Ali Gill, founder, Getfeedback:
What are the top ten challenges in talent management today? Personnel Today and talent management consultancy Getfeedback are looking for your views on the key issues in talent management today and tomorrow. You can download the full white paper from Personneltoday.com.
As a taster, we've included Getfeedback's top ten challenges for managing talent today, and how to overcome them...
1. Is it elitist? Yes it is – after all, you are looking for the elite inside and outside
the organisation who will take it forward. Some organisations get around this
by allowing anyone to nominate themselves to the talent pool. Others opt for
keeping the talent pool a closely guarded secret. However, more organisations
are realising that for talent management to be effective they have to
accept an element of “open elitism”.
2. What about the people who don’t make it? It depends how ajar you keep the
door. Talent pools will shift from year to year so it’s a serious error to confine
all development and promotion opportunities to the people in the talent pool
now. People who have not made it into the talent pool this year should be
given clear feedback which includes an indication of if and when they can be
reassessed.
3. How do we manage individual egos? Backing up talent management with
effective personal and career development is essential if you want to retain
the people in your talent pool. They are expecting something to come of
being chosen. Good feedback on all assessment and development activities
is also vital and needs to be done by someone skilled in the job, especially if
you are looking to manage someone out of the talent pool.
4. How do we manage people’s expectations? Understand what individuals in the
talent pool want out of the process but don’t over promise. If you’ve done
your job properly, then you will have already identified key roles for your talent
stars to move into. But if for some reason career progression is slowing
down make it clear to them why. If you want to keep them find an alternative
such as a project or a secondment.
5. Rigorous assessment is expensive – how do we ensure we are getting value
for money? Technology, especially the Internet has significantly reduced the
cost of assessment, but to do it properly still requires a considerable investment
of time and money. Clearly, businesses need evidence to justify that
spend. If you want a quick win start measuring the reduction in recruitment
costs from more internal promotion.
6. Can we put a value on the whole of our talent management process? At the
very outset of the project you should have outlined the key metrics against
which you will judge whether or not talent management is delivering the skills
and competencies the business needs. These will include a range of people
measures that can be computed accurately such as attrition rates and
recruitment costs. They should also include some hard financial measures
related to business success. It’s also worth identifying the growth in talent
within the organisation as a result of your talent management programme.
7. Who owns the process and the people who make it into the talent pool? It’s
a collective. The board needs to support it and set the standard, talent
managers need to ensure it happens but line managers and individuals need
to feel they have a stake in it too. Line managers’ fear of losing their key
people can be a barrier that organisations have to overcome.
8. Can we stop our talent become targets for head hunters? Of course not. Few
organisations offer a job for life and talented people have become used to
moving jobs to further their careers. But you can mitigate the effects by
giving your stars recognition and by understanding what turns them on – it
could be money but is just as likely to be the quality of the roles you offer.
9. How can we ensure consistency in talent management across the business?
If talent management is to have credibility in the business it is vital that line
managers stay within the system – rather than making their own talent
decisions based on their own preferences. They have to be convinced that it
is in their interests not to do this and that’s down to being rigorous in your
assessment of talent and transparent about what you do, why and when.
10. Where do we start? Be pragmatic – look at where the problem is, where it
hurts the organisation most and where you have most to gain from your
return on investment. It may not be the perfect place for talent
management purists, but you have to start somewhere.
Personnel Today wants you to contribute your views and experiences on talent management, which will then feed into a roundtable discussion to be featured in a March issue of the magazine. To join the discussion click here.
