Transparency in talent management: how open should policies be

Jo Causon, director of marketing and corporate affairs with the Chartered Management Institute, thinks organisations should focus less on the negatives and more on the benefits transparency can bring.

Recent research by the Chartered Management Institute and Ashridge Consulting outlines the strategic imperative for organisations to manage talent more effectively. Factors including changing demographic patterns and the different needs of younger generations mean that retaining and developing key people in the organisation will be a critical success factor in the next five years. However, finding a clear definition for talent management, and deciding how open and transparent policies should be, is proving a significant barrier to implementing effective talent
management practices.

In the Institute’s report, talent management is described as the additional management processes and opportunities that are made available to people in the organisation considered to be ‘talent’.

The report identifies 18 dimensions to talent management that organisations should be considering. They include questions around the size of the talent pool, the development path individuals on the programme will take and the systems and technology needed to support these ‘high potential’ individuals. They also question how transparent organisations should be when it comes to communicating the policy to their workforce. The report found that many organisations are not open about their talent management systems – indeed, 15 per cent of managers do not know if their organisation has a system in place. Clearly, organisations need to give careful consideration to how they communicate talent management programmes. But to achieve the full productivity and growth benefits talent management offers, organisations need to make policies more transparent.

Being open about who in the organisation is defined as ‘high potential’ can be an issue of contention. Employers may worry that being open about their talent management policies will divide the workforce and have an adverse effect on motivation and productivity. Another reason is the definition of talent will inevitably change. If, for example there is a shift in the market or in the strategic direction of the business, employers will have to reassess the skills they need and individuals previously identified as ‘high potential’ may no longer fit within the new definition. Employers may argue that if individuals are going to be defined as ‘talent’ for only a finite period of time, the value of letting them know about their potentially short-lived status could be detrimental to their motivation.

Lack of openness and transparency about talent management in organisations may also come back to their difficulty in defining criteria for talented individuals. The research shows many organisations confuse talent management with performance management, which can provide a good baseline but only if the system is geared towards measuring an individual’s future capability as well as their achievements to date. In the current economic climate, which is subject to constant change, organisations need to be very clear on the skills they will need from individuals to face
future challenges.

Rather than focusing on the negatives of being open about talent management, employers should realise transparency can bring numerous benefits in terms of recruitment and productivity. Indeed, clear and well-communicated talent management policies can play a crucial role in how well organisations can recruit and retain the best individuals.

If organisations want to benefit from talent management and fully prepare for future business challenges, having a more transparent policy will make it easier to put systems and structures in place to support it. The Institute’s research revealed a number of progressive ways that organisations are fully integrating talent management systems across the organisation. Setting up talent markets where individuals can negotiate job transfers, obtain development opportunities more easily and build networks to share knowledge are just some of the ways to integrate talent management programmes.

To remain competitive, especially through periods of changes, organisations need the full commitment of individuals with the skills and competencies to drive the business forward. By openly identifying and developing managers within this ‘high potential’ category, organisations will benefit from higher levels of motivation and commitment from what is, at a critical point in time, the most important talent pool to the business.