The Army is working to improve the way it acquires, employs, develops, and retains human capital to optimize the talent management of all Army Professionals and teams for their mutual benefit so they can thrive and “Win in a Complex World.”
DoD’s acting personnel chief lays out the Pentagon’s plans to manage for talent, not just time served.
Consider the U.S. commitment to an all-volunteer military, its global engagement in an era of persistent conflict, and evolving changes in its domestic labor market. Taken together, do they suggest the need for a new and comprehensive human capital strategy recognizing the interdependency of accessing, developing, retaining and employing talent? How might building a talent-focused strategy around this four-activity human capital model better posture the Army for success? What are the national security implications of status-quo personnel management?
If the Army truly intends to prevail against the threats of an increasingly uncertain global environment, it must move beyond the “talk” and actually “walk the walk” of regional alignment. Talent management will be critical to success.
What is talent? Who has it? What’s the difference between “competent” and “talented?” Given that the Army currently benchmarks against the former, how does shifting focus towards the latter change things? If the Army embraces “talent,” what role does talent management play?
Over the years, the Army has needed both specialists and generalists. How does it accommodate both deep and broad talent? What talents should the United States Army seek in its officers? Lastly, the pathway to general officership and command is relatively narrow in the Army’s current officer career model – how does the Army change a culture that defines success narrowly?
