Talent

Citation

Nolan, S. (2012), "Talent", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 11 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2012.37211daa.001

Talent

Article Type: Editorial From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 11, Issue 4

In this issue of Strategic HR Review, which focuses on the theme of talent, authors provide interesting insights into how to approach talent acquisition – including recruitment processes and building employee brand – as well as talent development and reward strategies. These topics are set within a range of organizational contexts, from female talent development through to a cultural change program and skills building within the HR function.

The case study from Leah Newby and Chris Howarth, “How Specsavers attracts and nurtures outstanding talent”, discusses an innovative campaign to improve talent recruitment in the optics industry. The aim was to improve graduate recruitment so that it not only brought on board the right academic levels, but also took into account interpersonal and communication skills, which are essential for improving customer service levels. An internal brand was developed that encompasses a five-stage recruitment and onboarding process. This includes the use of assessment centers, taster sessions and work experience as ways of observing candidates and judging their interpersonal skills, as well as helping to manage candidate expectations. The result has been an improved candidate experience and enhanced employee brand, and a positive impact on customer service and satisfaction.

“Future female talent development”, by Nicky Garcea, Alex Linley, Katarzyna Mazurkiewicz and Trudy Bailey, explores the use of strengths-based development for future female talent. The authors first explore the challenges facing organizations and women in today’s workforce – including research showing less favorable attitudes towards women in work than men, and women feeling less confident about their careers – and go on to discuss possible ways of addressing those challenges. They propose a strengths-based approach that has the dual benefit of helping organizations retain and develop female talent while also empowering female talent and helping overcome confidence barriers. Explicitly, they examine the use of a model that optimizes the relationship between strengths, strategy and situation in order to deliver performance. A pilot case study investigates the application of a strengths-based emerging female talent development program combining face-to-face and virtual solutions for a global team. A key benefit for the delegates was the subsequent understanding of their strengths and power basis.

In “K2 & AXA Insurance (UK) – transforming the culture in a key part of the organization”, Jim Constable demonstrates an application of coaching within a talent management program that successfully changed the culture of a department. Key to this outcome was the training of internal coaches within the team to cascade the program through the team. These performance leaders were chosen for their enthusiasm and communication skills and took on coaching responsibility in addition to their existing day-to-day roles, applying their new knowledge and skills and engaging the teams with which they worked. This involvement is in line with a key principle of the program, which was to help team members develop a sense of control over their performance. In addition, feedback from delegates after the first year was used to shape future program delivery, to ensure it met their development needs.

“All together now? Strategic segmentation in talent and reward”, by Gemma Durham and Chris Charman, explores the idea that a one-size-fits-all approach to people policies such as reward is not sustainable in today’s tough trading conditions. It draws on a major research study, field work and roundtable discussions. While standardization can lead to sub-optimal performance, and customization across an organization tends to be unfeasible and costly, segmentation allows the tailoring of people programs to different types of roles, teams and people and therefore should drive up engagement and motivation. While there are many instances of segmentation in operation, such as rewards tailored for high performers, or flexible benefits schemes designed to meet varying needs across the board, the authors argue that much segmentation is not done consciously and that a conscious and strategic approach is now being demanded by trends in the labor market. They put forward a method of adapting and applying the marketing principles of segmentation to HR, identifying areas to be explored when tackling the critical and sensitive task of segmenting the workforce and deciding what level of reward differentiation to apply.

In “HR talent and the new HR competencies”, Dave Ulrich, Jon Younger, Wayne Brockbank and Mike Ulrich discuss the findings of the sixth round of the global HR competency study. This extensive research study takes into account HR and non-HR views and identifies six fundamental competency domains that HR professionals must demonstrate to impact business performance and achieve personal effectiveness. There is some difference in the competencies that impact personal effectiveness and those that influence business success. The authors drill down further to explore sub-competencies and the competency balance achieved by those organizations with the highest performing HR teams. Drawing on case organizations, the authors go on to outline six practical ways of using the identified competencies to improve HR effectiveness, such as using it as an assessment model to gauge current effectiveness and opportunity to improve.

Sara NolanEmail: saranolanshr@emeraldinsight.com