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Learning & Development

Published March 2008

Think Tanks Aid Government in Talent Management

  Ben Warden

Think tanks represent a wide variety of interests and ideologies from the far left to the far right and everywhere in between. Large think tanks can easily host hundreds of research areas, while a small one may focus on just one. Often seen as privately funded, political special interest groups, many exist outside this niche and study a wide range of issues from human rights and poverty to learning.

When considering think tanks, talent management may not be at the top of your mind. However, a think tank can conduct strong research in individual areas within talent management — such as driving performance and effective recruiting and retention practices — yielding objective lessons that can be implemented in private and public organizations.

Consider The Performance Institute, a private, nonpartisan think tank seeking to enhance workforce performance. Founded in 1999, the Institute primarily works with government agencies on talent management issues. However, the Institute increasingly works with private companies, which suggests to Consulting Director Jon Desenberg that talent management issues, whether public or private, are very similar.

While serving as a speech writer and policy analyst working on legislation, Desenberg was asked to head up the performance management group for the U.S. General Services Administration in 2000. In 2004, he joined The Performance Institute and said he immediately discovered the government was seriously lacking in talent management.

"As we tried to promote our agenda of improved transparency and accountability in government agencies, we realized that the real crisis was in the talent base of not only the federal government, but state and local, nonprofits and regular private businesses as well," Desenberg said.

The Performance Institute's research has uncovered several ways to improve talent management. By focusing on outcomes, identifying breakthrough strategies and promoting program effectiveness, the Institute works to advise those in need of its research.

Like most think tanks, the Institute offers information. Any organization, public or private, would have a difficult time trying to improve talent management when simple but necessary information such as demographics and employee trend data is not easily accessible or quantified. Once that information is known, Desenberg said the Institute can begin to help organizations improve talent management.

"The average age of the federal employee now is almost 49 years old, much older than it's ever been, and much older than the private sector," Desenberg said. "Here in Washington, people have begun to look to us for help and guidance and all kinds of services around not only improving their performance, developing strong performance measures and linking their budgets to goals, but really helping them where the rubber hits the road."

Desenberg said while many private companies have a natural ability to link their goals with employee performance, red tape creates headaches and roadblocks to improving talent management in government agencies. Teaching how to cut through that governmental red tape is the bread and butter of what the Institute does, and pulling methods from successful private companies is one way to show a blueprint for success.

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