Talent Management Strategy: HR Planning and Development

Introduction

Recognizing, recruiting, and effectively managing talented employees are essential ingredients in the formula for success for virtually any organization (Frank & Taylor, 2004). Talent management encompasses a broad spectrum of activities ranging from recruitment to retention to evaluation. While the actual processes and strategies may vary, one principle remains constant: people are the most valuable asset of an organization.

Of course, a strategy is not based merely on principles — it requires a carefully constructed plan of action. Strategy design is an essential part of effectively managing an organization's talent. There are numerous technical aspects to human resource strategizing that go beyond the standard hiring, paying, and firing protocols. Unfortunately, many HR departments are not planning their strategies as well as they need to in order to attract and keep the most talented and capable workforce, because they are not aware of all the technical factors that strategy planning entails. Therefore, there is a strong need for such organizations to learn how to create a more effective process for designing their HR strategies.

Background: Defining Talent Management and HR Strategy

In order to improve the process of designing an effective talent management strategy, HR managers first have to understand exactly what the term "talent management" entails. Unfortunately, there is no single, definitive definition of talent management. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management defines talent management as "a system that addresses competency gaps, particularly in mission-critical occupations, by implementing and maintaining programs to attract, acquire, develop, promote, and retain quality talent" (p. 1). Thus, according to this definition, talent management is essentially a problem-solving approach to HR management.

According to Garrow and Hirsh (2008), the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) "defines talent management as 'the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement/retention, and deployment of those individuals with high potential who are of particular value to an organization'" (p. 390). From this perspective, talent management is not only about recruiting and managing talented employees, but also about cultivating those with potential. While the definitions of talent management may vary, the overall theme of the discipline is that organizations need to make the most of the people who work for them.

It is also important for HR managers to understand what is involved in creating a successful HR strategy. According to Kearns (2003), "an HR strategy is a conscious and explicit attempt to manage the organization's human resource to gain a competitive advantage" (p. 10). Essentially, the goal of an HR strategy is to put the corporation ahead of its competition by ensuring that employees are engaged and invested enough in their work to perform at a high level. People are what make an organization successful — they are the ones who develop ideas for new products and services that help the organization become an industry leader. Without a happy, motivated workforce, most companies will struggle. Therefore, a detailed, long-term plan for managing talent in a positive and effective way is paramount (Greenberg, 2007). One of the most critical aspects of creating such a plan is understanding how to adapt to change.

Managing Change

Developing a successful talent management strategy can be a challenge, but it is well worth the effort (Frank & Taylor, 2004). The process becomes even more difficult when the business environment, competitive landscape, and economy keep shifting. Old HR strategies will not work when these changes set in, so the HR strategy must be flexible enough to keep up with new trends and patterns. It also has to be strong enough not just to react to change, but to actually drive change. According to Kearns (2003), "one of the main aims behind most attempts at HR strategy is the need to bring about organizational change" (p. 68).

When a company does not have the systems in place to recruit, retain, cultivate, and manage the best talent, it is the human resource department's responsibility to incorporate new ideas to improve current systems and to create better ones. For example, when PepsiAmericas experienced a three-way merger in 2000, the company faced numerous changes and challenges. Most notably, it had to integrate three separate companies with different organizational cultures. According to Peopleclick Authoria, "The PepsiAmericas HR team played a prominent role in leading the transformation, focusing on talent management. A critical component of the plan was the creation of a human capital planning initiative centered on a comprehensive performance management process." The primary goal was to ensure that every manager received clear communication about his or her role and duties. This simultaneously averted duplicate efforts, internal conflict, and bruised egos.

While it is important to be able to react to planned changes such as mergers, it is equally important to be proactive and prepared for unplanned changes. This includes creating a foundation for new processes while ensuring that innovation remains an ongoing initiative within the HR department. Innovation can occur in a variety of ways, including: 1) brainstorming — generating as many ideas as possible and then selecting the best option; 2) benchmarking — examining similar companies to see what approaches they use; or 3) developing histograms — statistical charts that illustrate historical patterns and trends. Histograms can be applied to a variety of human resource contexts, such as visualizing monthly salary distributions across employee groups.

Conclusion

Improving an organization's talent management strategy development process is a complicated but essential task. Without a productive and satisfied workforce of talented, motivated individuals, a company is likely to fall behind its competitors and may eventually lose its position in the market entirely. People are what make an organization succeed or fail, so it stands to reason that significant attention must be devoted to improving talent management. Some companies invest the majority of their resources in areas such as marketing and advertising, overlooking the need to invest in their most valuable asset: their employees.