Talent Management as the Key to Success

Identifying Talents within the organization

The actual competencies and development potentials of employees are mos evidentin their daily collaboration. Therefore, talent management within the areas entrusted to them is one of the core tasks of all managers.

Talents are individuals who already deliver outstanding performances in their daily work and who demonstrate the potential, both professionally and personally, to take on more demanding or complex tasks within the organization in the medium to long term (with appropriate support) – be it as skilled workers, specialists, or managers. Other characteristics of these individuals are high learning ability and motivation as well as holistic thinking.

It is the responsibility of managers to identify these potential bearers and, for example, reflect on their development potentials with them in structured employee discussions. Additionally, personnel discussions moderated by the HR department are recommended, which serve, among other things, to classify employees according to the 9-Box model (see Figure 1).

In larger companies, the potential carriers are often assesed in a potential assessment center (AC) to what extent they really have high development potential and their professional and personal competencies correspond with those needed by the organization needs to achieve its goals (see Table 1). Based on this, possible career paths are preliminary defined with the candidates, and participants for the promotion programs are selected.

Recruiting Talents from External Job Market

A central task of the HR department or personnel marketing is to profile the company as an attractive employer among potential empoyees who possess the competencies needed in the future and have high development potential. For this purpose, it is necessary to to develop the necessary “tools” such as flexible working time models, programs for reconciling family and work life, attractive remuneration systems, etc.

Moreover, in the digital age, an attractive, target group-oriented self-presentation of the company on social media plays an increasingly important role. For example, positive reports from employees about the company and leadership culture as well as collaboration, and the development and self-actualization opportunities within the organization, contribute to profiling the company as an attractive employer; the same applies to corresponding statements on the company website. Naturally, modern, digital application processes with quick feedback should also be in a place. A defined onboarding process that integrates new colleagues into communication immediately after the contract is concluded is also helpful.

Identifying Talents within the Organization

In talent development programs, the focus should be less on developing their professional competence but rather on adopting the work attitude and approach necessary to adequately fulfill their (future) position within the organization, and to achieve the company´s goals in a world characterized by rapid change.
This requires a trustful collaboration within the program, who also enables for critical self-reflection among colleagues, leading to the identification of remaining learning areas and the generation of new insights. Therefore, the focus should be on personal and team development, also to increase emotional attachment to the company.

Elements of a Talent Management Program

The development of personality and skills should be closely linked to activities in the workplace. Therefore, case studies and project work should pay a central role in the program, taking into account the different development directions (specialists, project management, leadership). The learning and reflection components in seminars, on the other hand, should be minimal; moreover, they should be linked to interventions in everyday work. These can include:

• Self-directed learning opportunities in the Learning Management System (LMS) with a learning journal
• Executives as mentors and coaches
• Regular development feedback by supervisors
• Peer consulting
• Practical application project work: Presentation in the steering committee and implementation; evaluation with lessons learned
• Know-how Coffees (digital) discussion rounds on relevant (future) topics
• (Feedbacks) conversations with the leadership responsible or mentor.

In addition, sickness and vacation replacements, foreign assignments, job rotations, and the assignment of additional tasks can be used for talent development.

Strengthening the Participants Self-Responsibility

The development program should be designed as long-term as possible, depending on function and need (for example, 18 or 24 months). For this purpose , modern information and communication technology should be actively used;

• The program reflects the increasingly cross-functional and cross-departmental as well as virtual collaboration within the company,
• Presence and online learning form an organic unit, and,
• Lively communication and an active exchange of experiences occur between participants also between program modules.

In general, participants should contribute as much as possible to the design and implementation of the program, among other things, to promote their sense of responsibility and entrepreneurial (see the following Table 2).

Conclusion

Proactive talent management will become a central success factor for all companies in the future due to the shortage of specialists and managers, as well as the rapidly changing conditions of doing business in our society. This creates the prerequisite for companies to have the competencies and human resources they need in the medium and long term to deliver the services desired by their customers in high quality. Therefore, it is necessary for companies to utilize such the opportunities of digital digital technology.

Source: First published in the magazine HR-Performance 1|2024 with the title “Talentmanagement wird zum zentralen Efolgsfaktor”.