When thinking about your team, you probably have no trouble identifying those who stand out for their hard work and willingness to learn. You rely on them and plan for career advancement. But what about the others? Is it worth spending time on everyone? Or is it better to make it an online betting game and bet only on particular employees? Let’s look at how to manage talents today.
What Talent Management Is
Business invests in the development of talents: training, helping them grow and advance in their careers. In return, it gets a strong team and a pool of talent for key positions. This approach is called Talent Management.
Talent Management is an approach to company management focused on attracting, developing, and retaining talented employees. Talent management includes processes for identifying and developing people’s potential to achieve the company’s goals.
The goal of Talent Management is to build an effective HR management system for the stability and success of the business, as well as to create a favorable atmosphere for the development of each team member.
Talent Management Strategies in the Organization
Talent management includes various forms of individual work with employees. The list includes individual development plans, mentoring support, training, and professional development programs. Specific forms of work are determined after assessing the competencies and engagement of personnel: annual 360 surveys, pulse surveys, eNPS measurement, etc.
Depending on the goals of the enterprise, different talent management strategies can be chosen, such as succession planning, talent mapping, and talent pools.
Succession Planning
This strategy involves preparing the best employees for key roles in the company. The main idea is to prepare candidates to fill management positions. The strategy ensures business stability and mitigates risks when top managers and key specialists leave the company.
Talent Mapping
The strategy is aimed at identifying talented team members, determining their place in the organizational structure, and providing opportunities for growth. For this purpose, HR analyzes the competencies and potential of all company employees, creates a talent map, identifies key roles and positions for the future, and plans development.
Talent Pools
This strategy involves creating a pool of candidates for key positions. The pool includes both internal talent and external talent. When there is a need for a position, recruiters begin their search from this base. Such a base becomes a strategic resource for recruiters, which helps to close up to 50% of positions.
Two Approaches to Talent Management in a Company
Besides the strategies described above, Talent Management practice also emphasizes exclusive and inclusive approaches to working with talented employees.
In the exclusive approach, the most capable employees are selected from the team, and all work is focused on them. Here is what it provides:
- A high level of specialization and expertise in the team.
- Striving for innovation through high standards.
- High quality of products and services, as everyone is a professional in their field.
The disadvantages of an exclusive approach to Talent Management include:
- Creative freedom and self-expression of the rest of the employees is limited.
- An increased risk of forming isolated teams that may not take into account the opinions of other specialists.
- High expectations and demands on those selected can lead to stress.
Here’s an example: Apple is known for its exclusive approach to team management: high selection standards, strict rules, and attention to detail. Apple strives to build elite teams where everyone is a specialist in their field who makes a unique contribution to the development of the company’s products.
With an inclusive approach, all employees are recognized as talented. Here’s what this does for the company:
- A diversity of opinions and viewpoints in the team is formed, which helps creativity.
- Motivation and engagement of employees grows due to respect and support.
- An atmosphere of trust and cooperation prevails.
The. ons of an inclusive approach to Talent Management are:
- Risk of losing focus and purpose due to diversity of opinions and ideas.
- Difficult to make decisions because the interests of all team members need to be considered.
- Possible problems due to differences in the views and values of employees.
Here’s an example: Microsoft takes an inclusive approach and actively supports equal growth opportunities for all employees. Diversity and inclusion of every individual come first. In a team, every employee has the right to contribute and be heard.
The choice between exclusive and inclusive concepts depends on the goals and objectives of a particular company. It’s also possible to combine both approaches.
How to Identify Talented Employees in the Company
Develop criteria for talent that fits your company. What is most important to you in your job? Write down what the ideal talent should be.
Possible characteristics of a talented employee are:
- Fits within your corporate culture.
- Communicative and intelligent.
- Has high emotional intelligence.
- Remains calm and resilient even in difficult situations.
- Enjoys working in a team.
- Is trusted and respected by colleagues.
- Has leadership skills.
- Is open about personal career goals.
- Is happy to receive feedback and adjust work.
- Wants to take on more responsibilities than required by the position.
- Is motivated to develop new skills.
- Is interested in the future success of the company.
How to Use Technology for Talent Management?
To assess the potential of current and future employees and build a strong team, HR applies various tools, methods and technologies for working with talent.
Examining Candidates’ CVs
These documents, as well as the interview, give a basic idea of a future employee, their communication skills, work experience, and achievements.
Assessing Competencies and Performance
A performance review reveals the professionalism and ability of employees to achieve goals. To assess talents, you can use the method of observation in real-life conditions. For example, work in project groups reveals each team member’s ability to innovate, creativity, and responsibility. And to systematically record data on employee talents, experts recommend using the 360-degree method.
The “360 degree” assessment is valuable because an employee’s talents, hard and soft skills are analyzed from all sides: colleagues, subordinates, clients, partners, etc. As a result, a person receives a comprehensive assessment of their competencies and an incentive for development, while managers and HR have data for more effective talent management in the company.
Drawing up Personal Development Plans
This stage is extremely significant because, without it, any assessment or talent identification becomes meaningless. Organizing a complex round-robin survey for the sake of a check mark will leave employees bewildered and frustrated. Conversely, the next steps in developing employee competencies will lead to positive changes for the entire organization. Competent work with talent helps improve staff skills, loyalty, and engagement.
