"Talent Management in Africa" : A view by Erasmus Pongo, International Strategies Trust.


I have worked in both the Public and Private sectors in Zimbabwe, Africa. As an HR Consultant, I have discovered that in my Administration and HR Management experience, practically every company these days has some form of program designed to nurture its rising stars. With good reason these high-achieving individuals can have an enormous impact on business results. Programs aimed at this class of talent are usually organized around some sort of annual nomination process and offer targeted leadership-development opportunities such as business rotations and special stretch assignments. But despite the prevalence of these programs, most haven’t delivered much in the way of results. My recent research on leadership transitions demonstrates that nearly 35% of internal job moves made by people identified by their companies as “high potentials” end in failure. Reasons for their failure shall be elaborated in my next post.
Moreover, disengagement within this cohort of employees has been remarkably high since the start of the recession i.e the 2008 economic quagmire: In a September 2009 survey by the International Strategies Trust, one in three emerging stars reported feeling disengaged from his or her company. Even more striking, 17% of all the high potentials in the companies I studied said they were actively searching for a new job thus suggesting that as the economy rebounds and the labor market warms up, organizations may see their most promising employees take flight in large numbers. What an unfair state of Industrial Affairs.
Companies invest in their potential employees but still they experience high turnover from the same personnel. Why do companies so often end up with a shortfall in their talent pipeline? And what distinguishes organizations that have been able to prepare their rising stars for post promotion success? Working directly with human resources officers, we and our research team at the International Strategies Trust have examined current practices to identify what works (and what does not). I have studied more than 50 employees dubbed “emerging stars” in more than 10 organizations in Zimbabwe over the past six months, exploring how they viewed their employers, how they were managed, and how they reacted to changes in the economy.
Throughout different industries and districts, and in both booms and busts,my findings were consistent: With startling clarity, they showed that most management teams stumble badly when they try to develop their next generation of leaders. Senior managers tend to make misguided assumptions about these employees and take actions on their behalf that actually hinder their development. In isolation or in combination, these mistakes can doom a company’s talent investments to irrelevance—or worse. In my next post I would like to ponder on the main reasons why Talent Management in an African perspective has proven to be a failure.

Popular Posts