What is Talent and Talent Management?

Successful businesses aren’t created by great products, clever marketing, innovation, or business acumen; they’re created by people. And not just any people either, they’re created by people with determination and superior skillsets. Obviously other factors come into play, but, without a team of quality personnel who are good at what they do, a company cannot hope to succeed.

Talent, quite simply put, is a term used to describe personnel who have competitive skills that are integral to the successful operation of a company. The concept of talent management, or human capital management, refers to the practice of attracting, developing and retaining skilled employees in an organisation. The process of talent management is one which companies have been employing since the nineties and it has become an important factor in developing an agile, successful business plan.

What sparked the revolution? Why do companies now place more emphasis on their employees and their job satisfaction, performance and retention than they did in the past? Well, it’s simple really; companies and organisations alike have come to realise that not all employees are created equal, and successful businesses are built primarily by the people who comprise them. In addition, recruiting and developing employees is an expensive process that requires a large investment of time and corporate resources. As a result, talent management strategies are being used to promote growth and ensure a competitive edge by developing and retaining skilled employees in businesses of all descriptions.

Despite common misconceptions, talent management is not the sole responsibility of the human resources department. In order for the practice to work, it needs to be implemented throughout a company’s organisational structure, as the process correlates directly with management practices and styles. There’s a good reason for this; employees are no longer satisfied with simply earning a decent salary and receiving a good benefits package. Sure, these factors are important but employees are also looking for careers with the potential for growth and that provide them with a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. As a result, talent management strategies focus on both employee performance and potential. Employee performance is an easy concept to get to grips with; it has been used by companies to evaluate the capital worth of employees since the dawn of time and is easily quantifiable. The idea of employee potential however, is one which is fairly new in the business environment.

Potential refers to a candidate’s potential future performance if given the correct training and opportunities. Developing potential in existing employees can be an expensive undertaking that requires significant investments of company resources and capital. As a result, talent management strategies focus on defining, identifying and developing potential and ensuring that once potential has been developed it is incentivised to stay with the company. After all, training and developing skilled employees only to have them join a competitor company can cost a business more than just its capital investment.

Time and again, research has demonstrated that revenue, customer satisfaction, quality, productivity, cost, cycle time, and market capitalisation improve when employees are happy and motivated. Happy employees are created by providing a work environment which challenges an employee, allows for growth and that recognises and rewards performance. As a result, effective human capital management strategies focus on performance management, leadership development, skills development, placement and providing employees with the potential for growth within the company. An effective talent management strategy will also strive to identify potential skills gaps within the company and endeavor to fill these positions with people who deliver a superior skillsets to their positions. As a result, recruitment agencies now play a crucial role in enabling business to connect with talent due to the extensive background checks and research that recruitment agencies put into sourcing potential candidates.

Talent management is a sustainable strategy for developing a competitive business model; however, the practice requires a holistic approach and companywide education to ensure its successful implementation. Like all strategies, talent management also needs a structured, consolidated and planned approach if it is to be employed to its maximum effect. This means that talent management strategies need to be subjected to a formal review process in which the talent needs, both current and future, of a company are identified and planned for.

A successfully implemented human capital management strategy has a number of benefits for companies which include financial and performance gains. When considering whether a talent management solution should be implemented in a company it’s important to remember that talent is the primary driver when it comes to company performance and that the quality of a company’s personnel is its key competitive differentiator. Without a workforce which is motivated, skilled and goal orientated, companies will battle to make any significant gains in a competitive market.

Source: http://talentocean.co.za/magazine/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33:what-is-talent-and-talent-management