Author: Amira Kohler at Plus HR

When to use this guide:

• Our organisation needs to create a talent management process and I want to ensure I have ‘covered all the bases’
• We need to review our talent management processes as they do not feel ‘joined up’ at the moment 
• We are not always great within HR at integrating all our activities and processes, and I want to make sure our talent management activity is different

10 steps to developing an integrated talent management process

1.  Establish the need for a new or refreshed talent management process
First, establish the need and appetite for creating new or refreshed talent management processes. (The How To Guide: ‘How to develop a talent management strategy’ goes into this in more detail)

2. Conduct an audit to evaluate the essential elements of your talent management process
This is about simply asking lots of questions to get to the bottom of what currently goes on within your organisation under the banner of ‘talent management’ to establish what works and what doesn’t. Typical areas to question and analyse would include:

3. Analyse how the organisation currently defines and identifies ‘talent’

• Is there a formal definition of what ‘talent’ looks like in this organisation?
• How are talented individuals identified in the organisation?

4. Analyse how the organisation attracts ‘talent’

• Do you have an articulated view of what makes you attractive as an employer?
• What is your ‘Employer Brand’?

5. Analyse how the organisation engages and retains ‘talent’

• What keeps your best performers and future stars loyal to your organisation?
• What do leavers cite as the reasons for their departure? Is there a consistent theme?

6. Analyse how the organisation develops ‘talent’

• What does your organisation currently provide by way of development for its people?
• What proportion of your training and development budget targeted at talented individuals?

7. Analyse how the organisation deploys its ‘talent’

• Does any form of succession planning currently take place?
• How do internal key vacancies tend to get filled – do they tend to be filled via external recruitment (‘buy’) or internal promotions (‘build’)?

8. Analyse how the organisation measures its talent management activity

• What would a successful talent management strategy deliver?
• What measures do you have in place to judge the return on investment?

9. Join it all up
Review all the elements of the audit and establish short-term, medium-term and long-term priorities.  Estimate the costs of implementing the necessary changes and set your budget.

10. Create an action plan and implement
Remember to measure your success, advertise it and collect your plaudits!

Typical outcomes from developing an integrated talent management process

• Tangible business benefits such as
  o an increased ability to attract star performers to your organisation
  o a reduction in recruitment costs
  o a more focused approach to the allocation of the training budget
• For a relatively small amount of investment in planning up front, your efforts pay dividends in terms of the eventual outcome which is thought-through and integrated with the rest of HR activity you avoid the annoyance of thinking “I wish I’d thought of that” when opportunities are missed to connect parts of the HR jigsaw and leverage time and effort spent

This guide was prepared by Amira Kohler, a talent management expert within plusHR Consulting.  plusHR works with organisations of all sizes to create and implement business-focused, practical solutions to talent management issues. Visit www.plusHR.com for details of plusHR’s talent management, HR and change management solutions.

Disclaimer:
This guide is provided for guidance only. The provided information, whether ‘How to guides’, policies, procedures, samples, examples, or guidelines, while authoritative, is not guaranteed for accuracy and legality. While we make every effort to provide and link to accurate, legal, and complete information, we cannot guarantee it is correct for a worldwide audience. Please seek legal assistance, or assistance from your local or international governmental resources, to make certain that your legal interpretation and decisions are correct.