Talent Management

Blueprint
A guide for building a
world-class workforce

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Introduction:

A talent management blueprint for building a world-class workforce

More than ever before, research by leading firms such as IDC, HCI and The Hackett
Group has been demonstrating the link between mature, integrated talent
management processes and organizational success.

Odds are that youve probably heard the often-used adage (or
perhaps a similar phrase), our people are our most valuable
asset. Its a well-worn phrase thats loudly and frequently
asserted and, in many cases, truly believed by company
leaders its just not reflected in their talent management
practices. Far too often, organizations simply pay lip service to
the expression and fail to understand that it should be firmly
entrenched in their culture through their talent management
processes, practices and programs. Its not just an important
consideration. Its an imperative.
To truly succeed, organizations must have the strategy, tools
and processes that can help them build a world-class workforce
that is aligned, inspired and focused on delivering exceptional
results. Thats where the 10 key components of talent come into
the equation.

Whats in a blueprint?
In the construction world, architectural blueprints are a must
for any building project. Through written specifications and
drawings, blueprints communicate how structures will be
built.
Building a lasting structure and building a world-class
workforce are similar in many ways. For success, both need
effective planning, and the skilled resources and effective
tools to get the job done. This is why weve pulled together
the information, resources and materials to create this talent
management blueprint.

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

10 key elements to build a world-class workforce

Not surprisingly, there are many facets to building a world-class workforce. Combined, these facets foster a workforce that delivers growth in business results, and
lasting competitive advantage for organizations. In this guide, weve broken these components down into a talent management framework that starts with an
intentional corporate culture, which in turn influences the strategy and execution for your organizations:

Culture

Communication

Leadership Development

Talent Acquisition

Career Management

Total Rewards

Performance Management

Learning And Development

Workforce Planning

Communication

Leadership

Talent
acquisition

Workforce
planning
Performance

Career
management

Analytics

Engagement

Total
rewards

Learning

Culture

Business strategy

High-performing, aligned
and engaged workforce

Better
business
results

Lasting
competitive
advantage

Engagement

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Culture:

For it to work, its gotta be intentional

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.
Peter Drucker

Every organization has a culture; some are just better than others. Lets take
a closer look at why.
Achieving a good workplace culture doesnt happen accidentally. It happens
intentionally. Its also worth putting some effort into when you look at
returns increased productivity and innovation, improved employee
morale and performance, reduced employee turnover to name a few.
Recognizing the importance of a good culture, many high-performance
organizations have implemented talent management programs and
activities to set, manage, and monitor their cultures in order to realize these
returns and achieve strategic business objectives.

4 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Introduction

Talent
Acquisition

Culture

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Where to start, where to start

If youre serious about building an intentional organizational culture, you
may be wondering where to start. First and foremost, before you begin any
culture-building activities, its critical that your organization define:
The desired culture required to enable strategy
The values to align with culture
Who you are, and who you are not
If your culture is easy to define, it should be easy to build right? Of course,
your talent management programs should be leveraged to reinforce your
culture, including its mission, vision and values.

The strategic role of talent management

Performa
Managemnce
en
t

Coaching and
Training
Ca
an reer Pl
a
dS
ucce nning
ssion

oa

cr

ui

nb

tm

ent

Employee
Life Cycle

rd i n

Re

5 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Your talent management

programs can help you explicitly
communicate your organizational
culture in terms of competencies,
and reinforce these at every point
in the employee lifecycle.
The employee lifecycle identifies
strategic opportunities for HR
and management to address
many issues related to hiring,
compensation, orientation,
promotion, discipline, training
and succession planning.

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Use competencies to reinforce organizational

culture
Competencies describe how a job or task is to be performed. For example,
how the individual takes initiative, how they communicate and work with
others and how they deal with conflicts or challenges. Core competencies
apply to every role in the organization, while job-specific competencies apply
to a specific role or job family.
By aligning core and job-specific competencies with values, or even
better, capturing your organizational values as core competencies, you
can communicate and develop these in your employees at every talent
management touch point, reinforcing your corporate culture (i.e., recruiting,
onboarding, performance management, compensation, learning and
development, and succession planning).

Tip: While off-the-shelf competency libraries can help give you

ideas and direction, its important to develop your own,
organization-specific list of competencies, definitions and
descriptions of the levels of demonstration. You need to describe
what a competency looks like in your organization and how it
provides you with a competitive advantage.

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Additional resources
Explore these expert resources for information on talent management best-practices related to workplace culture.
1. Article: How leaders can impact organizational cultures with
their actions and behaviors
In this blog post, popular SHRM author of The Cultural Fit Factor,
and Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Liz Pellet, tells us that
culture is created by four distinct methods in an organization:
1. The actions and behaviors of leaders
2. What leaders pay attention to
3. What gets rewarded and what gets punished
4. The allocation and attention of resources
Read the full post for case studies highlighting each method of
culture creation.
Read the article

6 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

2. How to attract, retain and repel the right employees

In this three-part HR Bold Thinkers video series, Lizz Pellet
explores how organizations can leverage their culture to
effectively attract, retain and repel the right employees.

