“If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow grain.

If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees.

If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people.”

Increasingly the developed world has evolved into a service and information economy whereby people are the critical asset. Furthermore, the war for talent in the human capital market place means businesses cannot assume that individuals will want to invest their own human capital in an organisation. Elements, other than traditional pay and job security, need to be put in place to attract, develop, and retain top and key talent. These changes have culminated to ensure that human capital is becoming a major driver for organisational performance.

In order to accept human capital as one of an organisation’s key assets, HR functions should be delivering business impact. Linking HR practice to individual or organisational performance is therefore at the heart of what HR must do to identify how Talent Management systems translate into performance. Increasing the capability of HR to deliver more commercially will be the key to enabling Human Capital to significantly add-value to an organisation.

• Acquisition
• Development
• Retention

These 3 building blocks do not work alone, however something must hold them together.

A Talent Management Strategy aligned with the Business Strategy is the BOND that holds the 3 pillars together

For any Talent Management Intervention to work effectively, an evidence-based and contextualised approach must be adopted. An understanding of each specific organisation must be developed, evidence needs to be analysed and strategies then formulated based on the findings. This ensures that Talent Management Interventions truly cater for the organisation’s needs, thus increasing the ROI of such interventions. 

Organisations that effectively manage their talent provide benefits to the employee and to the clients whom the organisation serves. The outcomes associated with effective and strategic talent management are depicted below: