The digital age and generational shifts have opened the doors of opportunity for those trying to make more precise decisions about hiring new staff and developing the talent in place. Companies looking to maintain an edge now look more at a comprehensive talent management system, as opposed to simply hiring. Others new to the concept ask what is talent management, and how can it benefit my operation?
Below we explore the concept of talent management and offer four trends in talent management implementation.
What Is Talent Management
Talent management starts with big-picture decisions. These include building an ideal organizational culture and determining where staff and other employees fit within it. It also involves making deliberate and precise decisions about where to search for desired talent.
Finally, talent management embraces the idea of solid employee development systems that nurture skills and leadership development. It looks at what the employee should be doing a decade from now, as well as in the short term.
Less Worry About Employment Gaps
In the past, employers used to worry about employment gaps. This phrase refers to months or years spent away from traditional work. In recent years, however, companies and other organizations have grown more flexible on hiring people with significant gaps.
Many applicants have good reasons for these gaps. For example, both mothers and fathers will leave employment for months or even years to take care of small children. Others develop skills and earn money in the freelance market. Going back to school to pick up a two-year degree or a certification can also cause an individual to exit the workforce for a relatively long period of time.
Some companies tailor outreach and development programs to make the transition back into the workforce easier.
Employing More Future Based Talent Management Techniques
In many fields, companies will not know what their hiring needs will be in a decade, or even five years from now. Sectors such as mining, manufacturing, and technology businesses will use artificial intelligence, data, robotics, and other helpful advances in ways that they cannot currently anticipate.
Talent management helps companies hire for both the present and the future. You need employees who can not only perform their jobs today, but also who can adapt to changes coming down the road. Talent management includes development programs to train employees for their current job while preparing them for what is to come.
Rethinking Annual Performance Reviews
True talent management involves constant discussion and feedback on an employee’s performance. When possible, it should include large helpings of praise and explanation for jobs well done, as well as advice on how to improve. In an environment bereft of either kind of feedback, employees often have little idea of how well or poorly they perform and could develop bad habits.
For small and medium-sized businesses, this level of talent management may outstrip managerial resources. In such a case, they may wish to retain talent management consultants.
Effective Use of Talent Analytics
The new field of talent analytics now joins the relatively older field of business analytics to help businesses target talent more effectively and efficiently.
Business analytics uses data to create better and more precise efficiencies in operations and cost-effectiveness. Often, it gets applied to corporate function and how it relates to the consumer marketplace.
Talent analytics examines data from regions, communities, and neighborhoods. Why do a scattershot talent search if a concentration of talent exists in a specific area? Talent analytics can also reveal important information on compensation expectations, culture, and other areas that could help an employer to better recruit.
Talent management represents a new idea in hiring. It requires a substantial investment of time and effort to undertake correctly. Most small and medium-sized, and even some larger corporations, engage consulting firms to do the job effectively and properly.
