By Shadreck Zangairai

Businesses today are into hiring, rewarding and retaining of talent. Most firms want the best talent to be in their bus. This metaphor implies that good workers are portable units of competence that can bring their talent to a firm’s hands, but ultimately it might not be the case. Many a times, people wonder why an individual who excels in one organisation would fail to do the same in another organisation. Available literature on talent portability mirrors diverging scholarly views to amply address whether talent portability is a myth or reality. Contenders of talent transferability equate talent to an orchid that thrives in certain environments and flops in others. They advance that globalisation has brought a number of challenges that include turbulent operational environments, speedy technological changes, irregular market changes, skills diversity and global migration making it complex for businesses to match talent to job requirements. It is from this school of thought that talent portability remains questionable and is regarded as a myth. On the other hand, advocates of talent portability posit that talent is transferrable as demonstrated by the successful movement of talent across different jobs, occupations and industries. These believers thus argue that talent portability is a reality. Given that the debate remain unsettled, this article attempts to unpack this issue by reflecting positions from each school of thought.
For the purpose of this discussion, I will define talent as a natural ability that is separate from learned knowledge or skills, with the potential of being developed and enhanced through practice and learning. Talent portability is the transfer of an employee’s skills from one organisation to another or from one department to the other. According to Neil McCausland, Chairman of Karen Millen and Joules, an American organisation, what defines talent is a combination of brains and appetite for hard work, assuming the basic skills, experience and qualifications are in place. This is in contrast to Cathy Reeves, Executive Resourcing specialist at Virgin Media who said that what defines talent, however, is not entirely a fixed thing. Individuals who are considered hot prospects in one firm, can sometimes be felt to be pretty ordinary in another.
Most often, companies engage a talent that is believed to bring wonders and success to the organisation. As Gladwell puts it, that talent would be like light at the end of the tunnel as one would appear brighter than his/her competitors with more pulling power. However, what might seem to be a shining star might simply be a shiny surface that is merely bouncing light from real stars. An example can be that of former CEO of Chitungwiza Central Hospital who was at one time appointed as ZIFA president and PSMAS. No positive results were gained from such appointment and then one wonders whether his shine at Chitungwiza Central Hospital was his achievement or it was just light bouncing from real stars but credit being given to him. This is why most organisations fail in Zimbabwe, not to mention parastatals. Leaders of most state owned enterprises have been ‘shifted’ from one parastatal to the other based on liberation war “talent’ but without success. Talent is not all that easily portable since performance is composed of various aspects such as processes, platforms, products, people and activities. For talent portability to be effective, the talent should fit into the organisation’s dynamics, culture and strategy. Team spirit is also important, when people work together they tend to do better than when they do it alone. In another example, the Econet Group of companies CEO, was at one time appointed as a Director for Kingdom Bank but this did not serve the bank from collapse despite excelling at Econet.
A point to note is that talent doesn’t work in isolation but what matters is support and teamwork. Most alleged talented individuals face challenges when they reach the outer limits of natural ability. Taking the PSMAS and ZIFA saga as an example, the former CEO, having being credited for innate abilities at Chitungwiza Central Hospital, hit the wall of hard work and failed to think outside the box to save PSMAS from collapse. The supposedly natural gifted status was questioned and he felt inferior. This can be a lesson that talent has a limit and often ends where tenacious practice and effort begins.
Gladwell argues that talent is only portable provided the skills possessed by an individual are of relevance to other employers, occupations and industries. Based on the above discussed set of skills, one can conclude that the extent of transferability of skills across jobs, occupations and industries differs depending on circumstances. Some technical or vocational skills are dubbed general skills because they are standardised in nature. It is this standardisation that makes these skills transferable across jobs. For instance, the job of a Human Resources Manager is transferable across all sectors because it is generalised and guided by similar principles. An HR Manager can move from Hotel Industry into the Mining Industry, Health sector or banking sector with limited problems. It is within this context that it can be argued that talent portability is a reality. Again, general training results in individuals being absorbable in the entire labour market since it is not firm specific. Such training includes but not limited to mechanics, secretaries, accountants, IT specialists, etc. Such training is offered mostly from learning institutions or also can be complemented within work situations. For example, apprenticeship training which is offered from both employment organisations in terms of practical, while theory is offered from Technical Colleges. Such training will be applicable in the general labour market where it is easily absorbed which confirms that talent portability is a reality.
To be continued next week…

Disclaimer; Shadreck Zangairai is the Principal Human Resources Officer at Masvingo Provincial
Hospital. He writes in his personal Capacity
(shadreckzanga@gmail.com)

