PROCESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT

Talent Management is an intricate as well as a crucial process and is, therefore, very difficult
to handle. Every organization needs to address the talent gap that affects its growth
prospects. It is the responsibility of HR managers to identify the talent gap and forecast the
pitfalls based on the changes taking place in the organization.

They need to focus their plans and initiatives to help improve the availability of the needed
talent pool. While devising a plan for talent management, they have to keep in mind certain
factors due to which employees change their job abruptly and frequently.
Some such factors are:
• Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG) restructuring the job
market.
• Unforeseen rapid changes in the world economy.
• Strong and incessant economic growth.
• Most competitive job market.
• Rapid progress in science and technology diversifying the skill requirements
of the employees.
• Rise in outsourcing and off-shoring.
• Abrupt economic slowdown and recession.
• Cascading effect of the above on employment potential resulting in wage
cuts, layoffs, pink slips, etc.

Talent Management Process / Stages

The various stages of Talent Management are as follows:
• Identifying the goals: This is the cardinal stage and pivotal to the success of
the entire talent management process. The first step is to identify what the
organization aims to achieve and what characteristic qualifications and skills
the recruits should possess to realize the goals.

• Attracting the talent: The main aim of talent management process is to hire
the best talent for an organization. Organizations at this stage make effort to
attract the best talented people from the job market.

1ST SEM, SY 2024-2025 SPECIAL TOPICS IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

 • Sourcing the talent: In this stage, the talent management personnel look
for appropriate sources in the job market or industries where the targeted
people can be hired or recruited.

• Recruitment: This is the first stage of hiring the best talented people for the
organization. Skilled and qualified people

• Selection: This is the stage where the objective of talent management becomes a
reality. It is when truly talented people are recruited or hired in various roles.

• Training and development: At this stage, the selected recruits are provided with
necessary training to make them productive and efficient to work towards the goals of the
organization.

• Retention: The notable objective of talent management is not only hiring talent but also
ensuring their retention in the organization. Factors upon which the retention rate
depends are attractive pay package, job specification, safety and security of the
employees, personal development of an employee, recognition and culture of the
organization, and the fit between the job and talent.

• Assessment: Periodical assessment of employees’ skills, abilities, improvements and

competencies enable the organization to know if they are fit for continuation and
promotion.
• Performance appraisal: It is a measurement of the actual performance of the
employees in the job. It enables the organization to ascertain if the person can be loaded
with extra responsibilities.

• Promotion: It refers to job enrichment. It keeps the energy level high of the employees
and they are inspired to continue to work for the organization.

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 • Career planning: If an employee is found befitting to handle work pressure and extra
responsibilities well, the management needs to plan his/her career so that he or she feels
elevated and rewarded. Such recognition and rewards inspire the employees to remain
with the organization for a long time.

• Succession planning: This deals with the replacement of people within the
organization. Employees who have given their best to the organization and have been
serving for long deserve to hold higher positions.

• Exit stage: This is the final stage of talent management process that ends in the
retirement of the employees

Talent Management Methodology

Every organization has a different methodology for talent management. The following
diagram shows the complete cycle of talent management which involves Planning, Acquiring,
Developing, and Retaining of able and skilled personnel for the organization.

The steps are as follows:

• Planning ─ It involves identifying, defining, and setting criteria for required
capabilities as well as examining the current talent levels.

• Acquiring ─ It utilizes a varied range of strategies to attract talent.

• Developing ─ It involves providing opportunities for career development and

training, managing employee performance, coaching and mentoring.

• Retaining ─ It involves providing long-term incentive, a flexible and positive work

environment, and opportunities for advancement of good remuneration.

Let us now discuss each of the steps in detail.

Planning Talent
In this methodology, the organization establishes defined competencies and sets
criteria to measure the talent skills.

• Focus on Talent: Once you know what your organization needs, you can
start thinking about what type of talent potential to focus on.

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 • Define Competence: Competencies are lasting individual attributes that
cause high levels of performance. In this stage, the organization clearly
defines the specific and usable skills and talents its employees need, so as
to realize organizational goals and objectives.

• Measure Criteria: There should be a set of criteria to evaluate, measure,

and develop specific competency. You need objective criteria to measure
competencies effectively.

• Talent Audit: An audit may include different types of activities designed to

evaluate the level of competence. Methods include psychometric tests and
questionnaires, in-depth interviews, case studies, and analysis of the most
recent performance reviews.

Acquiring Talent
It includes talent management readiness, career development and training, performance
management, and coaching and mentoring. These are the core objectives of this phase.

• Talent Readiness Training: These competencies help the organization attract,

identify and develop talent.

