In the last year, an increasing number of clients have asked us about Talent Management. Their motivation is varied, but it always comes down to similar issues:
How do I retain my existing Talent?
What can I do to attract the right Talent into my business?
What can I do to ensure that I develop Talent from within?
The question I usually ask them in return is, "is this a business survival issue for you, or just something motivated by HR?" When organisations are serious about talent management, then we can do something about it.
The reality is that despite the economic crisis hitting most businesses, Talent is a major global issue. Surveys conducted in countries all over the world report:
Attracting and retaining talent is a pressing priority. Most industrial countries including India and China are flagging shortages of skilled labour.
Acute talent shortages are being experienced in growth markets, specialised skills, and business leadership. High percentages of companies are identifying talent shortages across the organisation.
In South Africa, despite the fact that young people are returning to our country in droves, we are feeling real shortages of skill in most professional arenas, including such specialities as actuarial, accounting, auditing, programme management, business analysts, engineers, medicine, etc.
The right talent is the issue
Given the intense focus on the linkage between talent and an organisation's business challenges and strategies, if you are to achieve effective strategy execution, you will require:
The right people
with the right skills, knowledge and attitude,
in the right roles
at the right time.
There is no single definition of right - what is right for one organisation will be different from another. Each organisation has its own unique style and culture, different strategic focus areas and priorities.
There is no standard global best practice to follow. It is the effectiveness of talent management in your organisation, as an outcome, which drives evaluation as world-class. What is clear though is that you cannot view Talent Management as an intervention, or programme, that you embark upon in isolation.
What is Talent Management?
Talent management is a proactive and integrated series of management actions designed to ensure that an organisation has a supply of best-fit, highly productive individuals in the right job, at the right time.
It is a continuous process aimed at ensuring you have the talent capacity to meet your current and future business needs. It integrates previously independent functions such as recruiting, retention, workforce planning, employment branding, metrics, orientation and redeployment into a seamless process.
Talent Management requires a mindset that goes beyond just talk, and moves towards a holistic and integrated approach to leveraging the greatest competitive advantage from your people. It is about those thoughts and actions that, consistently, over time, become organisational culture.
A Process
One way of viewing talent management that we worked on for a client of ours, is illustrated by a circular process diagram of - Develop - Attract - Retain - Engage; it is a process that an organisation needs to continuously work with. Talent management is the fundamental approach to the way you deal with your people. You need to create a business mindset that fully embraces the concept that people are critical resources.
You cannot shift the responsibility for managing talent to your HR practitioners. It is a fundamental accountability of every line manager. The question is "how do you go about creating this mindset, and equip your managers with the skills they need to engage in the process of talent management?"
Unpack the talent target for your organisational strategy - your ultimate business aim must be to increase overall productivity, effectiveness and competitiveness through the improved attraction, retention, and utilisation of talent.
Pay attention to the organisation culture that will attract the talent that you need. Why would exceptional talent want to work for you? What do you offer that other organisations do not?
Equip managers to create the reality that will allow real talent management to flourish.
Other questions that you need to explore include:
What talent do you need?
Where can you source the talent you need?
How will you ensure that you select the right people?
Once you get the right individual into your organisation - how will you engage with him/her to maximise contribution?
What do you need to do to develop and grow talent from within?
How do I retain my existing Talent?
What can I do to attract the right Talent into my business?
What can I do to ensure that I develop Talent from within?
The question I usually ask them in return is, "is this a business survival issue for you, or just something motivated by HR?" When organisations are serious about talent management, then we can do something about it.
The reality is that despite the economic crisis hitting most businesses, Talent is a major global issue. Surveys conducted in countries all over the world report:
Attracting and retaining talent is a pressing priority. Most industrial countries including India and China are flagging shortages of skilled labour.
Acute talent shortages are being experienced in growth markets, specialised skills, and business leadership. High percentages of companies are identifying talent shortages across the organisation.
In South Africa, despite the fact that young people are returning to our country in droves, we are feeling real shortages of skill in most professional arenas, including such specialities as actuarial, accounting, auditing, programme management, business analysts, engineers, medicine, etc.
The right talent is the issue
Given the intense focus on the linkage between talent and an organisation's business challenges and strategies, if you are to achieve effective strategy execution, you will require:
The right people
with the right skills, knowledge and attitude,
in the right roles
at the right time.
There is no single definition of right - what is right for one organisation will be different from another. Each organisation has its own unique style and culture, different strategic focus areas and priorities.
There is no standard global best practice to follow. It is the effectiveness of talent management in your organisation, as an outcome, which drives evaluation as world-class. What is clear though is that you cannot view Talent Management as an intervention, or programme, that you embark upon in isolation.
What is Talent Management?
Talent management is a proactive and integrated series of management actions designed to ensure that an organisation has a supply of best-fit, highly productive individuals in the right job, at the right time.
It is a continuous process aimed at ensuring you have the talent capacity to meet your current and future business needs. It integrates previously independent functions such as recruiting, retention, workforce planning, employment branding, metrics, orientation and redeployment into a seamless process.
Talent Management requires a mindset that goes beyond just talk, and moves towards a holistic and integrated approach to leveraging the greatest competitive advantage from your people. It is about those thoughts and actions that, consistently, over time, become organisational culture.
A Process
One way of viewing talent management that we worked on for a client of ours, is illustrated by a circular process diagram of - Develop - Attract - Retain - Engage; it is a process that an organisation needs to continuously work with. Talent management is the fundamental approach to the way you deal with your people. You need to create a business mindset that fully embraces the concept that people are critical resources.
You cannot shift the responsibility for managing talent to your HR practitioners. It is a fundamental accountability of every line manager. The question is "how do you go about creating this mindset, and equip your managers with the skills they need to engage in the process of talent management?"
Unpack the talent target for your organisational strategy - your ultimate business aim must be to increase overall productivity, effectiveness and competitiveness through the improved attraction, retention, and utilisation of talent.
Pay attention to the organisation culture that will attract the talent that you need. Why would exceptional talent want to work for you? What do you offer that other organisations do not?
Equip managers to create the reality that will allow real talent management to flourish.
Other questions that you need to explore include:
What talent do you need?
Where can you source the talent you need?
How will you ensure that you select the right people?
Once you get the right individual into your organisation - how will you engage with him/her to maximise contribution?
What do you need to do to develop and grow talent from within?
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