Talent Management: 10 Tips for a Successful Strategy

Written by Erik van Vulpen
14 minutes read

Effective talent management helps organizations win the war for talent and should be a top priority for HR professionals. How can we give candidates the best experience? How can we attract and retain the best people?

In this article, we explore the pressing topic of talent management. From the definition to strategy development, implementing best practices, and showcasing examples of successful talent management, here’s all you need to know.

Contents
What is talent management?
Why is talent management so important?
Talent management model
10 tips for an effective talent management strategy
What are examples of talent management?
FAQ


What is talent management?

Talent management encompasses all HR processes to attract, develop, motivate, and retain high-performing employees. Let’s break this definition down:

  • HR processes: Talent management is about a set of HR processes that integrate with each other. It goes beyond individual HR functions. A talent management strategy requires a holistic outlook on these processes to maximize its potential.
  • Key focus areas: Talent management touches on all key functions of HR, including recruitment and selection, performance management, rewards, and employee development.
  • Employee performance: The ultimate goal of talent management is to increase performance. This is best achieved by creating a system that motivates and engages employees to perform to the best of their abilities. When it’s done right, companies can build a sustainable competitive advantage and outperform their competition through an integrated system of talent management practices that are hard to copy and/or imitate.

In other words, talent management is a process aimed at driving performance through integrated people management practices.

It is primarily the responsibility of HR professionals to lead talent management efforts. They must develop and implement talent management strategies that align with organizational goals, culture, and values. They also need to identify, develop, and evaluate talent pipelines and provide ongoing training and development opportunities for employees at all levels.

Talent management, however, is a collaborative effort that requires the involvement of managers, supervisors, and executives, who provide support and resources to enable the successful implementation of talent management practices.

Check out our Learning Bite to learn everything you need to know about Talent Management!

Why is talent management so important?

As we’ve already mentioned, talent management has a significant impact on an organization’s success. Here’s why:

Attracting top talent

HR applies effective talent management strategies to help identify the specific skills and qualities they need in new hires, making the recruitment process more efficient and effective.

What’s more, when employees feel valued, supported, and invested in, they are more likely to speak positively about their employer. This helps organizations enhance their reputation and employer brand and attract new talent.

Driving organizational performance

Employees with the right skills and competencies in the right positions are able to maximize their contribution to the organization, resulting in improved productivity and organizational performance.

In other words, by attracting and retaining top talent and creating a culture of performance excellence, organizations can achieve better results, gaining a competitive advantage.

Better succession management

Effective talent management includes identifying and developing high-potential employees to assume key roles in the organization in the future. Succession management ensures that critical positions can be filled quickly, minimizing disruptions to business operations, which guarantees business continuity.

Stronger organizational culture 

Implementing talent management practices helps foster a positive and supportive organizational culture, which boosts morale, productivity, and overall performance.

As such, HR professionals must prioritize talent management efforts and develop strategies that align with the company’s goals and values.

Promoting innovation

By challenging their employees to grow and develop, organizations create an environment where people can voice new ideas and innovate. This enables businesses to stay ahead of the competition by developing and improving their products and services.

Developing employee skills

Talent management focuses on developing employee skills through training, mentoring, and coaching. By investing in employee development, employers encourage performance and career growth. That helps them not only to fill skills gaps and build a skilled workforce but also retain it.

Improving employee retention

Losing top performers is costly, both in terms of recruitment and lost productivity. Talent management practices that prioritize employee engagement, recognition, and career development help retain valuable employees and reduce turnover rates.

Enhancing agility

Businesses that effectively manage talent adapt to changing business circumstances and emerging possibilities more swiftly.

Avoiding unnecessary costs

It can be expensive to recruit and onboard new employees. High turnover can disrupt business operations and lower morale. Optimizing your talent management practices can lead to significant cost savings.


Talent management model

A talent management model helps you navigate and optimize your talent management process by visualizing its elements.

The AARRR model, also known as the Pirate Metrics model, is a popular framework that typically outlines the various stages of the customer journey. It can also be applied to talent management to help HR professionals envision the employee journey within the organization.

