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People, Skills & Talent

Grow your business through talent management

Most businesses would agree that their people are their best assets therefore following the steps to managing talent is key. In the CIPD 2015/16 HR Outlook survey both HR and non-HR leaders included talent management in their top five lists of current and future organisation priorities.

Talent management aims to align strategy and goals and to create a high performing workforce through four main areas. The four main areas are attraction of talent through recruitment, development through learning and management through the alignment to business goals including succession planning. In addition the evaluation of the main areas is vital to ensure that the process meets the strategic needs of the business.

Key steps to Talent Management

Attracting talent – recruitment

Developing a process for attracting talent through recruitment, acquisition and on boarding’

Communication of company’s brand throughout the recruitment process to ensure values are well known from the start.

On boarding is key to development of talent, making experiences positive from when they first start with the company. On boarding should include mentoring, buddying, discussions around performance and effective coaching from supervisors.

Developing talent – learning and development

‘Develop capabilities, skills and competencies’

Developing talent through training provides opportunity to expand the knowledge base of all employees, improves motivation and performance. Training can be a powerful agent of change, facilitating and enabling a company to grow, expand and develop its capabilities and so enhance profitability.

Managing talent – performance and succession planning

‘Objective setting and ensuring they are aligned to business goals’

 Performance management links to talent management and an effective way to identify and develop potential through objectives. Performance management also allows the ability to plan for future through succession planning and preparation of future leaders. It effectively identifies where talent can be developed and managed in a way to maximise strengths of employees.

Evaluation of talent

‘Measurement of the success of learning and development, performance management and retention strategies’

Investment into evaluation of strategies to manage and develop talent are key such as the measurement of staff retention.  Lack of retention can have a considerable cost to your business, with current estimates at over £5,000 to recruit a new member of staff. Addressing your employee engagement can have a significant return not only in terms of increased staff retention, but also through increased motivation and commitment. Measurement of retention identifies why employees leave and also why they stay.

Benefits of effective talent management:

Monster UK identifies that talent management can produces a range of benefits to a business and directly for employees. A number of these relate to the engagement, communication of the workforce. Development of employees creates a consistent approach to work and helps to maintain the values and culture within the business. In the context of the workplace, this learning is specifically designed to support organisational strategy. Helping people learn involves supporting, accelerating and directing learning for groups or individuals.

Additionally to this talent management can increase motivation of employees being valued is crucial to employee satisfaction. Motivation is more important than pay to many employees. Investing in time and development provides a boost to the morale of employees, making them feel valued and able to develop in their role. Providing a culture of learning from induction is important, building on where people start to develop them as a talent within the business. Investment in training can be a good way to reward employees and recognise talent when a pay increase is not always an option. It provides an investment into an employee sometimes without a direct impact upon the finances with a number of options for training being available such as funded programmes i.e. apprenticeships.

An improvement in performance can also be evidenced through effective talent management, in particular through development of talent. Improved performance from employee training can reduce staff turnover and typically creates less need for formal management/supervision.

How to develop a talent management strategy within a business?

Talent management and development employees can offer a range of options such as mentoring and coaching, work shadowing, and on the job training in addition to traditional forms of learning. E-learning can also play a big part in learning today and ensures employees have access to the information they need. For support to produce an organisational needs analysis or to start thinking about your talent management strategy contact a workforce development advisor at the Business Growth Hub to assist with this.

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