Recent research suggests that the number one human
capital challenge facing Australian business leaders is
increasing workforce performance and productivity. It’s
no wonder given they are under the constant threat of
restructures, operate in a highly competitive landscape
and are pressured to do more with less. This reality has
triggered many organisations to critically evaluate the
talent they currently possess and the talent they must
strategically develop in order to thrive and survive.
For business strategists, the $75K question has become
“where is my talent”? Like a good surveyor, the astute HR
professional must map the lay of the land and determine
which stars are shining bright and which remain hidden within
their organisations. The resulting effect is a powerhouse
— one where the talent is more easily accessible, and the
organisation can deliver on its strategic objectives whilst
allowing every individual to maximise their potential.
However, according recent Randstad research, just over half of Australian
employers actually have a talent management
program in place. So how can you ensure you are
finding the talent that is already in your business and
maximising the potential they can offer? Following
are five key ways to identify your talent — naturally;
savvy leaders will have these strategies down pat:
1. Decipher the meaning of “talent”: Many corporates
spend thousands on talent management initiatives
such as developing their Hi-Po’s or emerging leaders,
without giving adequate consideration to what talent
truly means in the context of their organisation.
Because of this, it tends to remains an elusive concept
that lacks the specificity it deserves. “Talent” often
refers to that pool of people believed to have the
best chance of rapidly growing their capabilities and
fulfilling the requirements of an advanced strategic
role in the future. Put simply, talented employees
significantly outperform their average counterparts.
It is not uncommon for organisations to use individual
success profiles in isolation of other important
variables such as available career opportunities, as the
basis for their talent models. The reality is that success
is much more complex than this. A more robust way
to ascertain what your talent model should look like is
this — examine your current and emerging leadership
pipelines, gather opinions from multiple stakeholders,
examine engagement data and ultimately, ensure
the model ties in with the organisational values.
Bear in mind that all employees should be part of
the talent pool, not exclusively the leadership team.
2. Examine the culture, not the rhetoric: When
examining the talent in any organisation, it is
important to take a long hard look at the culture,
not the rhetoric — look at the results, not only
the assumptions about potential. For instance, it
is necessary to conduct a broad pulse check across
the organisation in order to identify what success
or high performance looks like and what attributes
are uniquely inherent about the culture that allows
it to thrive. This will involve examining what the
organisation does well and perhaps, not so well.
3. Put the horse before the cart: Poorly defined talent
pools are often the result of strategic HR decisions
being made in the wrong order. Alas, the common
tendency for organisations to kick start a talent
process with a generic framework, prior to accurately
and scientifically diagnosing what the framework
itself should measure. Talent models, in some
shape or form, need to be bespoke to be effective.
Therefore, drawing from a “global framework”
without having rigorously mapped it to your own
organisational standards could do your talent
management processes more harm than good. Make
sure the model you choose truly speaks to what
talent means for your organisation, not someone
else’s. Next time you consider the sequence of
events, do ask yourself, what has been prioritised,
the diagnosis or the model, the horse or the cart?
4. Practice makes perfect: Everyone agrees in theory
but the practice of talent identification can at times
be an afterthought. As with most things in the
corporate world, there is too much process built
upon theory and not nearly enough practice built
on experience. Include measurement in the planning
phase as your organisation’s reality will be anchored
in that measurement. How will you measure
the overall success of the identification project?
Understanding the metrics behind talent is just as
critical as identifying those who meet your criteria.
5. Guarantee a cascade effect: An effective talent
identification process should not only be shared
around the executive table but should also cascade to
the rest of the organisation and involve employees
at all levels. In an ideal corporate world, the executive
team should endorse the talent model and espouse
the philosophy and values that underpin it. Line
managers should be responsible for managing
talent, with human resources providing support.
Adrianna Loveday, Randstad HR Consulting - a team dedicated
to providing quality HR services including
talent management, psychometric assessment,
outplacement, career coaching and leadership
development. To find out more, visit
www.randstad.com.au/hrconsulting or phone
1800 500 849.