Think Tank: London - July 09

Ci’s latest Think Tank event explored the importance of career systems as a key strategic tool in enabling organisations to become agile and responsive to changing market conditions.  This is a crucial area, and one in which few organisations have succeeded.  Experienced HR and OD practitioners from eight organisations representing the public, private and charitable sectors worked collaboratively, using Ci’s Agile Career System model, to learn how to craft a new career deal, fit for the varying lifestyles and complex business requirements of the future.

Key to a successful approach to creating agility is the need to clearly articulate the career deal which is being offered.  Whilst individuals want a sense of control over their career, the best organisations pay attention to career development by supporting and enabling the kind of careers which are best suited to the business.  Ci's Agile Career System model enables us to think about different aspects of career strategy in an holistic way. 

The career deal is at the heart of the ‘employee value proposition’ (EVP); a recent Ci "Virtual Roundtable" (teleconference) explored the links between EVP and the ‘career deal’ being offered, and found that the biggest challenges were in making the EVP ‘real’ for people in their experience of work, and flexible enough to accommodate diversity across different countries, cultures and life stages – one size does not fit all!  This observation was reinforced by Think Tank participants, who began to use the ACS model to connect strategy with implementation, making the career deal real and proving a powerful way of putting the EVP into practice.

Ci’s next Think Tank, to be held in late 2009, will continue to explore a strategic approach to careers, focusing on improving and embedding career conversations and skills, and drawing on our Engaging Conversations work.  Please contact us to register your interest in this event.