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The CEO's Guide to Talent Management

Managing Director Jane Sunley discusses her latest read.

When we started our business with the goal of helping service organisations transform their businesses by engaging, developing and retaining talented people better, talent management was rarely top of the executive's agenda. Today much is written and spoken on this subject and there are many reports of CEOs who treat talent management as a personal strategic priority. Why? Because business experts today attribute 80% of an organisation's success to the non-tangibles such as people and brand.

So what is talent management? Put simply, it's the recruitment, development, promotion and retention of people, planned and delivered in line with an organisation's goals.

What does it do:

Links strategy with the quality and quality of leadership required to deliver it

Drives leaders' accountability

Identifies leadership early on and nurture it

Accelerates the development of high potential talent

Enhances focus on growing leaders at all levels

Things that can go wrong:

Not walking the talk when it comes to the talent management strategy

Being unclear about what leadership is actually required

Thinking that succession planning is enough (though it is a good start)

Overcomplicating the process and making it more 'mysterious' than it actually is

Making decisions without the right information

Failing to innovate within the development process

Neglecting to build and nurture the team dynamic

Not driving the talent management process from the top

How to get it right:

Start with the end in mind - where you want to be and what talent you will need to get there, define current and future needs

Where are the gaps?

Identify internal and external potential and evaluate performance

Create a talent pool for development as a first port of call and to fill high value roles, make sure people are regularly assessed and can have their say - a 'talent audit'

Accelerate development - use coaching and other techniques

Focus and drive performance

Keep your eye on the ball and get everyone as enthused about talent management as you are.

Further reading on this subject:

The War for Talent: Harvard Business School

The CEO's Role in Talent Management: The Economist Intelligence Unit with Development Dimensions Intnl

How the Top 20 Companies Grow Great Leaders: IL Lincolnshire, Hewitt Associates

25 September 2006