You only need to pick up any decent HR journal or read the latest round of blogs to know that the buzz words at the moment are; talent management, swiftly followed by employee engagement.
In challenging economic times managers often make do with the members in their team and their level of capability. Likewise employees tend to stay put, fearing that there aren’t any; great new roles out there and maybe it’s best to live by the adage of; better the devil you know.
Cycle forward to 2014 and our UK economy is improving. Recruitment is up and companies are actively looking to fill newly created roles, fuelled by business growth.
The reality is though that talent management will always be on the agenda for any organisation that wants to grow. Wake up! It isn’t new. The latest interest in how we develop and manage talent started a number of years ago; the latest move in the economy now gives us a sharper focus.
Hiring the right talent in the first place is a key issue and one where mistakes happen on a regular basis. According to the Harvard Business Review nearly 80% of employee turnover is due to a bad hiring decision. It seems high and yet in many organisations, hiring within given timeframes, to meet a project deadline can result in mistakes.
In our ‘remote working’ world there are often additional complications in getting the hiring manager and potential new employee in the same room. On a positive note, if there are good systems and recruiting tools in place a lot can be achieved and it’s not all doom and gloom.
Let’s get back to the key phrase here; managing talent. That means that the employees that we bring on board need to be managed in a way that their; capabilities, impact, organisational and cultural awareness are developed.
Nobody is ever perfectly formed when they move into a new role. And yet as managers we all see the potential that needs nurturing for the good of all; including the productivity of the department.
Managing your new employee in a way to develop what they have to bring starts at the beginning; with the recruiting and induction process. Company and team expectations, vision and ways of working need to be communicated in a standard format so that people feel included.
It doesn’t matter how experienced any of us are we want to know our new company boundaries; who is on our ‘team’ and how the team works together. Surprising though this might sound a simple process like this is a foundational step in managing your talent.
What next?
Do you have this process in place? How is it working? Have you asked your most recent recruits how it worked for them? Could it be done better?
Till next time,
Julia
