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What is Talent Management Best Practices & Process?

​By Mansour Baker, PHRi, SHRM-CP
07 March 2018

What Best Practices Talent Management Looks Like?

• Bringing in fresh unrefined talent further down the organization & providing the potential to promote to senior roles.
• ​Assessing and developing high performers against the competencies that will ensure success in the future.​​
• Measuring the performance and potential of talent and matching this against the unique requirements of the individual role.
• Having transparent processes and actions that are followed through, leading to an ongoing realignment of people and roles.

 
What is Talent Management Process?

1. Decode Strategy

• Translate strategy into critical talent management factors: roles, accountabilities and competency behaviors.

2. Define Predictors of Outstanding Performance

• Develop and update competency and other profiles, based on an understanding of how the business situation will develop.
• Incorporate internal and external benchmarks to keep the bar raised (unacceptable to think average is excellent).

3. Evaluate Talent

• Benchmark against external world-class standards.
• Assess talent for succession planning and development.
• Gap analysis at individual and organization level.

3. Map Career Paths to Enhance Development

• Map career path levels and types of roles and potential lateral and upward moves.
• Determine the competencies needed to succeed within these specific roles (understand that horizontal moves often present bigger challenges that moves up the hierarchy).

4. Develop a Talent Management Culture

• Map talent against roles to determine gaps and successors.
• Design and implement core talent management processes for career movements and on-going re-alignment of people and roles.

Exhibit 1: Talent Management Model

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 vulnerable to failure when they move into a new position.

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