An organization’s ability to not only meet its objectives, but also remain agile and informed enough to make timely and cost-effective staffing decisions, plays an outsized role in its ability to innovate and grow.
Of course, in some industries—like tech—this might be easier said than done…or is it?
For many companies, working with a workforce solutions partner makes too much sense not to consider. A company like Lorien can help you attract and retain the talent you need, with an approach that can be custom-tailored to your priorities, whether that means permanent or contingent workforce solutions.
If this sounds like a lot, you’ll want to keep reading. In this brief article, we’ll cover the basics of developing a talent management strategy and introduce talent management approaches to inspire your own strategies.
What Is Included in a Talent Strategy?
The best talent management strategy framework provides a firm foundation for growth and innovation, and helps to mitigate the challenges of effectively attracting and retaining talent. The good news is that companies don’t have to pull their talent strategies out of the ether—instead, they start with an established framework, like the talent management framework McKinsey recommends. This framework is easy to understand and adapt, leading to time and cost savings over traditional talent management methods.
What Are the 5 Stages of Talent Management Models?
While no two strategies will be the same, the best talent management models stick pretty closely to McKinsey’s recommended framework and its key components.
So, what should a talent strategy include? Five things, each of which plays a significant role in a company’s ability to assess its talent needs, evaluate potential solutions, and navigate through change:
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Finding and Hiring the Right People: With the right people in the right positions, achieving key business outcomes is going to be much easier. Especially in highly competitive industries like tech, attracting and retaining talent can be a maddening prospect. Start by assessing and prioritizing the company’s needs, and evaluate candidates thoroughly to gauge not just their skills and experience, but their overall fit as well. You should also remain open-minded to different workforce solutions that can expand your talent pool, including both permanent and temporary or contingency-based employees.
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Learning and Growing: Retaining existing talent is much more cost-effective (and conducive to business continuity) than replacing them—even if they need some learning and growth (like upskilling) to be at their most effective. Today’s employees increasingly expect meaningful learning and development opportunities, and yet nearly half (46%) of employees “say their manager doesn’t know how to help them with career development,” while 59% said "their company rarely or never helps them explore opportunities for growth outside of their current department.”
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Managing and Rewarding Performance: Performance management is an important subset of talent management—and serves an essential function within any talent management strategy. This includes not just monitoring employees’ performance, but offering the right levels of support and meaningful incentives, as well. It’s important to celebrate major wins, but acknowledging smaller milestones can also go a long way toward a happier, more engaged workforce.
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Tailoring the Employee Experience: For a few years now, we’ve been learning more about the importance of creating a positive employee experience, to a point where it’s become a key focus of HR teams (especially those tasked with improving employee retention). Creating a positive employee experience starts with understanding your employees and the types of resources and support they need to thrive within their roles.
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Optimizing Workforce Planning and Strategy: While each of the individual points above is important in its own right, the best results are achieved when multiple workforce planning initiatives are combined into a single strategy. In other words, a more comprehensive approach optimizes companies’ ability to find the right talent, right when they need it. This is where working with a recruitment or workforce solutions agency like Lorien can make a game-changing difference, from start-ups to enterprise firms.
How Do You Create a Talent Development Strategy That Works?
Every organization’s processes are going to look different since each firm has its own objectives, personnel, resources, and priorities. That being said, when it comes to how to actually formulate a talent management strategy, there are a handful of key steps to consider, including:
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Start by understanding and prioritizing organizational objectives, including current strengths and weaknesses (as they relate to staffing).
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Determine where upskilling and reskilling make sense as talent development strategies.
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Identify meaningful learning and development opportunities and make them accessible to employees.
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Ensure that talent development initiatives align well with the different stages of the employee life cycle.
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Foster a culture of continuous learning, development, and growth.
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Develop coaching and/or mentorship programs to help with new employees’ transitions.
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Invite stakeholders from throughout the organization to offer their insights and ideas, and make sure the lines of communication are open.
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Monitor and evaluate the success of various talent strategy components, making adjustments as needed.
Where Can I Review Successful Talent Strategy Examples?
Learning more about what the most successful talent strategies have in common is a great way to strengthen your own approach to talent management. Fortunately, you can easily read about many of these online. For example, we’ve previously published an article on the topic—but you can also review some examples from well-known companies like Adobe and Costco Wholesale in this Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR) article.
Discover Lorien’s Talent Management Solutions
We offer a wide range of business solutions that can be tailored to meet your highest-priority objectives. Whether you need help with assessing your talent requirements, or you’re already on the hunt for highly-qualified candidates, we can help. Don’t hesitate to reach out today with any questions, or to start the conversation about taking your talent management strategies to the next level.
