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)