systematicHR

Talent Management in and of itself is not a strategic function. Similar to core HR practices, the actual task and process isn’t strategic. One should be especially careful with Talent Management Systems (TMS). No system (TMS, HRMS, or anything else) can make you and your organization strategic. However, the philosophy you develop around the task and process (if applied to those tasks and processes) can make either HR or Talent Management strategic. Here are some pointers and examples:

In talent acquisition, recruiters and hiring managers may perform a task of filling requisitions. I remember early in my career interviewing with a leading global actuarial firm. After 3 half day interviews, they put me in front of a psychologist for 6 hours to find out if I was the right “fit” for the job and the organization. Being in my early 20’s, I had no idea what direction my life would take, but I’m quite grateful now that they decided for me: “You would be really great, but you don’t really want to be an actuary…” While 6 hours in front of a shrink is extreme, filling positions without a true vision into how each additional associate impacts the “shape of your workforce” simply drives you off of your target population. Today we have amazing talent acquisition tools, but each one must be configured to optimize and shape the target population.

Learning management (as part of talent management) is not strategic when thought of as only “training.” If we take sales training as an example, we realize that no matter how many trainers you bring in to teach “the art of closing the deal” that this activity may not be strategic. Sure, this activity increases profits, but does it actually “shape your workforce?” For this activity to be strategic, the course on closing sales must also involve the dissemination of company culture. Closing sales is a critical teaching activity. Imparting knowledge on ethics, soft (or not so soft) selling techniques, what the brand means and how the brand is represented in the sales cycle are cultural and philosophical components of training.

We can also take performance management. I’ve written before about performance and it’s lack of overall impact. This is because performance does not usually have a high adoption rate with operational managers, causing their execution of performance management to be less than effective at the employee level. The truth is that with the right tools, change management process, and a culture that believes in the process, performance processes can turn from the robotic evaluations they are today, into a true value add for the employee.

Tasks may contribute to the overall strategy by adding marginal returns to the shape of the workforce. In order for this to happen, practitioners must understand each task and the potential impact it has on the strategy.

• A task is never strategic, but may contribute to the overall strategy effect
• A system or software application is never strategic, but may contribute to the overall strategy if implemented with the strategy in mind.
• Wrap your strategy and workforce philosophy around all tasks, systems and processes to create real impact.