Talent Development and Acquisition

You’re an experienced Human Resources consultant. Your client is struggling with their Talent Management processes. They’ve had numerous complaints from employees and managers, and the executive team believes the processes are simply not enough. Write a report evaluating each of the five Talent Management areas (Talent Management Strategy, Succession Planning, Talent Segmentation, Training & Development, and Performance) including an executive summary of your findings and recommendations.

For each of the five Talent Management areas you must evaluate the company’s current processes (including inputs and outputs), identify all potential root causes of why the processes may not be effective, outline as many ways as possible to make improvements (both HOW and WHY), and create measures/metrics of success to evaluate the effectiveness of your ideas AFTER implementation.

Demonstrate critical thinking by:
– describing the pros and cons of each situation (evaluate; critique)
– making fact-based recommendations (no unsubstantiated opinions)
– compare/contrast as often as possible (differentiate); points of view based on role – human Resources, supervisors/boss, employee, organization – size, industry, maturity phase (start up, growth, decline), ownership (public/private, or family owned).

Demonstrate In-depth comprehension of the material:

Your answer must show you REALLY understand the material

Also relate it to other aspects of …

– Talent Management or Human Resources

– Business

Make connections to personal and professional experiences

Give examples of the WHAT, the HOW and the WHY

**Prompts and topics to consider when completing this assessment of each talent management area**

Talent Management Strategy:
How do companies use talent management to execute their business strategies and achieve results faster?
How do companies determine the current state of their talent vs their need, identify gaps & create a plan to close those gaps?
A key component of an effective talent management strategy is to ensure organizational and individual ‘readiness’. What does that mean? What are some best practices to make that happen?

Succession Planning:
What’s the value to your client organization of having a succession plan?
What are best practices to evaluate talent potential & readiness for promotional opportunities?
Describe what the process should look and sound like, and who should be involved.

Talent Segmentation:
What is talent segmentation?
What are the pros and cons of segmenting talent?
What would it look like and how can it add value:
– in different Talent Management areas?
– at different stages of the employee/talent lifecycle?

Training & Development:

How should your client;

– evaluate its training needs?

– develop programs to meet the training needs of both the organization and individual employees?

Your client has a limited budget. What are low cost but very impactful development activities?

Your client claims that training workshops and events haven’t been successful…

– how can you evaluate their claim?

– if they’re right, what can be done to increase learning transfer?

How can your client build a continuous learning culture?

What are the responsibilities that each role should play in successful training & development? (supervisors/bosses, employees/subordinates)

Performance Management:

Your client claims its annual performance appraisal process isn’t working effectively. What can be done to make it more effective and eliminate the problems below?

– both employees & managers find it very stressful

– the rating system is confusing

– no one pays attention until they get to the raise/money part of the discussion.

– it takes months to complete the process.

– they believe that managers are inflating performance ratings.

How do you suggest they minimize performance rater bias?

Your client claims that their coaching program isn’t working – what should they do?