Liz Hall
Senior employees value coaching, mentoring and networking more highly than the more formal development opportunities offered by a talent management programme.
This was one of the themes that emerged in the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) survey on how it feels for senior employees to be talent-managed. CIPD research has shown that organisations’ focus on talent management has not only survived the troubled economic climate – in many cases it has even increased in importance (see CIPD publications The War on Talent? and Fighting Back through Talent Innovation). However, organisations need to ensure that against a backdrop of tight margins, they are getting the most out of their activities and building leadership for tomorrow’s challenges rather than merely “replicating today’s team more efficiently,” says Claire McCartney, CIPD adviser, resourcing and talent planning, in the paper, The talent perspective: what does it feel like to be talent-managed?
Participants on talent programmes or pools have high engagement levels and are more likely to see a future with their organisation -they value personal development such as coaching and mentoring over more formal offerings and believe that the talent activities will help them to both perform better in their current roles and prepare them for potential future positions, says the paper.
HR is viewed as playing a critical role in facilitating talent pools and programmes and maintaining momentum. The existence of structured selection processes serve to increase talent programmes’ perceived value and the motivation of participants to perform. The negative effects of being ‘passed over’ are not as detrimental as might be feared, with employees’ overall happiness and pride in their organisation not being impacted. This is particularly the case if individuals are provided with sensitive and practical feedback.
One of the most interesting findings, according to the CIPD, relates to the keenness of peer groups represented on talent programmes – often the highest-performing employees across the business – to continue to meet and network beyond the programme, says McCartney.
“Organisations need to develop ways to manage this and get the most out of groups that have participated in talent programmes, harnessing their energy and creativity for business success,” she says.
The study was undertaken in spring 2010 for the CIPD by Capgemini Consulting , across 11 organisations covering a broad mix of sector, size and talent management approach. It focused on very senior employees who are undertaking elements of organised talent development activity through membership of a talent pool or talent programme and who are being prepared for future (leadership) roles. Participating organisations included Astellas Pharmaceutical, Barclays, Big Lottery, BT, KPMG, Pizza Express, two NHS strategic health authorities (West Midlands and East of England), the Scottish Government and Vodafone.
See the report at http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/recruitmen/general/_talent_perspective
The November/December issue of Coaching at Work will focus on talent management