Last week, I wrote about the first two steps in carrying out a successful talent management programme: defining the talent objectives and planning the programme.
Those steps are vital because first, you need to know what kinds of talent your organisation needs in order to meet its business objectives. This helps you to identify the right talent with the desired skill sets before you plan the actual development programme.
Here, it is worth noting that companies with different business directions certainly need different skill sets for them to reap the maximum benefits from those valuable human resources.
Let’s take a look at Samsung for example. It tends to seek people with high creativity — those who can come up with new approaches to marketing strategy or those with the capability to design new products. Because the organisational direction is focused on creativity and new product development, Samsung plans its talent management programme accordingly by focusing on seeking these particular traits in people.
On the other hand, if the business need of the organisation is focused on succession planning, instead of seeking creativity, other skills such as technical knowledge and leadership capability are more critical.
After planning the talent programme, it’s time for the third step: implementing the programme.
Implementing Your Talent Programme
To ensure your talent development effort gets off to the right start, ask yourself the following questions: Who should own the programme? Who should lead the implementation? Who should be accountable for grooming talent? These questions are vital, but let me tell you one thing — the right answer is definitely not the HR department.
Instead, it should be the business leaders who are working closely with all those talents. As I mentioned last week, HR can provide processes, development programmes and tools to support the effort, but it’s the C-suite leaders who must implement it. This essential fact is often misunderstood, and consequently too many talent programmes fail because they don’t receive the right support from top management.
What is more, most companies tend to place more emphasis on business results than on developing people, which is considered a long-term investment. Also, some want to keep the best talent within their current function and are not willing to rotate those talents to areas where they could create even more strategic value for the organisation. In the face of such obstacles, implementation will not produce the desired results no matter how much effort you put into it.
How can you solve these problems? There are four things you can do: articulate clear role expectations for talent management, ensure alignment and accountability for performance, prepare solid supporting processes and tools for business leaders, and promote the culture of talent development and retention throughout the organisation.
Evaluating Your Talent Programme
To keep abreast of the ever-changing demographics of the workforce and the varying needs of the organisation, the talent management programme has to be a continuous process of improvement. There needs to be a proper review process as well as visibility of talent information, with measurements of success clearly defined.
However, it must be stressed that the talent management programme should not take too long to complete. Google’s talent programme, for example, normally runs for just four months. This is because when you develop your talent, you want them to be able to learn quickly and put their skills to work; otherwise they might leave in mid-programme and take the knowledge with them to work somewhere else.
As well, business leaders and HR staff should focus on the following areas in order to evaluate the programme’s effectiveness:
First, you need to monitor any shifts in business priorities, i.e. keep evaluating the business situation while also evaluating the existing talent programme to ensure the two are strategically aligned. Second, review the execution approach so that you can spot any errors in order to improve the overall impact. It should be noted that the most frequent errors usually stem from a lack of top leadership commitment and support, an over-designed programme with a lot of complicated forms and/or too many criteria for selection, and the lack of critical knowledge and skills of key stakeholders to implement the programme. Finally, monitor any risks and gaps that you have observed after implementation and adjust the programme accordingly.
All in all, the four steps I have outlined make up the foundation for talent management practices that can help you build organisational success.
However, a more strategic talent management approach should not — and will not — happen unless your organisation genuinely believes in the values of the programme as well as the benefits it has to offer.
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Arinya Talerngsri is Group Managing Director at APMGroup, Thailand’s leading Organisational and People Development Consultancy. For more information, write an e-mail to arinya_t@apm.co.th or visit www.apm.co.th