How to Manage Talent in Your Team

Talent management takes hard work and dedication. It is not enough to recruit qualified candidates. Successful talent management retains the best team members. The goal of talent management is to have a skilled team and a complete succession plan without any destructive gaps that would cost the team if one of the team members should leave the team.

Guidelines

The steps of talent management help guide the process. The two main guidelines are Recruitment and Retention. It is important that the team leader has a model for these guidelines and reviews them frequently. The information that should be included in the guidelines is listed below:

Recruitment Strategies:

Determine position and responsibilities
Create a compelling job description
Identify pipelines and sources to recruit (social networks, job fairs, colleges etc.)
Review success of recruitment strategies and make changes as necessary

Retention Strategies:

Employee training development
Incentives
Compensation
Work / Life balance
Review success of retention strategies

Importance & Benefits

Talent management is important to the success of any team. Team members who are treated as more than cogs in a machine are happier and everyone benefits. Managers, employees, and the company benefit from implementing talent management strategies.

Benefits:

Identifies candidates for promotion
Reduces turnover
Increases productivity
Increases profitability
Creates career goals
Engages employees
Reduces stress and stress-related illness

Challenges

Talent management programs face numerous challenges. This is particularly true in times of economic uncertainty. As positions expand to include many skills, there are fewer employees qualified to fill vacancies and the competition to recruit and retain skilled employees becomes fierce.

Challenges:

Money to invest in employee development
Advertising jobs and creating policies that appeals to the three different generations still in the workforce
Support from executives
Competition with other companies
Few opportunities for advancement

Key Elements to Developing a Winning Strategy

There are essential elements that need to be included in every talent management strategy. These elements can be implemented in all teams, regardless of the size or structure. These elements are also helpful in other business strategies.

Elements: