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Submitted by wendii on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 16:07.
in

A sentence in this article (http://www.recruiter.co.uk/plan-talent-now-for-future-growth/1005916.art...) struck me as particularly alarming. It said "in the past, when one person left there was a rush to replace the individual on a like-for-like basis".

Hopefully, this has changed. Every time someone leaves it's an opportunity to consider the balance of skills in the team, what needs to be done in the future, everyone's growth. It may be that higher level skills are required, but equally, we may be able to save some money by using a new employee with less skills.

It's hard to predict skill requirements across an entire company, which is why companies generally do it very badly. But it's easier in a small team. And, if all the team managers did it well for their team, it would make it easier for the company. Nothing wrong with that.

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Submitted by rwwh on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 21:10.

Not only more/less, also variety.

Nicely said, Wendii.

I can very well remember what happened the first time someone voluntarily left my heterogeneous R&D team. We all sat together, including the leaving employee, to identify which of his tasks could be taken over by others left in the group, and what our most important unaddressed needs were. We ended up hiring someone with quite different qualifications.

For a small group this is not only "easier" than for a large corporation as a whole, it is also a way to turn a problem into a true opportunity.

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Submitted by Lpaine on Mon, 07/19/2010 - 13:24.

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throughout my management career, I have approached the refilling of a position as a way to improve the organization.  I am teaching my directs that they need to think the same way.

I was traveling this weekend and listening to Mark/Mike say in an older podcast that if you are not growing you are dying.  It applies here too.

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Submitted by wendii on Mon, 07/19/2010 - 15:07.

Thank you for your contributions!

@Rob - thank you for the compliment! You're right of course - a team with all the same background or skills is not good. Hiring is a opportunity to change this. Thank you!

@LPAINE I'm glad you're teaching your directs to think so broadly. Thank you!

Wendii