Do We Need Innovation in Talent Management?

A recent survey conducted by SHRM indicated that human capital is one of the biggest challenges in the next ten years for business. Recruiting and retaining top talent should already be a number one priority of your talent management strategy; however, the challenge will be in adjusting the strategy to accommodate changes in the workforce. The real challenge for the HR professionals and business will be in developing innovative strategy to meet the new normal of the business world. Unfortunately, in HR innovation seems to be a missing skill. And questioning long held beliefs in talent management seems to be an even less common skill or practice found in today’s HR departments.

As a profession, we tend to get wrapped up in the compliance piece of the job and forget about what it means to recruit and retain talent. In the most recent issue of SHRM magazine, there is a great article on the biggest missteps in performance management. The information is solid and the article is filled with great advice. It lists information that seems to be often forgotten by managers in the workplace le reminding HR folks of all the little things managers do that drive us crazy. By being written from the vain of legal compliance, it reinforces that our job is so filled with compliance that we might not even realize that we have a greater responsibility in our roles as the drivers of talent management.

We owe it to our organizations to focus on innovative and creative strategies that will attract and retain the talent needed to meet the needs of the organization. We have to start by questioning everything we do in our current strategy and see if it actually yields the results that you have been taught that it does. And for all of you in HR who believe our mission is about the people, you should realize that by taking care of the people in your strategy, you will retain them and that is the win-win we always strive for in this profession.

If you want a place to start, look outside of the HR department. Start with the talent.

Major Functions of Talent Management

The phrase "Talent Management" traditionally refers to the activities of getting, developing and retaining the best employees. However, the phrase is often used interchangeably with "Human Resources." The following links are to major sections about each of the standard functions associated with talent management.

For the Category of Human Resources Management (and Talent Management):

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

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Role of Human Resources Function in Organizations

Ask HR-What is it like to work in HR

A question I frequently get from those individuals outside of HR is, “What is it like to work in HR?” Well, the answer to that question can vary greatly by HR professional and organization.

Human Resources (HR) can include a broad spectrum of specialties within organizations. Some examples of specialties include recruiting, payroll, policy, safety, training and development, and performance management. In smaller organizations, the HR professional may handle all of those specialties and in larger organizations, each specialty is most likely its own department.

The roles within HR can vary greatly as well as with many departments from the purely administrative to the executive. Another related and perhaps more important question that is often discussed is, “what should HR be doing?” For me, HR’s primary purpose is to ensure that the right people are working in the right places to accomplish the organization’s goal.

In other words, HR is responsible to develop programs that will attract, select, develop, and retain the talent needed to meet the organizational mission. So whether you are an HR department of one or a combination of multiple departments that include hundreds of employees, your primary responsibility is talent management.

Here’s a quick test to see if your programs are aligned and focused on the primary purpose of HR. See if you can answer the following questions.

1. What is the primary mission of the organization?
2. What talent is needed to meet the mission?
3. Which programs do you have in the following areas:
   Identifying and Attracting Talent?
   Selecting and Hiring Talent?
   On boarding Talent?
   Developing Talent?
   Retaining Talent?
4. How is program success measured?
5. In what areas do we need to improve?

If you can’t answer these questions, you have some work to do.

Challenges Facing Human Resources Function

If You Want a Seat at the Table, Learn the Business

In many companies HR does not occupy a seat at the strategic planning table. Who’s to blame?

The answer to this question is hotly debated and often clear lines are drawn between those in HR and those in other functions. Many HR professionals blame the leaders for not seeing the value of their function to the organization, while some managers see HR as the roadblock to doing what needs to be done.

In a 2005 article written by Fast Company Magazine’s Keith Hammonds, Keith purports all the reasons “Why We Hate HR.” If the title itself isn’t enough to put a HR professional on the defense, then providing the declaration that “HR people aren’t the sharpest tacks in the box” as the first reason certainly will. His assertion in the article is that those who enter the HR field are not business people and are ill-equipped to understand business. He quotes a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) study that identified which coursework HR professionals found most beneficial to their success in the field to support his message that the majority of those working in the field do not see understanding business as necessary to their success. The results showed that coursework in communications, business law, and ethics were most beneficial.

