Talent Management Strategy
Proven Ways to Attract, Retain and Motivate Your Workforce
Talent
management has as its ultimate goal creating a work
environment that finds, retains and engages the best talent affordable. The key to success for any organization is the ability to attract and
retain skilled and talented people. Talent management is the process of
attracting, selecting, caring, training, developing and keeping a
workforce to accomplish the goals of the organization.
In my years
as a consultant, I have identified eight basic elements essential to
creating a talent management organization. While each one, like the sails
of a ship, can harness the power of the wind, all eight are needed. A sail
not properly set or missing hinders the progress of the ship and causes
frustration among the crewmembers.
TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
Number 1--A
Clear Sense of Direction and Purpose. Everyone wants to be paid for what
they do, but good employees want to be part of an organization that stands
for something and gives them personal fulfillment and meaning. When an
organization has a clear sense of direction and purpose, people are
willing to give more. Many organizations are now allowing their employees
to donate time to non-profit organizations, or spend their off-work hours
building houses for Habitat for Humanity.
Number
2--Caring Management. Interpersonal skills are an essential element of the
high-retention culture. People want to feel management cares and is
concerned for them as individuals. Yet, poor “soft skills” are one of the
biggest factors that drive people away.
Number
3--Flexible Benefits and Schedules Adapted to the Needs of the Individual.
In today’s workplace, flexibility rules. One-size-fits-all approaches to
benefits have long since lost their effectiveness. Workers will migrate to
a company whose benefit packages and schedules help them meet the demands
of their lives, whether they are single parents, adults who care for aging
parents, older workers, younger workers, part-time workers, or
telecommuters.
Number
4--Open Communication. People have a large
appetite for information, and they want it instantly. High retention
workplaces place high priority on delivering the right information to the
right people at the right time using the right methodology. Companies that
leave employees in the dark risk damaging morale and motivation—not to
mention compromising their ability to make a quick course change in the
marketplace.
Number 5--A
Charged Work Environment. People want to enjoy their work. They shun
boring, bureaucratic, lifeless work environments. That is why high
performance workplaces do not bother with the traditional ways of doing
things. They find new ways to make work mentally engaging and physically
energizing. They also ask for, listen to, and implement the ideas and
suggestions of those who work for them.
Number
6--Performance Management. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to
find competent, motivated workers who have good attitudes and work ethics.
Because of this, knowing how to manage performance is important.
Performance management includes a new set of skills, tools, techniques,
and processes to align an individual and his or her behavior with the
goals of the business enterprise.
Number
7--Reward and Recognition. All humans need to feel appreciated. Reward and
recognition programs help meet that need. A workplace that rewards and
recognizes people builds higher productivity and loyalty, and can create
consequences for desired behavior that leads to organizational success.
Number
8--Training and Development. Many workers just want a paycheck, but the
best workers want opportunity. They want to develop their skills and
potential and enhance their ability to contribute and succeed. Training
and development gives people greater control and ownership over their
jobs, making them capable of taking care of customers and creating better
management-employee relationships.
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