Career
Management

Lizz shares factors that impact

attracting the right employees, such
as leveraging your corporate vision
to actively market your culture and
avoiding pitfalls of the recruitment
bait and switch.

Video 2:
Retain the best talent

Lizz explores how to avoid cultural

inconsistencies in order to create
an employment brand that
supports retention; and why talent
management programs like yearround performance management,
ongoing development and
succession planning are critical.

Video 3:
Repel those who arent
the right fit

Lizz shares specific examples of

organizations that have crystal clear
messages about who they are and
who they are not, and how their
cultural specificity helps preselect
employees.

7 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

3. Article: 5 ways leaders can cultivate a culture of innovation to

shine in todays market
When a company, organization or department cultivates a culture
of innovation, bright minds are given the tools to generate and
organize ideas, make them useful and take action. What does it
really take to cultivate a culture of innovation? This article takes
a unique approach to coming up with the answers looking at
influential quotes about creativity and innovation imparted by
great leaders and thinkers throughout time.

Watch the video series

Video 1:
Attract the right
employees

Learning and
Development

Read the article

4. Article: Using competencies to create the culture your

organization needs to succeed
Most organizations want to hire people who not only have the
right experience and skill set, but who are also a good cultural
fit for the organization. If youre using competencies to evaluate
employee performance, develop critical skills, and monitor
workforce strengths and potential, you need more than just a
basic list of behaviors and skills. You need competencies that help
your organization to stand out from the competition. How do you
do this? Start by reading this article.
Read the article

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Culture Worksheet
Ready to define your intentional culture? Begin by defining the values and the purpose of your organization. What do you want your organization to stand for/be
known for? Once you identify these, how do you get the best out of your people to achieve this? Focusing on these elements is the first important step to building a
differentiated culture and a long-lasting organization.

What are the key values that define your corporate culture? (e.g., mission, vision, values, etc.)

What is your culture NOT? (e.g., a place of mistrust, lack of initiative, personal gain outweighs the achievement of team)

Is this intentional? What elements would you change/ add if you could?

8 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Talent Acquisition:
Its much more than recruiting

A company should limit its growth

based on its ability to attract enough of
the right people.
Jim Collins

In case theres any question, lets be clear, talent acquisition and

recruiting arent the same even though some organizations
do choose to use them interchangeably. Recruiting is actually a
subset of talent acquisition, a function that also encompasses:
talent acquisition planning and strategy, employment branding,
candidate relationship management sourcing, selecting, hiring
and onboarding, and metrics and analytics.
Bersin by Deloitte defines talent acquisition as a strategic
approach to attracting, selecting and onboarding top talent to
efficiently and effectively meet dynamic business needs.

9 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Workforce
Planning

Total
Rewards

Engagement

The beauty of brand in the quest for top talent

Selecting and screening to get the best fit

Attracting and retaining the right employees can make a significant impact
on your organizations financial performance.

Filling a vacant or new position isnt about seat filling. Successful talent
acquisition is highly contingent upon finding the right person for the right job
at the right time. Settling for anything or anyone less can be costly. According
to a recent CareerBuilder survey some companies can lose up to $50,000 by
making a single bad hire. 1

A strong employer brand is a competitive differentiator

that can help:
Increase the quantity and quality of recruits
Lower recruiting costs
Increase referrals

According to research from the Aberdeen Group, using pre-hire assessments

to align skills, behaviors and styles with company needs, has a direct effect on
cost and profitability, including:

What defines a good brand? It starts with a fundamental component a

well-defined employer value proposition that clearly articulates what
employees expect from the organization and what the organization expects
from employees. It captures the give and the get.
Brand alignment is also key to building a strong brand that attracts and
retains top talent. This requires HR and marketing departments to work
together to develop a fully integrated and aligned employee and customer
experience.

75% greater
year over year
improvement in
hiring manager
satisfaction

75% year over

year decrease in
hiring cost

2.5x greater year

over year increase
in profit per fulltime equivalents

Source: Talent Assessment Strategies: A Discussion Guide for Organizational Performance

2010 Aberdeen Group

HR and managers must have an understanding of the competencies,

behaviors and skills required for the job, the proper tools (e.g., automated
assessment tools) and strong interview skills.

10 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

CareerBuilder, Go to the site

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Culture and competencies matter

No talent acquisition strategy can be effective or, indeed, complete without
taking into account workplace culture and organizational goals. Regardless
of how lofty or attainable your strategic business goals, youll never be able
to achieve them without attracting, hiring and retaining the right talent. To
ensure that youre successful in your recruitment efforts, you must be able
to translate corporate culture and objectives into core or organizational
competencies and firmly entrench them in every talent management
function from recruiting and employee performance management to
succession planning.

