Use Talent Management to Attract and Retain Top Performers

It seems we are all being asked to do more with less.  The only way to achieve great results with a slim staff is to make sure you attract, motivate and retain top performers.  You may already have the tools you need within your talent management programme.

Identify Key Competencies

Begin by identifying your current top performers.  Beware of employees who get results but whose behaviours run counter to the culture and values of your organisation.  They might achieve results in the short term but that bubble can quickly burst.

Once you know who they are, identify the key competencies (knowledge, skills and abilities) they exhibit to achieve their success.  Interview them and their managers and observe them on the job.  Some key competencies will be the same for the entire organisation while some will be unique to certain positions or levels.  For example, customer service skills can be important to the entire organisation but look different for different roles.

Remember that the knowledge, skills and abilities that enable success today may be somewhat different from what is needed tomorrow.  So, as you go through the exercise, adjust for the long-term strategy and direction of the organisation.

Use Competencies to Identify and Build High Potentials

Now you have one or more competency models you can use to find and develop more high potential employees.

• At performance appraisal time, include the key competencies as performance standards to evaluate current employees.  This will help managers and employees know what is needed to achieve top performance and will also provide validated standards to identify high potential employees.

• The competency model also gives you a foundation for identifying employee development programmes that will build the skills you need.

• Recruit new hires that display the competencies you need by including them in job descriptions and formulating interview questions and assessments to test for the competencies you need.

Retain Top Performers

Your talent management programme is also crucial to keeping your top potential and top performing employees. There is no one-size-fits all programme – retention is seldom just about the money.  The best approach is to find out what motivates them to stay at your organisation and what might entice them away.  Some proven factors to consider:

• Provide development and advancement opportunities.  Give them opportunities to stretch and take on new challenges that benefit both the organisation and their career goals.
• Lead them well.  As mentioned in the July 2012 blog on this site, Are you a good manager or a bad manager? “a department run by a bad manager will have staffing issues.”  Train managers to coach, encourage and reinforce good performance, remove barriers and seek to set their people free to flourish and achieve their potential.
• Link their work to the bigger picture.  Communicate organisation strategy and vision and help employees set individual goals that support them.  Provide feedback along the way so people know how they are doing, how the organisation is doing, and why their work matters.
• Show your appreciation. This can take the form of monetary and other tangible incentives, but often a simple thank you goes a long way.
• Don’t ignore the rest.  Beware of focusing all your retention efforts on your high potential list.  According to a 2012 article in T&D, this can disgruntle their peers, who themselves might be crucial to your success.  Make sure that everyone knows what it takes to be a top performer (your competency model!) and do not consider your high potential list as a static entity – regularly re-evaluate to make sure it reflects the realities of your talent pool.

Melany Gallant is a Content Manager for Halogen Software. She writes regularly about employee performance and talent management best practicies. You can read more of her thoughts on the Halogen blog.

As a hiring manager, not HR, do you see a very small number of CV’s that match your vacancy and company ethos, or do HR hand over a large number of CV’s leaving you to sift through them and short list a few possible applicants.

This is no criticism of HR as they have carried out their duties and amassed a number of CV’s for a job that they do not understand, leaving the recruiting/line manager the task to separate the wheat from the chaff and decide who to interview.

Part of the problem does stem from HR practices when they insist on PSL’s or try and make use of online large recruitment firms for their recruiting needs. These companies have large on line databases that contain CV’s of people who wish to change or get a job; most of the CV’s on line are either unemployed people, who may be good but are also desperate, or the disaffected who want a change but do not know the best way to achieve their goal.

PSL’s and on-line recruitment may be acceptable and a cheap option for clerical level positions but not for positions of authority or influential positions; for these specialised recruitment firms should be used and line managers should be able to talk over the role and candidates with the recruiter.

This was highlighted to me yesterday by line manager who I am talking to, his comment was “When you send me a CV you call at the same time and give me real background information on the person which helps me in my decision making; all the other CV’s I have received are just that, a piece of paper”

It is this personal approach that we pride ourselves in using, we talk to the candidate at length and get to understand them and the type of company that would suit them. We only send in a small number of CV’s for any one role, average 3, as we weed out the ones that will not fit your company’s ethos. We do not trawl databases, we tend to select candidates from personal recommendation and then qualify them using our own banking experiences.

A successful company should only hire the best people, these people are rarely those that wave their CV’s around or respond to adverts; the best people are the high achievers who are happy in their work but will always consider an opportunity to improve their lot. These are the ones that will take your company on to the next level and beyond.

All it takes is a little thought and for employers to look at recruitment in a different way by not using the same tired old methods or the same named recruitment firms.

Want to know how we can help then call us now on 01689 820820 or email me on rick@aegle.co.uk

The gulf between management and workers seems to be growing when it comes to communication, socialising and respect. The so called leaders of industry and most politicians seem to be devoid of any idea as to what is going on in the real world or how people are feeling or what work they are actually doing.

Board members are appointed to industries that they have no or limited knowledge of, they are then kept apart from the general workforce thus keeping them ignorant of any potential problems that the company may have. The only time these board members visit the work floor is when an important visitor is shown around; but even then only select members of the workforce that are introduced or spoken to.

