HR can become a real business partner to their business and make employees content with their work. The participants of the 19th conference HR Live, which took place on the 23rd February 2012 in Prague, discussed how to achieve this. The event was organized by EduCity, the largest educational database in the Czech Republic, in cooperation with Image Lab, FBE and the educational center of Hewlett-Packard. The event was subtitled "HR for Business II" and was carried out in the professional conference format, where all participants speak with each other.
Talent Management again attained great interest: HR are pushed to cut costs and show measurable results, and effective talent management can do both. The discussion was supervised by Jindřiška Sládková, Country HR Manager, Hewlett-Packard. The liaison to help mediate the debate was Jan Fara, who has a long experience in HP in various managerial positions. He currently works as Sales Enterprise Manager.
The key talent management message was introduced at the beginning by Jindřiška Sládková, and it came up several times later during the discussion: “Talent management must be sponsored by the management (or the owner or top management) of companies, otherwise there is no real chance to effectively implement it. HR department can only guarantee its delivery. “
The participants agreed that a talent is a motivated employee with the ability to move the company forward, i.e., he or she has a potential. They have soft skills, which can be further developed, are willing to learn and go beyond their own expectations. Such employee has a multiple use (unlike key people). Therefore, it is vital that managers understand well the talent selection process.
Companies, where talent management is not yet common practice, seemed worried about how to motivate line managers to select the appropriate talents. The company must communicate talent management benefits across the whole corporate management really well. The main benefits are succession planning, employee development, and management recruitment cost savings. Companies can further motivate managers by tying the successful talent selection to the KPIs, linking it to a specific project where managers will be needed, effectively communicating corporate strategy including needs for new managers, or simply set a percentage of the number of employees who would have to pass a similar program (usually 2-3%).
Hewlett-Packard also looks at talent management process in terms of return on investment. Businesses pay for the training, the HR department only takes care of its delivery. Businesses start with a GAP analysis to determine their future needs. Then they nominate their talents and the HR department ensures appropriate training, which is usually supplied by an outside supplier.
As on the previous HR Live, participants discussed the question of what to do with talents, who do not get a managerial position shortly after the completion of the program. In this context, Manpower presented their very interesting practice: Talents complete their talent management program by designing their own project, which they have to defend including the project’s staffing needs. The best projects are really implemented and the talent is responsible for it and manages his or her own project team.
The event was marked by a professional but informal style. Participants appreciated the opportunity for personal acquaintance with colleagues engaged in similar work in other companies. They were assured that their work heads in the right direction and can be further improved by sharing their experiences.
The next HR Live will take place in mid-2012. In the next few days we are going to publish more articles with detailed outputs from the various discussion groups. Photos from the events, all articles, and outputs can also be found at www.hrzive.cz .
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