Talent management is the systematic process of identifying a vacant position, hiring a suitable person, developing the skills and expertise of the person to match the position, and retaining him/her to achieve long-term business objectives. (Cappelli 2008). Johns, Smith & Haythornthwaite (2020) Define Talent management as the methodically organized strategic process of getting the right talent onboard and helping them grow to their optimal capabilities keeping organizational objectives in mind.
The process Talent Management process involves identifying talent gaps and vacant positions, sourcing for and onboarding suitable candidates, growing them within the system and developing needed skills, training for expertise with a future-focus, and effectively engaging, retaining, and motivating them to achieve long-term business goals (Chopra-McGowan& Reddy 2020). The definition brings to light the overarching nature of talent management – how it permeates all aspects of the human resources at work while ensuring that the organization attains its objectives. It is thus the process of getting the right people on board and enabling them to enable the business at large.
Talent Management Process
While often cyclical rather than a generic linear progression of events, the process of talent management could be considered, to begin with acknowledging the need for talent and leads to filling that gap and ultimately growing and optimizing the skills, traits, and expertise of employees, new and old.
The following image depicts the key points of the talent management process:
2. Attracting: Based on the plan, the natural next step is to decide whether the talent requirements should be filled in from within the organization or from external sources. Either way, the process would involve attracting a healthy flow of applicants. The usual external sources include job portals, social networks, and referrals. The talent pools that need to be tapped into must be identified in advance to keep the process as smooth and efficient as possible. This is where the kind of employer brand that the organization has built for itself, comes into play because that decides the quality of applications that come in.
3. Selecting: This involves using a string of tests and checks to find the right match for the job – the ideal person-organization fit. Written tests, interviews, group discussions, and psychometric testing along with an in-depth analysis of all available information on the candidate on public access platforms help in gauging an all-rounded picture of the person. Today there are software and AI-enabled solutions that recruiters can use to skim through a vast population of CVs to focus on the most suitable options and to find the ideal match.
4. Developing: Quite a few organizations today operate on the idea of hiring for attitude and training for skills. This makes sense because while you would want a predisposition to certain skill-sets, it is the person that you are hiring and not the CV. Developing employees to help them grow with the organization and training them for the expertise needed to contribute to business success also builds loyalty and improves employee engagement. This begins with an effective onboarding program to help the employee settle into the new role, followed by providing ample opportunities for enhancing the skills, aptitude, and proficiency while also enabling growth through counseling, coaching, mentoring, and job-rotation schemes.
5. Retaining: For any organization to be truly successful, sustainably, talent needs to be retained effectively. Most organizations try to retain their best talent through promotions and increments, offering growth opportunities, encouraging involvement in special projects and decision-making, training for more evolved roles, and rewards and recognition programs.
6. Transitioning: Effective talent management focuses on a collective transformation and evolution of the organization through the growth of individual employees. This involves making each employee feel that they are a part of a bigger whole. Providing retirement benefits, conducting exit interviews and effective succession planning might seem like unrelated career points but they are all transition tools that enable the shared journey.
Manager's Key Role in Talent Management
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As stated, the majority of these work systems are squarely in the hands of the employee's manager (Hamel & Zanini, 2015). HR can provide support, training, and backup, but the day-to-day interactions that ensure the new employee's success come from the manager. Developing and coaching the employee comes from his or her active, daily interaction with the manager.
HR can take the lead in some of the activities you see on this list, especially in recruiting and selecting new employees, and in the case of employment termination. HR is also deeply involved in the performance management system, career planning, and so forth leading the development of the systems (Fernández-Aráoz 2020).
But, managers are the means to carry them out for the overall recognition of the employee's work and ongoing retention of the employee. Take the responsibility seriously; it's that important.
Integrate Talent Management Fully Into Your Organization
Talent management is a business strategy and you must fully integrate it within all of the employee-related processes of the organization (Hamel & Zanini, 2015). Attracting and retaining talented employees in a talent management system is the job of every member of the organization, but especially managers who have reporting staff (talent).
An effective strategy also involves the sharing of information about talented employees and their potential career paths across the organization. This enables various departments to identify available talent when opportunities are made or arise.
An organization that does this kind of effective succession planning makes sure that the best talent is trained and ready to assume the next position in their career path. Succession planning benefits the employees and it benefits the organization. Managers across the organization are in touch with the employees you are grooming for their next big role.
In larger organizations, talent management requires Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) that track the career paths of employees and manage available opportunities for talented employees.
In today’s global scenario, human resource has been a very effective tool for the company’s growth and success. Thus to make the best possible utilization of the employee’s talent and skills, talent management is essential.
Carl Tapi is a Consultant at Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, a management and human resources consulting firm. https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-tapi-45776482/ Phone +263 (242) 481946-48/481950 or cell number +263 772 469 680 or email: carl@ipcconsultants.com or visit our website at www.ipcconsultants.com
LIST OF REFERENCES
Peter Capelli 2008. /talent-management-for-the-twenty-first-century [Online] https://hbr.org/2008/03/talent-management-for-the-twenty-first-century.
W. Brad Johnson, David G. Smith & Jennifer Haythornthwaite 2020. Why Your Mentorship Program Isn’t Working [Online]. https://hbr.org/2020/07/why-your-mentorship-program-isnt-working
Anand Chopra-McGowan & Srinivas B. Reddy 2020. What Would It Take to Reskill Entire Industries? [Online]. https://hbr.org/2020/07/what-would-it-take-to-reskill-entire-industries.
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Gary Hamel & Michele Zanini (2020). Harnessing Everyday Genius. [Online]. https://hbr.org/2020/07/harnessing-everyday-genius