HR experts say coys need to harness competence in talent mgt

Human resource experts at a one-day workshop in Lagos said that in managing talent, corporate organisations must harness the strength of different individuals to create value and impact in an organisation.

The theme of the forum organised by the Nigeria Employers’ Association of Nigeria (NECA) in conjunction with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) was, “talent management: towards 2020 and beyond’’.

Segun Oshinowo, director general of NECA said that the focus of the forum was to promote manpower development in Nigeria that would help lead the future.

“From time to time we complain about the quality of manpower in the country that is why we signed an MOU with ACCA. We want to make possessor of skills and competences in Nigeria to be competitive beyond our national borders,’’ the director general said.

According to Oshinowo, the collaboration with ACCA would help to improve the quality of accounting graduates in the country and manpower growth of the economy. He said that Nigeria was also faced with the challenge of macro issues and old age micro issue of talent management. Helen Brand, Head ACCA, Global who spoke on the theme of the workshop said that the body was involved with ethics, professionalism, management and competency.

Brand noted that there were challenges involved in managing generation of people in any organisation because of their ethnicity belief and other factors.

According to her, some people belong to the` Y` or `Z’ generation, who want to do things their way but achieve value and impact in an organisation. She said that company managers should understand competency irrespective of which generation such group of people belongs to for development of the business.

She further observed that corporate organisation must also promote responsible and ethnical business, support and enhance economic performance to ensure public value.

Also, Ayodele Jaiyesimi, the chief executive officer, Transform Network said that understanding emerging trends in talent management was one of the ways of tackling the problem.

Jaiyesimi said that there must be a framework that takes in cognizance of the emerging world of work.

She said that diversity and inclusiveness polices must be looked into and that human resource directors must understand talent management strategy for the organisation to grow.

Gbemiga Owolabi, Human Resource Director, Airtel Network Limited, said organisations must understand the differences in talent management network as well as in value and successes.

According to Owolabi, a successful organisation is a multiport for different generation and it must be made flexible to be able to function well. He advised business organizations to look at competencies if they would succeed in retaining and attracting talents.

Meanwhile, NECA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ACCA to facilitate continuous training of quality of manpower for the labour market.

JOSHUA BASSEY