TALENT MANAGEMENT: IN PORTUGAL AND IN THE WORLD
After a few years of working in human resources consulting, we realized that managing people is something that can be done transversally in different countries.
After working in 3 very different contexts (Mozambique, Hong Kong and Myanmar), I consolidated my perception.
In general, companies, at an international level, value the same skills: proactivity, teamwork and initiative, among others.
Even so, there are very subtle aspects inherent in the culture and the socio-economic context of each country that contributes to the very particular dynamic of human resources management, namely, in what concerns the retention of talent.
It is well known that we have to retain the best professionals and that a high turnover rate has a (quite) significant cost for organizations.
However, when we work in markets where labor supply exceeds your demand, this becomes more critical. In these markets there are many jobs and a reduced rate of professionals who have the necessary skills for the jobs in question.
This dynamic reverses wage values and creates a misalignment between the professional maturation of an individual and the functions that he or she eventually takes on.
It is also not surprising that the generation that currently dominates the labor market has a very modus operandis of its own – time flexibility, less “gray” environments, the more digital world, the possibility of working wherever one is, etc.
Changes that I applaud, but that, in parallel, carry a certain feeling that everything is due to us, are that companies must constantly challenge us to keep us motivated and that the routine is not positive in itself.
This is also a generation that is not always motivated by money.
Through the course of my international experience, I realize more and more the importance of organizations looking at individuals and their personal drives.
Often these drives are something unexpected for us, but after a few years of managing people from different cultures, only by establishing a close and trusting relationship, did I get the teams to work with me and trust me. You have to end the stigma of leadership.
It is important to create the possibility for people to feel heard (even in the face of a foreigner who has little domination of Asian cultures).
I believe that this generation has more initiative and resources available than any other has had in the past and we must work to ensure that people are genuinely happy in their day to day professional life.
I am currently responsible for developing a business in the marketing and advertising business in Myanmar.
I also have on me the burden of internal recruitment – recruitment which is quite specific with respect to functions that contract (so-called creative functions).
I give more and more to people who, irrespective of their age (because I believe that not only young people should be given opportunities), are willing to learn from the difference, to relate to people from all over the world, want to realize the people around them and the companies they work for.
Certainly in this market these people can “afford” to choose the company where they go to work because the job offer, as I mentioned earlier, is vast.
Nevertheless, this aspect brings to the organization that I represent and the management team an increased responsibility in the way we deal with the team and that should never be forgotten.
