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Talent Management Value Chain

• Six (6) key elements in talent management​

• Talent management committee

• Talent management traps to avoid

Posted by: Mansour Baker

The six key elements in the talent management value chain are to define principles & strategic objectives, plan, attract, train & develop, assess & promote, and engage & affiliate.

1. Define principles & strategic objectives

• What are the overall principles and strategic objectives for HR management?
• What mix of staff should be employed?
• How should the skill base be developed?

 
2. Plan

• What talent segments will be needed and by when?
• To what extent will the talent needs be met internally and to what extent will they need to be met through external recruitment?
• What is the expected rate of talent attrition?

 
3. Attract

• What is the value proposition as an employer?
• What external recruiting pools should the company target?
• What recruiting processes should be in place to attract, filter and screen the best available talent?
• How should offers be converted into acceptances?

 
4. Train & Develop

• What training programs should be in place at the different levels?
• How should the success of these training programs be measured?

 
5. Assess & Promote

• How should internal talent be evaluated?
• Who should do the evaluations?
• What career paths should be defined within the company?
• How can departing staff be assisted in external job placements?

 
6. Engage & Affiliate

• How can the company drive engagement and commitment to the organization?
• How can the company maintain affiliation with alumni? 

Comprehensive training program to be developed for all levels of the organization.

Junior staff enter a 2-month highly selective "boot-camp" - graduates offered full time places and graduate program:

• Rotations
• On-the-job training
• Secondments with external companies 

​The talent management approach incorporates global best-practice learning.

​The Planning Approach

Implement a systematic annual planning process accounting for both top-down
organizational growth and bottom-up departmental talent needs.

​The 6 approaches to talent management

​1. Principles & Strategic Objectives

• Institute a strong performance-oriented culture
• Acquire best-available talent through fair and transparent appointments
• Tie variable compensation to performance

 
2. Planning

• Implement a systematic annual planning process accounting for both top-down organizational growth and bottom-up departmental talent needs

 
3. Attracting & Recruiting

• Focus value-proposition on training and development opportunities
• Target available talent pools through scholarships, internships, university recruiting and lateral hiring

 
4. Training & Developing

• Institute technical and professional development training programs
• Develop a mix of internal / external classroom training, web-learning, rotations, and secondments

 
5. Assessing & Promoting

• Evaluate candidates on both performance and potential dimensions
• Develop defined career path for promotion
• 'Perform-or-probation' policy at all levels

 
6. Engaging & Affiliating

• Provide competitive rewards, recognition and learning / development opportunities 

​Six Steps to Effective Talent Management

​​Step 1: Define principles and strategic objectives

• Acquire best-in-class talent irrespective of the nationalities of the potential applicants.
• Talent acquisition to be driven solely by skill / capacity needs and requirements.

Pros:

• Best available talent can be recruited
• Contacts / local market expertise in relevant industry can be acquired

Cons:

• International office(s) may be required to acquire best talent
• Higher attrition levels may be seen
• Expensive

​6 core principles to be a top employer of choice. KPIs are a critical enabler of a performance centered culture.

​​Step 2: Plan

HR needs to be defined in the annual planning process and should be run concurrently with the annual internal business planning process.

• Head of HR to drive the process; Leadership Committee to review and approve.
• Understanding the various in-flows, out-flows and internal flows of talent is critical to the planning process. 

​Talent needs can be fulfilled by either external recruitment or internal development.

​​Step 3: Attract & Retain

A systematic process needs to be in place to attract external talent.

Head of HR drives the process - Department Heads and Senior Management own hiring decisions and play a critical role in ensuring overall process success.

• Targeted searches for talent require higher resource dedication.
• Recruiting sources and channels need to be matched with the quality and type of talent needed.

​Methods for external hire vary by time and cost.

Source: 2019 Pesync survey on companies recruitment lead-time

​How to develop talent acquisition and retention strategies?

Develop the framework for the company recruitment strategy to enhance resource planning, talent acquisition, and selection of highly skilled quality employees.

​Near Term (1-6 months) Initiatives

• Develop framework for recruitment strategy to enhance resource planning, resource acquisition, and selection of top-quality personnel. 

​Medium Term (6-12 months) Initiatives

• Develop final recruitment and sourcing strategy.
• Develop a succession planning strategy to identify key positions, critical talent, and career path options to develop and place successors.
• Review current bonus/reward practices and develop and implement a performance-based reward structure to enhance performance.
• Create targeted recruitment campaigns for specific professional groups who possess unique skills.
• Identify targeted training programs to groom skills and capabilities.

​Near & Medium-Term Activities

​Objective

To develop ‘leading edge’ recruitment program that provides the company with best-in-class resources.

​Key Activities

• Develop policy on recruitment and retention and associated systems.
• Determine current & future FTE recruitment needs and identify internal and external staffing sources.
• Identify internal and external talent pools and likely competition.
• Identify and document recruitment process and selection to ensure equity and adherence to labor laws.
• Undertake job analysis and job evaluation.

​Key Deliverables

1. Recruitment and retention policies
2. Recruitment needs assessment
3. Revised recruitment processes 
4. Job analysis and evaluation

1. Recruitment and retention policies

• Development of company policies for recruitment and retention.

2. Recruitment needs assessment

• Identification of current and future FTE requirements by key position type.
• Assessment of internal pools to fill identified positions.
• Assessment of external sources to fill identified positions.
• Identification of potential competitors from similar regional and international institutions for identified needs.

