How to Link Your Talent Management Strategy to Your Business Strategy

How to Link Your Talent Management Strategy to Your Business Strategy
Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn

Link Your Talent Management Strategy to Your Business Strategy

We believe that the purpose of talent management is to have the right person in the right role at the right time.  When you accomplish this, you have a far greater chance of achieving your business strategy in a way that makes sense.

Why The Link Between the Business and Talent Matters
Our organizational alignment research found that talent accounts for 29% of the difference between high and low performing companies in terms of revenue, profitability and customer loyalty.  The catch?  The 29% impact of talent gets severely diluted if your strategy and culture are not aligned.

The good news?  When business and talent strategies are linked, you are more than two times more likely to outperform your competitors on total shareholder returns.  So the alignment of people with your business is not only more efficient, it has a direct impact on your bottom line.

How to Link Your Talent Management Strategy to Your Business Strategy
Leaders with organizational savvy understand why linking talent management to clear business priorities matters but few know how to do this effectively.  In trying to assess which employees are most critical to current and future business priorities and what role they play, many leaders simply refer to the corporate organizational chart.

But often, the most critical and strategic talent is not found on the top level org. chart.  There is a better and far more effective way.

4 Fundamental Talent Management Strategy Steps to Take
This is how to align your talent decisions with their value to the business strategy so you link your talent management to your business strategy:

  1. Start with Your Business Strategy
    Take a ruthless look at your plan for business success. Is it clear enough?  Compelling enough?  Implementable enough in your unique culture and marketplace?If not, you have some strategic clarity work to do before you begin to build a talent strategy.  Once your business strategy is clear enough, it is time to forecast the organizational structure and talent that you need to fill current and future mission-critical roles.

    You should be able to answer normal organizational talent review questions like:

    — Do you currently have the right org. structure and the right talent in the right place to meet current objectives?
    — Do you have the bench strength to meet future objectives?
    — How do you plan to fill the gaps? (e.g., build internally, borrow from outside consultants, use contractors, hire from the outside)

  2. Identify Key Roles
    Where is the greatest potential for business growth? And what skills are needed to take advantage of the opportunity?  Ask each business leader to articulate what their team contributes to the business strategy and then to identify the roles most critical to that contribution.This information should inform your decisions about hiring, onboarding, performance management, retention, and succession planning.
  3. Evaluate Talent
    Now it’s time to find the right talent for the key roles that matter most. With your “ideal profile” for each crucial role in hand, you can be objective about job candidates.  Talent selection should not be made by guess or gut.  It should be made by thoughtful and unbiased analysis of what skills are needed using proven simulation assessments to analyze fit, performance, and potential.If, for instance, your business strategy calls for a greater focus on the customer, you need customer-facing employees and everyone that supports them focused on delivering relationship-based experiences characterized by long-term individual connections.
  4. Make Adjustments
    Whether it means changing job descriptions, hiring new employees, providing targeted training, or re-assigning current employees, make the talent adjustments that align to your strategies for the good of the people and the business. And then be vigilant.Things will change.  You need to be prepared to re-think your management of talent as needs and markets shift.

The Bottom Line
As a leader, you need to ensure that your talent is positioned to achieve your current and future business goals.  Any misalignment will dilute your chances to perform at your peak.

To learn more about how to link your talent management strategy to your business strategy, download The 3 Surprising Talent Management Ingredients for Success

Evaluate your Performance

Toolkits

Get key strategy, culture, and talent tools from industry experts that work

More

Health Checks

Assess how you stack up against leading organizations in areas matter most

More

Whitepapers

Download published articles from experts to stay ahead of the competition

More

Methodologies

Review proven research-backed approaches to get aligned

More

Blogs

Stay up to do date on the latest best practices that drive higher performance

More

Client Case Studies

Explore real world results for clients like you striving to create higher performance

More