Talent management

Talent management refers to the skills of attracting highly skilled workers, of integrating new workers, and developing and retaining current workers to meet current and future business objectives. Talent management[1] in this context does not refer to the management of entertainers. Companies engaging in a talent management strategy shift the responsibility of employees from the human resources department to all managers throughout the organization [1]. The process of attracting and retaining profitable employees, as it is increasingly more competitive between firms and of strategic importance, has come to be known as "the war for talent." Talent management is also known as HCM (Human Capital Management). The term "talent management" means different things to different organizations. To some it is about the management of high-worth individuals or "the talented" whilst to others it is about how talent is managed generally - i.e. on the assumption that all people have talent which should be identified and liberated A talent management system must be worked into the business strategy and implemented in daily processes throughout the company as a whole. It cannot be left solely to the human resources department to attract and retain employees, but rather must be practiced at all levels of the organization. The business strategy must include responsibilities for line managers to develop the skills of their immediate subordinates. Divisions within the company should be openly sharing information with other departments in order for employees to gain knowledge of the overall organizational objectives.[5] Companies that focus on developing their talent integrate plans and processes to track and manage their employee talent, including the following:

Sourcing, attracting, recruiting and onboarding qualified candidates with competitive backgrounds Managing and defining competitive salaries Training and development opportunities Performance management processes Retention programs Promotion and transitioning[6][copyright violation?]

The talent management strategy may be supported by technology such as HRIS (HR Information Systems) or HRMS (HR Management Systems). Modern techniques also use Competency-based management methodologies to capture and utilize competencies appropriate to strategically drive an organization's long term plans. The major aspects of talent management practiced within an organization must consistently include:[9]

performance management leadership development workforce planning/identifying talent gaps recruiting

Talent Review
To develop a clear talent management strategy and to increase awareness of available talent and successors, all organizations should conduct regular Talent Review meetings to be prepared for a variety of business changes, such as mergers, company growth, or a decrease in talent needs. In the same way that all companies have regular meetings and reports regarding their financial status and budgetary needs, the Talent Review meeting is designed to review the current talent status and future successor needs in the organization. The Talent Review meeting is an important part of the overall talent management process; it is designed to review the performance and career potential of employees, to discuss possible vacancy risks of current employees, to identify successors and top talent in the organization, and to create development action plans to prepare employees for future roles in the organization. "This is what talent management is all about gathering information about talent, analyzing their career interests and organizational business needs, identifying top talent and successes, and developing these individuals to reduce the risk of losing the best people and experiencing extensive leadership gaps when turnover occurs

Talent management definition

A conscious, deliberate approach undertaken to attract, develop and retain people with the aptitude and abilities to meet current and future organisational needs. Talent management involves individual and organisational development in response to a changing and complex operating environment. It includes the creation and maintenance of a supportive, people oriented organisation culture.

Importance of talent management

Like human capital, talent management is gaining increased attention. Talent management (TM) brings together a number of important human resources (HR) and management initiatives. Organisations that formally decide to "manage their talent" undertake a strategic analysis of their current HR processes. This is to ensure that a co-ordinated, performance oriented approach is adopted. Quite often, organisations adopting a TM approach will focus on co-ordinating and integrating: Recruitment - ensuring the right people are attracted to the organisation.

Retention - developing and implementing practices that reward and support employees. Employee development - ensuring continuous informal and formal learning and development. Leadership and "high potential employee" development - specific development programs for existing and future leaders. Performance management - specific processes that nurture and support performance, including feedback/measurement. Workforce planning - planning for business and general changes, including the older workforce and current/future skills shortages. Culture - development of a positive, progressive and high performance "way of operating".