3. Revised recruitment processes 

• Mapping and assessment of current recruitment process.
• Assessment of relevant labor law requirements.
• Development and finalization of revised process.

4. Job analysis and evaluation

• Evaluation of existing job descriptions to ensure quality and completeness and identify and assess links to the company competency framework.
• Development of revised job description templates for all key position types.

​​Step 4: Training & Development

​A strong training program is critical to the overall value proposition.

Training programs should cover both content specific and professional development.

Job-specific training

• Products & markets: Product and market training ranging from fundamentals to advanced applications.
• Division specific learning: Job-specific learning offered at each stage of an employee's career.

 
Professional-development training

• Professional skills: Professional skills training taught by internal and external staff.
• Diversity & Inclusion: Courses preparing employees for work in diverse and multi-cultural environments.
• Leadership and management: Leadership development courses at every level of the organization.

​​Step 5: Assess & Promote

​Career development policies at a company should vary by cohort. For junior staff, assessments to be made by the Career Development Committee with defined timelines for promotion.

Learn more about the four-step career development process ►

​Step 6: Engaging & Affiliating

What are employees looking for in employee engagement?

Developing a "belonging feeling" is key both for companies and employees.

​Company: Significant returns in discretionary effort resulting in higher performance across the workforce.
 
Employee: "Everyone needs to feel that their contributions are noticed. The work we do and the recognition we get for it contribute to our self-esteem." Jan Carlzon, former CEO, Scandinavian Airlines.

What are employees looking for?

Rewards and recognition

• Acknowledgement of a 'job-well' done

Development

• Opportunity to grow and develop at all levels of the organization

Company culture and values

• Acceptance within the organization and meaningfulness of individual / collective efforts

Work-life balance

• Time and flexibility to balance work and private life / interests

How can companies meet those needs?

Rewards and recognition

• Performance driven bonuses
• Non-cash rewards (training, etc.)
• Public recognition (newsletter)
• Individual recognition (thanks, written notes, praise)

Development

• Strong mentoring
• Defined career paths
• Extensive catalog of internal and external training programs
• Rotations

Company culture and values

• Non-threatening work atmosphere (openness to ask questions and learn from past mistakes)
• Weekly 'round-table' discussions

Work-life balance

• Opportunities for Leave of Absence
• Flexibility in office placements

Recognition programs should be developed to recognize specific employee efforts.

What are they?
Specific recognition programs are meant to acknowledge, motivate, and reward employees for exhibiting desired behaviors. 

Recognition programs focus organization on:

• Immediate objectives
• Behavior change
• Extra effort / significant contributions to the company 

Can be used to reinforce desired outcomes and objectives:

• Recognition programs reinforce desired behaviors and deliverable's defined by key stakeholders. Particularly useful if desired outcomes are not immediately measurable by existing performance management system.

Development & mentoring can be effective in promoting employee engagement and development. Key mentoring responsibilities of a line manager are:

Communicator

• Serve as the primary point of contact and day-to-day representative for the employee
• Provide informal advice about working environment, norms, and practices

 
Listener

• Serve as a sounding board for, and address employee grievances
• Ensure confidentiality of privileged information and objective treatment of concerns
• Identify motivation drivers and changes in commitment levels

 
Facilitator

• Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) for the employees
• Play a key role in the implementation of motivation measures
• Facilitate and encourage initiative-taking and investments in training and development

 
Role Model

• Serve as a role-model for the employees
• Demonstrate strong commitment and dedication to company strategy, culture, and values, and encourage employee adherence to the same

Company culture – An inclusive and 'non-threatening' work environment is key to promoting engagement.

Open discussions

• Can be facilitated by weekly 'round table' discussions

Willingness to question

• Line managers should moderate meetings to promote employees to ask questions

 
Non-hierarchical

• Employees should be encouraged to question and debate strategies and operational methods

 
Eagerness to learn from past failures

• Past failures should be openly discussed and debated

​Talent Management Committee ​

​The purpose of the Talent Management Committee is to oversee the establishment of appropriate talent development strategies and policies that provide the organization with the capabilities to achieve its short- and long-term business objectives.

​The Committee is responsible for overseeing the talent development strategy and policies for the organization, which is designed to provide but not limited to:

• Oversight that an appropriate human resource policy framework is in place.
• Ensure training and development is in place to equip employees with the skills and knowledge required to perform their duties and achieve their individual level of potential.
• A supply of caliber talent with the capability to support and lead the business now and into the future.
• A sound remuneration framework designed to attract, retain, and motivate employees with the requisite skills, expertise, and experience.
• Oversight of total reward policies relating to remuneration, incentive design and distribution.
• A high-performance culture and employee engagement that will drive organization success.
• Oversight of the practices designed to prompt and measure desired workplace cultural attributes.
• Diversity of employees to reflect the available talent in the marketplace and demographics.
• The establishment of leadership and capability development of key management and potential employees, as identified through the talent management and succession planning.
• Oversight that an appropriate performance management program, practices, and outcomes.
• Advising and oversight on any other matters related to talent development.

​Talent management traps to avoid

Pursuing a tactical approach

• Over reliance on hiring, waiting until a specific need arises.

Lack of recognition that the behaviors and skills that predict future success are different from those of the past.

• Wrong measures

Development focused too much on the person and too little on the role.

• Miscalculation of the new and different behaviors required for successful lateral or upward moves.

Assumption that stars at one level and in one role can replicate their success at higher levels and in different roles.

• Outstanding talent is vulnerable to failure when they move into a new position.

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