A recently released SHRM survey of HR leaders indicates the same finding. The respondents in the U.S. indicated that strategic thinking is one of the top five competencies needed for senior HR leaders; however, business knowledge was not listed. While the lineage of the field of HR coupled with the introduction of legislation to protect employers may have contributed to stereotypes that exist in the field about the HR profession, our failure as HR professionals to recognize that we are business people charged with the company’s most valuable assets will certainly continue to harbor those stereotypes we so emotionally defend. If you want a seat at the table, learn the business of business and speak the language of the executive team.

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Introduction

Human Resources Applies to Any Size of Organization

All organizations have people -- they have human resources. Regardless of the size of an organization or the extent of its resources, the organization survives -- and thrives -- because of the capabilities and performance of its people. The activities to maximize those capabilities and that performance are necessary regardless of whether the organization refers to them as Human Resource Management, Human Resource Development or Human Resources -- or has no formal name for those activities at all.

Those activities are the responsibility of all people in the organization. Thus, members of organizations, regardless of size or resources, will benefit from using the resources referenced from this topic.

Human Resource Guidelines Apply to For-Profits and Nonprofits

The vast majority of resources in this topic apply to nonprofits as well as for-profits. There's a misconception that there is a big difference in managing human resources in for-profit versus nonprofit organizations. Actually, they should managed similarly. Nonprofits often have unpaid human resources (volunteers), but we're learning that volunteers should be managed much like employees -- it's just that they're not compensated with money; they're compensated in other ways. Managing volunteers is very similar to paid staff -- their roles should be carefully specified, they should be recruited carefully, they should be oriented and trained, they should be organized into appropriate teams or with suitable supervisors, they should be delegated to, their performance should be monitored, performance issues should be addressed, and they should be rewarded for their performance. Also, organizations should consider the risks and liabilities that can occur with volunteers, much like with employees. So nonprofit organizations should consider the resources in this topic as well.

Clarifying Some Terms -- Human Resource Management, Human Resources, HRD, Talent Management

The Human Resource Management (HRM) function includes a variety of activities, and key among them is responsibility for human resources -- for deciding what staffing needs you have and whether to use independent contractors or hire employees to fill these needs, recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring they are high performers, dealing with performance issues, and ensuring your personnel and management practices conform to various regulations. Activities also include managing your approach to employee benefits and compensation, employee records and personnel policies. Usually small businesses (for-profit or nonprofit) have to carry out these activities themselves because they can't yet afford part- or full-time help. However, they should always ensure that employees have -- and are aware of -- personnel policies which conform to current regulations. These policies are often in the form of employee manuals, which all employees have.

Some people distinguish a difference between HRM and Human Resource Development (HRD), a profession. Those people might include HRM in HRD, explaining that HRD includes the broader range of activities to develop personnel inside of organizations, e.g., career development, training, organization development, etc.

The HRM function and HRD profession have undergone tremendous change over the past 20-30 years. Many years ago, large organizations looked to the "Personnel Department," mostly to manage the paperwork around hiring and paying people. More recently, organizations consider the "HR Department" as playing a major role in staffing, training and helping to manage people so that people and the organization are performing at maximum capability in a highly fulfilling manner. There is a long-standing argument about where HR-related functions should be organized into large organizations, eg, "should HR be in the Organization Development department or the other way around?"

Recently, the phrase "talent management" is being used to refer the activities to attract, develop and retain employees. Some people and organizations use the phrase to refer especially to talented and/or high-potential employees. The phrase often is used interchangeably with HR -- although as the field of talent management matures, it's very likely there will be an increasing number of people who will strongly disagree about the interchange of these fields.

Many people use the phrase "Human Resource Management," "Human Resource Development" and "Human Resources" interchangeably, and abbreviate Human Resources as HR -- HR has become a conventional term to refer to all of these phrases.

Thus, this Library uses the phrase "Human Resources" and the term "HR," not just for simplicity, but to help the reader to see the important, broader perspective on human resources in organizations -- what's required to maximize the capabilities and performance of people in organizations, regardless of the correct phrase or term to be applied when doing that.

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