When talent building is discussed within organisations, a question often posed by the leaders is ‘Where does one start with such a long journey? How can we become completely self-reliant?’ The anxiety is that his or her company is disadvantaged, being not so well established like a Unilever or Tata Steel. Their company does not have the luxury of taking talent processes for granted. It is a reasonable leadership concern.
Two vital life and career skills are unwittingly learnt at the School of Hard Knocks—parenting a family and talent building in an organisation. Just as one could secure a diploma in parenting but this may not assure parenting competence, a diploma in management does not mean corporate leaders will show competence in management or talent building.
The RIDE exercise—Recruitment, Induction, Development, Expansion—of human talent is both an ‘infinite’ game as well as a complex task, not dissimilar to parenting. For a quick start to talent building, leaders and HR together can consider what is termed the Miyawaki technique, but with a health warning: Miyawaki may offer a quick start, but an evolutionary and biological process must follow if the organisation is to develop great long-term leaders.
During his research in the 1960s, Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki pioneered a technique of growing mini forests. Natural forests take several centuries to form. They require large land areas to develop. Inadequate land availability and urgent climate pressures have demanded some sort of quick start. Miyawaki established a methodology to grow mini forests in small areas faster—in decades as compared to centuries for regular forests. In an era of rapid urbanisation and concrete jungles, the Miyawaki technique delivers ecologically pleasing green cover in the midst of our endless, rolling urban spaces.
Mini forests, which are rich in wood, do not possess all the ecological advantages of natural forests. Mini forests are alright to get started but obviously cannot replicate the benefits of natural forests. In the five walking spaces in front of my residence in Mumbai, I have seen shades of Miyawaki mini forests, though not quite the real thing. But the lessons of Miyawaki mini forests can be considered for jumpstarting a Miyawaki mini forest for talent! India Inc may benefit from such an approach. What might the Miyawaki technique look like when applied to talent?
According to Miyawaki, there are four categories of native plantings in any ecosystem—main tree species (tallest), sub-species (medium), shrubs (short), and ground-covering herbs—think of them as equivalent to top managers, technical and knowledge employees, skilled supervisors, and less-skilled workmen in an organisation. About 50 to 100 local plant species belonging to all these four categories are selected for planting, but in a dense manner—20 to 30 times denser than what ‘normal planting’ would involve.
Here is an essential and important idea: the plants should be local, diverse, and must get planted densely.
This stage corresponds to what we call ‘recruitment’ in talent management. As successful talent development companies know, recruiting with density is the important first step for talent development. How much density? There is no rule. Allow for a 25–50% attrition over five years: design recruit density today, taking this into account. When I joined HUL as a trainee in 1967, the company recruited 10–15 trainees each year. Nowadays, they recruit at least six to seven times that number!
Next in talent management is induction. New recruits in any company should be hired for a positive attitude more than for a truckload of skill sets. Skills can be taught, while attitude is difficult to teach. Fresh recruits are not aligned to the company value system, ways of working, culture, and relationships. Leadership must actively invest in these activities.
In Miyawaki mini forests, over the early years, after the soil has been mulched and prepared for porosity and permeability, the site is ‘monitored, watered, and weeded’ to give the nascent forest a chance to establish itself. The densely spaced young plants compete for light, water, and nutrients. Such a struggle itself promotes rapid growth compared to traditional afforestation techniques. There exists a ‘weeding out’ in the mini forest, equivalent to attrition. Since attrition is inevitable, the density of talent recruitment assumes primacy. Trees in Miyawaki forests are known to grow about ten times faster than normal!
Maybe quality talent, too, can be identified for survival and robustness early on. Recruits should be actively coached on company values and goals by their line bosses. Training courses, employee counselling by mentors, varied assignments, progress diaries—all of these and more are well used techniques within good companies. In such a process, the less competent or uncommitted talent gets highlighted. Correction can take place, and where necessary, weeding can occur.
Miyawaki mini forests have the long-term limitation of being unable to replicate the beneficial role of natural forests. They provide a quick and temporary green relief in urban spaces. There is lots of wood, but the many other benefits of a natural forest do not accrue. Likewise, developing a mini forest of talent provides a quick start and builds a positive talent atmosphere in a company. Thereafter, an organic and nurturing process, more like a biological process, is required within the company to develop long-term leadership talent. The long-term nurturing of talent is a large and separate subject.
Is the Miyawaki technique of creating a mini forest of talent a ‘proven concept’? Yes and No. Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel, Infosys, Mahindra, and Maruti—all have practiced the art without terming their talent approach as Miyawaki. If one studies their actions and approaches in talent building, one can trace the processes of a Miyawaki mini forest of talent.
R Gopalakrishnan
Author and business commentator. His fifty-year professional career was spent in HUL and Tata
(rgopal@themindworks.me)