systematicHR

The intersection between HR strategy and HR technology

What’s wrong with Talent Management – Part 2

systematicHR Avatar

Don’t we all love competencies? I’ll admit that understanding them is critical to managing a workforce as part of an HR strategic plan. However, the linkage of competencies to talent acquisition and learning is insufficient when thought of as a business strategy. Until competencies are tied to broader collaboration, project planning and knowledge management strategies in a broader business function, competencies trapped within HR databases does not increase business success.

  • Imagine a world where an employee’s competencies are loaded from the HRMS into a data warehouse. This information is then loaded to production planning systems or resource allocation systems to fully maximize the best resources for any project.
  • Imagine that same data warehouse loading competencies into the knowledge management system so that best practices and subject matter leaders are easily located and utilized.
  • Imagine if you’re most skilled employees were leveragable to train others rather than only working on certain projects because they are always in high demand.

Are competencies bad or wrong? No, I don’t feel as negative about them as I did performance. However, while we focused on recruiting and training competencies, I’m not sure we ever rolled them out to the rest of the business functions. Perhaps this is not as much of a gripe against competencies, as it is against the ability of HR to truly effect operational change in an organization. We have the metrics and the data, but perhaps we don’t have the skills or the reach. Deploying a competency model within HR by utilizing HR technology was the easy part. Now we need to understand how our HR practices integrate with everyone else.

Tagged in :

systematicHR Avatar

2 responses to “What’s wrong with Talent Management – Part 2”

  1. Steve Levy Avatar

    Dubs – Pt. 1-2 clearly demonstrate the frustration of not only hiring managers but most important, of employees. So many have been conditioned to believe that managers know how to manage, leaders know how to lead, and HR knows how to develop the linkages between all the parties.

    But any data warehouse lives by GIGO rules…and its not just HR that is to blame for garbage in. The solution begins in school where competencies are first taught – and we need realistic ones, not 40,000 foot level concepts. MBA programs are becoming more reality-based and I’d like to see more competency case studies that link talent acquisition and development in addition to the ubiquitous M&A, branding, and balance-sheet enrichment stuff that is taught.

    And CEOs? Read Jack Stack’s “The Great Game of Business” wherein he speaks of one of his great rules – Shit roles downhill. Need I say more?

    Keep it coming Dubs!

  2. […] « What’s wrong with Talent Management – Part 2 | Home | Web Services part 3: Technologies Converge » […]