Talent management, talents management

The theme of talent is omnipresent. It is used in war mode, the war for talent, in raw material mode, the shortage of talent, in niche mode, digital talent…

When we zoom in on the term “talent”, it immediately becomes apparent that rather than “talent”, we are talking about “talents”, thus reflecting generational differences – junior talent and senior talent -, the gender perspective, the different development paths towards management or expertise…

Taking this diversity into account, in addition to the most common challenges linked to talent, such as attracting, developing and linking it, there is the challenge of its integral management. How to connect these talents so that, beyond coexisting, they add to each other, nourish each other, so that the development of some involves the development of all of them?

The Ormazabal Mentoring Experience, now in its second year, has this ambition. It connects in a very special, non-hierarchical relationship, couples from different fields (Market – Operations), at unequal stages of development and with gender diversity. And we observe, we hear, that in addition to being a learning journey for the person being mentored, the impact on the mentor is very relevant and as important as on the first, initially the heart of the initiative.

The mentoring relationship produces cross-empowerment: accompanying someone from a different perspective, essentially in facilitator mode, is a radically different experience from the day-to-day experience for mentors. In addition, powerful networks are created between the people involved, which are enriched each year as the programme unfolds.

The development objectives of the mentored people contain a part linked to learning the “Ormazabal reality”, i.e. the knowledge of the organisation and the business challenges: technologies, solutions, clients… The second part of the development that is pursued is focused on the competencies, which can be worked on during the mentoring process: the management of emotions, communication skills, people management, etc…

This double facet “knowledge – competences” is in fact the essence of talent, the common part of the different types of talent: people who is technoically solid with a complete competence profile, in order to guarantee both the quality of what is done – the “what” – and the quality of the way of doing it – the “how”. Two facets of equal importance in Ormazabal.

Complete talents, connected to each other, mutually nourishing each other, all of this has a very positive impact on their link to our business project. However, how can we ensure the link in the medium term when change and mobility have become values in themselves?

It is a question of ensuring that change takes place within the company so that permanence does not rhyme with immobility. So that under the umbrella of a stable relationship, professional challenges are linked. At Ormazabal, internal mobility (promotion or horizontal mobility) is part of our DNA. In order to cover all open positions, we first analyse the possibilities for internal coverage. The vast majority of management positions are filled through this channel. We call it a liquid organisation.

The context of our business: the decarbonisation of the economy and the resulting heavy investments in the energy sector – renewable electricity generation, the electrification of mobility and energy efficiency – also mean that our strong commitment to internal mobility has many opportunities to be realised.

We are growing, the challenges are growing, the opportunities for our talents are growing.

Emmanuel Orio 

Ormazabal Human Capital Managing Director