Reimagining Army Talent Management – the Army External Placement Programme
Chris Woodward MBA FCIPD · August 13, 2019
From a learning and development perspective, the British Army in 2016 sought to partner and share, rather than compete in a war for talent. As a result, the Army External Placement programme was created. To date, and with the support of Defence Relationship Management over 20 placements have been established with strategic industry partners. The programme is increasingly popular: placements are genuinely deemed exciting opportunities. Learning has been adaptive, generative [1] and transformational but changes to Army talent management processes have evolved much less so to date. This article outlines 8 themes collected from ten placements from the British Army into industry. It also provides recommendations on how to innovate talent management systems and fully benefit from these transformational learning experiences.
Global external forces such as rapid developments in AI and specialist skills shortages, when combined with challenges to internal cultural norms (e.g. by 2025 75% of employees will be millennials), have created a burning platform for innovating learning development and reimagining talent management if organisations are to remain competitive – the Army is no different. Recent research by Korn Ferry from 29 global organisations (including the British Army) revealed that, as a result of these change drivers, 33% are actively disrupting their current talent management processes, 47% seek to refresh them with only 20% adjusting or maintaining their current processes.
Placement Themes
1. Military is good for business. In line with Deloitte’s ‘Veteran’s work’ and the Officers’ Association hashtag ‘Military is good for Business’ the feedback from placement partners has been wholly positive, with aspirations for repeat placements in virtually all cases. The blend of softer attributes (developed authentic leadership style, role modelling core values, being both resilient and empathetic with a strong work ethic) with pre-determined specialist skills (e.g. programme management, Cyber, strategy planning) is a potent low-cost talent offer. Secondees have added energy to change programmes, provided external insights to senior (often board level) stakeholders and created an ability for organisations to benchmark their processes and quality of talent – the market needs valuable military talent but selecting the right people and secondment roles is important.
2. Accelerated transformational learning – the power of choice. ‘Being on placement was like jumping off a high diving board into the unknown every day but soon understanding that the landing is soft and that you can swim faster than most to the side of the pool’. Very different cultures, processes and metrics masked the fact that many of the change challenges organisations face are also shared by the Army. Equipped with a common language of transferrable skills and values-based leadership, learning was in all cases significantly deeper than being in an Army role or on an education course. Placements create a heightened awareness of both self and context. As well as developing skills (horizontal development), most secondees also developed vertically across 4 dimensions (competencies, experiences, traits and drivers). By providing the ability to tailor ones’ own personal development efforts in an immersive environment, often outside their comfort zone, secondees become more aware of what they know and don’t know, what incentivises and what demotivates them. In all cases this generated an innate and objective ability to develop insights that benefit themselves, the Army and the industry host.
3. Strategic relationships boost organisational learning. Learning happens at three levels within an organization: individual, group and institutional learning. Learning benefits are weighted more to the individual than to the industry host or British Army as a default but the extent that 1) host organisations engage with the secondee, 2) the secondee networks within teams and has access to stakeholders around the firm and 3) Army and Industry senior sponsors engage with each other, determines the impact on organisational learning. 2-way visits between the Army and Industry developed relevant insights and removed misconceptions. Best practice was evidenced by Barclays and RBS where formalised ideas exchange fora were created: functional teams from each organisation could better understand each other’s context and challenges that, within an environment of trust, could be worked through; the benefit of external insight. Levels of ideation and benefits were high, especially where senior stakeholders were engaged. Placements therefore create 360° learning benefits where absorptive capacity [2] is high, where strategic relationships are forged and where investments in networked social capital are seen.
4. Leadership & purpose. Secondees were exposed to a diverse display of leadership styles across sectors – good and bad! A key theme endorsed by industry partners is that, by being tested in many diverse Army roles, environments, levels of challenge (physical and mental) and complexity within a values-based code, Army personnel are resilient, adaptable, effective and trustworthy. Secondees developed in their ability to be more emotionally intelligent, to influence rather than direct and to be comfortable leading in less structured environments where levels of autonomy and empowerment were often heightened. This intangible, vertical development of Army leaders develops their ability to create better team climates from a blend of leadership styles which encourages subordinates and teams to reach their full potential, exceeding performance expectations. Many lessons were learned by industry partners where secondees were able to create structure and processes that created clarity and pace. Army leadership is authentic and honest – this forged trust that created greater levels of motivation, purpose and followership.
