WAYS TO ASSESS TALENT AND BUILD FOR THE FUTURE

A solid talent management framework helps organizations execute their talent management strategy and improve performance. How can you develop and implement such a framework?

What is a talent management framework?

A talent management framework gives structure to your plan to meet the human capital and business needs within the organization. It helps you make sure that you have everything in place to successfully execute on your talent management strategy and boost your workforce’s performance.

A good framework outlines different areas of talent management in your organization. It presents activities you can carry out in each area to maximize its effectiveness in your talent management strategy. Ultimately, it can serve you as a checklist when creating or iterating your strategy.

With a proper customized talent management framework, you can increase efficiency within the organization’s talent pool. Rather than guessing what needs to happen, a useful talent management framework gives you an edge on human capital management–you know what you need and how to achieve it.

Why does your organization need a talent management framework?

Many organizations do not have a formal talent management framework; instead, they solve problems on an ad-hoc basis. You would never just wing it, hoping to find a new supplier or build a new manufacturing plant overnight. You plan, sign contracts, and carefully monitor your product, timing, and return on investment.

For many organizations, their human capital is far more valuable than their physical capital. A lot of businesses are knowledge-based, and you should take the same care to create a talent management framework as a manufacturing business takes to develop and manage its supply chain.

Some of the things that a solid talent management framework helps with are:

• Attracting and retaining top talent. A recent TinyPulse survey found that 76 percent of employees are looking for growth opportunities. Your talent management framework can help you demonstrate what your company can do for its employees, enabling you to attract new talent and retain the people you have. They don’t need to look outside for growth if you have a plan within the organization.
• Improving employee and organizational performance. Every piece of machinery has a scheduled maintenance plan. Every plant manager knows that neglecting maintenance results in shutdowns and costs more than maintaining equipment. Likewise, you can increase your employee and organizational performance by carefully monitoring and knowing what you need to do to avoid shutdowns.
• Engaging employees. A proper talent management framework with a useful talent dashboard enables you to know what you need to do to engage with an employee. You can discuss career growth, development, and training strategies. Everyone–from the employee to the manager to the HR professional–can be on the same page. It helps eliminate guesswork.
• Strengthening talent development strategies. You can’t do a good job developing talent if you don’t have a directional goal. With a talent management framework, you know what you need and what skills the employees lack. With those two bits of knowledge, you can strengthen your plan and focus on combining business needs with employee goals.
• Improving succession planning. Many companies lack succession plans altogether, so having one alone is a great benefit. Making it a part of your talent management framework gives you direction, helps identify talent gaps and prepare your organization for the future.