Over the years we have helped companies structure, create and automate their org charts and visualize the organization. I provide my clients with the tools to accomplish such objectives as :
- Open Positions: Managing open positions
- Headcount Reporting: Determining headcount and span of control
- Scenario Planning: Comparing proposed alternatives for growth
- Succession planning: Manage the learning and growth of your personnel
- Organizational modeling: Creating organizational scenarios
This led me to develop the HR maturity process that captures the path of growth that companies go through in mastering their ability to get the most from their human capital.
As you would expect companies are at different levels of sophistication in their ability to tame the talent management process. But whether your company is a startup and new to talent management, or more established with a need to grow we have a plan that will optimize your situation.
Our method brings speed, cost savings and increased productivity. The benefits of our approach:
- You will be positioned to reduce turnover
- You will see the different strata of employee performance
- You will become better able to build bench strength
- You will have a modelling process that fits your culture
- You will have a method and templates to get a unified, company-wide view of your talent
- You will have metrics that may be used for evaluation and prediction
A Talent Management Maturity Model
I recently gave a presentation on the topic of talent risk management. Most of us do not need to read experts’ articles on the challenges of ensuring that the right talent is always available – because we live with the problem daily. But I would like to propose some food for thought on what I have found helpful in managing to make sure the right supply of quality people are available when needed.
Growing Talent Management Capability
First it’s helpful to recognize that there is a maturity hierarchy that companies climb in their ability to manage talent. They start out at an informal or ad hoc level, and “grow up” to have the strategies, disciplines and technologies to efficiently and effectively ensure the right talent is always engaged. And it’s a constant effort. Depending on who you talk opinions abound on how to get to the ideal, mature, performing state, which usually includes a technology, a process or a consulting firm.
I am not going to argue the merits of automating such things as appraisals, payroll and employee engagement surveys. There is a place and timing for that. But I would like to offer a broader context into which things such as technology and processes fit, and that is an architecture for talent management maturity. This model demonstrates how employees’ increasing engagement with business results is a function of excellent management. Poor management leads to low business value; excellent management drives talent to best engagement with business results.
Consider, people are your company’s most important – and probably most expensive – asset. You can get lucky – on occasion – hiring the right people, but only on a small scale. As your company grows you will need a way to have repeatable successes, or there will be no ability to scale. The right management will recognize this, and lead the introduction of people, process and technology at the right times.
In this model, things like technology make sense as there are appropriate levels of standardization in positions, competencies, and evaluation – which makes repeatable success possible. And metrics require repeatable and standardized position management. Finally, managing improvement requires both repeatable success and measurement in order to manage gaps and their closure. Introducing technologies in an ad hoc, immature organization is a waste of money. As the adage goes, “a fool with a tool is still a fool.” Again I’m not saying don’t invest in technology, but rather understand the prerequisites for its effective employment.
In my next article I will describe a ‘starter set’ of metrics and how you can use them for continuous improvement in growing your company’s ability to make the most of your talent investments.
If you would like to discuss this topic, and get a free maturity assessment please contact me.
