Playmaking in the Talent Space: Strategic Sourcing SpecOps Gaining Steam

Playmaking with the Talent Acquisition world now includes the tactical suite of Strategic Sourcing.  Put simply, organizations are starting to not just talk the talk, but walk the walk, when it comes to thinking of talent (and the identification, engagement, and acquisition of that talent) in ways that mirror military special operations.  As I mentioned at SourceCon 2008, Strategic Sourcing is THE correlary to special operations manuevers in the competitive marketplace.

But what exactly does it mean to inject the term 'Strategic' into 'Strategic Sourcing'?  Let's be honest: the word 'Strategic' is often overused and mis-implied . . . it's as if the bar is raised the moment we toss those 9 letters into a conversation about Talent Acquisition.  Anyone who is a Sun Tzu or Colin Powell fan knows that "Strategy dictates tactics" . . . however, as Alan Kelly so aptly offers, there is a gray area between these two areas - and within that gray area are a set of "plays" that we can run to enhance our relative position on the battlefield or in the marketplace.

Within our practice, we view strategy as the set of data, information, perceptions, and evolving variables that lead us to run plays for our clients.  Given that our firm is founded by two former special-operations trained service-members (U.S. Marines and U.S. Army), we bring a unique viewpoint to the table.  Some of our maneuvers are discrete; some are overt.  Some are reconnaissance measures (intelligence-gathering measures), while others are full frontal assaults on an organization's competition (direct sourcing given all 'weapons' at our disposal to take a 'target of opportunity').   We understand that, at the end of the day, our firm's value proposition is to bring battle-tested playmaking ability to the table.  It's who we are - it's what we do.  So when you're ready to consider your next play (or, more likely, set of plays), drop me a line.