A constellation of forces has recently been converging and, in the process, drawing strategic ITM into the leadership spotlight. While a handful of early adopter organizations have grasped the importance of integrated talent management for long-term success, competition is driving many more organizations to make talent management a higher priority. Here are some of the more powerful forces provoking companies to take action:

Demographic Change: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has forecasted a shortfall of 10 million workers by 2010, with the greatest deficit occurring among those aged 25 to 44 – prime working years. Widespread worker scarcity will also make top talent more difficult to recruit and retain, so it is now an imperative to improve all aspects of talent management.

Information Economy: In the Information Age, knowledge has become the core of our economy. Workers are therefore more central to the organization. Companies need to be more cognizant of the skills and competencies required in their workforce so they are prepared to recruit, develop and train the precise talent required to fill their jobs.

Globalization: Strategic management of talent in complex multinational organizations significantly increases the complexity of aligning staffing with global objectives. Foreign acquisitions and mergers can dramatically and suddenly complicate the task of talent-strategy alignment.

Management Accountability: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the corporate scandals that precipitated it drew the close attention of regulators and investors to how companies manage or mismanage human as well as financial capital. Such heightened scrutiny also draws public attention, not only to noncompliance issues, but also to how well or poorly firms manage their vital human assets.

Mergers and Acquisitions: Acquiring or merging with another company has become a common means for gaining market share, developing new capabilities, and penetrating new market segments. However, merging workforces invariably results in some degree of redundancy and misalignment, and therefore performance inefficiency that accompanies a shift in strategic objectives. Coping with this generally requires a realignment, and sometimes redeployment, of the newly-expanded workforce.