A talent management strategy sets the tone and direction with a clear message about how people can expect to be developed, motivated, and rewarded in line with continuous organisational change. It should form a key part of your employer brand.
But how do you get it to stick? How do you create a talent mindset across the organisation?
We recently advised a household name company facing a major transformation which would demand completely different skills and capabilities, as well as different ways of working. It represented a huge change for most people who would need to switch from roles where they had direct authority to being influencers. Whereas previously analytical skills were paramount, going forward relationship oriented skills would be more critical to success. The principle that we established in the talent management strategy was that everyone would be supported in transitioning their skills. So, the strategy switched from an exclusive leadership programme for a few to a multi-faceted programme encompassing this idea of inclusiveness.
Managers were given the opportunity to participate in Pinsight online development centres. These close-to-reality simulations put them in situations where they could experience directly, but in a safe environment, the new skills that would be demanded of them. Through this experience, they understood better what successful performance of these new skills involved, and of course they could plot the development they needed to master their new skill-set. Pinsight also incorporates development suggestions, and so the experience itself was the start of the development journey, which people self-managed, or sometimes followed-through in learning sets.
Pinsight uses real-live assessors for role-plays and feedback sessions, but otherwise is fully automated, with automatic scheduling, and report generation. It is also completely online. As a result of this ease and speed of use, we were able to include large numbers in a short time-frame, and at a fraction of the usual cost of a development centre. The gamification techniques built into Pinsight made it a ‘sticky’ and engaging experience for participants, and so it was generally held to be a fun activity.
We achieved many positive results:
- people valued the effort the organisation was putting into supporting them in making the personal transitions required, and this raised engagement, and commitment to change. It avoided so many of the barriers to change that are often encountered.
- Pinsight generated data for workforce and succession planning.
- The exercise created a talent mindset amongst managers, which they passed on to their teams.
Email us for information on our online learning guide to developing a talent management strategy
The Scala Group combines world-class consultancy & Pinsight™ technology for better leadership hires, talent reviews & impactful leadership development. Click here to find out more
7 November 2017
©Copyright Janice Caplan 2017