Knowledge at the service of talent attraction and retention

The Government of Aragon is promoting the organization of an Aragonese Talent Center. Thinkers Co is a company committed to this task. We are aware of the need to generate positive dynamics in our environment in order to enhance people’s capacities and thus enrich companies and society. We share the need for the processes to promote the development of talent to subsequently allow valuable people to remain in the territory. And beyond that, also making Aragon a destination for talent from other territories. For this reason, we are involved in this process of defining the Aragonese Talent Center.

Our role is to agitate reflection, heat up debate, promote a meeting of knowledge, experience and proactivity from which ideas emerge that allow establishing some strategic lines for the definition of the Center and its strategic value.

So, let’s get to work, we organize a co-creation session.
It was held on March 29, by the hand of the European Center for Business and Innovation (CEEIAragón) in Zaragoza. About twenty participants joined us.

They came from diverse sectors: entrepreneurs, consultants, startups, training (public and private sectors), research and public administration.In line with the objectives set, our task during the co-creation session consisted of collecting the wealth of experience and knowledge on the generation of talent to offer ideas, axes and lines of action.

Juan Gasca was in charge of leading the meeting, as facilitator of an enriching process structured in a work in three phases: how is the situation of Aragon in the empowerment of talent (as is), how it should be (to be) and the barriers to jump from the present to the future

The three stages had to be addressed in these fields or sectors: training and development; business tissue; wages and taxation; public institutions; projection/vision. These are those areas in which a previous survey, also launched by Thinkers Co, allowed us to observe frictions, contradictions or ballasts.

The survey preceded our design thought process, offering as levers for debate the conclusions obtained from the responses of 84 people who responded, either individually or on behalf of institutions, administrations and companies.

It was not a survey of scientific claims, but a tool to take the pulse of the situation with qualified participants, with a similar extraction to the co-creation session: companies from different sectors and sizes, the field of teaching and research, and the public sector.

After the presentation of the results of the survey, and as an “ice-breaker”, a first contribution of ideas about the situation was generated, before promoting a debate that outlined a map of the current situation (As is). We put the focus on the now: where we are and what is the starting situation (Training, Opportunities, Management Tools…).

From the current fixed photo, the groups went on to propose what the future of Aragón should be like to favor talent and also to retain or attract it (To be). Therefore, we encourage you to define how we would like or should be as a projection model and goal to be achieved.

It must be emphasized that the objective was descriptive and not evaluative. That is to say: how the future should be but not who should make it that way, because the future is a common thing.

And, finally, we invite you to establish what factors, attitudes or situations prevent the tomorrow that we conceive from being achievable (barriers); that is, everything that can prevent us from a successful journey from now to the future that we propose as a model.

In summary, we intended to establish a team reflection, understanding among all where we start from and defining a vision to achieve that guides possible guidelines for action.