Review: The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age

In this review, I discuss the book The Alliance, which I recently wrote about in the article Do German cars have a future? had mentioned. The book is quite controversial. To anticipate, the approach described in it will probably mobilize works councils and trade unions because it would de facto make temporary contracts the rule. At the same time, it is also a call for more honesty in professional relationships. This is necessary in order to remain competitive in today's aggressive market.

Summary

This book is not about Systems Engineering. Instead, it is about how employees and employers can build an honest partnership that benefits both parties. This alliance is relevant to SE in two ways: Firstly, I have written several times about how important the human factor is in SE. Secondly, systems engineers (and the readers of this blog) are sought-after professionals who need such good management that they can work effectively without frustration.

The solution is simple in principle: both parties agree on a "tour of duty" lasting 2-5 years. This has a defined end and a clear result that benefits the employer and strengthens the employee's market value. After one tour, either the next one follows, or the employee moves to another department - or company - for the next tour of duty.

Target group: Managers, talented employees, entrepreneurial employees.

Read on to find out how many stars I gave the book.

Profile

Rating: ★★★★★ I have always been a friend of honesty and integrity. This book puts an end to a lie that harms both employers and employees. The proposed solution is likely to be seen as controversial, especially in Germany, and certainly cannot be implemented here as described. Nevertheless, this book is important because it stimulates a long overdue discussion.

Authors: Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, Chris Yeh

Acquire: The book is only available in English in the usual formats (The Alliance at Amazon)

Website: There is a separate website for the book: www.theallianceframework.com

Details: The book begins with the lie, which is even more pronounced in the US environment than in Germany: a new employee has his first day at work and the boss tells him that the company is a "big family" that won't let the individual down. But during a meeting with the HR department in the afternoon, it is briefly explained to him that he can be dismissed after the probationary period with 14 days' notice, even without cause. The fact that the boss - and many other people involved - maintain the old image of the "company as a family" is a problem in many respects. Because an employee's response is that loyalty is only a pretense. The problem described here was taken up by one of the authors, Reid Hoffman, as the basis for the business model of the company he co-founded, LinkedIn.

Tour of Duty

The book is about the alliance between employer and employee. The authors suggest putting aside the "lie" of lifelong employment and instead structuring time with the employer in "tours of duty". This military-derived term means that the two parties only work together for a limited time to achieve a goal that is important to both. For the employer, this is something that has a direct or indirect impact on business success: launching a new product, developing a market, etc. For the employee, it is something that fulfills and advances their career. In order to define a meaningful tour of duty, it is therefore important for both parties to have clear objectives and guiding principles. The tour should essentially reflect the goals of both parties. Furthermore, the result should be measurable.

This approach means that both employer and employee are motivated to achieve the goal and thus help both. This also drastically reduces the risk of an employee leaving the project or the company at an inopportune time. This is because it is also much more attractive for the employee to complete a tour cleanly, as they can then note this as a success on their CV.

A tour also makes it much easier to talk openly about your future career, whether with another tour or in a company. The alumni networks successfully used by many companies, which are often organized on LinkedIn, are also discussed here.

Three types of Tours of Duty

There are three types of tours:

• Rotational - This tour is often used for new or inexperienced employees. The employee goes through a fixed program within a set time frame in order to acquire specific knowledge.
• Transformational - This tour is personalized and usually relates to a specific mission (e.g. product launch) that positively "transforms" both the company and the employee.
• Foundational - This tour has a similar commitment to a traditional workplace, where the employee identifies with the company.

In practice, the transformational tour is the most common, and a separate chapter is dedicated to this tour.

The network

As the title suggests, the network plays an important role. This is because the employee hopes to gain access to the employee's network. For this reason, a separate chapter deals with how to use employees' networks effectively.

But the network can continue to be used even if the employee leaves the department or company. Two further chapters are devoted to the value of an alumni network and how to build an alumni network.

The Alliance in Germany

The book is thoroughly influenced by the US environment, and especially by Silicon Valley. But in Germany we have a completely different environment, where the "hire and fire" mentality is not (yet) practiced to such an extreme, or cannot be practiced at all from a purely legal point of view, fortunately! But many of the ideas are valuable as they ensure highly motivated employees, which in turn ensures competitiveness. At the same time, there is a danger that the "tour of duty" will be used as a lazy justification for fixed-term contracts. And I can well imagine that even the discussion of temporary tours will set off alarm bells at the works council.

While the tour of duty is establishing itself as a management tool in innovative companies in the US, I can imagine that talented employees in Germany will start to demand it in order to systematically build their career. Although this is good for the employees, it only helps Germany as a business location to a limited extent.

I would be very interested in my readers' opinions on this topic. You can also comment anonymously in the comments box below.