Welcome to the nerve center of open talent.
Agenda
Transform Work is a gathering of the world’s leading experts and businesses in the open talent economy. Let’s do this together.
State of the Open Talent Economy
Every established company that was built on traditional talent practices is experiencing an existential crisis; one that shows no signs of abating and that is almost certain to get worse. While COVID-19 was the catalyst, the trend has been building for some time. The talent shortage around digital work has been reported for years, but companies mostly ignored the problem, confident that they would somehow be exempt, that they would always be able to attract and retain the best of the best.
The fallout from COVID-19 has made it impossible to deny the talent crisis, while shining a blinding light on the myriads of ways that traditional organizations fail to meet their employees’ changing needs. In this session we’ll dive into where we’ve been, where we are now, and where we are heading.
What is a Networked Organization?
The term “Networked Organization” has been around for more than a decade to describe an organization in which control is decentralized, and there is a web of formal and informal connections enabling work to get done. While that’s important, we believe it is insufficient in a digitally connected world in which businesses can tap into a global workforce ecosystem. Traditional hierarchical organizations are dying.
When networked companies think about talent, they don’t just think about the limited human resources in their own silos, but all of the skills and knowledge they can tap all over the globe. We’ll show you why an open mindset when thinking about talent opens up a whole new range of possibilities.
Creating a Center of Excellence
Think of the Center of Excellence as the map. Firstly, it provides stability by creating processes that work for your organization’s ability and appetite. It’s the go-to place to execute open talent projects. Secondly, it offers advice and coaching to enable and encourage people across the organization to adapt to and adopt the new ways of working. Thirdly, it makes sure that the needs match up with the talent. In this regard, we know that the COE is a platform of platforms. There are more than 1,000 on-demand and crowdsourcing platforms out there. We’ll help you make sense of it all.
Build an External Talent Cloud
Many people want to jump right in and start building an external talent cloud when they start to adopt open systems and tools. This is the phase where the juiciest, most fulfilling learning can take place and the most exciting results can occur. But organizations that jump ahead without due diligence, often have trouble gaining traction because they didn’t spend the time to nurture and evolve their internal culture to accept this new way of working or because they didn’t effectively establish the business or technology systems needed to succeed.
Goals for building an external talent cloud are to expand the repertoire of platforms the organization is working with, to begin building the infrastructure and systems that will host the new program, and to tend to the culture with a targeted communication program. Most organizations at this point have the clout and momentum to exploit the low-level task writ large while exploring the boundaries of open talent and crowdsourcing principles.
Build an Internal Talent Marketplace
There’s no better time than now to re-think how internal marketplaces work. Internal open talent enables sharing of resources across divisions and silos, eliminating the problem of competition for talent and putting in place the mechanisms to allow different parts of the organization to access the right internal people with the right skills at the right time to meet their particular need.
We know people are leaving jobs because work is not satisfying and leaders need to think about trying something new, or they are going to lose more workers. People want to work on new and exciting things and an internal marketplace is a means for them to do so. In large companies, that talent you need may still be in the organization but just not visible or accessible to you. We’ll teach you how to remove that barrier and hence to retain talent.
Investing in the Open Talent Economy
In this panel discussion we’ll discuss how to get venture capital for an open talent platform, and the importance of a clear and compelling business plan that outlines the value proposition and potential market fit. Panelists will highlight the need for a strong and experienced team with a track record of success in building and scaling startups. Other key topics will be a well-defined revenue model, a focus on user experience, and a clear understanding of the competitive landscape. We’ll all touch upon the importance of building relationships with potential investors and demonstrating a strong commitment to executing the plan.
Build Open Innovation Capability
Crowdsourcing is the granddaddy of open talent tools. Though many people use the terms open talent and crowdsourcing interchangeably, there are clear differences. While freelancing is about hiring people’s capabilities on a contingent basis, crowdsourcing is about tapping into the wisdom of the crowd to solve specific problems.
Open innovation challenges give a mechanism for inviting experts in a broad range of fields to present their solutions to a given challenge or problem in order to win a prize or reward. In this session we will dive into how to present challenges and only pay for solutions that make sense to you or the ones that you value.
Scale and Transform Your Networked Organization
You’ve built a solid foundation. Now what?
With your new knowledge and skill, and the ability to tap into a global network of experts there is nothing out of reach. The sky’s the limit. We’ll show you everything that’s possible.
Overcoming Obstacles
Security, compliance, risk and culture are all top of mind when implementing open talent. It is important to create policies and procedures to ensure candidates are vetted and onboarded in a secure and compliant manner. You’ll need to establish clear guidelines for data privacy and confidentiality, and to provide adequate training and resources to ensure everyone adheres to these policies. Other key topics of discussion will be risk management, liability issues, and cultural considerations when working with a geographically dispersed workforce. We’ll dig into the importance of taking a proactive and holistic approach to managing open talent, with a focus on building a culture of trust, respect, and collaboration.
Freelancer First
Open Assembly’s mission is to make the industry come together and transform work for a billion people by 2025. In order to achieve this goal we need to put the freelancer first. We need to listen, learn and take action to build a new culture, generate a movement, and change the world.
In this session we will hear from freelancers and platforms about what they are doing to put freelancers first.
Are you ready to transform work?
Changes are made by those who show up. Those who understand the value of learning knowledge sharing and networking. We are limiting this event to 150 attendees. We want quality not quantity. If you are ready to learn, share your experiences, and believe you can make a lasting impact on your organization, then come and climb with us.