Introduction to Talent Management

Successful organizations systematically design, integrate, and proactively implement programs that build and sustain a high-performance workforce. These programs focus on acquiring, cultivating, and rewarding employees who can best achieve their goals while remaining true to stated values.
When this approach is fully integrated, we call it “talent management.” Although there are a variety of approaches to talent management, high-performing organizations typically include a blueprint, a set of building blocks, and a system that effectively integrates human resource programs.

A blueprint is a set of principles that guides the organization’s strategic and tactical talent management processes. It consists of a creed and a talent management strategy. A talent management creed is composed of a widely publicized set of core principles, values, and mutual expectations that guide the behavior of an institution and its people. The principles of the creed are embedded in its selection criteria, competency definitions, performance criteria, and internal selection, compensation, and development processes.

Most recently, creeds have been enhanced to include social responsibility, sustainability, ethical behavior, innovation, and creativity. An organizational creed can also include provision for an “employee brand” or “employee experience.” A talent strategy makes explicit the type of investments an organization makes today in the people who it believes will best help it achieve competitive excellence in the future. A talent management strategy views a workforce as a portfolio of human resource assets that are differentiated based on an assessment of each person’s current and potential contribution to organization success.

Competencies are one of the building blocks in a talent management model. They are behaviors, skills, and knowledge that is crucial to the success of each employee and to the success of the entire organization. Employees who demonstrate strength in these competencies are the role models for the high-performance culture and need to be positioned in key roles. A performance appraisal is a measurement of actual results achieved within the areas for which the employee is held accountable and/or the competencies deemed critical to job and organization success.