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
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Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Youve hired your dream candidate now its time

for onboarding
Effective onboarding is a critical component of any successful talent
acquisition strategy. It should be viewed as an engagement and
developmental experience for the employee and organization, not as an
administrative burden. According to research, organizations with formal
onboarding programs report that employees are 68 percent more likely to be
with the organization after three years. Couple this with the cost of replacing
a good employee, and the numbers become even scarier. For example, the
cost to replace a worker as a percentage of annual salary can be as high as 150
percent depending on the position.

When choosing competencies, identify the abilities that:

embody or represent your organizational culture

are required for success or leadership in your industry
support your organizations strategic goals
set your organization apart from the competition

In general, its best to identify the four to six most important core
competencies for your organization. A larger number of competencies will be
difficult to cultivate and will dilute your efforts. For each competency, create
a short description, examples of the behavior, descriptions of the levels of
mastery, and suggested learning activities to increase mastery.

4 tips for making talent acquisition more effective

Ensure the talent acquisition team is kept up to date on
emerging competencies and how they relate to the evolving
direction of the enterprise. This is critical for keeping job
descriptions current and reflective of the role.

Provide the talent acquisition team with the ability to search

and evaluate the employee base by performance rating, past
experience, and career aspirations.
Ensure the hiring manager is familiar with the software that
supports the recruiting cycle. This enables the recruiter and
the hiring manager to engage efficiently and effectively.

Make the recruiting process and onboarding processes

seamless for employees. This promotes the employment

brand, and helps to collect a complete talent picture of the new

employee. This information can serve assignment and promotion
experiences later.

11 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Additional resources
Check out these expert resources for information on talent management best-practices related to strategic talent acquisition.
1. Best-practices for recruitment: How to attract, retain and repel
the right employees

3. Article: You have 140 characters to build your employer brand:

A Millennials guide to social recruiting

In this three-part HR Bold Thinkers video series, Lizz Pellet

explores how organizations can leverage their culture to
effectively attract, retain and repel the right employees.

In this article, a newly hired twenty-something shares her views

on the importance of building a strong employer and personal
brand, and why this matters to both organizations and Millennials.

Watch the video series

Read the article

2. White paper: Strategic Talent Acquisition

Talent acquisition is an aspirational phrase that means a recruiting
function that is operating at the highest competitive level and in
a manner that is aligned with a companys business strategy. This
white paper examines strategic talent acquisition and how it is
enabled by the integrated talent management platform.

Read the white paper

4. Article: Addressing your CEOs top priorities: Building an

effective talent pipeline
Organizations are struggling to grow, in part because of an
inability to attract and retain the skilled talent they need. So how
does your organization build a talent pipeline thats impervious to
economic impacts, internal challenges, and competitors moves?
In this article, HR thought leaders and seasoned HR experts
working in effective organizations share best practices for closing
the talent gap.
Read the article

12 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Workforce
Planning

Total
Rewards

Engagement

Worksheet
Rate your organization on the following 1-to-5 scale

1 Strongly disagree | 2 Disagree | 3 Neither agree nor disagree | 4 Agree | 5 Strongly agree
Our talent acquisition team is very familiar with the organizations performance based competencies

Our talent acquisition team and hiring managers leverage employee talent records to assess potential for
internal candidates to fill positions

Hiring managers actively collaborate with our recruiting team via talent acquisition/applicant tracking tools
to ensure a smooth hiring process

We measure onboarding effectiveness and quality of hire based on performance on the job

We have an effective talent pipeline

13 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Performance
Management:
Not just a once-a-year thing

Employee performance management represents all

of the processes that managers use to effectively lead,
manage, develop, reward and assess employees.

Performance management isnt just about rating employee

performance in an annual review once a year. A winning
performance management strategy includes processes that
focus on aligning the organizations workforce, improving
employee performance, supporting employee development
and driving better business results all year round. If its NOT
an ongoing, iterative process it simply wont deliver the
desired outcomes.
Yet, despite this current wisdom, results from a WorldatWork
survey tell us that 58 percent of organizations rated their
performance management systems as C Grade or below. 1
Thats barely making the grade. So, whats the problem?

14 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

A report by WorldatWork and Sibson Consulting, October 2010

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Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
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Workforce
Planning

Engagement

From the many materials weve looked at, there appear to be five key components of truly effective performance management.

The Big 5
Strong direct
manager
capability

Goal
management
and alignment

The strong direct manager provides a lot of one-on-one dialogue, coaching and candid feedback. He or she
supports employees in every facet of their job.

Leaders clearly communicate organizational goals to employees, ensuring they understand where the organization is
headed, the steps required to get there and how their role contributes to that effort. 2
Goals are monitored, and regularly reviewed and revised to reflect changing organizational goals.

Robust
competency
model and
assessment

A strong competency model helps to define workplace culture and the skills that are unique and critical to your
organization. It also ensures a more consistent and fairer employee performance appraisal process.

