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The current spotlight on talent management is much more than the latest HR fad, as businesses that have effective strategies for attracting, developing and retaining talent seeing lower employee turnover, higher productivity and greater business stability.

As a result, finding and holding on to talented people has become a preoccupation of both HR and the board, but who is really responsible for talent management? What does HR and the board need to do to embed talent management in the business?

Here are my top tips on managing talent:

1. Identify talent requirements

New research has shown that there is too much focus on ‘talented’ individuals rather than identifying talent requirements across the whole organisation. HR needs to go back to the beginning and define job roles, ensuring both the workforce and business structure are assisted.

Make sure your talent management strategies support your business objectives rather than a specific demand, a product launch for example. Remember to look at the bigger picture.

2. Retain talent

It is easy to focus on finding talent but don’t forget to ensure you also look after the talent once it’s in the business. Providing a consistent framework to recognise staff performance and ensuring employees have clear and regular access to their performance objectives is essential.

These days it is the companies that provide career progression that are seen as good places to work, remember on average it costs £7,000 to replace a member of staff.

3. Gain board level buy-in

Effective talent management is a critical business goal for all leading organisations in today’s economy. It is essential that business managers recognise that workforce and talent management can directly impact a company’s profit and give them a competitive edge.

Talent management won’t be a success if it’s seen purely as an HR initiative. To be truly effective, it will need senior management buy-in, but also buy-in from a range of other stakeholders.

4. Work with line managers

HR need to work closely with line managers to ensure employees are motivated, productive and want to stay in the business. But managers often feel personal development tasks take their attention away from what they are actually rewarded for.

It is vital that these two functions understand each other and work in partnership. Take the time to explain why and how talent strategies can constructively impact a business, and give your line managers more accountability for the schemes.

5. Get  measuring

In order to show that talent management can impact the business positively you will need to effectively measure it. HR must therefore look at what data is collected and, more importantly, why? Is there a clear rationale behind data collection or has it simply evolved? Is it possible to build a talent map of the business from the data, highlighting areas of expertise and talent deficits?

6. Be creative

When attracting top people to your organisation look outside of HR for inspiration and enlist the use of different marketing methods. Investing in employer branding can improve communication channels and help create, maintain or refresh your company culture. Consider that an influential brand can connect with employees and gain their buy-in for your future business direction.

Try new channels in which to engage with them. For example social media is an important and interesting tool to help you recruit and you will also be able to reach those who are not necessarily seeking new job opportunities but wouldn’t turn them down.

7. Innovative reward packages

Success in attracting and retaining the ‘noughties’ generations will come from innovative development and reward packages that are tailored to the general trends in attitudes and values.

There is now a need for more personal and individualised packages. The world is made up of different people and different priorities and for HR it’s essential to remain receptive to that.

8. Talent banks

You should be looking to build collections of talent before or after recruitment. Talent banks operate where an organisation identifies and attracts potential recruits before they’re required, as candidates often emerge who are clearly desirable and interested in the organisation but there may not be a suitable current opening. Staying close to the business and understanding future recruitment needs is essential.

9. Job rotation and enrichment

Deployment is an important aspect of talent management, and job rotation and job enrichment are vital aspects of experiential learning in becoming a leader. Many organisations use secondments within the UK and/or internationally to grow talent.  Lack of employee mobility can affect deployment of talent and can lead to employee engagement and commitment problems later on.

10. Alignment with succession planning

Both succession planning and talent management are dynamic processes occurring in changing times. Succession planning needs to be aligned with HR initiatives including talent management. Lack of alignment can cause problems, such as having a transparent talent management process and a secretive succession planning process.

Paul Tooth, Sage HR and Payroll

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This month with HR Vision we are talking about talent management and who should drive it. Paul Sparrow, Director of the Centre for Performance-Led HR, Lancaster University Management School and Bob Marsden, Director of People and Organisational Development, Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions, discusses who owns talent management, HR or business managers.

Paul Tooth, Sage HR and Payroll

In my opinion effective talent management is a critical business goal for all leading organisations in today’s economy. It is essential that business managers recognise that workforce and talent management can directly impact a company’s profit and give them a competitive edge.

Talent management won’t be a success if it’s seen purely as an HR initiative. To be truly effective, it will need senior management buy-in, but also buy-in from a range of other stakeholders. Having said that I believe it is only HR professionals that have the skills and expertise to create a talent management strategy.

Bringing together everything from recruitment through performance management, training and development, leadership programmes, to individual professional development, talent management must be aligned across divisions and designed to support business strategy.

How is talent management addressed in your business? Should CEOs get more involved? Have your say at www.hrvision.tv

Paul Tooth, Sage HR and Payroll Team
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Paul Tooth, Sage HR and Payroll

One of the most positive outcomes of the recession is that the importance of cultivating and retaining talent has become too large for organisations to ignore. In today’s knowledge economy, a business is only as good as its people and reliance on the feature-set of their products and services is not enough. Firms must invest in their people by engaging their workforce and developing their skills sets if they are to maximise corporate performance.

Technology: HR’s right-hand man?

HR departments are embracing technologies that will enable them to become more streamlined and respond quickly to new opportunities. Scalable software that can manage the employee lifecycle and carefully track the talent, knowledge and career development of their workforce, not only helps remove the administrative burden for HR but ultimately increases motivation and commitment amongst the workforce by letting employees know that the business cares about their development. Indeed, with businesses beginning to look beyond short term survival, it’s those companies that provide clear progression and talent management that are seen as good places to work and are most likely to succeed.

HR software

HR software was traditionally considered to be a tool used by HR departments to reduce cumbersome administration; and in that role it has never failed to deliver. Holding core data on employees, software not only helps HR teams to automate processes and carry out tasks quickly and more efficiently, but also enables more proactive decision making through better access to accurate and real time information. The time and efficiency savings this gives the HR function are indisputable. Yet with HR technology rapidly evolving to meet the requirements of today’s diverse and flexible workforce, these benefits do not end there.

Talent Management

HR software has advanced to store vital information around the knowledge, critical skills sets, leadership qualities and career development paths within an organisation’s workforce. This escalates a business’s knowledge of its talent pool and can help an organisation to more accurately forecast and plan how its total operation will perform based on the resources and expertise that can be consolidated from across the company.

Looking forward

Many organisations are focusing their efforts toward re-evaluating HR processes and making the necessary software investments to reduce administration, become more streamlined and cultivate talent. Making these changes today will not only improve competitiveness and provide the operational clarity required to maximise corporate performance, but will also help to retain talented employees and prepare the organisation to exploit future economic growth.

Top tips for implementing HR software

• Understand what the business needs and ensure that this is documented and understood by any potential supplier
• Be pragmatic about the role that software will play within the business. Needs evolve and change in line with the system itself, as users realise the capabilities and functionalities it has. It’s important to have a core system in place but ensure that there is scope to extend or refresh it in any way
• Phasing implementations in the right way is critical to ensuring that the foundations are in place to allow the system to evolve as the business needs it to
• Knowledge transfer is key. It’s important that vendors provide refresher courses to maintain a broad knowledge and understanding of the system across the workforce
• Customisation of an HR system can prove beneficial, but needs to be carefully considered.

Paul Tooth, General Manager, Sage HR and Payroll