A talent management theory has two aspects: the theoretical and the practical. The theoretical aspect involves discussing things and writing them down. What exactly are the company’s aims when it comes to top talent acquisition and management? What are you looking for and why? What are your long term goals? Your company vision? How would you like your company culture to take shape?
The practical aspect involves actually putting these goals into practice. To do this, you need to discuss the goals with your employees, train them and oversee the application of your strategy. You might also need to work with a staffing firm in order to improve your hiring practices.
So the theoretical aspect is actually much easier than the practical one which can run into problems like employee resistance, managerial deficits, monetary shortages, lack of motivation, high turnover etc. But if you have help in terms of a headhunter and good people in management positions, you can build a talent management strategy that works for you.
How Do You Build a Winning Talent Management Strategy?
Once you have your goals in place, you can work with your managers and employees to create the kind of workplace that will nurture them in the long run, allowing them to develop to their full potential. And eventually, this is what’s best for your company as well.
1. Evaluation
The first step in talent management should always be an evaluation of where you are at present. Do you have a number of talented individuals working for you? Or are you dissatisfied with the degree of specialization in your company? Do you need to hire people who are just better than the ones you have? Or do you need to motivate your current workers to do a better job?
2. Changing Your Hiring Practices
It could be that you just don’t have the right people for the jobs in your company. This doesn’t mean that the people you’ve hired are bad. Maybe they’re just not a good fit for the positions you hired them for.
In this case, you need to start changing your hiring practices. The idea is to understand the position well enough to find the right person with the right qualifications and right temperament for it. You might want to consider working with a headhunter because they have many years of experience and an intuitive understanding of people and what type of position they would be best for.
3. Developing a Good Company Culture
Let’s say you do have a number of talented individuals already. Then why aren’t they performing as well as they should? The answer usually lies in company culture.
When the company culture isn’t good, people don’t feel valued. This could be because they’re being paid less or because they don’t have benefits. Or it could be something more qualitative. Maybe no one’s listening to them. Maybe they’re coming up with creative ideas that are being ignored. Or maybe they just don’t like the physical work environment which needs sprucing up.
These are things that you can rectify over the long run. Just keep in mind that company culture can’t be turned around in the course of a few days or weeks. You need to give it a few months at least to see some results.
Talent Management as a Long-Term Goal
Although there are a number of roadblocks when it comes to hiring and retaining the right talent, the task isn’t impossible. Just keep in mind that any initiatives you put into place will take time to have any effect. Any good talent management strategy needs to be long-term. In fact, managing your talent is going to be important for as long as you’re running a company.
Contact us for more tips on acquiring and retaining the right talent for your company.