Here’s what such a model looks like:

HR Talent Management Model

Let’s take a closer look at each stage of the AARRR model in talent management:

AcquisitionIn the beginning, HR professionals focus on attracting and sourcing top talent for the company. This may include developing a strong employer brand, leveraging social media and other recruitment channels, and implementing effective talent acquisition strategies to identify and engage with potential candidates.
ActivationAfter acquiring your candidates, the next stage is to activate them by selecting your new employees.

Then, you onboard them and provide them with the necessary resources, tools, and training to perform their roles effectively. This usually takes the form of orientation and onboarding sessions and job-specific training.
RevenueThe first ‘R’ involves getting your employees to bring maximum value to your organization.

Next to effective onboarding, you need to make sure that your employees are developing new and existing skills, are engaged and motivated, and that you’re effectively managing their performance.
ReferralReferrals are a valuable source of promising talent. HR professionals can leverage current employees to be brand advocates and to refer potential candidates who fit the organization’s culture and values.

This can be achieved by implementing an employee referral program, offering incentives for successful referrals, and creating a culture that values and rewards referrals.
RetentionIn this stage, HR professionals focus on retaining top talent by providing them with meaningful work, opportunities for growth and development, and a positive work environment.

This involves creating an inclusive workplace, implementing effective performance management systems, charting career paths, offering competitive compensation and benefits, and providing ongoing feedback and coaching to employees.

Overall, the AARRR model gives HR professionals a framework for planning and implementing their talent management strategies and identifying opportunities for improvement. By focusing on each stage of the model, the organization can build a strong workforce to succeed in today’s competitive business environment.

10 tips for an effective talent management strategy

How can HR professionals build a talent management strategy that will help their business achieve its goals?

1. Identify your organization’s strategic priorities

Before you dive into planning your talent management strategy, you must have a clear idea of what your organization’s strategic priorities and goals are. These priorities will inform the focus areas for talent management and ultimately determine the skills and types of employees the organization is seeking to hire, develop, and retain.

For example, if the priority of your business strategy is to become a customer-centric organization, your talent management strategy will need to reflect that.

2. Define your talent management goals

Identify the objectives you want to achieve through your strategy. Is it reducing turnover, increasing employee engagement, or improving succession management?

Defining your talent management goals provides clarity about what you want to achieve in terms of talent management. It enables you to identify the key areas that require attention and where to focus your efforts and resources.

To start defining your goals, you can ask yourself the following five questions proposed by Roger L. Martin:

  • What are the aspirations of the organization and what are the goals that enable us to measure progress? (See also #1 above)
  • What specific talent management activities do we want to focus on?
  • How will we beat the competition?
  • What capabilities do we need to build or continue to win?
  • How do we track progress and improve? 

Setting goals helps you ensure that everyone is working towards the same direction and makes it easy to measure your progress down the road. It also increases accountability as everyone in the organization better understands their role in achieving the set goals, promoting a sense of ownership and responsibility.

3. Create a talent management framework

A talent management framework is a structured approach to managing an organization’s talent that aligns talent management practices with organizational objectives.

Using a framework enables HR professionals to ensure they’re focusing on the most impactful talent management practices that help create value for the organization. This results in more effective talent management strategies that support long-term success.

Below, you can see an example talent management framework with 6 elements:

Talent Management Framework Example

4. Set up a talent management process

A talent management process is a systematic and structured approach to identifying, developing, and retaining talent. It typically involves steps like sourcing and attracting talent, engagement and culture, and promotion and succession planning. You can read more about the talent management process steps here.

By following a set process based on a pre-defined framework, HR professionals ensure that the company has the right talent to achieve its objectives and that employees have the necessary skills and support to grow and develop in their roles, resulting in a more engaged and productive workforce.

Organizations must implement a talent management system that combines three key components: rapid talent allocation, a positive employee experience, and a strategic HR team.

This system enables organizations to stay competitive by hiring and developing talented employees, which helps them become stronger and better equipped to face changes and risks. Jonathan Westover, OD/HR/Leadership consultant from Human Capital Innovations

5. Focus on the most impactful talent management practices

It’s essential to prioritize the most impactful talent management practices in your strategy and process. These will be the ones that have the biggest influence on achieving your strategic goals.

