Let me start, dear reader, with an important, even critical question: are you able, right now, to search your organisation for the talent you need? That might be for a one-off project, a projected future development, or even, simply, to assess any gaps you might have and who you already employ, who might already have the skills required or the enthusiasm to learn those skills if offered the opportunity.
After all, when Covid-19 struck, businesses very quickly learned to improvise. There was little choice in the matter, of course, it just had to be done. We had to be flexible and find the people with the skills and adaptability to take on completely new tasks at the drop of a hat. So the route to finding those people inside your own organisation already exists. It’s a question of how quickly and easily we can adapt this process post-Covid.
Why does this matter? After all, you might say, Covid has gone, hasn’t it? Two reasons. Firstly, there are still skills shortages out there. The cost to find and hire the best people is, as a result, high. Secondly, because of that, it’s important to focus on other ways to meet the requirements of the business. Understanding the motivations and career paths of individuals within your business makes perfect sense. In other words, Covid might be history, but the learning curve that it took us on continues to have value, if we have the motivation to tap into it.
So just how do we tap into it?
Finger on that pulse
In our previous article, we saw the inestimable value of having your finger firmly on the pulse of both your organisation and the markets where you operate. Talent management is no different, requiring a similar ability – indeed commitment – to be able to understand your operation so well that whatever need arises, be that a crisis or an opportunity, you know just the right people for the job, where they are, and how to engage them.
As we pointed out, it’s one thing to be able to feel the vibrations pulsing under that finger, it’s quite another to be ready and able to quickly act upon what those pulses are telling you. Listening out is one skill, but hearing and reacting are equally critical.
So where does that take us in terms of talent?
Opening informal and formal channels
Yes there are formal ways to assess talent. But true intelligence comes from a mix of both the formal and informal. You need to have your ear to the ground and be listening out. As well as being able to search through internal data, you have to be open to the informal channels that tell you who has aspirations to develop their career, and equally, who is happy and successful where they are. Both are important pieces of information which are tricky to glean from formal data structures.
As well as the knowledge is the accountability for developing that knowledge, and the channels which allow you to search and assess that knowledge base. Who has the role of managing this all-important internal talent pool?
These are questions we’ll pick up in the next article in this series. We’ll then go on to ask just where the coach and mentor sit in this talent development structure. Finally, we’ll ask an all-important question about the role of the leader in the search to identify, promote and retain talent.
Michael Esau is global HR advisor for SAP
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