Effective Talent Management: Untame and Unchain Employees

There is no need to hire talented employees and tell them what to do that is disingenuous. The current talent war between organisations is unnecessary, only 20 percent of employees’ total abilities is used and the rest of 80 percent is wasted because employees are not empowered to demonstrate and showcase their talents by being given strategic roles and activities in the organisation. Talented employees are hired and indoctrinated into weak cultures that teach them to be inefficient, unambitious and redundant because of toxic red tape management systems that tame them to lose self- confidence. This conditioning is common in African governments and organisations that have formed a belief system that they cannot do anything exceptionally well themselves unless they bring someone outside to come and tell them what they already know even when they have similar Master’s degree and PhDs like those foreign consultants. This is because management of organisations have been conditioned not to believe in their own abilities and employees’ abilities because of these corrupt red tape systems. In situations where employees manage to escape from taming chains and exhibit their expert power, some managers get intimidated and start sabotaging these talented employees until they find alternative employment elsewhere.

These managements have developed inferiority and mistrust culture in their organisations and they will choose to believe in consultant advice instead of their technocrats’ professional advice. Unfortunately, Human resource management departments hype this bad culture by failing to provide strategic advice to these managers and create an enabling environment where employees can thrive. Some organisations are well known for their inability to retain talented employees, astonishingly nothing is done to correct the behaviour of toxic employees, managers or CEO. This week’s article is dismantling chains that have hidden abundant talents in many organisations by discussing the current best practice of effective talent management. Organisations that are models of excellence understand that effective talent management start when the management learns the habit of giving employees quality of life before receiving their full commitment and exceptional performance. This assertion is clearly demonstrated by the law of reciprocity which metaphorically emphasises that human beings tend to give back same amount of care ( energy) they get from the universe. This means that if the management gives employees 30 percent quality of life, they will also in return get 30 percent of employees’ efforts. It is an exchange rule and it will always remain like that, whoever fights with it without balancing the equilibrium is fighting with nature and that is insanity. Organisations should on a predetermined basis conduct talent management audits and establish who is available and where so that they can be deployed in high responsibility job openings when they become available. This will enable the organisation to have a talent management strategy framework with clear business imperatives, quantifiable objectives and clear key performance indicators plus talent tools like 9 box grid, performance management process, talent assessment matrix and deployment matrix.

This strategy should create a talent pool that can be used strategically to meet the strategic talent needs of the organisation and gain competitive edge over rivals. For example, organisations should ask themselves where will their future strategic leadership come from to avoid increasing leadership gap and groom the identified talents.

Moreover, organisations should maximise employees’ natural talents such as leadership, compassion, creativity with technical qualification competency such problem solving skills, strategic acumen to create a cross functional capable employee who is able to use all of his abilities to meet the organisation and stakeholder needs.

Furthermore, organisations should create opportunity of growth to their employees and that includes a succession plan that prioritise hiring internal talented employees whenever a high role emerges. Talented employees who are not progressing in their career path end up losing motivation to continue performing to the best of their ability.

This means organisations that frequently look outside to fill vacant positions send a vote of no confidence message to internal employees and that creates disengagement. The cost of disengaged employees is immense and it can lead to loss of stakeholder confidence, customer confidence, declining profit and increasing operational costs. Effective talent management requires mindset shifts, you cannot use 1st industrial revolution people management approaches like micromanagement and expect the best out of your employees and this is how rigid culture is created. In a nutshell organisations that are performing poorly are those that are failing to effectively manage and maximise full potential of employees.

The Author is a member of African Excellence Forum, Holds Master of Science Degree in Strategic Management and is a Certified Manager of Quality and Organisational Excellence from America Society for Quality. Six Sigma Greenbelt, ISO 9001: 2015 Certified. Contact: 72211182, Website: www. iqm. co. bw Email: veronmosalakatane@ gmail. com LinkedIn: Veron Mosalakatane