Public Sector HR Podcast

A talent management system is something that every organisation has, whether it recognises it or not - this is just one of the findings of a two year study carried out by Ashridge Consulting. In this episode, we find out more about the study and hear from the Department for Work and Pensions about how their talent management strategy helps to ensure they have the right people in place, for both today and the future.

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The DWP are the UK’s biggest government department with over 100,000 staff and Claire Wilson is their Head of Talent Development and Resourcing. Claire talks to me about what the term ‘talent management’ means to the DWP and gives some great insights about what initiatives work well for them. 

Claire’s advice on developing a TM strategy includes:

• UNDERSTAND THE PRIORITIES OF THE ORGANISATION - what capabilities it needs and what kind of leaders it needs and design a talent strategy around those needs

• LISTEN TO WHAT MATTERS TO THE MANAGERS - focus on their problems such as having the right skills and building capability within their teams

• USE A 9 BOX GRID - using performance and potential to rate people

• GIVE LINE MANAGERS THE SKILLS TO SUPPORT TALENT - and reward them when they do

• RECOGNISE THE DEMANDS AND PRESSURES TALENTED PEOPLE ARE UNDER - because they are deeply committed and work twice as hard

• ALLOW TALENT TO TAKE MORE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN DEVELOPMENT - to decide themselves what kind of things they want to do, e.g. Non-Executive Director, coaching or working with reverse mentors

• TALK TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN THERE - rather than focusing too much on the theoretical side of talent management

To play Claire’s quick video message, click in the middle of screen below.

Claire recommends the CIPD, Corporate Leadership Council and IES as good sources for further information. You can also find out more about DWP’s work at www.dwp.gov.uk

Ashridge Consulting, part of Ashridge Business School, have spent two years studying the area of talent management. The results of this research have recently been published and Guy Lubitsh, Principal Consultant at Ashridge tells me what the objectives of the research were and details the key findings.

The research explores areas of best practice within a number of large complex organisations in a variety of sectors and settings. It also has a specific interest in what lessons can be learnt from the public sector. The questions focused on how organisations recruit, retain and develop talent.

The 4 key findings are:

1. LEADING ORGANISATIONS TAKE TALENT MANAGEMENT VERY SERIOUSLY - they view it as a long term investment of 5 - 10 years, investing money, resources and executive time

2. THERE IS A FORMAL AND INFORMAL SYSTEM - the informal system was stronger than the organisation declared. For organisations who did not think they were managing talent, they are actually managing it in some way and the people and talent will draw their own conclusions about what is going on

3. THERE IS NO ONE SIZE FITS ALL APPROACH - it’s very important to take into account the culture and strategy of specific organisations and their context

4. THERE ARE 18 STRATEGIC DIMENSIONS - that need to be considered when looking at your talent management strategy

Key differences between the public sector organisations and private sector organisations are :

The private sector is:

• WILLING TO DIFFERENTIATE MORE CLEARLY - between people that are talent, people that are not talent and poor performers and offering more differentiators and tailored developmental routes to meet individual needs 

• DIFFERENT ATTITUDE TO RISK - i.e. more willing to give stretch assignments

• SENIOR TEAM SPEND MORE TIME - on succession planning, critical roles and the pipeline of talent they have within the organisation

Guy’s advice on how public sector organisations can win the ‘War for Talent’ are:

1. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE BASICS RIGHT - there’s no point talking about a talent management system if you don’t have good appraisal, selection and recruitment processes or you are not dealing with poor performers effectively

2. ESTABLISH A FAIR, OPEN, TRANSPARENT CRITERIA - about who is talent and who is not and what criteria you are using, ensure it’s inclusive and communicate it well across the organisation

3. MAKE SURE YOU ALIGN YOUR DIRECTION OF TRAVEL WITH TALENT MANAGEMENT - ensure you have all of the right people to support your strategy

4. GEN Y ARE INTERESTED IN WORK-LIFE BALANCE, ETHICS, VALUES AND EXCITING WORK OPPORTUNITIES - think of ways of using these levers to attract and retain these individuals

More about the research and Guy’s work can be found at www.ashridgeconsulting.com

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