Fit For Purpose: Talent Management

Transcription

1 TalentTimes : Fit For Purpose Series Fit For Purpose: Talent Management This article is the final one by TalentLine Consulting Group (TCG) on the theme of Fit for Purpose organisational dimensions. Background At a practical level, much of the talent management work done by TCG uses Levels of Work Theory to help clients design their talent management system and processes in a manner that creates clear boundaries and interdependencies. This facilitates individual clarity of purpose and expectation, and collective alignment and focus. Clearly, such a focus on individual and collective responsibilities and accountabilities is a key variable in the degree to which the organisation is able to articulate and implement strategies that will lead to sustainable competitive advantage. With clarity on strategy and the appropriate organisation and work design, there is also a muchimproved ability to clearly define and develop the leadership behaviours that will ensure the successful execution of strategy. Finally, it is the role of leadership to also ensure that the organisation has the appropriate talent to meet strategic needs now and in the future. These four issues, namely strategy, organisation design, leadership and talent management are in our view the cornerstones of ensuring that you have a fit for purpose organisation. Of course, these four dimensions are fully interdependent as is shown in the diagram. Talent Management Perhaps it is appropriate to start with the question why is talent management an imperative to business success? The reason lies in the fact the world is changing faster than ever and dramatic economic, demographic, social and business shifts take place on a daily basis. These rapid changes are creating an enormous talent gap that is so deep and so wide that no organisation can rely solely on recruitment to supply the talent necessary to remain competitive. In this, the final article, we will specifically focus on talent management. ~ 1 ~

2 Research shows that labour and skills shortages will further increase over the next seven years due to factors such as: Retirement; Pace of change (in 2010 the amount of new technical information is predicted to double every 72 hours); and High staff turnover because the world is now a global village. In other words, in today s rapidly changing business environment companies are faced with having to do more with less resources and business growth is largely dependent on creative and technological advancements. The need for a deliberate talent management strategy is clear from the aforementioned and there is no doubt that organisations will gain a competitive edge if they create a platform for talent management. In fact, for many organisations it is the only option in order to gain a competitive advantage (Lawler III, 2008). It is important to at this stage note that successful talent management does not only depend on the quality, quantity and effectiveness of the human capital but also depends on the effectiveness of the organisation s processes, policies, practices and design in support of the talent management strategy. The implementation of a talent management strategy and process may therefore pose a challenge to organisations who do not take an integrated view on talent management. Talent Management Defined Talent management is the process that ensures that an organisation at all times has access to the human capital capacity (competence, capability and numbers), including leadership, to execute its business strategy and operations effectively and efficiently, now and in the future (the reader may also want to scan our third article on leadership development briefly to regain context on competence and capability). Simply put, Talent management is: The process of attracting, developing, engaging, retaining and utilising talent to the mutual benefit of the business and employees; About being the employer of choice of employees of choice; and A partnership between line management, human resources and the employee. Talent management from this perspective includes the following processes or activities: 1. Human Capital Planning what do we need now and in the future from a human capital perspective through detailed interrogation of the business strategy and plan? 2. People Management Action Planning based on the preceding step, determine what needs to be done in terms of people sourcing (talent attraction) and development (training), particularly in terms of critical positions and/or people; and 3. People Leadership what needs to be done in terms of employee retention, engagement and performance management to optimise our use of what we have? The aforementioned sections highlight that it is critical for organisations to focus their efforts on creating, implementing and maintaining a clear talent strategy and philosophy (Grobler & Diedericks, 2009). Such a talent strategy should document a comprehensive approach to talent management through an integrated talent management framework. The framework will give an overview of the ~ 2 ~

3 core elements of such an integrated talent management approach. Conceptually such a Talent Management approach can be illustrated as follows: Organisational culture and leadership style are key aspects of a successful talent management strategy; The key driver is to ensure that we optimise all of our human capital; The view of optimum human capital is informed by current as well as future strategic requirements; Talent Management Principles In addition to the talent philosophy, the organisation should clearly articulate specific talent management principles that will apply. Examples may include: (Adapted from Veldsman, Following is a short description of some of the key elements of an integrated talent management approach, the value of which is all too often underestimated. The Business Case In simple terms, the business case is that of having the right talent at the right time at the right place in the required numbers, i.e. the right talent capacity. The latter is key to achieving the organisation s strategic, business and operational goals, now and in the future. The Talent Philosophy A number of assumptions may inform the organisation s talent management approach. Examples are the following: All employees have some form of talent, but this does not mean that all employees have unlimited potential; Talent management is in the first instance the accountability of line management; Employees are also accountable for their own development and advancement in the organisation; Human Resources has to ensure that the talent management system is aligned to business strategy, operational requirements and conforms to best practice; An agreed and organisation specific leadership competence framework will form a key part of the assessment and identification of talent (the reader may also want to scan our third article on leadership development briefly to regain context on competence and assessment); Talent Value Proposition A successful employee value proposition includes a consistent and common theme that employees relate about their workplace. It also includes the public image of the organisation s culture that entices the best potential candidates to ~ 3 ~

