The Great Resignation. The Great Reset. The Great Reimagination. Whatever term you use, it boils down to one simple truth. There is a revolution in the workplace today that makes it more important than ever for organizations to prioritize their people through something called talent management.
Investing in Your People Is Good Strategy
Managing your talent well is the most important—and profitable—investment your organization can make. Talent management consulting firms today aren’t responsible just for recruiting and onboarding (though those are extremely important component functions), talent management involves pulling together the right mix of skills and capabilities. This allows the organization to enable cohesive, highly functional, and productive teams. It encompasses the full life cycle of employee engagement, from attraction to selection, and retention.
Lacking Talent Management Strategy Equals Consequences
In a recent survey of our clients, GSX learned that “managing new personnel/structuring new teams” is the top business challenge they currently face. The consequences of not creating and implementing an effective talent management strategy are high, including:
- Empty positions that aren’t getting filled
- Overworked, burnt-out workforce trying to compensate for skills gaps
- Underperformance from employees who aren’t engaged or motivated in their work
- Lack of cross trained employees to fill in when an emergency occurs, such as the recent pandemic
- Lack of the right knowledge, skills, and abilities to keep pace with dynamic environments
Not only do organizations without an effective talent management strategy struggle to fill vacant positions, but they also experience preventable turnover, missed opportunities due to a lack of properly trained workforce, and at a time when they really can’t afford it.
A survey by The Predictive Index found that business and professional services executives attribute 76% of company value to their employees. “In other words, over three-quarters of a company’s value comes from the people who work there. …[T]hey’re also the biggest drivers of organizational success.” Still, while 77% of respondents have a business strategy, only 33% have a talent strategy.
The case for investing in a robust talent management strategy may be clear, but that doesn’t make it easy. Talent acquisition, development, and retention are a constantly evolving journey. Every engagement is rife with its own set of complexities at the individual, team, and organizational levels. The right talent management consulting firm can identify those complexities and develop a strategy to help navigate the journey. Talent management challenges range from relatively simple (e.g., reducing the time-to-hire for vacant roles) to highly complex (e.g., Rocket Lab’s plan to develop a 250,000-square-foot facility to build and launch a new rocket on Wallops Island.)
Finding a Talent Management Consulting Firm
Keys to identifying the right talent management consultant for your organization include finding one who:
- Is willing to meet you where you are. Every engagement has a bottom-line from both a budget and needs perspective. Your consultant should directly address these concerns and not try to push you into a box that doesn’t fit your organization.
- Will take the time to understand what talent looks like in your particular context and develop a customized solution to meet your unique needs and complexities.
- Has a proven methodology for identifying appropriate talent to suit your organization’s unique needs and complexities.
- Has a proven track record of:
- Pinpointing an organization’s actual needs (which are not always as obvious as they seem)
- Attracting the right talent
- Designing and implementing learning and development programs that set employees up to excel
- Designing and implementing retention programs that keep your organization’s top performers motivated, engaged, and on-board
Talent Management Consulting: The GSX Advantage
At GSX, we see talent management as a continual process with the end goal of optimizing performance at all levels of employee/stakeholder engagement. Our solutions help organizations proactively monitor the horizon (“horizon scanning”) to enable them to predict and proactively respond to change. We work with your organization to:
- Identify performance risks by providing visibility into skill requirements as they shift and morph with change
- Identify people and skill sets that will be impacted
- Recommend learning strategies and implement associated solutions (i.e., skilling, reskilling, and upskilling)
- Employ human-centered design to account for crucial elements, including your organization’s values, culture, structure, strategy, technology, and policies to ultimately better equip your business for change
Today’s job market is more competitive than ever and attracting and retaining top performers is harder than ever. Savvy business leaders understand the value to be gained by investing in their people. The landscape is complex and partnering with an experienced talent management consulting firm can help to navigate the many decisions necessary for success. The right partner brings a fresh perspective to help your organization make more informed, strategic decisions.
Is your organization struggling to attract, motivate, and retain top talent? You’re not alone. Global Skills X-Change can help!