a pressing need for project managers with the ability to deal with ambiguity and lead strategic initiatives that drive change.
Finding project talent is not easy. The talent shortage is expected to get worse. PMI has projected an increase of 1.57 million new project management roles a year by 2020 – with no one available to fill them.
As organisations continue to make complex, higher-stakes initiatives their top priority and place a greater premium on those who can execute them, the need for ongoing development of project talent will become more apparent and more acute.
There you go, all of you recruitment specialists who find it hard finding good Business Analysts. Focus on Mature Talent – they have passed the test before today.
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Nicholas (Nick Thorne) is the founder of MomohoNZ Limited a company that specialises in Education and Training; Infopreneur; Project and Analysis; and Writing. He lives in Levin, New Zealand.