will talent managment superced HRM???Talent Management should be about delivering business success through understanding what we actually mean by talent, and how it will achieve the specific goals of the organization.

WILL TALENT MANAGEMENT

 SUPERCEDE TRADITONAL HRM ???

Talent management is the integrated process of ensuring that an organization has a continuous supply of highly productive individuals in the right job, at the right time. Rather than a one-time event, talent management is a continuous process that plans talent needs, builds an image to attract the very best, ensures that new hires are immediately productive, helps to retain the very best, and facilitates the continuous movement of talent to where it can have the most impact within the organization. "The war for talent has shifted, now it's the war for the right talent," said David Ulrich, leading Human Resources guru. "It is not enough to say that people are our most important asset; but to believe that people are the customer's most important asset." So where does the traditional HRM system survive with the onslaught of outsourcing & automation of most HR operations???

TALENT MANAGEMENT : a strategic & integrative approach

The talent management strategy is superior not just because it focuses on productivity, but also because it is forward looking and proactive, which means that the organization is continuously seeking out talent and opportunities to better utilize that talent. It produces excellent results because it overcomes the major problem of traditional recruiting, which is isolation. It instead integrates the previously independent functions of recruiting, retention, workforce planning, employment branding, metrics, orientation and redeployment into a seamless process.

TALENT MANAGEMENT & HRM : the differentiators

There are some other factors that help define how talent management differs from traditional HRM. They include:

• A focus on high impact positions. A talent management strategy requires managers and HR to determine which jobs, when filled with top talent, have the largest impact on a firm’s success.
• Cross Functional Approach. Talent management builds cooperation and integration between previously independent efforts of line/functional managers, through its heavy use of common goals, metrics and rewards. As a result, no independent function like marketing, production or IT  can be considered successful unless the overall talent management effort is also successful.
• Accountability. Talent management gets managers’ attention by instituting a system of measures and rewards that ensures every manager is recognized and rewarded for excellence in people management (high workforce productivity). It simultaneously measures employee engagement to ensure that managers reach their productivity goals while using the appropriate management behaviors (two-way communications, empowerment, meritocracy, etc.).

¨      Recognition of the business conditions. The talent management approach involves recognizing that different types of talent are required depending on changing business situations & the business cycle. As a result, talent management requires the continuous internal movement of talent in and out of jobs and business units based on current business needs and where the company is in its business cycle. Our experience  with client companies, suggests that too many firms rely on recruiting new talent rather than systematic development of “home grown” talent. This generally leaves them unprepared to respond quickly to business opportunities. It is a constant struggle to have the right people in the right jobs at the right time in order to deliver improved business results.

• Focus on Internal Customer Service. Seamless service is the expectation of talent management. Customer satisfaction, process speed, quality, and responsiveness are continually measured. In our HRD EFFECTIVENESS AUDIT newsletter we have described how this arm of the talent management should be evaluated

¨      Anticipation. While traditional HRM tends to be reactive, talent management is forward looking. It forecasts and alerts managers about upcoming problems and opportunities. It encourages managers to act before the need arises in talent management issues

Primary Principles of Talent Management 

The four primary factors that make the talent management approach unique include:

1. An integrated approach within HR. Talent management formally integrates ALL people management programs and functions so that they work as a continuous & complementing process.
2. Integrating people processes into standard business processes. Talent management goes the next step and further repositions people management programs and processes into the company’s standard business processes, such as the corporate strategic planning process, budgeting, mergers, and new product development.
3. Shifting responsibility to managers. Talent management pushes the accountability and the responsibility for executing people management down to the line management levels.
4. Measuring success with productivity. Talent management shifts the success measures from the more traditional HR and recruiting functional metrics towards measuring the overall productivity of the

The Key Success Factor of Talent Management

 Before going into any detail about talent management, it’s important to take a step back and look at where it fits into the  business map. Start with the operation of the HR department. Most HR departments operate using a functional model where every HR unit operates on a relatively independent basis. Other than HR generalists, every HR unit has independent goals, measures, and budgets. For example, there is little or no integration in the traditional recruiting function between its recruiting programs and the activities of other HR functions like development, compensation, and retention. Although this traditional separation provides the recruiting function with the opportunity to focus on its own specialty area, it can limit the impact of recruiting efforts by not meeting the expectation or needs of other people management and business processes and programs.

"Alignment" is therefore the key element of a successful Talent Strategy.  When selecting or developing people, most organizations focus on the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours required for the role.  However, some organizations are beginning to look at the behaviours required to operate effectively in a particular team or culture.  Our experience at Synergy Management Associates, in serving our clients, is to have an approach that looks at all of the factors that drive team performance, the relationship between people's motivations and the sorts of organizational cultures in which they will thrive.

Talent Management should be about delivering business success through understanding what we actually mean by talent, and how it will achieve the specific goals of the organization.  It is about ensuring that we value the natural talents and aspirations of our people.  It is about ensuring that we understand what blockages can spoil all our hard work.  It is about operating people processes that join together not only with each other, but with the business's goals.  And finally, it is also about understanding how to manage people for alignment as well as ability.  If we adopt these approaches, not only will business success follow, but we should also have fulfilled and effective people.

Some best practices in Talent Management

Companies which  have excelled at Talent Management have had the following observed best practices:

¨      CEOs were directly involved in the Talent Management process;
- empowered, strategic human resources leaders;
- attentive Boards of Directors;
- unified, comprehensive and integrated approaches to focusing exceptional care upon top-performing executives. "We wanted to create an environment where people feel passionate about their work, where people feel inspired," the CEO  often says

• Monetary rewards are not as strongly emphasized as motivators. Consequently, proactive employers are looking to a broader and more personalized range of non-financial motivators, including:

-          Executive education;
- personal coaches;
- individualized development programs;
- allowing employees to select how they are rewarded.

• These companies  have ambitious succession plans with successful execution of high-potential employee development activities.
• HR departments tended not to have formal budgets for Talent Management - costs being mostly incurred and driven at line management level.
• The distinct presence of performance metrics and accountability around Talent Management programs contributes to concrete action in moving such programs forward.

CONCLUSION

It comes down to whether a company has the talent needed to execute its business strategy. And the signs of a faltering system are readily apparent: failing to meet business targets or objectives; shortages of key talent; talent management a low corporate priority; employee morale and satisfaction on the wane; problems recruiting employees; problems retaining employees; a tarnished employment brand. The end result of the talent management process is to increase overall workforce productivity through the improved attraction, retention, and utilization of talent.

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DR WILFRED MONTEIRO