Top 5 Talent Management Strategies

One effective way for organizations to succeed in the hyper competitive and increasingly global economy is by hiring the best of talent, developing them to help them achieve their best and retaining them by creating a culture of engagement. A very few organizations have their talent shortage problems sorted. Large gaps continue to exist across all verticals within organizations – from top management to mid-level leadership ranks we well as the front lines. Talent is a scarce resource, due to which it needs to be managed to the fullest effect.

Products, pricing and ideas can be replicated, but what your competitors cannot copy is a high quality and highly engaged workforce. [easy-tweet tweet=”The ability to effectively hire, retain, deploy and engage talent at all levels is one true competitive advantage any organization can possess.” user=”@kekadotcom”] As per DDI, talent management is a critical process that ensures organizations have the quantity and quality of people in place to meet their current and future business priorities. A highly effective talent management strategy requires careful planning and analysis. Here is a look at the top talent management practices that you can adopt:

Align Your Talent Management Strategies To Your Organization Goals

This is by far, the most important task at hand for a successful talent management strategy. You need to have a clear understanding of your organization’s current and future business strategies. The quantity and quality of talent that you want for various roles should be driven by the business goals and strategies of your organization. For instance, Procter & Gamble shares the following view – “Business decisions and talent decisions are one.” As per a research by the Aberdeen Group, the best in class organizations are 34% more likely to connect succession management strategies with organizational strategies. For example, if a new product is launched in your company and you need to increase your sales force by a significant amount in the next few months, you would need to add the right people to this force who help you achieve this organizational goal.

Everyone Needs To Be Involved

Talent management is not just the responsibility of top senior management. Being a talent manager and listening to discussions of top leaders discuss strategies in closed rooms or gaining access to the same is not enough. Talent managers everywhere need to own parts of the process and serve as active members in helping to achieve talent management strategies. This is however not as easy as it sounds. Also, who really owns the process of talent management is a brimming question. Top corporate leaders, such as former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, report spending about 50 percent of their time on their people. CEO’s have got involved in recruiting top talent, mentoring and grooming high performers as well as reviewing talent pools. HR and senior leadership must work together and support each other. If the HR teams come up with new strategies , it should be analyzed and given support by top management by providing the resources, the budget and the tools necessary for its successful implementation. HR managers need to get closer to business and understand the role they play in generating revenues for their companies.

Creation Of Success Profiles

Whenever there is a need for recruitment, the talent managers need to know exactly what they are looking for. They need to develop clear job descriptions so that they know the skills, abilities and experiences needed from new employees. They should focus on success profiles – which are profiles designed to manage talent in relation to business objectives. As per Bersin by Deloitte, success profiling allows to quickly and accurately identify the competencies and motivations needed for successful job performance. It includes the identification of characteristics that describe the ideal candidate such as work experience, knowledge, skills, personal attributes and competencies, as well as a business focused description of performance. Such an activity allows to define what is required for an exceptional performance in a given job role.

Change The Way You On-Board

You should make strategic on-boarding a part of your talent management strategy. Strategic onboarding is the process of acclimating new hires to the social, cultural and work environment to new employees in a smooth and quick manner. An effective on-boarding process which makes new recruits feel welcomed is a key foundational building block to any successful talent management strategy. An onboarding process should be well planned – starting from even before the employee joins and focusing on long term engagement even after the employee has spent quite some time at the new workplace. It can be infused with activities which include highly interactive recruitment practices, realistic job previews and ensuring long term engagement and retention.

Succession Planning Is Key

Research indicates that organizations with a formalized succession management process have 50% lower turnover among high-performing employees. Succession planning should be a major part of your talent management strategy as your existing talent, if well engaged and productive, can hold a lot of significance in determining the future growth of your organization. You need to identify who your high performers are and develop them to help them move upward through the management ranks. A number of factors need to be considered while evaluating an employee’s potential like his career aspirations, past performance, work experience, willingness and drive to give their best every day. A formal succession management process can help companies to adequately prepare for the future and help them cope better when there are changes in leadership positions. Besides, succession planning and career management can also serve as powerful drivers of employee retention.

Talent management is a core HR strategy for organizations – big and small. Getting the talent management strategy right is extremely critical as the kind of talent that an organization employs will determine the level of success that it achieves in a competitive global scenario.