What is a talent management strategy?

A talent management strategy is a systematic and intentional approach to effectively attracting, retaining and deploying a workforce. Its goal is to supply your organization with the right people with the right skills in the right positions at the right time. A talent management strategy acts as the blueprint for how a company handles its employees from the moment they’re hired until they leave. It’s like a carefully crafted plan that guides everything from finding the best people for the job to helping them grow and succeed within the company. Just as a chef carefully selects the right ingredients and follows a recipe to create a delicious dish, a company uses its talent management strategy to carefully choose the right employees and develop them in ways that align with its goals. It’s about making sure everyone is in the best position to contribute to the company’s success.

Companies with effective talent management strategies generally don’t struggle to fill vacancies, either because current employees feel well taken care of, candidates have been vetted and/or headhunted long in advance, or because the company itself is known as a great place to work. Companies with an ineffective talent management strategy often struggle to fill vacancies. Their employees are generally unhappy, and/or the company experiences frequent turnover. Word of mouth spreads about the company being a bad place to work, and the rumour perpetuates throughout the industry and online via reviews on sites like Indeed.

Creating a talent management strategy

No two talent management strategies are alike, since they must be tailored to your company in order to be effective. Generally speaking, most (if not all) talent management strategies have a few things in common. If you are looking to create your own talent management strategy, here are a few important basics it should include:

• Talent acquisition is at the very top of the staffing food chain and the first step in nearly every talent management system. Your employer brand along with your reputation in the industry are vitally important to make talent acquisition easier for your company. Some HR professionals specialize in recruitment and talent acquisition , with inside knowledge of who is available, and what competitor compensation and job offers look like in the job market. At other companies, an HR generalist assumes this role (along with others listed below).
• Onboarding must be done in a way that makes new hires feel welcome and confident in their ability to join your team and contribute. Proper onboarding has countless benefits, making it a vital part of any talent management system. Poor onboarding can leave a negative and lasting first impression, setting the stage for how the rest of your employment relationship will be. Onboarding, as part of a talent management system, puts your company’s best foot forward, so you avoid these issues and create a fruitful employment relationship from the get-go.
• Performance management should be included in every employment contract, but too often, companies informally assess performance and give raises and bonuses subjectively. With a talent management strategy, people managers are empowered to give career guidance and feedback to their direct reports. Said guidance and feedback are captured and retained by HR, with the aim of establishing long-term performance for achievements to be rewarded, or any issues to be corrected. Failing to take performance management seriously can lead to the wrong people being promoted or let go, which harms your company and isn’t fair to your employees.
• Professional development in the context of a talent management strategy ensures employees are able to set goals for themselves and find tools to help them reach those goals. This could be through coursework, earning a certification, improving certain skills or taking on greater opportunities. Having a strategy in place that facilitates your employees’ ability to up-skill not only makes your workforce more capable, it increases the quality and types of services your company can offer. It’s a win-win. Not having a strategy in place can lead to employees feeling stagnant and unappreciated, which can lead to constant turnover .
• Rewards and retention are important to get right, because if you aren’t paying market rate for labour, your workers will find someone who will. Integrating rewards and retention into your talent management strategy is vital to keeping your employees fairly compensated and recognized for special achievements. Not having a formal strategy in place for rewards and retention will cause employees to jump ship at the first sight of a higher-paying offer. Nobody likes to work for years in the same position for the same compensation without an explanation as to why they aren’t being paid more or promoted, or what they need to do (or stop doing) in order for it to happen.
• Discipline involves the unfortunate but necessary measures that must be meted out to employees who don’t follow your rules. Again, a good talent management strategy features policies, rules and guidelines that reflect your company’s values and corporate culture. This can also be weaved in to how your company hires, so you avoid bringing in people who would clash with this structure and cause issues for your company down the road. If your company is in an industry where safety is paramount, for example, hiring people with an excellent safety record and plenty of related certifications could be part of your talent management strategy.
• Analytics or any other forms of measurement are important parts of any talent management strategy. You need ways to collect data and sentiment around employee satisfaction, efficiency and complaints, and actual hard numbers on whether or not your employees and company are performing at their best. Talent management strategies all feature ways of measuring employee engagement and actioning the results. Not collecting any sort of data at all will leave you operating blindly, oblivious to employee engagement and company performance. Collecting data but not taking action on it is a waste of time and effort.

Evaluating your talent management strategy

You can tell whether or not your talent management strategy is effective by looking at a few key performance indicators:

• Measurable employee satisfaction: High satisfaction levels mean your employees feel valued and appreciated within the organization. Low satisfaction levels should be investigated more thoroughly and acted upon before they fester. Surveys, feedback mechanisms and other tools can be used to gauge employee satisfaction.
• High employee retention rates: Retention rates give insight into whether employees are willing to stay with your company in the long term. High retention rates suggest that employees are satisfied with their roles and the organizational culture, while low retention rates could be a reflection of your compensation policies, friction with managers you have in place or dissatisfaction with the nature of the work your employees do.
• Increased productivity and engagement: High-performing employees tend to exhibit increased productivity and engagement. Tracking these metrics can help assess the impact of talent management initiatives on individual and team performance. Underperforming, disengaged employees tend to be a drain on resources and drag those around them down.
• Flexibility, innovation, and personalization: A good talent management strategy prioritizes flexibility, innovation and personalization to cater to employee preferences and evolving organizational needs. This adaptability ensures that your talent management strategy remains relevant and effective in a dynamic business environment. If you find that there is little to no conflict with the rules and policies you’ve set out, and those following them, it’s a good sign that your strategy is flexible, innovative and personalized.

Prioritizing your talent management strategy (or creating it if you don’t have one) is one of the most effective ways to build and sustain a successful workforce.