Training and
development
opportunities

Your performance management process should help your employees develop and improve, so they can be
successful, continually improve their performance, and increase their knowledge, skills, experience and capabilities.

Multi-source
feedback

As part of the performance appraisal process, multi-source or 360-degree feedback helps make feedback and ratings
broader and fairer, and helps managers and employees better identify areas for development.

15 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Watson Wyatt WorkUSA Survey 2008-2009

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

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Planning

The goods on goal management and alignment

Tip 2: Make goal management an ongoing process

Effective goal management is essential for ensuring that individual and

organizational performance stay on track. While most organizations go
through the motions of setting goals, too often they lack alignment, clarity and
a means by which they can be measured. Effective goal management is about
getting every employee to use and develop their talents, skills and experience
to help your organization meet its overarching goals.

Effective goal management requires frequent and regular

communications, meetings and dialogue between employees
and managers. The process should include feedback and
coaching, prioritizing, and employee development and career
planning. This ongoing dialogue helps to ensure that individual
and organizational performance stay on track. It also ensures
that everyone adjusts their goals as needed to keep pace with
evolving business and market requirements.

Thats where the organization-centric goal alignment comes in.

In this model:
1. Objectives are defined first for the company.
2. Goals are then are broken down across the organizational hierarchy,
with goals cascading down three or four levels via business units and
departments setting goals in alignment with those of the organization.
3. Employee goals are then linked to these organizational objectives.
Goal alignment helps to ensure that everyones individual contributions move
the organization in the right direction forward into the future.

4 few tips for goal management success

Tip 1: Make goal management an integral part of your culture
For goal management to truly work, it must be ingrained in your
workplace culture so every individual is focused on the success of
the organization and is accountable for the role they play in that
success. Some ways you can do this are by:
Making the big picture organizational goals visible to everyone
Encouraging all employees to link their individual goals to
higher-level goals
Regularly monitoring and communicating goal status

16 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Engagement

Tip 3: Set SMART goals

In order to engage employees and foster accountability,
organizations need to have managers and their employees
develop SMART goals specific, measurable, achievable,
relevant/realistic and time-bound. When managers and
employees work together to establish SMART goals, it helps
take the subjectivity out of goal setting, and ensures they have a
shared set of expectations.

Tip 4: Monitor goal progress

Setting goals and forgetting about them, isnt a best-practice.
Implement practices to ensure managers regularly check in on the
status of employee goals. This provides an opportunity to identify
development needs and adjust goals that are no longer SMART or
aligned with organizational goals. It also drives up accountability
by reminding every employee that what they do is important.

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Workforce
Planning

Total
Rewards

Engagement

Competencies count

The undeniable importance of coaching

Where goals or objectives describe what you want an employee to

accomplish, competencies describe how you want them accomplished.
Cultivating and managing competencies is essential for fostering employee
performance. Its also a great way to define and strengthen your organizational
culture and your competitive differentiators.

Theres evidence that a strong coaching culture can lead to better business
results. Similar to a coach of a sports team, an effective workplace coach
will set standards, listen, understand team member needs, provide ongoing
feedback and, when required, offer up personal support to help individuals
improve or boost their performance.

To create a competency framework for your company and for each role in
your organization, begin by identifying the key abilities required to improve
performance and achieve success.

Research shows organizations with excellent cultural support for coaching had
a 75 percent higher rating for talent management results than those with no
or weak support for coaching. Further, they had 13 percent stronger business
results and 39 percent stronger employee results.3

When choosing core or organizational competencies, identify the

abilities that:

Companies with managers who help employees get their job done, provide
candid feedback, help people advance, communicate whats going on and
enable them to make decisions on their own have higher performance and
productivity, more employee engagement and less attrition.

embody or represent your organizational culture

are required for success or leadership in your industry
support your organizations strategic goals
set your organization apart from the competition

After choosing between four to six competencies (no more than six),
create:

a short description of the competency

examples of the behavior to provide clarity
descriptions of the levels of mastery
suggested learning activities to help increase mastery

Once the above have been created, its critical that you train your managers
and employees on what the different levels of mastery mean, and what meets
vs. exceeds looks like.

75% higher rating for

talent management
results

13% stronger
business results

39% stronger
employee results

Estimating the return on performance management

investment
One very powerful way your HR team can justify the purchase of employee
performance management and talent management software is to estimate the
return on investment of such a purchase. Learn how.

