Talent Management Strategies With Best Practices To Follow

People are the greatest asset of any organization. All top performing companies and brilliant C-suite understand this. As Oza says, ‘agreed we are all human resources. But we are humans first and resources later.‘ An organization which puts its people first has a clear understanding about running a business because there is no business without people. This puts ‘talent management’ in the spotlight always. With workplaces striving to be more dynamic, diverse and inclusive, talent management strategies are also becoming sophisticated. Attracting suitable talents and retaining such talents with motivation and empowerment requires a deep understanding of your employees. It all begins with this basic understanding – that each employee is uniquely talented.

Talent management strategies – Understand

The first step is to be aware of the fact that an organization requires people of different interests and caliber to create a real workplace impact. If you are a recruitment HR, it begins with the process of identifying and hiring suitable talents. The candidates that you deem suitable should also be interested enough to join your talented pool. During the process of interview , it is important to note

• The qualifications and experience
• The future potential
• Attitude towards self and team
• Past achievements – whether they are goal oriented or people oriented
• Interests and personal aspirations
• Personal background

The interview questions should give invaluable insights along two parameters :
The candidate as a person
The candidate as a professional

Reading between the lines in an interview is a crucial process for a hiring manager. To understand what is being said and to interpret what is being withheld can only be effective if you as a HR get rid of your personal bias and other subjective judgments about the candidate and the job.

For example, why is there such a strong HR bias against candidates who return to work after a break? ( there could be many reasons for the break – childcare, family responsibilities, health Issues, location changes, or simply wanting a break). Revisit those biases and give a chance to such candidates after evaluating their current skills, agility, learning interests and future potential.

Talent management strategies – Create

Creating something meaningful at work takes a long time and requires all hands on deck. It is a team effort.

It also begins with understanding why we are doing what we are doing at work. How does our work align with the greater business goal?

The job of the HR is to align candidate aspiration to the business goals. How to do that?

There are three major ways

Create effective communication channels

Most organizations work with the top down vertical communication which is basically messages being passed from one hierarchy to another. The major risks here are

• Managerial Bias
• Misinterpetation of communication at one level causing wrong communication to percolate down the chain
• Lack of active listening

How to create good communication at office?

Communication is one of the strongest foundations of all talent management strategies. To create good communication, ensure the following conditions are met:

• Create open communication channels
• Encourage both vertical and horizontal communication
• For important messages, convey the same message through various channels to reduce distortion of the message
• Include two way communication wherever possible in the chain of command, so that clarifications are easy

Positive work culture

” Culture eats strategy for breakfast”

-Peter Drucker

What this means for the organization and the talent management HR?

No matter how robust your talent management strategies are, if your work culture is not conducive to productivity and growth, your best talents will not hesitate to leave you. This is also an important reason why many recent hires quit their jobs within the first six months. Building a positive work culture is a conscious effort to ensure that the employee feels valued.

What are the simple ways to know if your organization has a positive work culture?

• Good leadership team
• Emphasis on trust and mutual respect
• Inspiring and encouraging mentors at work
• Engaging and challenging job
• Good career growth opportunities
• Upskilling and cross skilling opportunities
• Open communication across all levels
• A fair system of rewards and recognition
• Approachable bosses
• An excellent HR team

Team Building

No one can achieve anything alone. In everything we do, there are already hundreds of inbuilt help and support from people close to us directly or indirectly. A good organization values team culture – a support system where ideas can flow freely, where help can be taken and given with respect, where healthy experimentations and competitions are fostered.

Talent management strategies – Empower

Creativity & Innovation

A healthy atmosphere automatically begets creativity. Innovation is simply a result of creativity. With an excellent culture and team approach, betterment and innovation become natural outcomes.

Employee Inputs/ Feedback

Employee contribution should not be limited to timely delivery of a particular job. Employees should know the bigger picture they are contributing to, so that they can find the inspiration to get their job done effectively. Also a process exists to make the workflow and communication simpler. If a process needs improvement, take suggestions from the employees who are already part of the process. Great ideas can come from any levels in an organization.

