Review
Winning the Talent Shift - Three Steps to Unleashing the New High Performance Workplace
Author: Berta Aldrich
Review by: Jo Twiselton
As the author explains in the introduction, this book began as a business book for her to give to her daughter at graduation. However, it rapidly turned into a valuable guide for leaders who are keen to build a high-performing workforce.
Through this relatively short but highly inspirational book, Aldrich explains exactly why organisations are struggling to both recruit and retain talent and how they can reverse this.
The first of the three parts of this book explores why things need to change. Through countless stories (which often feel very familiar and at times, sad and difficult to read) she presents one example after another, highlighting exactly how promising talent - and business opportunities - are repeatedly lost.
It shows exactly why transformational changes are needed at the very top of organisations to make it easier for leaders to emerge - regardless of their gender or ethnicity - if anything is to change and growth is enabled.
"Despite a desire to hire highly qualified men and women, most organisations are not designed to promote, support or identify high performers - especially among women."
In part two, she explores what she calls 'barriers' - inequality, bad bosses (in all manner of forms), bullying and aggression - and how these can be overcome. Aldrich pinpoints micro-inequities which may be invisible to many, including exclusion, dismissing and talking over - all experienced by most women and undermined high performers in underperforming workplaces.
Again, illustrating her arguments with a wealth of often hard-to-read stories, she makes it very clear what needs to change and provides some practical approaches and techniques for leaders - as well as those impacted by these behaviours - to use to make that change happen.
It's these 'barriers' that must be removed before any progress can be made. To do this, leaders must be brave and redesign their workplaces, to support the recruitment and retention of high performers and so benefit from the real advantages this can bring, including higher employee engagement and lower turnover.
This is not easy - it's a big, demanding change that she suggests is mapped over a five-year period. Aldrich introduces the acronym SHIFT to help remove barriers and make sure the right people are identified and promoted in the talent pipeline; she explores this in the third and final part of the book:
S - Start with balance at the top
H - HR's new role in the high performing company
I - Identify high performers and potentials
F - Focus on a five-year plan
T - track and communicate your success
Politics, silos, power and control - just a few examples of 'old-school' practices that are still very much alive in many organisations, despite the seismic changes we've seen in the business world over the last 30 years, such as technology and the opening up of global markets.
These practices are stifling innovation, creativity and ultimately growth. Workplaces fail to meet the expectations of the people in organisations, and talent moves on. Those leaders bold enough to realise this and reorganise their workplaces to support their people, will be the winners.
This book is a brilliant mix of objective and critical perspectives along with practical approaches that can be employed by those leaders prepared to make the most of this opportunity and those impacted by the status quo.
Aldrich's closing words perfectly sum up the next steps:
"To those of us in the C-suite, and who sit on boards and HR, we are responsible to make this shift happen. Are you ready? Let's do this."
Published by Wiley
Jo Twiselton, Change leadership coach & consultant, founder of Twist Consultants
From the Inside Flap
Winning the Talent Shift: Three Steps to Unleashing the New High Performance Workplace shows readers how to create an environment in which the full potential of a high-performing, diverse workforce is unlocked and empowered. Freed from the current limitations of outdated ideology, HR systems, and modern-day bias, Winning the Talent Shift envisions a working world in which today's invisible barriers are removed and team members, high performers, and true leaders, regardless of gender or ethnicity, are able to work freely together to achieve unprecedented success.
There has been a seismic shift in the workplace over the past 30 years and most companies have failed to keep pace. And those that have tried made minimal progress in leveraging the true impact of this new, diverse talent. Why? Because they've embraced a new opportunity with the same old-world approach--employing a diverse workforce into entrenched cultures that value combativeness, power, and politics.
For companies to create truly high-performing teams that can maximize all of today's available talent, they must integrate their workforces by recognizing current barriers, replacing them, and redesigning their workplace with expectations that allow all individuals--regardless of gender, age, or ethnic background--to work together and capture today's ever changing marketplace. Without this, the very people you are hiring to provide a fresh perspective, innovative ideas, and lead highly engaged teams are being underutilized, and even targeted, costing companies billions of dollars in reduced productivity, turnover, and legal claims each year. There is a better way, and Winning the Talent Shift will show you exactly what it is.
In an engaging and accessible style, author Berta Aldrich candidly demonstrates how executives and corporate leaders can regain a competitive edge in today's workplace and marketplace by identifying and overcoming the obstacles that exist within their organizations. She provides both the critical insights and actionable steps that will transform the workplace and supercharge team performance and excellence. Using empirical research and real-world experiences, companies that can make the talent shift will be poised to win and experience increased productivity, more highly engaged leaders and teams, and higher overall revenue.
Winning the Talent Shift argues in favor of collaborative, integrated methods that leverage the greatest innate talents of men and women, rather than a combative, siloed approach. Aldrich argues that boards, executives, and C-suite leaders, the ones ultimately responsible for their organizational performance and cultures, are on tap to lead the shift, creating an environment where true leaders, high performers, all genders, and people of color work together to create an inspired, new high-performing workplace that can help everyone achieve more than they ever imagined.
From the Back Cover
Praise for Winning the TALENT SHIFT
"Aldrich confronts the brutal facts that exist in the workplace today and yesterday. She shares valuable insights for leaders to reflect on, observe, and personally assess how they may be creating a toxic environment unknowingly and steps they can take to become even better professional leaders."
--Dan Houston, CEO, Principal Financial Group
"Winning the Talent Shift tackles head-on the workplace barriers to success and unveils the new playbook for hiring and retaining a competitive and diverse workforce to unlock superior corporate performance. Chock full of insights--it's an action-oriented read that all levels of the organization can benefit from."
--Dawn Zier, former CEO, Nutrisystem
"The fight for high-quality hires is fierce, yet the way American businesses are going about finding and nurturing their own in-house talent is all wrong. Berta Aldrich nails the problem here and offers up a set of actionable solutions, based on empirical research and drawing upon her own journey to becoming a high-performing leader in a male-dominated field. She clearly articulates how to remove the barriers that hold back high performers and women in the workplace and create a more gender-balanced, modern organization starting at the top."
--Diana Britton, Managing Editor, Wealthmanagement.com
"Author Berta Aldrich has synthesized the importance of investing in talent development to enhance the skills needed for top performers to excel in today's competitive business climate. With an emphasis on women and other underrepresented communities, this book examines best practices and tactics through real life scenarios that will pay dividends for both the individual and the firms supporting them. A must-read for anyone who's goal it is to effectively lead and inspire others."
--Suzanne Siracuse, CEO, Suzanne Siracuse Consulting Services, LLC
"If your company wants to continue to grow or have a strong presence in your industry, this is a must-read. True to her own leadership style, Berta candidly reveals what is holding most companies back from creating their own long-term success while providing practical, real-time changes to creating a high-performance organization."
--John Hyland, Managing Director and Co-founder, Private Advisor Group
About the Author
BERTA ALDRICH is an expert in business strategy, leadership, talent development, and corporate team performance. Successful industry leading programs and teams under her leadership have been lauded by the Wall Street Journal, Boston Consulting Group, Greenwich & Associates, Conference Executive Board, and Graphis, The International Journal of Visual Communications, for innovation, excellence, and leadership. She is President of Berta Aldrich, LLC, an executive coaching and training company dedicated to accelerating the advancement of high performing, diverse executive leaders and teams in a variety of industries across the globe. The recipient of numerous awards and accolades, she is a highly decorated leader, expert and speaker who has made it her life's mission to create workplaces that inspire high-performing teams that work together to achieve their greatest impact, in and outside the workplace.