17 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Bersin & Associates, High Impact Performance Management, November 2011

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
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Workforce
Planning

Additional resources
Read on for valuable resources that can help you to build a performance management culture in your organization.
1. Employee performance management: A step-by-step guide to
best practices
Download this complimentary ebook to learn how to implement
an employee performance management process and/or enhance
your current practices. The book is packed with useful tips, best
practices, and hands-on worksheets that walk you through
implementing a best-practice performance management process.
Download this complimentary ebook

2. Center of Excellence: Best-practice performance management

processes
This is your one-stop destination, for more than 25 expert
resources on performance management. Choose from
reference articles, on-demand webinars, white papers, success
stories and more.
Go to this Center of Excellence

3. Center of Excellence: Best-practice goal management

Check out this Center of Excellence for valuable resources to help
your organization become masterful at goal management.
Go to this Center of Excellence

18 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

4. Center of Excellence on competency management

At this Center of Excellence, learn the basics, including how
to develop a competency framework and how to cultivate
competencies as a competitive differentiator.
Go to this Center of Excellence

5. Article: Getting managers on board with talent management

Why do so many managers find giving feedback and managing
employee performance challenging, and what can you do
about it? Start by reading this article.
Read the article

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Communication:
Hey, we need to talk

How we gain our employees attention is as

important as what we communicate and
the clarity with which it is communicated.
The more clear, concise, and compelling our
communication systems are, the more likely we
are to be able to drive our goals forward
Employee Engagement, A Roadmap for Creating Profits,
Brad Federman, 2009

In the words of George Bernard Shaw, The single biggest

problem in communication is the illusion that its taken
place. Far too often, thats the case within organizations that
think theyre doing a great job on the communication side,
when theyre not. This disconnect can lead to some costly
repercussions, including a negative work culture, lower
employee productivity and retention issues.

19 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
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Workforce
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Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Although good communication wont necessarily guarantee better results in

terms of engagement, lower turnover and better business results, it certainly
helps influence their respective outcomes. WorkUSA data tells us that effective
communication from senior management directly connects employees to the
purpose of the organization, creating a sense of collective resolve that helps
accelerate progress toward goals.

And yet, many organizations are still falling short

Nearly one-third of employees think their managers
fail to effectively communicate goals

One-third say they lack the authority to carry out

their jobs effectively

40% say they dont receive regular, clear feedback on

their performance from their manager

Yes, you CAN get there from here if you

communicate
When everyone knows where theyre going theres a much higher likelihood
that theyll get there. Managers and leaders who recognize the importance of
communication and are effective at conveying organizational goals, values and
vision clearly, demonstrate the organizations commitment to keep employees
aware of and involved in the companys future success. From a bottom-up
communication perspective, leaders and managers who take the time and
make the effort to listen to employees concerns, ideas and suggestions, can
drive higher employee engagement, productivity and innovation.
20 | Talent Management Blueprint
Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning and
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The benefits of effective communications

Loyalty and engagement The communication methods your
organization uses can be leveraged to instill trust in the organization.
Clear, honest and consistent communication cultivates employee loyalty
because it demonstrates to employees that the organization respects them
as contributors to the companys overall success. When employees have
accessibility to information that is critical for their jobs and performance, it
helps influence their willingness to contribute and perform to the best of their
ability.
The top two factors contributing to an increase of employee
engagement within organizations are individual supervisors
(85%) and amount of employee communication (81%).
(IABC Research Foundation/Buck Consultant, Employee Engagement Survey, 2011)

Bottom-line results A Watson Wyatt communication ROI study found

that companies with the most effective employee communication programs
provided 91 percent total returns to shareholders, compared with 62 percent
for firms that communicated least effectively. The study quantified just how
much: A significant improvement in communication effectiveness is associated
with a 15.7 percent increase in market value.

Companies with the most effective employee communication

have 48% higher shareholder returns over the last five years.
(Towers Watson, Communication ROI Study, 2011)

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Tips for successful communication

Some research to prove the point

Within your organization, you should:

Employee perceptions of rewards are more favorable when the

company does a good job of communication the value of rewards.

1. Be consistent in your communication practices, including email

messages, intranet postings, staff and one-on-one meetings, and executive
communications.

90%

2. Encourage two-way communication that gives employees, not only

management, an opportunity to be heard and provide feedback, for
example, weekly one-on-one meetings between managers and employees.

60%

3. Ensure company leaders provide everyone across the organization with a

clear understanding of strategy, where the company is going and how
they are contributing to the achievement of that strategy.

30%

4. Communicate frequently to employees about all areas of talent

management, including rewards and recognition programs, compensation
strategies, learning and development initiatives, and high-potential
employee and succession programs.
5. Review your communication strategy on a regular basis, to see if it is
meeting the needs of the organization and the employees. One effective
way to do this is to ask questions about communication as part of a regular
employee survey.

21 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

0%

60% 18%

80% 29%

70% 24%

63% 13%

Pay

Promotion

Promotion

Bonus

Company does a good job of

communicating this reward
Source: Institute for Corporate Productivity

Company does a bad job of

communicating this reward

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Additional resources
Read on for excellent resources on employee performance, engagement and communications.
1. HR BOLD THINKERS Series: Best practices in giving effective
employee feedback
In this five-part video series, seasoned HR professional and
performance management expert Jamie Resker shares her simple
model for requesting and giving effective feedback. By following
her advice, managers and employees can take the dread out of
performance conversations.
Watch the video series

Video 1:

Identifying one thing that leads to better

performance and effectiveness

Video 2:

10-minute performance feedback conversations

Video 3:

Requesting helpful event-driven feedback

Video 4:

How often should you give feedback?

