Zig Ziglar, American author, sales guru, and motivational speaker, is quoted as saying: “The first step to solving a problem is to recognize that it does exist.”

If you have noticed signs that your talent management strategy needs some work, you have taken that all-important first step. Just as every journey starts with one step, your journey toward an effective talent management strategy begins with an acknowledgement that your organization needs more than it currently has in terms of a strong talent pipeline.

The question, then, is: “Where do you go from here?”

Here are some tips to help you map out a strategy for talent management success.

1. Goal Setting and Organizational Alignment

Since one of the most important assets your organization has is its human capital, it is easy to understand why talent management is necessary for business growth. Deficiencies in your talent pool have a ripple effect, impacting your organization’s ability to innovate and grow.

Therefore, it is essential to clearly define your human capital objectives, aligning them strategically with your organizational goals. Questions to ask include:

  • What specific competencies will be required to achieve overall organization goals now and in the future?
  • What steps must be taken to ensure that such competencies are present in the workforce?
  • What role will talent management play in securing human capital with these competencies?
  • Within what time frame are these competencies needed, and how will current human assets measure up to the need?

In this area, talent managers must take a long-range view. While it is easy to focus on the immediate positions which must be filled, successful talent managers look beyond the current need and forecast future needs based on organizational goals.

2. Integrating All Talent Management Processes

In today’s competitive talent climate, it is imperative that all talent management processes be integrated and working together seamlessly. The article “Talent Management: Building Your Organization’s Future“notes: “An organization must integrate all segments of the talent management life cycle — recruitment, development, retention and transition — in advance of any need. Such integration makes it easier for an organization to hire, develop, engage and retain top talent — activities that drive competitive advantage and bottom-line results.”

Consider how your talent management strategy answers these questions:

  • Do your recruitment processes lead intuitively to effective onboarding?
  • Is employee retention a focus from recruitment forward?
  • Do you have a solid succession plan in place at every level of your organization?
  • Are you creating detailed career maps to encourage professional development at every organizational level?

3. Promoting Employee Engagement

In order to attract, engage, and retain top talent, you must ensure that you are monitoring performance consistently. Performance management must be focused on employee productivity and individual performance which positively impacts business growth.

This means that recognition and rewards must be given based upon merit and contribution to the overall growth of the organization. Feedback must be continuously offered to employees, and compensation must be linked to performance results.

4. Using Analytics for Deeper Insight

Capturing the right metrics with a talent management system is an essential key to fine tuning your strategy. According to the Forbes article “Big Data in Human Resources: Talent Analytics (People Analytics) Come of Age“, if organizations can apply science to improving the selection, management, and alignment of people, the returns can be tremendous.

A good talent management system enables an organization to understand workforce demographics, organizational costs, engagement drivers, and so on. Such a system supports your talent management strategy by continuously analyzing the health of your talent pipeline and forecasting and predicting future organizational needs based on emerging patterns and alignment with overarching organizational objectives.

The Takeaway

The better your talent management strategy, the more likely your organization will be to achieve positive ROI for your human assets. Essential components of your strategy must include:

  • Clearly defining talent management goals as they relate to organizational objectives.
  • Integrating all your talent management processes into one cohesive system.
  • Promoting employee engagement through recognition linked to performance measurement.
  • Utilizing robust analytics to tweak and shape your talent management strategy as warranted.

A strong talent management system can help you implement and adjust your strategy as needed. Contact us today to schedule a demo of ThriveTRM, and discover the power of cutting edge talent management technology for your organization