Effective Talent Management has increasingly become an indispensible competitive advantage and the survival of organizations, especially, in the fast-paced industries, is critically staked on their ability to attract, develop, engage and retain desired talent by indulging in robust strategic and tactical initiatives that are geared towards the healthy replenishment of the talent pipeline.

The following simple analytical tool has been created to assess the key strategic focus of an organization seeking to attract, develop, engage and retain desired talent within its ranks.  This will enable/facilitate the creation and application of the most appropriate corrective/preventive actions for refining/improving the existing Talent Management strategies/initiatives.

Praying for Talent
This refers to the talent strategy or tactical initiative that is reactive in nature.  It is generally characterized by pressurized moves, laborious actions and wistful thinking that frequently results in the accommodation of less than desirable/whatever is available/forced to accept workforce.  Such negative measures are later magnified by incurring huge costs in multiple ways, e.g.:

– Recurring Training and Development
– Embarrassing Product/Service Failures
– Inevitably Increased Testing and Appraisal
– Stinging Client/Customer Compensation
– Painfully High Attrition Rates
– Unforgiving Regulatory penalties
– Sullied Organizational Reputation

Playing for Talent
This refers to the talent strategy or tactical initiative that is proactive in nature.  It is generally characterized by calculated moves, insightful actions and progressive thinking that frequently results in the accommodation of desirable/delightful/deserving workforce.  Such positive measures are later rewarded by relishing huge savings in multiple ways, e.g.:

– Optimum Training and Development
– Rare Product/Service Failures
– Reduced Testing and Appraisal
– Increased Client/Customer Appreciation
– Pleasantly Low Attrition Rates
– Regulatory Adherence Champion
– Envied Organizational Reputation

Questionnaire for Talent Management Introspection

1. Do you have an enlightened senior management that prioritizes talent management (TM)?

2. Do you have a suitably qualified person leading the TM function?

3. Do you have a defined TM strategy that has been thoroughly reviewed and unequivocally approved/embraced by the senior management?

4. Do you have a defined tactical plan for TM that has been thoroughly reviewed and unequivocally approved/embraced by the key stakeholders?

5. Do you have enough time to deploy the tactical plan for TM?

6. Do you have enough resources to enable deployment of the tactical plan for TM?

7. Do you have enough intelligence on the competitors for effective response/counter actions to ‘talent cannibalization’ moves?

8. Do you fulfill the applicable regulatory requirements for TM?

9. Do you conduct timely strategic and tactical reviews on TM?

10. Do you take timely and effective corrective/preventive actions pertaining to TM?

11. Do you have a good reputation in the talent market with respect to the triple bottom line (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_bottom_line)?

12. Do you have a distinct recognition as a ‘Desirable Employer’ brand?

Result Tabulation
Food for Thought
The best way of ensuring success in the ‘War for Talent’ is by taking efficient and effective measures during the ‘Peace in Talent’.