RPO and Talent Management Blog by Ochre House | Ochre Talk

Talent Management is a wonderful phrase

Talent Management has now become a trigger for getting HR taken seriously in the business and for making leaders sit up and pay attention. When we say it we feel a bit more strategic and everyone nods sagely.

One of the problems with the phrase is that, like many things in HR it has now evolved to mean many different things to different people, and what it means in added value HR process terms has become indistinct.

The use of the word ‘talent’ itself has of course many interpretations. We can be talking about ‘people with ‘talent’ i.e. those with special skills, those people that are particularly good at their jobs (i.e. talented jobholders), those that are generally bright (talented) with potential to do great things and the more all inclusive interpretation of the term ‘talent’ which encompasses almost everyone in an organisation on the premise that they are there on the basis of having some ability that makes a contribution – even if they haven’t discovered what it is yet. So – not helpful.

I would argue that even if HR functions and organisations haven’t always used the term talent management, they have generally speaking been trying to improve people abilities (develop talent) through L&D, attract and onboard good people (talent) through resourcing strategies, and retain good and skilled people through reward and ER strategies. The ‘management’ bit implies something extra – an active driving force and control to do things with talent – bring it in, move it around and have it in the right place at the right time. Something that pulls the various HR components together to achieve a flow – hence concept of pipeline, etc.

Holistic talent management is only different from what HR might claim it has always done if we are clear about what is new or different here that makes it s new from the sum of its distinct parts – and for me that is a) the active management ingredient to achieve that constant provision and flow and b) the new components and approaches that organisations are now focusing on (often through technology) to integrate the previously separate resourcing, development, talent and reward processes to achieve a coherent outcome.

So – if organisations are now increasingly taking a holistic view – and I agree they are (hence a growing trend to integrate learning, resourcing, talent and OD functions), I think it is this management and integration across processes that they are focusing on.

Richard Blay, Interim HR Consultant

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