Video 5:

Managing performance all year round

22 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Center of Excellence: Performance training for managers

This is your one-stop destination for dozens of expert resources.
Choose from reference articles, on-demand webinars, white
papers, success stories and more.
Go to the Center of Excellence

3. Article: Employee feedback examples: The good, the bad and

the ugly, and how to give effective feedback
The purpose of giving feedback should be to begin a dialogue
so both parties come to greater shared understanding, where,
as a starting point you communicate: your understanding/
interpretation of a situation or circumstances, your expectations
and your appreciation (if appropriate). In this article, youll learn
tips for giving effective feedback.
Read the article

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

A communication checklist
Does your organization have channels in place to communicate?
Feedback processes

Pay philosophy

Rating scales

High-potential employee programs

Development opportunities

23 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Career Management:
Good for employees, great for retention
Career management is an employees
progression through a logical sequence of jobs
requiring the development of new skill sets
that are gained through advanced or diverse
assignments.
Bersin, The Talent Management Framework, May 2010

The last thing youre likely to hear when you ask a highly
engaged employee if they like their job is, What can I say,
its a livin, or, It pays the bills.
Highly-engaged employees view their jobs as more than its
a livin. They have ongoing career development discussions
with their supervisors, are aware of possible career paths and
understand what they need to do to get there. Theyre interested
in a career, not simply a job. According to Bersin, When done
well, career management is a collaborative process that meets
the needs of the business. 1
24 | Talent Management Blueprint
Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Source: Bersin, The Talent Management Framework, May 2010

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Career
Management

Communication

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Highly-engaged vs. low-engaged BIG difference

It begins with having the right focus

Research demonstrates that theres a clear link between organizations that

have strong career management components and engagement:

Career management isnt just about evaluating job performance based on

the organizations needs. Effective career management focuses on aligning
employees strengths, skills and knowledge to achieve individual goals and
organizational goals. Organizations that are committed to best-practices career
management recognize that employees expect more from their employer
than just a job they want to develop and build skills through experiences
and options that enable them to advance in their careers. Its this focus on the
employee, and exploring and creating choice that makes career management
an effective strategy for keeping your top talent.

High-engagement employees perceive that the company offers more

opportunities for advancement. They know what career paths are open to
them, and they know what they need to do to advance.
For mid-career employees those with five to 20 years of tenure
effective career development discussions have a greater impact than
promotion on engagement.
For high-engagement employees, career development discussion takes
place with the supervisor and with the employees network of contacts
within the company. For low-engagement employees, it occurs on the
Internet and with other sources outside the company.
High Engagement

Low Engagement

Employees perspective
Frustration at being stalled in current role
Feelings of not being valued by the organization

86%

Employee has a clear idea

about possible career paths

29%

Organizations perspective
Shortage of suitable employees to fill vacant
positions
Lower employee engagement and motivation
Higher employee turnover rates

85%

Employee knows what to

do to advance

28%

Company provides
advancement opportunites

80%

Career development
disscussions were effective in
furthering development

81%

9%

19%

0%

25 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

30%

60%

90%

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Roles and responsibilities in best-practice career management

Successful career management comes down to a three-way partnership between the employee, the manager and the organization. While the bulk of the
responsibility for career development should rest firmly with the employee, managers and HR have important roles to play too.

Role: Be proactive

Employee

about and take

accountability for their
career development and
progression.

Role: Provide support

Manager

and encourage
employees to take
ownership of their
own performance and
development.

Role: Support career

HR/
Organization

development while
ensuring initiatives also
align with organizational
goals.

Be clear about how they would like to grow professionally.

Know what knowledge, skills, training, education and experience they want and need to develop.
Actively seek opportunities for professional and career development in the organization or through
external learning resources.
Ask manager for feedback and guidance.

Hold regular career coaching conversations to ask employees about their career aspirations, provide
feedback and advice.
Ensure employees have well-defined job descriptions and understand the skills and competencies
they must develop in order to progress up the career ladder.
Give employees the time and flexibility they need to complete learning and development activities.

Support CAREER DEVELOPMENT and progression through WORKSHOPS and seminars.

Implement job posting system and tuition reimbursement programs.
Provide training to all executives, managers and employees on the career development process and
their responsibilities.
Provide managers with regular training on how to coach and develop their employees.

Employee: Should take responsibility for their own professional and career development
Be clear about how they would like to grow professionally.
Know what knowledge, skills and experience they want and need to develop.
Actively seek opportunities for professional and career development, both in the organization or
through external learning resources.

26 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Managers: Should regularly ask employees about

their career aspirations and help them identify areas
they may wish to improve or develop, as well as
resources available.

