TALENTATTRACTI N

Adecco talent management campaign

Is your workforce 2014 ready?

Developing your talentGuide 2:

Adecco talent management campaign

After identifying ambitious growth plans for an encouraging number of UK employers in our last campaign (which looked ahead at the employment landscape for 2014), we’re turning our attention to how you assess the talent within your workforce - making sure you have the right people in place to make that growth possible.

In the first of our three guide series, we looked at the importance of understanding the make-up

of your workforce, and suggested methods for categorising your workers according to type - from core workers and high flyers, to underachievers in need of development and those who are no longer right for your company.

In our second guide, we’re looking at talent development, and the methods you can adopt to assess, develop and manage the talent in your organisation.

Guide 2:

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Core staff Rising stars

Time to move one? Not sure

TALENTATTRACTI N

Adecco talent management campaign

Appraising and encouraging talent

Without the right people in the right place at the right time, any organisation will struggle to survive against its competitors. And with enduring skills shortages threatening to stunt the growth potential of UK businesses, savvy leaders are turning their attention to the development and retention of the skills already embedded in the fabric of their company. But how do you measure, appraise and encourage talent? And what happens if someone in your team falls beyond the reach of training and development measures?

Performance appraisals

Performance appraisals are great for reviewing how your employees are performing within the remit of their role, whilst also identifying improvement plans for the future. Performance appraisals sit within the broader performance management process, which feeds into talent management by looking at business objectives and assessing how the people in your team contribute to both long and short term goals.

As a starting point, you should consider:

• Objectives: were they achieved? If not, why not?

• Competence: are they performing below, within or above the role requirements?

• Training: have they received any training? What do they need for the future?

• Actions: if they’re underperforming, can they be developed?

Developing talent

In our first guide, we looked at the four categories that your staff might fall into (core workers, high flyers, underachievers who can be developed and underachievers who are no longer right for your business). Core workers are essential for steady and reliable delivery, but with the right training and development, the strongest ones amongst them could be elevated to ‘high flyer’ status. The same is also true for underperformers: there might be people within your organisation who are failing to meet the requisite standards, but with the right level of attention and encouragement, could be transformed into core workers - leaving you with a much stronger talent pool. Similarly, employers can look at skillset match elsewhere in their organisation, the underperformers will have impressed at interview so it could be that a better understanding of their capabilities could see them aligned to another role.

The first step to developing internal talent is identifying any areas for improvement (this is where the appraisal system comes into its own). Whether you’re addressing perceived weaknesses or looking for particular strengths that can be built upon, people need to be stretched and given the chance to succeed. You could try introducing a mentoring scheme as a way to develop potential talent, along with implementing an incentive system to reward employees who are performing and improving in line with (and

beyond) expectations. This will also help with those all-important retention levels. Succession planning

Succession planning is all about identifying and developing potential talent (usually future leaders or senior managers), as well as those people with the necessary skills to fill business-critical positions, both now and in the future.

Succession planning encompasses the training and development methods mentioned above, but it also looks at providing the sort of hands-on practical experience that will be relevant for future positions. Identifying core workers or high flyers as potential successors for key roles (or for roles that may not even exist yet) allows organisations to develop the right skills to meet their business needs - the aim being to create a pool of talented individuals, capable of filling and adapting to the required roles. Succession planning also carries the welcome advantage of helping companies to hold onto their best workers: if your top talent can see real internal development potential, they’re much more likely to stick with you.

Managing exit strategies

Of course, an integral part of talent management is identifying those people who are seriously underperforming and no longer meet the requirements of your organisation - beyond the reach of training, encouragement or incentives.

The first stage of handling this process would be to conduct a performance appraisal to identify the areas that your worker is falling down on. The most important part of the appraisal in this situation would be the final action that you agree going forward; this could involve setting a number of objectives for improvement, and a plan of action for how to get there. As mentioned previously, it may be feasible that the underperformers could be better suited to a change of role within the organisation. Remember why you hired them in the first place and leverage that positivity. If they fail to up their game at this stage, it may be time to consult an HR representative or refer to your HR policy surrounding formal discussions.

Ignoring underperformance for a long time can be damaging to your business. Exit strategies can be difficult beasts to master, but the injection of new blood into your organisation can prove extremely beneficial in this climate.

A focus on development

Wherever possible, talent should always be spotted, encouraged and developed to its full potential, and the best way of achieving that is to identify the ongoing and future requirements of your business, before creating a clear development plan that will enable your workers to meet those needs.

In our third and final guide, we’ll be looking at workforce planning and talent attraction - and how to align both of these to the critical success factors of your organisation.

If you’ve not yet read our first guide, click here.