It may be a blunt admission - but all the top 10 IT companies (I work for one) are not really into talent retention - they are simply into staff retention.
I manage a group of 70 IT professionals (that is the word used currently) of which hardly 5 are talented, but I can not let go of any of the 70 because I am not sure to get a replacement from my SBU or HR. It is the sheer scarceity of IT novices, that make these companies launch all kinds of C&B / HR schemes to retain the present staff, though most choose to hallucinate that they are that 'talent', that the company is trying to retain.
I wrote earlier also, let us not fool ourselves by thinking we have great IT talent, the fact is, we have great number of people joining the IT bandwagon and from these huge numbers you are bound to find some, with talent, but if you look at the percentage you may not have the apetite to digest the brutal truth.
Me and a few friends of mine, all of whom are working with Indian IT giants above the rank of Senior Managers, came out with an appaling 7 to 8 percentage of people in a given IT project team, whom you can really call 'talent'.
The biggest problem remains in the 'coolie' attitude. The Indian IT chaps who come to US or Europe think that working 14 hrs would impress, that's not the case. Such efforts are clearly identified as incompetence.An average Indian IT pro rarely know's 'smart working' and is grossly disorganized. Punctuality and transparency are not in their dictio
RE:Talent !!!!!
by MVV KUMAR on Oct 07, 2007 09:01 PM Permalink
Why cannot you let go one of the 65 people in your team, when you think they are not talented, organized and not 'smart working'?. I think the problem is that you want to work with only talented people and you dont want to do anything to improve the 'talent' of the team. When you dont believe in your team and dont have confidence in them, you should not be leading the team. I think you are an example of someone whom you call 'not talented'. It is because of managers and team leads like you that people work for 14 hrs a day. We are 'coolie's because you make us one. You have a problem, correct it before you raise issues in your team.
RE:Talent !!!!!
by sajansajan on Feb 03, 2008 01:48 AM Permalink
Mr MVV KUmar it is public knowledge that in earlier part of IT boom only good IIT and IIM guys could make it to Infy now you can get in even if you are a science graduate. If you think that the talent management can be exercized to convert a science grad to an IIT engineer you live in fool's world. Also no IT manager can improve the pathetic level of public speaking skills, english accents that Indians in general possess. We live in ghettos with this ridiculous notion that our culture is more moral, better etc etc than the west. You think it does not reflect in our actions or westerners cant gauge our hypocricy?
As someone who has been decently successful in a non-Indian company I can say that it is individual attitude that has to change drastically.
RE:Talent !!!!!
by Ghanshyam Saini on Oct 07, 2007 08:13 PM Permalink
You need only 7-8 percent talent in aproject team not all!!!! There is only one CEO in fact!
RE:Talent !!!!!
by coolchora coolchora on Feb 03, 2008 12:45 AM Permalink
Dear Mr Narendra Tade, A talented manager and an aspiring leader would never be capricious about the availability of talent in his team. "The biggest problem remains in the 'coolie' attitude." ....."An average Indian IT pro rarely know's 'smart working' and is grossly disorganized" ....statements like these show you lack the sense of belongigness towards your own people.A leader must believe blindly in the capabilities of his group.If he does,he can turn a bunch of fools into a group of winners.However, if one blind leads a group of blinds,all of them fall in a ditch. God bless you and your 70 people.
RE:RE:Talent !!!!!
by coolchora coolchora on Feb 03, 2008 12:48 AM Permalink
Dear Mr Narendra Tade, A talented manager and an aspiring leader would never be capricious about the availability of talent in his team. "The biggest problem remains in the 'coolie' attitude." ....."An average Indian IT pro rarely know's 'smart working' and is grossly disorganized" ....statements like these show you lack the sense of belongigness towards your own people.A leader must believe in the capabilities of his group.If he does, he can turn a bunch of fools into a group of winners.However, if one blind leads a group of other blinds,then all of them fall in a ditch. God bless you and your 70 nerds.
RE:RE:RE:Talent !!!!!
by sajansajan on Feb 03, 2008 01:53 AM Permalink
Do you live in real world? As someone who has faced similar situations I will second his views. you think that teams are constant there is no attrition etc etc The moment someone is little trained he gets pulled away from team and replaced by another fool
RE:Talent !!!!!
by Navneet on Oct 07, 2007 08:04 PM Permalink
I was in IT industry and now in AD industry. My wife is in IT industry as well. All i can say is that 90% of the people in the IT industry are doing 'cut copy paste' job than anything else. Thier intellectual capapi;lities are limited. Its a joke that we are in awe of IT people.
