The Benefits Of Talent Management And How Learning Technology Can Help You
Talent Management is all about hiring, managing, developing and retaining awesome employees. Sounds a lot like HR or L&D right? It could be easy to confuse these close bedfellows.
So, let’s get things straight… HR is the tactics, L&D the training barracks and Talent Management the strategy behind business victory! What are the benefits of Talent Management and how exactly can you make it happen?
Time to find out! Let’s head to the war room, spread the maps, put on our warpaint and start plotting the perfect Talent Management strategy. You’ll be battle-ready to conquer the competition in no time!
What Are The Benefits Of Talent Management?
1. Skills Analysis
Total War, Age of Empires, Clash of Clans… Like all the best strategy games out there, any battle plan starts with good planning. Your Talent Management strategy is no different! Who are your enemies… or competitors? What do they have that you don’t? What are your strengths? Where are your weak points?
A thorough review of your workforce’s strengths and weaknesses helps pinpoint any skills gaps that need filling. A successful skills analysis will give you a deeper understanding of your employees and empower you to create a Talent Management strategy of Spartan strength!
2. Staff Development
Wondering where all the talent is? You’re not alone. 75% of businesses are more worried about a talent shortage than last year [1]. However, 23% of employees say their job doesn’t take full advantage of their skills [2].
The answer to the skills gap may be right in front of you! Before jumping to recruit, start with staff development. It’s worth it because companies that invest in staff development see profits soar. For example, The Harvard Business Review [3] found banks who sent managers on leadership training experienced a 47% increase in personal loan sales.
3. Competitive Edge
One thing that still gives humans the edge over machines is our ingenuity—those light-bulb moments, curiosity and creative genius! It’s lying within all of us and just needs to be unleashed… This creative capital [4] is what businesses need to survive and thrive in the ever-evolving world of technology and information.
Unleash your employees’ inner superheroes through successful Talent Management. How? By developing their skills, supporting innovation and encouraging them to follow through on their ideas. Trying new things is risky but pays off. In fact, 50% more innovation-active businesses reported an increase in profitability [5] than innovation-passive ones.
4. Retain Staff
One of the key benefits of Talent Management is that you don’t need to fret over the talent pool disappearing down the plug hole. That’s because all the training, development and innovation helps create a satisfied workforce who want to stick around.
By giving staff meaningful work and career development opportunities, you can boost your employees’ well being and loyalty. This means lower staff turnover and less money spent on recruitment. Happy staff are also 12% more productive [6] which means more profit! Everyone’s happy…literally!
5. Attract Top Talent
All this Talent Management will give your business a magnetic allure so strong, you’ll have Magneto [7] quaking in his boots! Thankfully, that creative appeal, competitive edge, and development focus will also help attract top talent!
Staff development is key, with 87% of millennials saying professional development opportunities are very important to them [8]. Offering staff development opportunities, clear purpose, and an innovative working culture make you a super attractive employer. By first understanding who you need and what you can offer in return, you will attract the brightest and the best recruits out there.
6. Profit
We can’t consider all the other benefits without mentioning the big one – profit. As we’ve seen in the figures so far, strong Talent Management does lead to increased profits and growth. Companies which select the top 20% most talented candidates [9], see 10% increase in productivity, 30% increase in profitability and 10% decrease in turnover. It’s clear the top talent is worth the effort!
How Learning Technology Can Help
So, you’ve done your research. Now it’s time to create a training programme of Danger Room [10] magnitude and unleash a workforce so skilled, even Beast [11] would be impressed… No stimpack necessary! How? This is where learning technologies make all the difference!
Mobile
Today mobile is the undisputed king of…well, pretty much everything! Mobile learning technology is suited to the needs of modern learners because they can access the training whenever and wherever they need to. It’s accessible and responsive enough to meet the needs of today’s information-rich, time-poor world.
Mobile learning also gives you the ability to design bite-sized learning that can be sent straight to your learners. This is useful when you need to urgently upskill staff, foster understanding about a new product or generate ideas on how to stay ahead of the competition. By tapping into people’s natural instinct to turn to their mobiles, you can engage learners when you most need to, instantly.
Social
Talent Management is all about people and when people work together, magic happens!
You can use social features within your Learning Management System to create talent pools, identify Subject Matter Experts, generate ideas in discussion groups and encourage collaboration across teams. All this socializing breaks down those dreaded silos, ensures knowledge is shared throughout the organization and fosters a strong learning culture where people learn from each other.
Personalization
Make sure online learning meets your learners’ personal development goals, as well as the wider business needs, to help keep engagement levels high. By answering employees’ need to know ‘ What’s In It For Me’ (WIIFM) [12], you will grab and hold their interest. Show them you care about their development, not just profit.
This is especially important in the knowledge economy of today where most people are motivated by a sense of purpose in their work. So, pack your training full of Epic Meaning to ensure it meets both your learners’ and company goals. This way everyone will be united together in the stand for commercial victory!
Gamification
So, how can online learning add that extra element of meaning and personalization we speak of? With a healthy dose of gamification, that’s how! Gamification is the application of gaming elements to typically non-game environments. Who wouldn’t want a bit of extra Ms. Pacman fun thrown into their Google Maps?
Don’t leave all the fun to Google! You can use gamification features, such as badges, leaderboards, and levels to engage learners, encourage progression through the content and reward their efforts. Whatever you do, make sure the added game elements are used in the right context and that they make sense for your learners. Let the fun commence!
When learning technology and Talent Management join forces it’s like the ultimate fist bump…the result is epic! Imagine the scene – Happy, empowered employees, bursting with innovation and leaving the competition in its wake. Top talent drawn in by your company’s irresistible magnetism. Loyal staff standing shoulder to shoulder as you march towards victory ahead!
What are you waiting for? Power up and start unleashing superheroes today!
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References
1. Emerging Workforce Study 2016
2. Fewer U.S. Workers Report Making Less Money
3. Motivated Employees Can Increase Profits by Almost 50%
5. Innovation increases profitability
6. New study shows we work harder when we are happy
8. What Millennials Want From Work and Life
9. What Attracts the Best Employees to a Company?
10. Danger Room
11. Beast (comics)
12. In Times Of Change, “What’s In It For Me?” Is The Question You Need To Answer
Originally published at www.growthengineering.co.uk.