Here’s a brief, non-comprehensive overview of some talent management practices:

  • Employer branding: Having a strong brand attracts the best candidates.
  • Candidate experience: The experience of the candidate influences the employer brand and reputation.
  • Selection: Selecting people with the right skills and competencies is a critical part of talent management.
  • Referrals: Talent knows talent. Referral programs are effective as they help to pick up candidates that onboard quicker and perform better. We listed 7 employee referral programs examples you can take a look at to get inspired.
  • OnboardingGetting people up to speed as quickly as possible helps to make them more productive and increases employee retention.
  • Inboarding: When people are promoted internally, they also need support to achieve maximum productivity. This is called inboarding.
  • Engagement: Engaged employees are motivated, perform well, and are more likely to stay.
  • Retention: Employee retention strategies help to keep the best people on board.
  • Learning and development: Educating employees helps increase performance and retention. After all, once you’ve recruited the best people, you want to make sure they remain the frontrunners in the field, right?
  • Performance management: An essential part of managing talent is tracking and improving their performance.
  • People analytics: By leveraging data, you can ensure that you’re hitting the right KPIs that have an impact on business outcomes.

So, how can you determine what to focus on?

Edie Goldberg, expert in talent management and the future of work, uses a strategic prioritization assessment for each talent management initiative:

  1. What is the strategic relevance of the initiative/program? (High, Moderate, Low)
  2. What is the line demand for the initiative/program? (High, Moderate, Low)
  3. How much time will it take to design?
  4. What are the resources required to successfully execute on the initiative/program?
  5. What do you anticipate will be the challenge with implementation? (High, Moderate, Low)

“Based on these factors, I would prioritize those items with higher strategic relevance and line demand, especially if the implementation
challenge is low,” explains Goldberg.

“Time and resources required would play a role in prioritization as you will want to identify some quick wins (low resources, low time to design), and only engage in resource-intensive projects with implementation challenges if they are very strategically relevant and demanded by the line.”

6. Prioritize employee development

Encourage staff to participate in ongoing training and development programs to help them develop new skills and advance in their careers. When employees are given opportunities to learn and grow, they are more likely to feel valued and appreciated by their employer. This, in turn, leads to increased motivation, productivity, and commitment to the organization.

Employees who feel that their employer is invested in their development are also more likely to stay with the company for the long term, reducing turnover and associated costs. Prioritizing employee development builds a stronger and more skilled workforce.

By investing in training programs, as well as leadership development, organizations can ensure that their employees have the skill sets and knowledge needed to perform their jobs effectively. This results in better performance, higher quality work, and greater innovation within the organization.

Consider using your top talent to create a model of excellence for all employees to aspire. Using your own people is proof that success is possible within your current culture and climate and goes a long way to creating a for us, by us mentality rather than an externally forced fit talent management approach.

In our experience, this approach is also a retention tactic that helps hold onto your top performers.
Jaime Torchiana, President at performance consultancy Exemplary Performance

7. Track your progress

Keeping track of the progress of your talent management efforts provides a clear picture of their impact over time. What’s more, monitoring talent management metrics helps you pinpoint areas where your strategy excels and areas where you need to improve.

Some metrics that you can measure include:

  • Talent turnover
  • Talent distribution / Talent demographics
  • High-potential talent
  • Time to full productivity per FTE
  • Training spend

By collecting and analyzing data on workforce development and performance, organizations recognize trends and patterns that are used to inform future talent management decisions.

8. Use a talent management dashboard

A talent management dashboard is a digital tool that allows HR professionals to track and visualize metrics in real time. The dashboard provides a comprehensive view of talent management processes, which allows managers to make data-driven decisions.

The data displayed includes key performance indicators, such as employee retention, productivity, and engagement. By seeing the data in the dashboard, managers can quickly identify areas that require improvement and develop strategies to address them.

With a dashboard, there is simply improved visibility into the talent pipeline. Managers can track the progress of each employee from recruitment to development and identify areas that need improvement. This ensures that talent management strategies are aligned with organizational goals, and managers can make proactive decisions to address potential issues.

Additionally, the dashboard provides managers and HR teams with a centralized platform for gaining insight into the workforce. This enhances collaboration and enables managers to provide regular feedback to employees.