Dr. Nicholas Aribino

Zimbabwe as a State is bigger than anyone of us. By definition a State is characterized by four things which are a population, territory, sovereignty and government. These traits of a State give it legitimacy in terms of the international law. The State is bigger than the government because a government comes and goes through electoral cycles. The population of a State gives it an identity through common values, norms, beliefs, practices, ideas, ideals, aspirations and goals. The sovereignty of the State is the political independence of a State as inspired by the Westphalian thinking of 1648. What makes a State stand out is the singleness of purpose and fixity of focus on cherished success goals by its citizens (population). This writer thinks that the singleness of purpose and fixity of focus by Zimbabweans in building Zimbabwe are blurred because of pernicious polarization between and among personalities, state managers, oppositional forces, religious groups, civil society groups, trade unions, organizations of people with disabilities, institutions and businesses, among others. The bigger picture of building Zimbabwe has been lost to the consciousness of the population of Zimbabwe. This opinion piece intends to talk about how Zimbabweans have lost the bigger picture.
Zimbabwe as a State at the material time is like Mary in Wonderland. When Mary was in Wonderland she could not tell left from right, down from up, west from east and south from north. Mary experienced cognitive dissonance, she could not tell when and where the rains had beaten her. Zimbabwe has been torn apart by a gamut of factors, ranging from structural constraints to hedonism as demonstrated by the conspicuous consumption that is flaunted by a handful of people who can manipulate the structural constraints to their advantage. There is a sharp division in the media institutions; there are also divisions along political parties and these division have spilled into churches, organisations of people with disabilities, trade unions, student unions, security sectors, commissions, churches and businesses. Zimbabweans no longer have a common understanding as to what can develop Zimbabwe because of political polarization that is just toxic. When Zimbabweans engage, their individualities fail to resonate with common sense; common sense for the majority of Zimbabweans has become as scarce as the teeth of a hen because they have lost the bigger picture of rallying around their flag, rather they rally behind personalities associated with political parties.
The danger of identifying with personalities at the cost of value systems and principles that can take Zimbabwe to the vision 2030 is that personalities come and go but Zimbabwe will always be there. Zimbabweans should understand that political, social and economic circumstances change and that state managers come and go but what remains for continuity purposes are value systems and principles that should be identified with all citizens for the growth and development of the State. Values of transparency, team work, horizontal and vertical communication, respect, equality, social justice, tolerance of diversity, accountability and humanity will build Zimbabwe, not personalities. Zimbabweans have lost the spirit of engaging in good faith because of polarization, any alternative thinking is defined and labelled as either identifying with the ruling party or with oppositional politics. The polarization has become so infectious to the extent of affecting institutions like the justice system, commissions, churches, media houses, organisations of people with disabilities and businesses. No one at the moment in Zimbabwe is himself or herself, everyone is either a spirit medium of the ruling party, triple C, the West, the East or G40. Zimbabwe will be very hard to develop when we approach national issues with a binary perspective, the binary perspective complexifies interaction, takes away confidence of the potential donor, builds both horizontal and vertical trust deficits, antagonizes citizens, creates opportunities for our opportunists to take advantage of our lacunas and retards development with growth.
No one is bigger than Zimbabwe, to believe that there are personalities that are bigger than Zimbabwe is akin to the donkey that led Jesus into Jerusalem that erroneously held that the joyous of those waiting for Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was linked to it. It is human tendency to run fast when lost, Zimbabweans should sit back and reflect on the bigger picture, which is Zimbabwe, not personalities. Zimbabweans should engage with positive reciprocity and should not lose sight of the fact that while citizens are responsible developing their own country (Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo), they can also potentially destroy their own country when they defocus by seeing personalities as being bigger than Zimbabwe. Politicians from either political divide should stop dividing citizens by hate speeches, selective application of the law, discrimination of citizens by religion, region and ethnicity. The constitution of Zimbabwe is also clear on the fact that institutions that have been put in place are there to promote democracy, as such the police, the judiciary system and the commissions (Zimbabwe Election Commission, Zimbabwe Gender Commission, National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, Zimbabwe Media Commission, Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission etc) and civil society groups should carry themselves responsibly and as such should resemble bathroom scales when they discharge their duties. Zimbabwe is beautiful and belongs to all of us, let us therefore guard it jealously by ensuring that we promote co-creation, co-production and co-decision.

Dr. Nicholas Aribino : ZIMCARE Trust Country
Director and is writing in his own capacity.
Contact : +263715617095

Beverly Bizeki

A Runyararo West murder suspect who had escaped after committing robbery and murder in Masvingo was recently nabbed in Mutasa, Manicaland, where he was hiding for more than a month after he had sought employment as a cattle herder.
His luck ran out after his accomplice who had been nabbed earlier gave up his whereabouts and was caught where he had been employed as a herd boy.
Delight Matore made an initial appearance before Masvingo magistrate Rutendo Jakati on September 12, 2023 for one count of robbery and murder of Tinashe Marufu and was remanded to September 26, for continuation of trial.
It is the state case as presented by Ruvimbo Makoni that on August 4, the accused person together with his accomplice Tichaona Chamarambo who is already in police custody were walking along Kelvin Majange Street in Runyararo West when they saw the now deceased Marufu walking behind them.
After walking for about 50m, Chamarambo grabbed the late Marufu’s hands whilst Matore searched his pockets demanding for money and valuables before taking his cellphone and ran away.
Marufu screamed for help whilst chasing them and he managed to catch Chamarambo who was climbing Francis Aphiri perimeter wall.
Chamarambo stabbed Marufu on the collar bone on the right side using an okapi knife and some members of the public who had joined Marufu in chasing the duo assisted him in getting hold of Chamarambo and Matore managed to escape.
Marufu later died from bleeding on the stab wound.