Dec/Jan 08 - Talent Management Review

Recent articles

Tartan talent: Despite failing to qualify for Euro 2008, the Scottish football team gave some of its best performances in years during the qualifying games. Alan Pattullo, sports correspondent for The Scotsman, argues that losing Sky’s money in 2001 was a blessing in disguise – it allowed Scottish football to refocus on talent at home

Developing talent through effective support: Human resources needs to look at talent management from the perspective of line managers and ask itself what support human resources needs to give them to make their talent strategy effective. By Wendy Hirsh, principal associate, Institute for Employment Studies

Maximising performance with development: Here we continue our series of workshops about the employee talent lifecycle. The first workshop focused on building the business case for talent management, while the second looked at how to use assessment to select the best people. In this third and final workshop Ali Gill of Getfeedback explores the final piece of the talent lifecycle jigsaw – employee development and engagement

A refreshing approach to talent: Transforming the talent processes from a telecommunications organisation to that of a services business was an ambitious project. But one that has meant there is now a measurable talent pool, explains Mark McAleer, former head of talent and leadership development for BT Global Services

No smoke without fire: Having identified where the gaps were in their leadership pipeline, British American Tobacco (BAT) realised they needed, as a priority, to devise a programme of accountability and sustainability. Emily Boone, part of BAT’s global leadership development team, explains how ‘ownership’ of selecting and developing talent has made the crucial difference in BAT’s leadership strategy – and its business results

Flushed away at 40...: Evidence is that, despite the 2006 age legislation, there is still a long way to go before organisations truly value older talent as an important resource. The results of recent research should make us all feel very uncomfortable, says John Neugebauer, a lecturer in HR management and director of Peoplevalued Partnership Limited

Delivering results: Having been responsible for leading a major turnaround in the business success of Parcelforce through a people initiative, Dale Haddon, now director of resourcing and talent management with the Royal Mail Group, discusses talent strategies, storytelling and competing in charity walks with pneumonia

Creating a science: Since the term ‘war for talent’ was popularly coined in 1999, talent management has become a fashionable subject within management and HR practitioner literature.

However, despite its popularity, there continues to be no clear definition of talent management. Its research is not grounded in academia, but rather in the work of consultants, technology providers, recruiters and other self-serving third parties who wish to further their own financial objectives.

Is the guillotine the only cure for grey hair?: My father used to tell me that age wasn’t a physical condition, it was a state of mind. And I believed him. I had no reason to doubt it – until I was presented with some of the results from John Neugebauer’s research on age discrimination (page 12) and its relation to talent management featured in this issue’s cover story.