Talent Management

What Is Talent Management?

Talent management is the method an organization uses to ensure it has the right people in the right positions to help a company achieve its goals. This includes careful workforce planning, targeted recruiting, and strategic hiring. It also involves ongoing efforts to retain employees through career growth and development.

Organizations can take specific actions to shape their workforce and reach essential talent management objectives, such as:

• Creating a strong company brand and positive reputation to attract the best employees
• Using referral programs to find qualified, pre-vetted candidates who are most likely to do well and stay longer
• Onboarding, inboarding (moving or promoting current employees), and retaining efficiently to increase productivity and leverage key experience
• Making a succession plan that provides a pipeline of employees who can easily fill crucial, vacant positions
• Training employees to help them grow and increase performance
• Analyzing data to meet key performance indicators (KPIs) and achieve overall organizational goals

Keep in Mind: Workforce talent isn’t solely defined as someone who is a high performer, nor is it just a specific high-level activity. Talent can mean different things to different departments, organizations, and industries, and also entails soft skills like motivation, problem-solving, and communication.

What Is the Purpose of Talent Management?

Talent management is used to identify, recruit, and retain top-notch employees. But on a broad, long-term scale, its purposes are to:

• Increase employee engagement and satisfaction
• Help your organization remain competitive in its industry and marketplace
• Reduce employee turnover, which saves money in recruitment and training

Who Is Responsible for Talent Management?

While the HR department plays a primary role in the development and execution of a talent management strategy, it should be an organization-wide effort. Executives, middle managers, and employees all contribute in their own ways, and they must work together to create a positive company culture that supports and nurtures its team.

The HR department’s role is to:

• Identify bottlenecks in talent management.
• Propose talent management strategies.
• Lead the efforts in implementing and executing these strategies.

The executive’s role is to:

• Approve talent management strategies and the framework to achieve them.
• Commit to HR’s proposed approaches and methods.
• Foster management’s engagement in the processes.

The middle manager’s role is to:

• Use the provided tools and processes to identify, develop, and cultivate internal talent.
• Engage employees and empower them to discover and develop their skills.
• Evaluate and document employee performance improvement.

The employee’s role is to:

• Execute company-aligned performance goals.
• Offer feedback on the development and growth opportunities available.
• Actively participate in their career development plan.

How to Create a Talent Management Strategy

Talent management processes may look a little different for each business. A personalized, agile approach can help you meet the unique needs of your organization and evolve as those needs change down the road. The key steps in a talent management strategy include:

• Step 1: Identify your company’s priorities and goals, especially those led by new initiatives.
• Step 2: Pinpoint internal and external challenges that impact your ability to meet organizational goals.
• Step 3: Assess where your company is versus where you want it to be in the near future, and consider the risks of not filling those gaps.
• Step 4: Gain executive buy-in and communicate strategies to middle management and employees.
• Step 5: Define measures of success in both implementation and effectiveness.
• Step 6: Inventory every current talent management process and adjust as needed.
• Step 7: Track, measure, and evaluate your company’s progress and successes.

What Is a Talent Management System?

A talent management system helps organizations carry out their strategies by collecting, storing, and analyzing information related to potential and current employees. It strikes a balance between satisfying immediate workforce needs and mapping out long-term solutions. Most talent management systems include three key components:

• Identifying gaps and planning to address them: This increases company efficiency and productivity, as well as the overall quality of your workforce.
• Recruiting and hiring employees: Finding people to fill necessary positions helps your company reach its overall goals.
• Growing and developing current employees: These efforts boost your retention strategy, employee engagement, and your organization’s brand.