The world of Talent Management has changed.
The Global Financial Crisis has had a profound effect on businesses across the developed world, not only in the preparedness of organisations to invest in their talent, but also in the way they go about it. For Australia, this effect has been noted despite a relatively buoyant response to the global economic downturn. A change in both the business landscape and the expectations of the talent being developed has necessitated a shift in approach to Talent Management. This white paper aims to provide additional perspective for those tasked with structuring and executing a successful Talent Management program within the new business arena.
Talent Management became a hot topic following the seminal ‘War for Talent’ paper in 1997. Since that time, many organisations have come around to the idea of purposefully and systematically investing in the growth of their internal talent. Organisations have also had varying levels of success in this endeavour.
The key messages during this period have been consistent:
- Growing your own leaders rather than buying in talent makes long-term sense
- Purposeful Talent Management enhances performance and accelerates fiscal returns to the business
- Strong Talent Management attracts the best people to your organisation
- Strong Talent Management helps to retain the best people.
However, despite the compelling arguments, and some prominent successes, often organisations continue to struggle with the most effective approach, and more commonly, the execution. Before looking at the additional complexities that the ‘Post GFC’ business landscape provides, it is worth considering the more prevalent and perennial issues: Limited commitment from senior leaders to drive and support the program. This is despite the majority of senior leaders recognising that talent is one of their biggest headaches. The proposed approaches are often too over-engineered or too long-term for real impact upon the presenting or foreseeable business challenges.
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