The global services industry is just now responding to the need for training. Industry associations and university executive development programs have begun to offer a range of seminars and courseware to build key skills. And corporate learning programs are starting to recognize the need to add new offerings to their catalogs.
There’s little substitute for experience, especially when it comes to success at business or technology process transformation skills. Companies often try to improve or reengineer a process only to lose this in-house expertise later to the call of a higher paying job. One reason for this staff churn, says Metz, is that organizations tend to treat transformation of processes as a one-time event, rather than an ongoing process, and typically bring in consultants to lead the change. Although bringing in third parties can be efficient and completely appropriate, the downside is an opportunity missed to develop the company’s bench strength.
Yet don’t underestimate the provider as a source of training. Many of the providers, especially those originating offshore, have made substantial investments in training and development. As career paths increasingly allow for movement between provider and buyer, providers will become a valuable source of trained talent.
Can Both Sides Be Played Effectively?
The lack of experienced global services management candidates makes this a talent seller’s market.
“In general, there is always an extreme interest in, and probably a benefit in [bringing in] those people who have prior experience, either in being on the service-delivery side, or on the client-management side, of an outsource relationship,” says Margel. Switching sides in the buyer and seller relationship increases a candidate’s value in a substantial way. Candidates with both sides on their resume are “probably in the catbird seat these days,” she adds.
Blackman, the executive recruiter, contends that executive global services capabilities are “incredibly sought-after skills,” ones which will be in even higher demand in the next several years. Savvy executives are positioning themselves now to gain the experience that increasing numbers of corporations will expect from upwardly mobile careerists.
Spotting that talent early is a challenge for internal and external recruiters. What are the indicators of good services talent? Margel believes it’s “the ability, or demonstrated ability across someone’s career, to show that they have been adaptable, flexible, that they have had success at managing complex environments, where a number of the resources that they have had to direct were not under their immediate control.”
But these abilities don’t always translate into higher pay or even a corner office for global services executives. That’s because global services management is, in effect, a new career path, contends Prof. Lewin, who believes that while such skills may be in demand for individual professionals, the group itself is underappreciated. The problem, he says, is that the career track is relatively undefined.
