How to Develop a Talent Management Strategy

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1 How to Develop a Talent Management Strategy TM Raising your profile and adding real value to your organisation The author of this article was Lucinda Carney a business psychologist with more than 15 years experience in Corporate L&D. You can contact her or another member of the Advance Change team on info@advancechange.com

2 Talent Management is a really hot topic at the moment although it could be seen as quite confusing and in some cases problematic. However, if you are an HR or L&D professional it allows you to raise your profile and add real value to your organisation as it is a way of linking all your people activities to the business or organisational strategy. Themes which fit into Talent Management might be: Employee engagement; Recruitment models and retention strategies; Role profiling to measure or develop key skills e.g. technical or leadership competence; Performance Management; Learning & Development including Management & Leadership skill development and succession planning. In short it is all about aligning systems and processes to recruit the best people then manage, develop and retain them. What is a Talent Management Strategy? A Talent Management Strategy shows how the business strategy and/or key organisational goals are aligned with internal people related drivers and activities. This is done in a way that maximises the chance of creating synergies and positive results in both areas. Why is it valuable? It s valuable because it shows the relationship between strategic business or organisational outcomes and people initiatives. This can give them the chance to be taken seriously and demonstrate real value by preventing them being devalued when time or budget pressures arise. It helps the whole organisation understand the purpose of certain people orientated initiatives which make them more compelling and meaningful, e.g. Employee engagement isn t just about how happy people are, we want to measure and improve it because it has been proven to correlate with improved business and organisational outcomes. How to develop a Talent Management Strategy: 1. Spend time with the board to understand future goals and drivers Understand what the key organisational drivers are for the next few years, what are the business goals and challenges in the marketplace or environment that your organisation operates in. What is the competition doing or how are other organisations getting ahead? It is important to have this conversation at the highest level as you need your findings or recommendations to be taken seriously and sponsored as drivers of the overall business plan. 2. Define and agree the potential links to people related systems and capabilities Analyse how the strategic goal may be impacted by people related skills, structures and attitudes. It may help if you think in terms of as is and to be or perhaps complete a SWOT analysis by analysing potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats within these environments. You need to consider whether your people have the right skills to operate effectively and/or deliver competitive advantage within the future environment. So, if you are in an environment of changing technology you may need to recruit people with new skills or train internal staff to have this competence. In an ever changing NHS landscape the issue may be around patient safety & satisfaction, which may be affected by a number of drivers from effective resourcing to joined up teams and increased communication. 2

3 3. Define and evaluate potential enablers or solutions In a landscape of ever changing technology we need to look at the skills and capabilities we recruit, we need to retain key talent with these skills and we may also want a training programme for existing staff. Each of these options will have pros and cons such as cost or time which can be evaluated to consider which is most attractive for your organisation and you may even need a combined strategy. In the case of the NHS example, as with other large public sector organisations, this may be quite complex as it is likely that there are a number of relevant drivers so some further investigation could be needed, e.g. you may need to do some work around defining team values and competencies and for these to be communicated and embedded. You may also need to investigate blockers to team communication and look at how to remove these. Strategic tools like force field analysis can be helpful here. The key here is to prevent things from becoming over complicated and dragging on. Ensure any workgroups have clear time frames and defined outcomes, keep momentum by continuously pulling it together and deciding on clear next steps. Then be prepared to simplify the message for the masses. Once you have your recommendations, a picture is a great way of simplifying complexity and helping people see how everything fits together. Work with others to map out the recommendations in a visual format and show how they link to the overall organisational goal. Test the clarity of the visual with colleagues and get buy in from your original sponsors. 4. Plan the implementations including success measures You have defined the big picture and got buy in, now it is about putting it into action. Define how many projects form part of your strategy and define each one in terms of desired outcomes, time frames and steps to get there. You may well need to assign different owners to each project if you have the resource and they are to happen in parallel. If so, it is important to keep them aligned with the overall talent strategy and each other. One way to do this is by forming a steering group that meets regularly to connect with the bigger picture and holds people accountable for time frames. Think each strategy through in terms of success measures before you enact them, as you may well need to take a benchmark skills of the situation before you start. An example of this may be 360 feedback for managers at the start and end of a training programme to evaluate progress. This, for example, would be better evidence of change than training evaluation forms. 5. Communicate, implement, monitor & tweak In an ideal world you want your strategy to be widely understood, however this only applies if it is a positive message for all. If this is a narrow talent management strategy that affects the minority only, then it is important to think about the impact and how to communicate to the majority. Some people avoid the term talent, as it can be seen as elitist. Alternatives could be Organisational Development or Employee Engagement Strategy. The point to understand is that people need to understand why if they are invited to take part in something. The more you can help people see the relationship between initiatives that involve them, or requirements for behavior change, the greater their potential buy in and commitment. 3

4 Define measurable objectives around the sub aspects of your strategy, e.g. 70% of engineers trained in Y technology by Z. Commit to reporting progress back up to the original board sponsors as ultimately this is supporting and enabling the achievement of your overall organisational goals. Keep it focused and fresh, don t be afraid to adjust and update your talent strategy over successive years if it remains relevant, or you may need to build new or supporting visuals as the business drivers evolve. The key is keeping it connected with the overall direction of the organisation at all times, that s what makes it a strategy. Case Study: Siemens Enterprise Communications Telecoms & IT Industry; 2,200 staff Situation: Core skills were around telecoms technology which was declining and being replaced by broader IT technology which required skills better suited to fast moving American competitors who were poaching the best talent. Business Strategy: To retain market share and compete to win in the global IT market space Talent Management Strategy: A dual capability & commitment strategy The rationale: It was too costly to bring in people from the outside as the intense competition was creating a price war, it was also difficult to keep the best people. Therefore, it was decided to develop as many of the engineers as possible in the relevant qualifications while ensuring that they felt valued by maintaining their engagement. The solution: More than 200 Engineers & Solutions Architects were trained to pass the relevant qualification therefore broadening their skillset to support the new technology. Sales were trained to communicate the broader offering to existing customers, protecting the base clients. However, it was vital to ensure that this key talent was now retained within the business. The business understood the importance of the line manager in terms of engagement and retention, however that role had been undervalued for some time. People and performance management became a key strategic focus as an enabler of engagement and of course retention. Managers needed to be developed and a series of management and leadership programmes were developed providing a career path. This was mirrored for technical experts with a specialist career path designed to give a sense of progression without forcing them into people management roles. Other development initiatives sat within this space, all aligned with the overall strategic goals, e.g. Assessment Centres and Project Rotation. The result: A skill turnaround in 18 months; Growth & retention of the customer base and attrition rates in key areas more than halved from 18% at a peak to 6%. 4

5 Business Strategy Capability Strategy Skills & Agility Commitment Strategy Engagement Empowered Growth Culture Leadership Development Specialist Career Path Mentoring Assessment and Dev. Centres Projects Job Rotation Succession Planning Best practice people management Performance Management & Role Clarity Conclusions: A Talent Management Strategy is really just about joining up the dots, when you think about it, it is just about common sense. However, many organisations are guilty of introducing pockets of people related initiatives that don t join together. When that happens, it is confusing and risky as things become disjointed and may start pulling against each other. It is important that the strategy is agreed, with senior sponsorship and then owned by someone who can and will drive it forwards with the support of a team. Don t be afraid to review and change it in line with business strategy and continually remind people of the bigger picture why they are doing it. Good luck! 5

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