Talent management is the methodology of utilizing strategic human resource planning to improve business process and to make it feasible for organizations to reach their objectives. All activities done to recruit, develop, train, engage, retain, reward, and make resources more productive forms a part of talent management as well as strategic workforce planning. A talent-management strategy should be aligned with business strategy to function more appropriately.
Talent Management
Talent management is an organization’s ability to recruit, retain, engage and produce the most talented employees available in the labor pool. Talent tangibly delivers results in key economic indicators such as top-line growth, profit, revenue, customer satisfaction, quality, productivity, cost, cycle time, and market capitalization. Good talent pool is a group of resources that has the necessary skills, knowledge, cognitive abilities, behavioral traits and the potential to do well. Talent management is also a vital and needed skill for resources in the workforce to acquire. Finding good and talented people is possible, ensuring they stay engaged is the challenge. Organizations always want to retain top talent that produces measurable results. However, satisfied employees stay the course, while disengaged employees look for greener pastures.
Employee Evaluations
From a talent management perspective, employee evaluations involve two important areas of consideration: performance and potential. Employee performance within a specific job has always been a standard evaluation measurement tool of the profitability of an employee. However, talent management also seeks to focus on an employee’s potential, meaning an employee’s future performance, under favorable circumstances if given the right training for the development of skills, and delegated increased responsibility.
The term “talent management” is usually associated with competency-based management. Talent management decisions are often driven by a set of organizational core competencies as well as job-specific and role-based competencies. The competency set may include knowledge, skills, experience, and personal traits (demonstrated through defined behaviors). Older competency models might also contain attributes that in some cases predict success such as Alma mater, tenure, and diversity factors.
Talent Marketplace
A talent marketplace is an employee training and development strategy that is put in place within the workplace. It is found to be most result oriented for organizations where the most talented employees can pick and choose the projects and tasks that are ideal for the specific employee. An ideal setting is where productivity is employee-centric. The point of activating a talent marketplace within a department is to utilize and connect an individual’s particular skills (project management or specialized technical knowledge in a given field) with the task at hand.
How can you Streamline Talent Management Strategies in an Organization?
- Define company culture Corporate culture refers to the shared beliefs and traits that determine how an organization functions. It includes a variety of aspects such as beliefs, values, norms, ethics and work environment. Employees who fit in with the company culture in a company tends to be more productive and in a happy space.
- Customize the benefits package Employers should build a employee centric and customized benefits package that caters to employee needs which should include work flexibility, paid vacations, performance based incentives, paid sick leaves, health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, retirement options, and short and long term disability insurance.
- Measure and improve employee satisfaction levels Company should initiate steps to raise employee satisfaction levels by improving work life balance, scheduling team outings, organizing celebrations at workplace for occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries, providing work from home options among other methods. Focus should be on reducing stress levels for employees. Advice staff to exercise regularly, make positive lifestyle changes. Management should also create awareness and inform employees on the need to stay healthy.
- Offer career development programs in your organization Employers can create an atmosphere of growth and learning by providing career development programs for employees to learn new skills, stay updated and relevant. Help them fulfill their career goals with a long term plan. Organize training programs, courses, seminars, classes and workshops to promote learning and encourage employees to participate and acquire new skills.
- Implement a tangible employee recognition program Employee recognition is the timely, informal or formal acknowledgement of a person’s or team’s behavior, effort or business result that supports the organization’s goals and values, and which has clearly been beyond normal expectations. It can be seen as a communication tool that reinforces and rewards the most important outcomes people create for your business. When you recognize people effectively, you reinforce, with your chosen means of recognition, the actions and behaviors you most want to see people repeat. Nearly six out of 10 HR professionals say top management fails to make recognition a priority, and only 38 percent say top managers are very involved in employee recognition and lead by example.