9. Streamline your efforts with technology

Tools and platforms enable the automation of routine tasks, streamline processes, and provide valuable insights into talent management strategies. One key technology tool is the talent management system (TMS), a software platform that automates parts of key processes like recruiting, performance management, career development, and succession management. 

TMS solutions like Workday, Rippling, and Sage HR help manage job postings, onboarding, training, generating reports and analytics, and employee performance.

10. Continuously assess and adjust your approach

Continuously assessing and adjusting your approach is vital to an effective talent management strategy. It allows organizations to stay flexible and responsive to changing circumstances, also in the external environment.

For example, new technologies, changing customer needs, or industry disruptions can all have an impact on the skills and competencies needed by an organization’s workforce.

So, regularly reviewing and adapting talent management strategies ensures employees have the skills and knowledge needed to remain effective in their roles. This leads to increased innovation, productivity, and competitiveness, as well as a more engaged and motivated workforce.

There’s no one-size-fits-all talent management strategy, and what works well for one organization may not work for your business. However, there’s still value in looking at what other organizations do when shaping your strategy.

“HR can benchmark against other organizations to identify best practices. This involves researching and analyzing the talent management practices of other organizations and adapting those practices to fit the organization’s needs and be competitive as an employer,” says Felicia Shakiba, Founder & Global Sr. Executive HR Consultant at CPO Playbook Consultancy.

“The best way to gather this data is by looking at your competitor’s employer brand via LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and their career websites, and ask current employees who formerly worked at these organizations,” advises Shakiba.


What are examples of talent management?

Let’s look at how some companies approach talent management in practice.

World Vision

World Vision’s approach to their work is centered around people and supported by data. They measure success based on the impact they have on people’s lives. By partnering with Talentmgt, they can now empower their employees with the necessary resources, tools, and support to handle potential challenges and remain agile.

To further support employee development, World Vision Canada has launched Agile 101. This program provides immersive training during onboarding, as well as agile tools and role-based training. The aim is to foster self-empowerment in learning rather than imposing a rigid structure. This approach enables individuals to be more adaptable and better equipped to handle any challenges that may arise.

Hyatt Hotels

With more than 120,000 colleagues across 875 hotels in over 60 countries on six continents, the Hyatt talent management team aimed to optimize its HR processes, tools, and systems on a global level, eliminating inconsistencies and fragmentation.

The HR leaders wish to provide a superior talent experience that would bring purpose to life for every colleague and potential candidate, ultimately benefiting every guest and customer in their hotels worldwide.

A UK insurance company

Burley Consulting collaborated with a top UK insurance company to help them identify and nurture the talent required to thrive in a digital context while also managing the workforce needed to lead their business today. As a solution, Burley built a bespoke business simulation to give high-potential staff and future business leaders the experience of leading the company by embracing the digitalization opportunities.

After a simulated three-year period, the hands-on program enabled the insurance company to identify employees who were eager to embrace digitalization. In the end, they managed to strike a balance between nurturing talent and delivering on current business goals.

A final word

Having a well-defined talent management strategy, implementing effective best practices, and leveraging a range of digital tools will help your organization gain a competitive edge. While it isn’t easy, when done right, your talent management efforts will be very rewarding, resulting in a high-performing, engaged workforce.

FAQ

What is talent management?

Talent management is the full scope of HR processes to attract, onboard, develop, motivate, and retain high-performing employees. Talent management is aimed at improving business performance through practices that make employees more productive.

What is the difference between talent management and talent development?

Talent management involves identifying, recruiting, and retaining employees who have the potential to make significant contributions to an organization’s success. On the other hand, talent development refers to the process of enhancing employees’ skills and knowledge to help them reach their full potential and prepare them for future roles within the organization.

What are the best practices in talent management?

Talent management best practices include workforce planning, talent acquisition, onboarding, performance management, career development, succession planning, diversity and inclusion, and continuous improvement to effectively manage talent.

Is talent management part of HR?

Yes, talent management is a crucial aspect of HR that involves strategically managing an organization’s human resources to achieve business goals.

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Erik van Vulpen

Erik van Vulpen is the founder and Dean of AIHR. He is an expert in shaping modern HR practices by bringing technological innovations into the HR context. He receives global recognition as an HR thought leader and regularly speaks on topics like People Analytics, Digital HR, and the Future of Work.

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