• Career Development & Training: Training program is useful for upgrading talent and
skills of the employees and prepare them for future challenges.

• Performance Management: Performance management incorporates setting goals,

giving performance reviews, and providing feedback.

• Coaching & Mentoring: Coaching and mentoring develops talent by encouraging

people to excel at their work and to learn on the job. These techniques engage people
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 on a more emotional level.

Retaining Talent
The longer you retain talented people in your organization, the greater the return on your
investment. Retaining, the fourth phase of methodology, is to define several strategies that
can help retain talent.

• Long-term Incentives: Long-term incentives such as stock options or paid

vacation or other benefits increasing over time can encourage employees to couple
their careers and personal goals with a long-term commitment or association with the
organization.
• Career Planning: This involves providing genuine opportunity for advancement to the
employees to retain talent in the organization.

• Flexible Working Arrangements: When working arrangements are inflexible and

fixed, the options available to employees are limited – forcing them to choose between
staying with or leaving an organization.

• Talent Culture: Positive work environment is a key factor to retain talent.

Management needs to monitor these levels of satisfaction so they can forestall
problems before people leave an organization.

TALENT MANAGEMENT-PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Both are two integral parts of human resources management, and are focused on the same
organizational goal – securing human capital contribution and performance.
Performance management is concerned with the present – here and now; whereas talent
management focuses on securing the future – tomorrow. The process and activities involved
are completely different between these two programs however the targeted outcome for the
organization is the same.

1ST SEM, SY 2024-2025 SPECIAL TOPICS IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Talent management aims at retaining the efficient and high-performing employees, while
performance management aims at setting the performance objective, activities, and target
according to the individual accountability plan and measure performance periodically – yearly
or quarterly.

Performance management includes activities such as planning work, goal setting, monitoring
or continuous progress review, frequent communication, feedback and training for improved
performance, implementation of employee development programs and rewarding
achievements.

Performance Management includes the following activities:

Planning and Setting Goals: Performance management includes proper planning and setting
performance expectation and goals for individuals and teams to redirect their efforts and skill
towards realizing organizational goals. There should be measurable, understandable,
verifiable, and achievable performance elements and standards.
1. Monitoring or Evaluating Performance: This involves periodical assessment
or measuring of employees’ performance, providing feedback to employees and
work groups on their progress towards realizing their set goals. Continuous
progress review is helpful in identifying unacceptable performance at any time.
2. Developing and Enhancing Capacity: Performance management provides
training, gives assignments to acquaint the employees with new skills, and
improves the work processes or methods to enhance the capacity to perform.
Performance management processes provide a good opportunity to identify
development needs.
3. Rating or Evaluating Performance: Evaluate or assess employees or group
performance against set standards or elements in a performance plan. Based
on the evaluation, assign a summary evaluation or rating record.
4. Rewarding Performance: The last stage of performance management is to
have a culture of rewarding employees, both individually and as members of
group for their performance towards the realization of organizational goals and
objectives.

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Objective of Performance Management in Managing Talent
The objective of performance management is to build a high-performance culture
for both individuals and teams in an organization so that they jointly take the
responsibility of improving the business processes, and at the same time
increase overall productivity.
Following are some important objectives of Performance Management with
reference to talent management.
• Drive the employees towards achievement of superior standards of work performance.

• Support the employees in identifying the knowledge and skills required to perform the
job efficiently.

• Motivate employees by encouraging employee empowerment and implementation of

an effective reward process.

• Promote a two-way system of communication between management and the

employees for clarifying expectations, roles and accountabilities, functional and
organizational goals. Provide regular and transparent feedback to improve employee
performance.

• Identify the barriers or problems to effective performance and resolve those barriers
through constant monitoring, training, and development interventions.

• Promote personal growth in the career of the employees by helping or supporting them
in acquiring the desired knowledge and skills.

• Increase the self-esteem of the employees and enhance their self-insight and
development.

Benefits of Performance Management

An effective performance management system can play a very crucial role in
managing the performance in an organization by:
• Ensuring proper understanding of objectives and facilitating
effective communication throughout the organization.

• Developing a healthy relationship between an employee and the line

manager based on trust and empowerment.

• Ensuring each employee understands what is expected and equally

ascertaining whether the employees possess the required skills and support
to fulfil such expectations.

• Ensuring employees understand the importance of their contributions to the

organizational goals and objectives.

• Better and timely differentiation between good and poor performers.

• Enhancing the competence of the employees and enabling the managers

to gain insight about their subordinates.

• Facilitating organizational changes and paving ways for appropriate

administrative actions.

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