Managing Talent in a Global Environment

Is Your Organization Rushing to Fill the Talent Void?

Mar 16, 2009 Iulia Mihai

Talent management in all its forms - identification, development, and retention - has been a hot topic for HR professionals and business leaders over the last decade.

Since most organizations nowadays operate in a highly competitive and volatile global environment, they have to engage the right talent to create sustainable success, and react quickly to changing markets.

Leaders who understand the value of talent management programs and actively support them also understand that one should not take human capital for granted or expect talent to fully develop over a short period of time.

When it comes to talent management, best-practice organizations engage in the following practices:

• Clearly define talent management
• Secure senior management buy-in and support
• Ensure managing talent is the #1 responsibility for leaders at all levels
• Start with the end in mind – focus on talent needed to meet current and future business needs
• Know what you’re looking for - create competency models to identify the skills and behaviors that will help the organization achieve its current and future goals
• Conduct company-wide talent needs analysis to identify talent gaps and talent pools
• Implement effective recruitment strategies to attract and identify talent
• Integrate talent management with performance management and compensation strategies
• Evaluate the effectiveness of talent management initiatives and update as needed

Although talent management was seen primarily as an HR responsibility in the past, the reality is that line management involvement and commitment will ultimately determine the success of this initiative. Today, both HR and line management, from the CEO to the team leader, play just as important a role in developing current talent into future leaders.

Leaders at all levels must contribute to developing and managing talent in organizations. As a leader, these are some of the things you can incorporate in your regular management responsibilities.

Know Your Role

Regardless of your functional responsibilities, you too play a part in the talent management process. HR provides the tools, resources, and support but ultimately, you’re the one who will implement it.

Partner with HR

HR and line managers need to work together to connect business strategy with talent needs. Take advantage of opportunities to work with HR, provide input and, when applicable, provide constructive criticism.

Develop a Talent State of Mind

Ask yourself if you have the right people in place to achieve your goals, what your talent strengths and talent gaps are, how you will develop the existing talent, what your team’s talent “mosaic” looks like.

Senior executives play a special role as far as talent management is concerned, and that goes beyond championing talent management. It also includes hands-on involvement such as:

• Incorporating talent management in corporate objectives
• Providing strategic guidance for talent management initiatives
• Participating in and leading talent management activities
• Developing and coaching high-potential employees across the organization
• Turning functional leaders into talent managers
• Putting the right people in the right jobs

Talent management has never been more of a crucial matter than it is right now. But in the hurry to fill an obvious talent gap, organizations should be careful not to rush into implementing programs that are more about reacting than about implementing a robust long-term solution. Careful planning and alignment between your talent strategy and your organizations’ business strategy are required for talent management to be both effective and sustainable.

The copyright of the article Managing Talent in a Global Environment in Business Management is owned by Iulia Mihai. Permission to republish Managing Talent in a Global Environment in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.