Regardless of your business model, your most valuable form of capital is…no surprises here… your human capital. Your machines, your vehicles, your raw materials, and even your cash resources aren’t worth much without the people you hire to manage your investments and make all the parts of your business fit together. Better people mean better value for every dollar you invest in your company. And an efficient and productive workforce also provides the best means for getting and staying a step ahead of your competition. Your competitors may be able to access the same equipment and geographic advantages that are available to you, but they’ll never be able to replicate your workforce. And in order to keep this principle at the forefront, you’ll need to divide your talent management strategy into four effective components….
Hiring
The strength of your hiring strategy can make or break the productivity of your workforce. But as you shape your approach to the hiring process, don’t overbuild. Many companies run into inefficiency, waste and failure when they over-plan every step and try to mitigate every risk. Deep, exhaustive background checks, for example, may seem like a good idea, but they typically result in wasted time and expense and they can even damage a company’s reputation and increase exposure to lawsuits. It might be better to invest in training managers to pair data with reliable instincts.
Training
Like the hiring process, your training models should be effective, not exhaustive. Constantly test the results of each program to make sure you know what works and what doesn’t, and don’t rest. Your training models should always be subject to tweaking and change.
Performance Management
Performance management practices serve more than just one purpose. Instead of simply evaluating employee value and reporting a final annual score to the employee, the manager, and HR, your PM model should help move employees forward. Great assessments are those that result in elevated morale, clear and effective coaching, and easy personnel transitions throughout the organization to optimize employee skill sets. Good assessment models should also clear a path to behavior correction and termination when necessary and allow a smooth cascading of company goals to employee objectives and output.
Retention
Retention is often the most challenging part of any talent management strategy, and the area with the greatest potential for financial loss. In a world of at-will employment contracts, the ease of removing ineffective employees is countered by the challenge of holding onto the most valuable ones. Great retention strategies require more than just competitive salaries. They also require attention to workplace branding, effective leadership, employee engagement, and a climate of trust and open communication. All of these efforts begin with a foundation of data. Before you can strengthen your retention efforts, you’ll need to know exactly what’s working and what isn’t. Surveys, historic records, and documentation and offer a great place to start when creating retention strategies and technology solution, like emPerform, enables this data to be collected and analyzed at the click of a button.
