University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Do You Have Who It Takes?
Book

Do You Have Who It Takes?

Managing Talent Risk in a High-Stakes Technical Workforce

Steve Trautman
Greenleaf Book Group, 2017
Buy book or audiobook

Read or listen offline

Amazon Kindle
automatisch generiertes Audio
  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×
automatisch generiertes Audio

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

In all parts of their organization, managers identify and mitigate risk, be it legal, operational, financial or relating to IT security. Yet most organizations do not include talent – especially technical talent – in their risk assessments. This omission can affect business success significantly. Production bottlenecks, missed deadlines and unpredictable workflows all influence the bottom line. In this book, Steve Trautman – an expert on technical knowledge transfer – provides a comprehensive framework for managing talent risk and implementing knowledge transfer programs in highly skilled teams.

Summary

Organizations need to manage talent risk like other business risks.

Business leaders assess and mitigate risks in all areas of their organizations. They consider worker safety as well as financial and operational risks. They understand these departments at a granular level and implement strategies to manage corresponding risks. Managers often overlook talent in their overall strategy, however. They don’t fully understand the work their talent performs – especially technical talent – and don’t realize how talent can affect the organization’s short- and long-term goals.

Reorganizations, expanding global workforces and staff attrition can all play havoc with an organization’s business plans. Yet few company directors know their individual employees’ job functions intimately enough to predict the effects these business challenges might have on future growth, innovation and critical operational tasks.

Managers need a detailed understanding of the talent and skills the organization has.

Executives use organizational charts and job descriptions to understand the technical capabilities of their employees. However, ...

About the Author

Best-selling author and international speaker Steve Trautman is the founder of The Steve Trautman Co. He specializes in developing programs for technical talent risk management and knowledge transfer.

Comment on this summary