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Tips for effective career management

It almost goes without saying (but well say it anyway) that employees feel
valued when their employer is interested in retaining them and committed to
investing in their future. Here are some tips for reinforcing that commitment.

Make career progression part of the performance

management process not just at annual appraisal time but
frequently throughout the year (e.g., one-on-one meetings
between managers and employees).

Ensure employees are aware of current and potential

opportunities in your organization (i.e., dont let them find out

through the grapevine).

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Additional resources
Read on for excellent resources related to career management.
1. Motivation Self-Assessment Worksheet
This Motivation Self-Assessment Worksheet (PDF) developed by
The Anderson Leadership Group is great jumping off point that
can help spark a discussion on motivation and career. Employees
can complete the worksheet to help identify their motivators:
whether its the need for achievement, affiliation, autonomy,
intellectual stimulation, power or security/comfort. Once theyve
compared each of these needs and ranked them from one to six,
they can discuss the results with their managers.
Get the PDF worksheet

Give them the tools they need. Provide employees with the
processes, information and tools to support them in their career
planning and development (e.g., self-assessment tools; clear and
visible competency profiles).
Encourage cross-training within the organization so employees
can broaden their skills and knowledge, and get a feel for other
roles in the company.

2. Article: Addition by Subtraction: The Art of Career Management

In an employment context, you might think that addition by
subtraction has a rather ominous sound to it. But it can actually
be a good thing. In this article, learn about why it can be good for
your organization to be an exporter of talent.
Read this article

3. Career Management Blog Posts

Offer career-related workshops and services to employees so

they can explore where they want to go from here.

Read these great blog posts on a variety of aspects of career

management. Youll find everything from best practices for
the companys career management process, to great tips for
your employees.
Check out the blog posts

27 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Workforce
Planning

Total
Rewards

Engagement

Career Management Worksheet

Take a few minutes to rate your organizations commitment to career management initiatives.

Rate your organization on the following 1-to-5 scale

1 Strongly disagree | 2 Disagree | 3 Neither agree nor disagree | 4 Agree | 5 Strongly agree
Career paths are well established internally and employees understand what is required to move
between careers

We actively promote talent mobility

We use employee/talent profiles to actively source talent

28 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Learning & Development:

Want results? Build a strong learning culture.
High-performing organizations those that
are better at driving financial performance,
market share and customer satisfaction - also
happen to be extraordinarily more effective
at managing the learning function than their
low-performing counterparts.
I4cp: The Best Get Better: Critical Human Capital Issues of 2012

How committed is your organization to learning and development for

employees? If the answer is not very or dont know, you could be in
trouble. Research shows, that employee learning and development can
help organizations:
build alignment increase employee morale, engagement, productivity
and retention
preserve organizational memory/knowledge
establish domain expertise and maintain a competitive advantage
High-performing companies report that they are at
least twice as effective on nearly a dozen dimensions
of learning, talent management and organizational
development, than are low-performing companies.1

29 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

I4cp: The Best Get Better: Critical Human Capital Issues of 2012,

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

What is a learning culture?

The collective set of organizational values, conventions, processes
and practices that influence and encourage individuals and the
organization to continuously increase knowledge, competence
and performance.

30 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Workforce
Planning

Total
Rewards

Engagement

Learning and development programs:

the secret to success
According to research by Bersin by Deloitte, organizations with a
strong learning culture significantly outperform their peers2

46% more likely to be

strong innovators in
their markets

34% more likely to

get to market before
their competitors

18% more likely

to currently be a
market-share leader
in one or more of
their markets

33% more likely

to report higher
customer satisfaction
than other
organizations

39% more likely

to report success
implementing
customer suggestions

58% more likely

to be successful at
developing the skills
needed for meeting
future customer
demand

Bersin by Deloitte, New Research Shows Companies Can Positively Impact Bottom-Line Business Results
with Five Specific Practices To Encourage Employee Empowerment and Knowledge Sharing

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Four considerations for L&D

Employees now view their relationship with employers as a partnership and they expect the organization to commit to developing and enriching their skills and
experiences making them more employable. That said, what can your organization be doing to reinforce its commitment to learning and development?

Diagnose
development needs

Assign learning
and development
activities

Support continuous
learning

Measure training
effectiveness

Your first step is to identify the gaps (i.e., knowledge, skill, value/mindset or personality/intelligence). Why does performance need
to be improved in these areas? For example, is it because the employee doesnt have the knowledge and information they need? Is
it because they dont know how? Is it because their values or mindset are not aligned with those of your company? As soon as your
organization has a framework for diagnosing development needs, and the appropriate tactics have been assigned, you can consider
how best to ensure that the learning is applied and consistently demonstrated.
Critical point: Ensure that youre considering the employees learning needs in the context of your organizational goals. Do the needs
identified, and the development planned support the strategic business goals of your company?
Once youve identified gaps, provide your employees and managers with the tools, training and development, and resources they
need to perform to the best of their abilities. Whats important is to understand here is how your employees learn best, and then look
for training activities that cater to their preferred learning style. One of the common models breaks out four styles: auditory (learn by
hearing), visual (learn by looking), reading/writing-preference (learn by reading and writing), and kinesthetic (learn by doing). When
looking at learning tasks, consider a mix of formal and informal learning activities, including: e-learning, books, training programs,
conferences, seminars, college courses, mentoring programs and stretch assignments.

