Talent Management: Strategy, Process & Models for Success

A successful talent management system requires an integrated approach across HR and the enterprise, connecting key talent management initiatives to organizational and HR strategic goals, talent management objectives, HR activities and their associated subfunctions.

Create an integrated talent management operating model by doing the following: 

• Establish what activities the organization will engage in to manage talent and how the organization will establish talent management as a differentiated capability. 

• Link interrelated processes (e.g., performance and talent reviews, succession management and executive development) by mapping data flows to make the right talent data inputs and outputs for each process.

• Create a “one HR” ethos that fosters an effective partnership between HR COEs and HR business partners (HRBPs) to customize talent processes and build key stakeholders’ data judgment.

• Address evolving employee needs by embracing agile product development.

With your model in place, focus on building an integrated strategy. Prioritize talent management initiatives according to complexity, investment and impact on the business. For example:

• Prioritize actionable initiatives (those with high business impact and low complexity) for execution and resource allocation.

Shifts in today’s working environment demand high-quality, “human” leaders who exhibit greater authenticity, empathy and adaptivity. Human leaders drive better talent outcomes that ultimately deliver for the business.

Quality leaders are essential: 92% of HR leaders say their organization can’t be competitive in the talent market without great leaders. But “human” leadership is rare: Only 29% of employees say their leaders are effective human leaders. Organizations that take a more human approach to talent management can raise that proportion of effective human leaders to 48% from 29%.

You can foster more human leaders by understanding that these leaders are human, too. Start by addressing the emotional barriers — doubts, fears and uncertainties — that prevent them from embracing human leadership. Assess the leader population to discover which leader types are most prevalent so you can target your intervention for maximum impact. These leaders typically fall into one of three categories: 

• Doubtful achievers don’t believe human leadership is important. HR must develop commitment in these leaders.

• Fearful believers are afraid of the vulnerability and risk human leadership entails. HR must develop courage in these leaders.

• Uncertain strivers aren’t sure how to effectively deliver human leadership. HR must work to develop the confidence of these leaders. 

Once you’ve identified the barriers to human leadership, take the following steps:

• Build commitment by leveraging trusted sources. HR leaders typically make an HR-led, data-driven case for change, but leaders find peers and employees more convincing than HR data. Instead, leverage trusted sources, such as peers and employees, to make the case for change to effectively combat doubtful achievers’ deeply entrenched doubts.

Eighty-six percent of HR leaders have not implemented strategic workforce planning despite it being a top priority.

Intentional talent planning builds on the assumption that talent is an essential organizational asset and proactively addresses risk factors, such as an aging workforce or high attrition risk in specific roles or industries.

Start by assessing the criticality of potential talent risks and prioritizing the top risks to escalate. An effective assessment framework should include the following factors: 

• The likelihood of the risk occurring 

• The degree of impact if the risk is not mitigated in time

• The time frame of the risk of impact

• The organization’s current capability to manage the risk

After determining your organization’s critical talent risks, rank them in order of criticality. Then prepare an action plan to mitigate the three to five most critical risks, and escalate. 

Once you’ve identified your top talent risks and incorporated mitigation plans into your talent strategy, focus on aligning talent planning to the organization’s priorities. Identify the medium- or short-term talent challenges that affect those priorities, then identify your top talent imperatives.

Asking these diagnostic questions can help narrow your focus:

• What must be true for us to achieve our talent objectives? That is, what would significantly accelerate goal achievement or enhance the organization’s ability to execute its strategy?

• What are the greatest talent challenges preventing us from achieving these objectives? Which are significantly slowing goal achievement or degrading the organization’s ability to execute its strategy?

• What is the degree of impact and likelihood of risk? Which risks have both the highest impact and the highest likelihood of occurring?

• What talent issues would both leaders and employees agree must be addressed for the organization to succeed?

Employees who are largely satisfied with employee experience are 69% more likely to be high performers. But two-thirds of employees experience at least one unaddressed burden on performance — “work to do work,” futility and fatigue — that can interfere with achieving optimal performance.

Optimal performance is different from high performance. High performance is a common standard for performance set by the organization that employees can meet or exceed. Optimal performance is a level of performance relative to the individual’s own capabilities and circumstances. Missing out on employees’ optimal performance means missing out on the workforce’s full potential.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted new, unbounded ways of working, including more flexible hours, changes to qualifications and role designs, and workflow innovations. Performance requirements remained the same, and employees rose to the occasion. 

But today, less than half of employees are performing optimally. As the work environment continues to change, employees are not getting a reprieve from challenges to performance. Employees have experienced an average of nine day-to-day changes over the past 12 months, and 64% of employees experiencing those changes say they have had to work harder than usual as a result.

Managers experience additional challenges. Leadership expects managers to take on more responsibilities and support a wide range of new structural necessities. Employees expect managers to play the roles of coach, project manager, mentor and counselor. None of these expectations are sustainable. Yet manager effectiveness is a key driver of employee experience and performance.

To address the challenges of an unbounded work environment, add performance cues.

Performance cues are signals that guide employees’ choices about their performance. Employees still make their own choices, but also receive the information they need to make the best decision for themselves and the organization. This guided agency approach maximizes the benefits of unbounded work while also ensuring employees still have agency.