The same ignorance is carried out by most of our politicians; whenever an MP appears at a function they are surrounded by their “minders” or the party faithful who will extol their virtues and lavish them with praise, woe betide any dissenting voice.

Gone are the days when a company owner or politician made real contact with the proletariat and asked for their opinions or how they are feeling about things in general. The best we can hope for nowadays is an emailed newsletter or a circular stuck through a letter box.

I am sure most employees have never seen the chairman of their company and probably don’t even know the names of the board members or what it is that they actually do. As for politicians the only time we see them is at local fetes (must put in a face) or as an election approaches; even then they really do not care about the electorate, as was seen by the comments from an ex-prime minister about a “bigoted woman” who had the audacity to complain about something in front of camera.

If management and world politicians took the time to meet real people and listen to their issues a lot of problems could be averted and better working practices could be instigated to the benefit of all. But to see companies saying “we must cut costs” as the chairman swans around in another new Bentley or to see politicians asking for more cuts from the public when they are flying off first class to some exotic venue to talk about world poverty is akin the Marie Antoinette reputedly saying “Let them eat cake”.

How many times do we see the wrong person being promoted to the wrong position. We have all heard of the successful salesman being promoted to sales manager only to see them perform badly or even leave the company; thus reducing profits and increasing the company’s risk to market forces.

Nothing against the sales person, but not everyone is cut out to be a manager or to be in a position where they supervise staff.

The title manager is used inappropriately in most instances; the dictionary definition is “a person who has control or direction of an institution, business, etc., or of a part, division, or phase of it.” Therefore a manager must have the ability to manage things, including people, something many managers are incapable of doing, along with decision making.

It would be harsh to blame the newly promoted manager for being a poor manager as not everyone is a natural manager, in the same way we would not expect someone to be able to drive a car without tuition all newly appointed mangers should have some form of training and guidance showing them the best way to handle staff effectively.

A lot of managers surround themselves with mediocre staff and “yes men” because they would feel threatened if any of their subordinates knew more than they know. These managers also tend to micro manage by doing a lot of the work themselves and just handing out the mundane work that they dislike doing.

This form of management stifles creativity, growth and staff loyalty; leaving the company vulnerable to high turnover, increased error rate and lack of innovation and progress; to compound the issue this style probably filters down from the senior management and the board itself. Couple this with the general inability to make a decision and we can see why so many firms are in trouble.

A good manager should employ the best staff possible for each area that they control each with its own head, these heads should then report to that manager who should sit in the centre like a spider, where they can oversee the entire operation and be able to manage each section via the section head.

Managers should be able analyse business patterns, trends and methods in order to make improvements and market adjustments as required; but above all else managers must be able to accept the blame when something goes wrong and not just point the finger at subordinates.

Some firms send staff on management training courses where they are lectured by a consultant who shows endless PowerPoint slides and waffles on statistics; while the attendees look at their watch and wonder what is for lunch or how long till tea break.

The best way for a potential manager to learn how to manage is for them to be mentored or shown by a successful manager who is not afraid of employing good staff or of making a decision and standing by it; even if it is a wrong one.

Want to know more about real management training and how it can benefit you or your company then give us a call on 01689 820820 and help your company reduce staff turnover and operational risk.

It seems that many people do not understand the difference between them and tend to roll them all into the same category. I will agree they are all there and should all be trying to either fill a vacancy or to place you in a new career.

Recruiters can be categorised into 2 distinct formats recruitment and head hunters or search consultants.

Recruiters tend to play the numbers game, they keep phoning until they get a job order then they pass on a large number of CV’s, gathered from trawling the numerous job sites on the web, to the client letting them sift through them and making a short list. The bulk of the work is carried out by the client who then pays a finder’s fee should they employ one of the candidates.

Head Hunters should hunt around talking to contacts and find suitable candidates for a position then submit no more than 4 CV’s for the client to interview and select the right person. A good head hunter should be able to create a vacancy or need where one never existed, this can only be done where the hiring company has trust in their search consultant. It is also our preferred method of placing people.

In both these instances the recruiter or head hunter is working for the client and not for the candidate or job seeker. We see a lot of criticism about recruiters and head hunters from frustrated candidates, but the one thing candidates fail to realise is that they are not paying the fee. If after all the work and interviews have been held the candidate either fails the final selection or rejects the job on offer then the recruiter has put in all their work for no reward. Yet should they complain or moan it is they who are at fault.

We have had jobs we have worked on for 4 months only to have the job withdrawn or the candidate fail for a number of reasons, yet we have to smile and carry on.

Career Development Companies are different altogether, they do not promise you the candidate anything, other than showing you how to further your career. For this people pay up to 20% of their annual gross pay. Should the candidate not find another job, nor progress their career they are expected to grin and bear it; however the Career Development Company is quite happy as they have been paid.

The big difference therefore is any recruiter works for the employer while a career development company works for the individual who pays them.

This is not to say that we as head hunters don’t do our best to help people find a better job, because if we place you we get paid, it just means that we have to judge our possible success rate before we accept an assignment.