PPB May 2015

INNOVATE

28 •

PPB

• MAY 2015

AVERT THE

TALENT GAP

Marketers At The Center Of Corporate Strategy

These realities represent a significant opportunity for mar-

keting professionals, as they are uniquely positioned to build

corporate alliances and develop new approaches that can drive

organizational success amid these changes.

Armed with data-rich customer insights and collaborative

tools, marketers can become strategic advisors to sales, IT, HR,

product development and customer service—not to mention

the entire executive suite. Their internal and external collabo-

rations can create strong relationships with colleagues and cus-

tomers that could dramatically inform these workforce issues.

Nurturing The Talent Pipeline

Marketers who partner with human

resources and other departments stand to sig-

nificantly elevate their strategic value within

the organization, and this isn’t as far-fetched

an idea as it may initially seem. Marketers are

masters at tailoring the customer experience,

but if they approach the workforce as a pool

of high-value internal customers, they can

also help tailor the employee experience.

This idea holds great promise—but it also

demands that marketers integrate traditional

competencies with new skill sets and explore

talent management strategies to help recruit,

engage and train the workforce, as suggested

in the September 2014 research study, “Is

Your B2B Marketing Department Tapping

the Right Talent?” by Dr. Frank Mulhern of

the FORUM at Northwestern University.

Engaging A Multi-Generational Workforce

Millennials will dominate the workforce

within the next five years, and their technology preferences

demand their employers engage them through nontraditional

forums. Corporate social networks and other platforms can

provide a centralized place to communicate with peers, get

information about company benefits, or learn about new orga-

nizational policies.

That’s not to say that businesses can adopt a one-size-fits-all

culture for talent management. The work environment instead

needs to be customized for a diverse, four-generation con-

stituency. These generations often approach work and consume

information very differently, and that diversity can represent a

profound internal communications challenge.

Businesses need to modify their talent acquisition, career

planning, and a host of protocols for engaging and motivating

a variety of employees. As a matter of fact, a majority of CEOs

from the PwC survey said the current shift in workplace

demographics would have a significant impact on the way they

do business over the next five years.

The same skills that marketers use to customize the cus-

tomer experience can yield substantial benefits here. By part-

nering with HR, marketers can help create approaches that

appeal to the unique characteristics of each segment of this

diverse workforce.

In their own departments, marketers need to take an inven-

tory of workers who are nearing retirement age in the next few

years. Identifying the skill sets retirees will take with them can

help leaders foresee skill gaps and spur conver-

sations about recruiting and training new and

existing employees. Hearty succession plans

and training programs are more important

than ever.

Sharing Skills And Knowledge

The transfer of existing knowledge stands

as a key priority for marketers. “Among the

issues affecting the ‘next generation’ workforce

are impending skill shortages, an increasingly

cross-generational and diverse workforce, the

need for knowledge transfer from retiring

Baby Boomers, and significant leadership

gaps,” Hewitt researchers wrote in the report.

The learning curve of the digital era

requires marketers to find ways to share

knowledge not only within their own depart-

ments, but also among the clients they advise.

The access to data and real-time tracking that

empowers marketing departments also requires

a commitment to continual employee training.

Marketers should add database manage-

ment and analysis skills to their toolboxes, and help sales pro-

fessionals understand and leverage the gains of these new

capabilities. They also need to learn to engage audiences via

mobile channels and to communicate with IT as they develop

those channels. These types of knowledge exchanges require

strong communication skills and can be facilitated by partner-

ing with HR and IT to build innovative learning programs.

Affecting Talent Acquisition And Management

Marketing leaders, armed with data and new technologies,

have a significant opportunity to contribute to their company’s

cultivation and retention of a skilled workforce. Business lead-

ers overwhelmingly report concerns about managing changing

employee demographics and impending skill gaps, yet they

also admit that talent management is an area in which their

“Marketers who

partner with human

resources and other

departments stand to

signif icantly elevate

their strategic value

within the

organization.”

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