Investment in people brings rewards: increased motivation, better performance and greater organisational resilience. To achieve this, a long-term perspective on talent management is essential. The most successful and inspiring approaches to talent management are featured highly in the strategic objectives of the organisation and its leaders.
Governments have the edge on one talent strategy that has proven to work by the nature of the work they do, according to Shaara Roman of The Silverene Group. Public sector organisations are all about purpose and have compelling missions. However, that line of sight may be more challenging for those who aren’t directly interacting with the public and advancing the mission of the organisation. Giving employees, such as those in finance and accounting, an opportunity to connect with the mission and purpose of the organisation regularly is key to attracting and retaining talent. As an example, a federal agency has a rotation programme where employees can spend a day a month working directly with the public by filling a shift in the call centre. Another organisation offers ‘fireside chats’ where finance team members hear about what public-facing groups are working on and make connections about how their accounting, finance and IT work at the organisation supports the public. It’s also as simple as having a conversation with your employees about what they enjoy doing, what motivates and energises them, then helping to make connect their goals and objectives to the agency’s mission and goals. At the end of the day, it’s about knowing that your work matters and that you are making a difference in the world.7
A successful organisation consistently demonstrates effective talent management strategies. This includes having a goal-driven, tactical plan for hiring, retaining and upskilling. A talent strategy is often difficult to define and develop but the results are worth identifying drivers and developing a unique plan tailored to your entity.
________________________________________________________7 ‘5 ways to reduce employee turnover’, CGMA Magazine, 2017
Start with the business strategy: Ensure that all stakeholders understand the business or mission objective. For instance, is the goal to increase sales in a certain region, service a demographic in the community or revenue/growth in a specific program? What talent does the company need to accomplish that goal? What are the barriers to achieving objectives?
Conduct a regular talent review: Determine where gaps in your workforce could hinder your success.
Build and refine: Continually adapt and improve plans. Look for current employees with skills, competencies and potential to do the work. Create talent pools, establish dedicated training budgets and create policies that encourage growth and development. Be mindful that what works for some employees may not work for everyone. Segment and alter plans to adjust for employees from different backgrounds, skill sets and experience levels.
Attract the right candidates: If you need to hire new employees, think about external market forces. Is talent readily available? What incentives might you need to offer to attract the right talent? And what are competitors doing who are trying to attract new hires from the same talent pool? What does your employer brand say to prospective job candidates? How does your hiring process compare to your competitors’ hiring processes?
Put performance management processes in place: The authors of the book “One Page Talent Management” recommend simplifying this process as much as possible. As an example, many organisations use the “SMART” (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) acronym to track goals for individual bonus plans or performance measures. The authors instead recommend using “SIMple” to track (specific, important, measurable) goals. List goals in order of importance and make performance management a regular interaction, not a once or twice-a-year event.
Help people perform at the best of their abilities: Agile talent management strategies are the best. They can move people to projects as needs arise and quickly change focus when those needs aren’t there. Consider using contract or freelance workers for short-term or special projects.
Develop succession plans: Taking data from talent review processes, establish plans to train and replace key employees should they leave the entity or retire. Cross-train on important tasks so knowledge isn’t lost when people leave.
Use data to drive talent management decisions: When forming your talent management strategy, build in key performance indicators (KPI) to track progress and the effectiveness of certain efforts. KPIs can be analysed as one part of evidence-based talent management approaches. Evidence-based decisions tied to specific business outcomes make for the most impactful talent management strategies. Consider including data from your HR software, as well as other financial goals as key benchmarks.8
Make sure to include some general principles of talent management strategies as you develop your own plan. These include skill- and competency-based (not job-based) measurable and attainable performance measures; flexibility; alignment; culture awareness and attainment; and dependence on other initiatives, including new technology, potential regulations and compliance laws, process changes and economic fluctuations.
‘Strategies that work ‘Early in my career as a supervisor, I was given the opportunity to participate in a job rotation for twelve months that involved rotating into two other roles for six months each in our pricing department. This trust that others took on more responsibilities, but ultimately further developed the overall team. It has now been seven years later and that rotation continues to offer dividends in my current, albeit different, role. The knowledge that was gained through the rotation allowed me to build relationships with different colleagues and gave me knowledge of other areas of the utility that causes me to be looked to a trusted adviser internally even for tasks beyond my team’s responsibility. My current role involves me communicating about the utility’s operational and financial condition with bond rating agencies. This earlier rotation positively impacts my ability to speak with these agencies with confidence about the different areas of our organisation’.’
Jeff Parkison, CPA, CGMA, Director — Treasury and Financial Planning & Analysis, City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri (USA)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________8 ‘What Is Talent Management Strategy? 8 Tips for Building a Winning Plan’, Marc Holliday, Oracle NetSuite, 2 December 2021.
