While most organisations have ad hoc approaches to talent management, it is found that most of them do not have a formalised talent management system in place

Talent management, HR’s KRA?

While most organisations have ad hoc approaches to talent management, it is found that most of them do not have a formalised talent management system in place

    In a changing business environment, a well-thought out approach to talent management is most responsive to identifying and nurturing necessary talent. While most organisations have ad hoc approaches to talent management, it is found that a large portion of them do not have a formalised talent management approach. This can often lead to strategic gaps in fully recognising potential issues and problems such as difficulty in recruiting for vital roles within the organisation; inability to respond swiftly to the changing external environment and issues w.r.t promotions taking place before people are ‘ready’.
    While most organisations would agree that a talent pool is vital to move an organisation forward, it is equally important to nurture and encourage this talent from within the company. In other words, everyone from the leadership downwards should be willing and able to nurture internal talent.
    Managers need to see talent management as a part of their role and actively undertake its identification and development. It should also form an integral part of the organisation’s strategy and business planning process and gain a buy-in and commitment to undertake the necessary responsibilities.
    Competency frameworks are a great tool to help identify talent and offer a clearly defined set of expectations to measure performance. Well-structured competency frameworks encourage organisations to think about performance in terms of demonstrated behaviours rather than subjective opinions regarding what is effective versus poor performance.
Thus, identifying and nurturing talent require organisational buy-in, particularly from the senior management and a structure to support the process.
KEY AREAS: Identifying talent with the use of targeted recruitment strategies, competency frameworks and assessment techniques; Managing and developing talent using tools such as performance management systems and 360° feedback; Matching talent to where it is needed through career and succession planning processes.