Tips for successful talent management

In the globalized world of the 21st century, companies should put talent at the heart of their thinking and actions. However, talent management is not primarily an administrative or organizational task, but a question of culture and values. As such, the comprehensive approach to talent management is diametrically opposed to previous efforts by companies to identify and promote young talent for specific positions. And it determines the way in which it is implemented. We have compiled five tips for successful talent management for you.
 

Tip 1: Develop a talent management strategy.

The aim of talent management (TM) is to fill success-critical positions with suitable specialists in good time. In order to be proactive, you absolutely need a talent strategy. It is a sign of commitment and seriousness about the project if the company management puts the topic on the strategic agenda.

Which key positions and which critical management positions are at stake in the medium and long term? This question forms the starting point for the talent management strategy. Otherwise, you will fail to develop what the company needs. This is expensive, achieves little and frustrates your employees.

What skills do employees need to be able to contribute in five years' time? Which skills do not exist in your company or on the market? How can you develop these skills? Targeted talent management deals with this task systematically.

Determine goals and tools for talent management

Workshops or working groups of managers with the talent manager are generally very well suited to concretizing the talent management task and identifying suitable steps on the way to the goal. Ideally, you should formulate a result-oriented objective by a point in time X, such as:

• All key positions can be filled 100 percent from within the company or externally.
• The fluctuation of specialists due to a lack of development measures is Y percent lower than the average of the last three or five years.
• The company receives noticeably more high-quality applications than the average of the last three or five years.

Once the objectives have been determined, a decision must be made on how the selection process should proceed and which instruments (selection interviews, potential analyses, tests, situational procedures, etc.) should be used. At this point at the latest, the talent management program should be announced at staff meetings. Detailed information can be disseminated via the intranet or by email, for example.
 

Tip 2: Secure the commitment of your managers.

Without the commitment of your managers, talent management will have failed before you have even started. HR support is important, but de facto the most important work in talent development is done on the line - by managers. Can you count on managers? Do you succeed in communicating the purpose of talent management?

The HR department must lead the way. It must convince managers to introduce sustainable talent management and turn managers from those affected into participants. As the process ties up a lot of resources, it is advisable for HR to appoint an employee with primary responsibility as a talent manager (internal or external). This role requires creativity, expertise, assertiveness and an appropriate budget.

The actual implementation is the task of the managers. To this end, the HR department should define clear criteria for evaluating an employee's performance, skills, potential and ability to develop.