Good Monday morning!

From my foxhole, junior officers are the front line raters and counselors, so they are the ones who actually know what talents, strengths, etc., that their Soldiers have.  What they should be doing with this information is then communicating it higher. This can be in the form of counseling, recommendations on future positions/schools on the evaluations, awards, and or simply championing Soldiers for positions or training opportunities.

Regarding diversity and talent management, though it might be unpopular, I think that as an organization, we get too hung up with the “EO” definitions of diversity; physical attributes, ancestry, ethnicity, gender, etc. This is especially true when it comes to talent management. Because we’re so focused on the socially-pushed aspects and trying to get our formations to “look” a certain way, we lose sight of the fact that diversity is more.

Diversity includes whether or not an officer went to OCS or ROTC. It’s whether or not an NCO went to college, and what they majored in. Where has the Soldier been? Where have they deployed? What schools have they attended? What are their hobbies? What do THEY want? What are their goals, desires for future positions? If Reserve Compo, can they attend the needed training or schooling (e.g. civilian conflicts)? Has the individual ever held a civilian occupation; what was it; for how long? Is the Soldier a parent; of how many kids; how old; are any of them special needs?

Diversity includes the infinite variations of how people were raised and their experiences up to that point. So when looking at how to manage talent within an organization, looking beyond the parochial definition of diversity will absolutely set your organization up for success.