5. The benefits of insight for innovation. All secondees bar one interviewed had been in the Army for over 12 years and admitted to being quite conditioned by the Army: some alluded to being wrong-footed by expectations of leadership, values, organisation and responsibilities that differed from their own and needing to adapt quickly. This played out in all areas of work; e.g. when asked if a secondee ‘had a good day’ the Army default response played to task completion and team performance (and welfare) whereas the industry expectation was often asking about revenue and risk mitigation. The benchmarking of external vs internal norms created adaptability, resilience, emotional intelligence, the ability to use new processes, tools and data better, a freedom and appetite to question the status quo and earlier awareness of where opportunities and benefits may lie – this creates competitive advantage. Secondees should therefore be considered cultural architects for innovation and transformation, enabled to deliver where insights add value, even if this requires a change to talent management policy norms.
6. Talent intelligence to identify potential and ‘fit’ underpins benefits realisation. Creating and using data on employees and role requirements to ensure talent management decisions are both intelligent and best meet strategic objectives is a no-brainer! However, this is often overlooked as it can be complex to capture and articulate. Selecting people for learning and development opportunities that match a person’s social and professional preferences (avoiding the impact of derailing behaviours), their potential to learn, grow and adapt, that considers the cultural ‘fit’ as well as a review of their skills and experiences requires more than a review performance appraisals. Multi-dimensional assessments should be used. Job roles must also define the right attributes and behaviours required to not just do a role but excel in it. An AI driven Talent hub (as developed by Korn Ferry) can then align candidate assessment profiles with role ‘success profiles’ which are benchmarked globally. Getting the right ‘fit’ creates discretionary energy with significant benefits seen in performance, retention, abilities to innovate and much, much more. It defines cultures, purpose and the organisation’s ‘offer’.
7. Placements are retention positive. Placement experiences made many review what they ‘want from work’. All secondees expressed positive sentiment that the placement programme is part of the Army’s talent development offer – they are transformational and should endure. As a result, most secondees, having seen the Army ‘from the outside’, have been retained by the Army’s sense of purpose and now seek full Army careers. The fact that the programme is retention positive is hugely reassuring but this comes with a health warning! The Army will only be able to retain valuable talent post-placements over the mid to long term if it listens to, recognises and embeds the positive impact from secondees and their insights, managing this talent in a more imaginative way.
8. Reimagining Talent Management. Placing the right person into the right ‘fit’ role post-placement and enabling them to be listened to by a network of relevant stakeholders at all levels is crucial for strategic value to emerge. An example of where the Army is getting this right is with secondees now working in DE&S and Capability roles, innovating strategic value chain and commercial processes or energising large programmes. Often there has been senior stakeholder involvement in the talent management decision making to create the right role for the secondee that might not conform to rank and cap badge assumptions for the role liability. Where this has happened, the early signs are that benefits back to the Army are significant. The return on investment from external placements requires a corporate view of the significant potential secondees can offer back to the Army which in all cases is significantly greater than pre-placement. The Army is creating valuable specialists from generalists but also significantly developing the cognitive capacity of its secondees; this is especially valuable where insight, innovation, expertise and energy are required. Placement experiences also develop secondees to the extent that they are often more capable than roles at their current rank demand which disrupts current Army talent management process norms.
Chris Woodward was the founder of the Army External Placement Programme and is now the Founder of Cello Consulting, specialising in talent and workforce strategy design, innovating strategic workforce planning and developing HR and Senior Executive leadership teams.
[1] Adaptive learning involves a phenomenon that brings about a change in behaviour and is powered by an individual’s reaction towards different stimuli in their immediate environment. Generative learning revolves around the concept of an individual adding on new behaviours, knowledge, and skills to what they already have and applying these to their various situations.
[2] Absorptive capacity is defined as an organisations’ ability to listen and internalise new information.