Putting Your Talent Management Strategy into Action

This is the last in our series on Talent Management.

Week One – We discussed the Importance of having a Talent Management Strategy and the benefit it can add to your business.

Week Two – We started creating your Talent Management Strategy, by identifying your Talent.

Week Three – We looked at the types of interventions needed to engage with your Talent and get them to where you need them to be, to grow and develop your business.

This week, it’s about putting your plan into action.

It’s easy when business is busy to focus on the here and now, delivering to your clients, making sales and ensuring that the day to day stuff happens. But only focusing on the here and now, will not get your business to grow and scale.

Remember that a wise man (Benjamin Franklin) said

“If you Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail”

It’s hard to losing a vital member of your team for a day a month, let alone more, and it may seem risky but you will reap the benefits.

The way to get your plan to work is to plan your activities and communication plan so that interventions are well spaced and allow for business as usual activities to continue.

You can provide training and staff engagement activities in 1-3 hour modules, so that they can be undertaken, first thing in the morning, at lunchtime or at the end of the day, to limit interruption.

Also, if there is essential training that all members of staff need to undertake, do it in batches, and consider train the trainer courses, so that you can deliver the training

The important is that you are communicating and engaging regularly with staff and that they know there is a plan and where they sit within it.

If you implement these steps, you will have a more engaged and motivated workforce, with reduced turnover.

A basic example plan, can be found here, it's main use is to ensure that you have a timeline that you can stick too, with not too many interventions happening at once. Once this plan has been agreed, it can be broken down into a gantt chart, to keep track of progress and critical delivery dates.

Creating an Effective Talent Management Plan – Part 2

Last week we spoke about the data you need to gather to ascertain who your ‘Talent’ is.

Once you have identified your talent you need to engage with them, so they know you think they are awesome and that they have a career path within your organisation. Then you need to provide them with the tools and opportunities that they need to achieve their full potential.

Here are the things that you need to put into place:

Engagement Activities:

Communication Plan - How do share information with your top performers?

Events – Lunchtime learning's, Audience with the CEO, Invited Speakers, Leadership event

Awards – Unsung Hero, Team Player, Volunteer of the Year

Training and Development Plan:

As part of your review process, both formal performance appraisals and regular 1-2-1’s you ought to be identifying any training needs. You need to add into those the training for the skills that you need your staff to have going forward.

This should be documented and agreed with the individuals.

Mentoring Scheme

A lot can be gained by having a mentoring program. A mentor should not be a manager of the individual, their role is to help them achieve their aspirations, NOT focus on their current tasks and responsibilities. Open doors for them, share knowledge and introduce them to some movers and shakers.

Opportunities to work on cross functional projects

Project work helps staff to develop their skills in negotiating, communication, time management, stakeholder management and more, all that will benefit you when they return to their regular role.

Sabbaticals

Time off to travel or volunteer can add to an employee’s skill-set. Also, from a well-being point of view, a break from work can prevent a resignation.

Secondments

Secondments to other departments within your organisation or externally, provides a new perspective and an opportunity to learn from how others work.

There is a requirement for both a time and resource investment, but it is a lot cheaper than having to hire and will definitely pump fresh life into your employees. You don’t have to do everything a once, but a plan with specific timelines, that are communicated with your talent, lets them know that you are thinking of them.

Let us know your thoughts or questions in the comments section below.

Next week, we will look at how you implement your plan.

Creating an Effective Talent Management Strategy – Part 1

In my last blog I explained why having a Talent Management Strategy was important and the value that it can bring to your business.

The CIPD definition of Talent is:

"Talent consists of those individuals who can make a difference to organisational performance either through their immediate contribution or, in the longer-term, by demonstrating the highest levels of potential".

The first task is identifying your talent, by doing the following:

• Identify what skills and expertise your organisation currently needs – Do you have the right skills to keep your clients happy, or enough people with those skills for smooth delivery?
• Identify what skills and knowledge are needed to achieve your medium to long terms business plans – Are you planning to expand? Or Diversify? Is there new technology on the horizon?
• Identify those individuals currently making a signification contribution to your organisation (especially those who have a unique skill, what I call a single point of failure) – don’t just look at your senior team, look throughout your organisation
• Identify those with Potential to make a significant contribution to your organisation in the future – Who is displaying the values and ethos of your business, Who has shown their ability and desire to be great?

Depending on the size of your organisation, these tasks may take a while.

Stick to reviewing staff identified based on their current skills and knowledge, and their ability to develop into the skilled individuals that you will need for the future, not your gut.

The Vlog on this subject, can be found here.

Next week, we’ll look at part two of creating your Talent Management Plan.

Let us know how you get along and if you have any questions the comments section below

What is Talent Management and Why is it Important?

At one of the Corporate Consultancies that I used to work for, there was a period of staff reduction, following 5 years of rapid growth. Restructures with the insecurity of job losses are always stressful, and so we spent a long time working out the strategy for change. How to communicate with staff and what support to give to those who would be displaced. We ran the programme well, and at the end of the process, achieved our goal and reached our savings target.

However, in the 6 months following the restructure we received resignations from a large number of highly valued, well performing staff. When we attempted to retain these individuals, the feedback we received was that they didn’t feel secure in their role and that they didn’t feel valued or invested in. They certainly hadn’t realised that they were considered part of the top 10% of the Company.

This company DID NOT have a Talent Management Strategy! They didn’t invest in ensuring that their top performers were happy and motivated.

So, What is Talent Management?

The CIPD describes Talent Management as ‘the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement, retention and deployment of those individuals who are of particular value to an organisation, either in view of their ‘high potential’ for the future or because they are fulfilling business/operation-critical roles’

3 key reasons why Talent Management is key:

• Staff turnover will be reduced
• Client delivery will be improved
• Your organisation becomes a ‘employer of choice’

The Vlog on this subject, can be found here. Let us know how you motivate and retain your top talent in the comments section below.

Next week, we will cover how to start creating your Talent Management Strategy.