An important step is to identify the staff or employees (people and positions) that are critical to the organisation. They do not necessarily have to be senior staff members. Many organisations lost a lot of "organisational knowledge" in the downsizing exercises of a few years ago. The impact of the loss was not immediately apparent. However, it did not take long for many companies to realise their mistake when they did not have people with the knowledge and skills to either anticipate or solve problems that arose. The current discussions about skill shortages and the ageing population are also helping organisations to focus on the talent management issue. It may not be possible to simply go out and recruit new people to meet operational needs. Many leading companies have decided to develop their own people, rather than trying to hire fully skilled workers.

What is Talent Management? Talent management has a variety of definitions depending on the company defining it. It encompasses recruiting employees, onboarding them into the organization, providing them professional development opportunities, performance management activities, career path development and succession planning. According to Wikipedia, talent management is defined as the process of developing and integrating new employees, developing and retaining current employees, and attracting highly skilled employees to work for a particular company. Talent management is also frequently called Human Capital Management by many larger organizations.

Successful Talent Management

Four Fundamental Elements for Program Success
Mar 15, 2008 Valerie Schmidt
This article describes the four key elements that are needed for a successful talent management initiative.

Why is starting a talent management initiative important? One reason is that one-fifth of this country's large, established companies will be losing 40 percent or more of their top-level talent in the next five years. (Source: Development Dimensions International). And, during the same period, the replacement pool of 35 to 44 year olds will decline by 15 percent. (Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics). The need is real and the success or failure of a TM initiative can impact both profitability and competitive edge.

Four Fundamental Elements for Program Success

While the Wikipedia definition for Talent Management, or TM, provides a scope for the HR activities associated with managing human capital, it provides no specific direction on how to turn scope and theory into business success. With so many different interpretations of what managing corporate talent really means, it is no wonder that launching a TM initiative can feel like heading a ship into uncharted waters. Fortunately, there are some common, fundamental elements that will bring focus and success to any talent management program. Make sure to include these elements to ensure success regardless of the size and breadth of the talent management initiative.

Program Champion
The program champion is a single individual who takes personal responsibility for the success of the talent management initiative. This individual does not do all the work! The champions role is to ensure that any resistance is dealt with effectively. Because this is such a crucial role, the program champion should be as high up in the management hierarchy as possible. The best results are achieved when the CEO, President, Board Chairman, or their direct report has the role of the program champion. Without high level management support, a TM initiative will be plagued and undermined by both overt and covert resistance to the plan.

Employee Involvement
Many employees greet new programs with an experience-based attitude that goes something like, this is just another one of managements wacky ideas. If we just wait it out, things will get back to normal. Employees who have no involvement in defining a process that will greatly affect their work and career have little or no loyalty to the program. This is a deep hole from which to start a program that is designed to attract, retain, and grow the best contributors. One solution is to create a cross-organizational task force. Avoid using only managers. They are only one part of the organization that will be affected by the talent management initiative. The better the cross-section of the workforce on the TM task-force, the better the program buy-in will be. Let the program champion set the scope and empower the task-force team. Then, let the team nominate a leader, create the details and advise the program champion on the most effective schedule for the program rollout.

Targeted Rollout

Once the details of the talent management initiative are established, take a phased approach to implementing the plan. Choose an area of the business that is relatively safe to test the plan. A safe area is one where discovering a process mistake will not be seriously costly to the company.

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Market the TM plan to the employees as part of the rollout. Treat the initiative as you would treat a new product launch to customers. Speak to the value proposition of the TM initiative to the individual employees as well as to the company. Build excitement, make the plan desirable, and make it fun.

Build on Success
Following the above three steps will greatly enhance the success of a talent management initiative. Launch each step of the rollout carefully so the program value itself is enhanced. Allow the rollout plan to be validated and tuned to fit the organization so that the TM initiative develops a positive aura. This builds momentum from success. Unfortunately, rollout failures can easily undermine success so each phase is crucial to the whole initiative. Make a commitment to include these four fundamental elements. Doing so can make the difference between a successful talent management program and a program that fails to create an environment that attracts and retains the talent you need to stay competitive