Empower natural leaders

Who are natural leaders?

Natural leaders are the employees who are good performers, effective communicators, easily identify challenges, are not afraid of new suggestions, great team players and mediators within the team. It is important to identify such people within the organization and empower them. Give additional responsibilities or lead positions with appropriate recognitions. These are the resources that other employees naturally lean on.

Talent management strategies – Inculcate

Trust & Fairness

Trust and Integrity go hand in hand. Without trust, there is no communication, no motivation to deliver, no team, no respect for each other. It is imperative to build an atmosphere of trust and respect. An organization with a great number of people and departments, each operating on a common and individual philosophy is a hotbed for conflicts. Conflict resolution is easier and long lasting when there is a strong emphasis on ‘trust’ within the workplace.

How to build that kind of trust? By treating ‘fairness at work’ as an essential value!

Evaluations and competitions should be fair. Everyone should be given an equal opportunity to perform well in their roles regardless of their personal backgrounds or office alliances.

The way you see people is the way you treat them and the way you treat them is what they become

– Johann Wolfgang

Timely feedback

Instead of waiting for the bi-annual performance appraisal, make it a practice to provide timely feedback that will genuinely help employees to work better. This will boost morale, reduce resentments and build trust in the long term.

Rewards and Recognition

Rewarding behavior should be related to high performance and fairness in the reward system. It has far reaching effects in a workplace.

If a high performing , consistent and sincere employee does not get the recognition she deserves, she will not be interested in continuing with her current job.

A rewarded average performer might stop striving for more, assuming that whatever efforts he has so far put in , is more than enough. This will lead to inconsistent performance and an unattractive work attitude.

A reward is not just about the reward, the work and the person. It is a motivation for all employees to bring their best to the workplace. A biased recognition is also the biggest demotivation. The reward system should be a strong message which vouches fairness and timely recognition.

Learning and Development

L&D should provide ample opportunities for improving

• Work performance
• Team coherence
• Insights to the industry
• Future skills
• Interpersonal skills and Leadership skills

Career Growth

No employee joins the workforce and dedicates her time, effort and skills to stay in the same place for years together. As the organization grows, there should a parallel growth for the employee in terms of exposure and new roles. Learning should lead to growth. If the employee makes consistent dedicated efforts to shine, the leadership team has a responsibility to pave a path of empowerment and success for the employee.

Talent management strategies – Engage

Employee engagement has gained a lot of attention in recent years. It is basically the mental and emotional connection a person feels towards his job. It falls on the shoulders of the HR to take care of this engagement. Employees need to be seen and heard. Engagement does not happen overnight, nor it is a linear path. It is a series of small steps strengthening the bond between the employee and his organization through his job. Some effective ways to cultivate this engagement:

• Give the employee a strong reason to stay (positive work culture, progress, great team, cutting edge tech etc)
• Treat every employee with respect ( Simple on paper but a challenge in reality)
• Offer genuine opportunities (Don’t wait till the employee resigns to make him stay back offering promotion or onsite travel. Do it when he deserves it ( Read fairness and timely recognitions)
• Employ methods to understand and evaluate the overall culture periodically. This way when something is not right, you can work on it.

Conclusion

Talent Management Strategies have evolved so much to suit our current, high powered workplaces. HR studies show that talent management is positively linked to the overall performance of the organization. All strategies may not work at every workplace. The first step is to come up with a plan suitable for the workplace after considering the business goals, strength of the workplace, the existing culture, engagement and reward systems in place. Based on these observations, further strategies can be built on the existing ones or you can completely revamp your talent management strategies. What needs to be understood is that such strategies require a great deal of observation, attention to detail, the right intention and collaboration across departments to maximize productivity at work while keeping the employee highly motivated.