“An overwhelming majority of surveyed executives (88%) fear they will not have the necessary talent to lead their innovation programs after the recession ends,” reports Deloitte Consulting in the results of a recent survey of 325 international executives on talent trends and strategies. “Companies may soon find themselves in a fight for talent as the recovery takes hold….To excel during changing times and the economic recovery, we believe organizations must take an offensive approach, implementing talent strategies dedicated to driving innovation.” said Jeff Schwartz of Deloitte. But Deloitte sees a clear red flag in the survey data:

While most participating executives recognize the importance of innovation, many are not implementing the talent strategies they need to drive innovation within their companies.
When asked about their company’s efforts to encourage innovation, more than six out of ten survey participants (61%) acknowledged they either had no talent strategy currently in place to drive innovation or did not know if they had one.

This is not surprising as innovation and talent retention are typically driven by separate parts of the organization, with HR and Learning and Development leading initiatives for retention and the line business focused on innovation. As we wrote previously, our clients recognize the link between the two and continue to make significant investments in programs that serve this dual purpose. These initiatives require close collaboration around identifying, developing and rewarding talent and making sure that they see a career path before them with opportunities to lead innovation.