4 apply for positions while allowing the company to retain its top talent (Berge & Berger, 2004). Talent Management Governance The governance associated with talent management can be executed on a number of levels and be associated with a number of areas and relates to those involved in talent management, associated accountabilities, the guidelines, rules, regulations, legislation pertaining to talent, proper talent execution and talent metrics and measurement. Talent Management Planning Process Steps A practical approach To move from the talent management strategy towards an approach that can be applied in practice to enhance individual and organisational performance, it is suggested that the talent management strategy be operationalised through a practical talent management planning process. Practically the talent management planning process consists of the following steps: Talent Score Card One of the key aspects of any strategy is an assessment of the impact on the business. Some of the key principles that should inform the measurement of talent management strategy, processes and interventions are: Keep the measurement model as simple as possible; The measurement model should include perspectives on all the key elements of talent management; The model should include both quantitative and qualitative measures; and Measurement should also drive personal ownership by employees. The measurement should incorporate both current and future readiness aspects. The key issue with the application of measurement/metrics from a talent management perspective is to revisit the purpose of talent management as well as each of the various metrics formulated (Lewis & Heckman, 2006). In addition, due consideration needs to be given to how the measurement approach will link to the talent management governance system and how it will apply to the entire system. 1. Define the required status The outcome of this step is the mapping of the required level of competencies and people. To achieve this outcome, the following activities take place: Determine emerging & future business directions/activities & objectives (see also the first article in this series); Articulate the required organisation and work architecture (see also the second article in this series); Determine how this will impact on workforce requirements, especially critical skills; and Forecast emerging and future demands. ~ 4 ~

5 2. Define the current status The outcome of this step is a talent profile that displays the level of capabilities and competencies and number of people within the organisation. The measurement of capability helps the organisation to understand how the gaps may be filled or not in the future. To achieve this outcome, the following activities take place: Conduct capability and competencies audit; and Determine number of people available for key positions. 3. Document the GAPS The outcome of this step is documentation of the gaps between the required status and the current status. To achieve this outcome, the following activities take place: Match the required profile against the current profile; and Identify and prioritise the GAPS. 4. Talent Management Strategy/Plan The outcome of this step is the documentation of plans and activities to address the talent gaps identified in step 3. To achieve this outcome, the following activities take place: Identify reasons for the GAPS, e.g. capability, competence or performance. Define an action plan addressing the specific reasons and needs, e.g. recruitment, performance management or training and development; Identify role players (such as line management and HR) and allocate roles and responsibilities for action plan items; Feedback action plan to HR Department and to managers. 5. Measure and Review The outcome of this step is a scorecard where the progress towards the desired state can be monitored and measured. To achieve this outcome, the following activities take place: Clearly articulate the outcomes to be achieved through the talent management action plan (as designed in previous step); Clearly articulate the specific targets to be reached through the implementation of the action plan; Conduct regular progress reviews and a formal review and measurement against set scorecard; Identify areas of non-performance and possible actions to address these; and Feedback results to Talent Committees. Concluding Remarks In this article, we have shown that talent management is a strategic process that is an inherent part of the overall business strategy. Seen within the context of our preceding three articles, it is clear that for this very important process, the following are prerequisites: Clearly defined business and competitive strategy; Leading to organisation and work design ideally based on the principles of requisite organisation; and Appropriate leadership capability and competence at all levels of the organisation to ensure that talent is leveraged as the only real competitive advantage both now and in the future ~ 5 ~

6 Seen from another perspective, this series of articles has hopefully also made clear the very important strategic role that human resources professionals should play in ensuring the sustained competitive and profitable performance of their organisations. List of Sources AUTHORS Mr. Francois du Plessis Practice Leader: TalentLine Consulting (Pty) Ltd Ms. Sindiswa Calana Senior Consultant: TalentLine Consulting (Pty) Ltd Berger, L.A. & Berger, D.R. (2004). The talent management handbook: creating organizational excellence by identifying, developing, & promoting your best people. New York: McGraw-Hill. Mr. Jacques Haworth Consulting Manager: Bioss SA (Pty) Ltd Grobler, P.A. & Diedericks, H. Talent Management: an empirical study of selected South African hotel groups. Southern African Business Review, Vol. 13, No. 3, November Lawler III, E.E. (2008). Talent: making people your competitive advantage. USA: John Wiley & Sons. Lewis, R.E. & Heckman, R.J. Talent Management: a critical review. Human Resource Management Review, Vol. 16, Issue 2, June Veldsman, T.H. (2002). Into the people effectiveness arena Navigating between chaos and order. South Africa: Knowledge Resources. ~ 6 ~