If your organization expects to compete in todays fast-paced economy, a commitment to continuous learning is a must. Continuous
learning ensures that your employees are continually developing and improving their skills and knowledge and keeping current
with market and organizational changes. Training and development strategies should support a never stop learning culture through
tactics and techniques such as coaching, on-the-job training, training transfer among employees.

Traditionally, organizations have measured the effectiveness of training with pre- and post testing, or training satisfaction surveys
that ask the employee if they think theyll apply the things theyve learned to their job. While these can certainly give some indication
of what an employee has absorbed and retained from training, they dont really tell us if the training has had an effect on their
on-the-job performance. For a more accurate picture of effectiveness, consider tying employees development activities to the
performance of a specific competency or goal. Then review the employees performance ratings before and after. There should be a
correlative improvement in performance review scores.

31 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Additional resources
Read on for excellent resources on learning and development.
1. Center of Excellence: Employee development best-practices
This is your one-stop destination, for more than 20 expert
resources related to learning and development. Choose from
reference articles, on-demand webinars, white papers, success
stories and more.
Go to the Center of Excellence

2. Article: Practical ways to foster development on-the-job

How can managers and organizations foster on-the-job learning
that broadens or deepens employees knowledge, skills, abilities
and experience? Read this article to find out.
Read the article

4. White paper: Learning puts the heart in the talent

management
From a leading industry analyst firm with deep learning and talent
management expertise, this white paper shares how learning is a
key element for motivating, engaging, and developing talent.
Read the white paper

5. Article: The unwritten first step to ensure training transfer:

diagnosing development
How can you ensure the transfer of learning from formal and
informal training and development to improve employee
performance on the job? Read this post to find out.
Read the article

3. Case study: North Carolina bank aligns learning and

performance for improved efficiencies
Read how North Carolina-based Bank of Oak Ridge created
a corporate culture focused on learning, development and
sustained high performance, thats enabling it to deliver
innovative services and products to clients.
Read the case study

32 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Learning and development worksheet

To help you gauge your current maturity level with respect to employee development, and put plans in place to evolve your programs to increase their impact and
value, weve put together an Employee Development Program Maturity Scale.

Employee Development Program Maturity Scale

Organization has a catalog of available learning

activities that include a variety of learning media
and delivery mechanisms (e-learning, classroom
training, podcasts, reading materials, job aids,
on-the-job training opportunities, etc.)

No formal employee development planning or

budget. Any development planning is left to
the discretion of individual managers.
Managers are assigned a budget for employee
development ($ per head).

Every learning activity in the organizations learning

catalog is mapped to the specific competencies
they help develop.

Appraisal forms include a general section for

recording development plans.

Organization analyzes employee performance

ratings on competencies, talent assessment
results, as well as organizational goals to
identify organizational or group training needs,
and puts programs in place to address these.

Organization has learning activities or curricula

designed to promote effective and progressive
performance for a particular role or job description.

Organization has catalog of available training

activities that is accessible to managers and
employees.

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Organization aggregates and analyzes

employee development plans, looks for
patterns or trends, and puts programs in place
to address these.

Organization has learning paths or curricula

designed to assist specific employees or groups
of employees acquire required skills or experience
(onboarding learning paths, sales learning path,
customer service learning path, management
learning path, etc.)

Appraisal forms provide a space for general

professional or career development, or
development required to support the
accomplishment of goals.

33 | Talent Management Blueprint

Organization has learning activities or curricula

designed to assist in addressing succession
requirements.

Organization has learning paths or curricula that

include a progression of learning activities designed
to develop a particular skill of competency.

Appraisal forms provide a space for optional

development plans after each competency that
link the development activity to performance
of the competency.

Ad Hoc

Organization has learning activities or curricula

designed to assist in achieving corporate goals/
strategy.

>

Tactical

>

Strategic

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Leadership Development:
Great leaders attract and retain great talent
Leadership development is not just about
developing leaders it is about creating a
culture of accountability and performance.
High Impact Leadership Development Bersin by Deloitte

In todays economic climate, leaders and managers face many

challenges a rapidly changing workforce, globalization,
technological advances to name a few. They must focus on
keeping up with the pace of change, or risk having a workforce
that is ill-equipped to meet the leadership challenges ahead.

34 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Introduction

Talent
Acquisition

Culture

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Seriously, who doesnt want to work for a

great leader?

Roadmap to an effective leadership

development strategy

Good management and leadership are fundamental to the success of any

organization. Great leaders have the power to inspire, motivate and get the
best out of their employees, achieving organizational goals quicker and more
effectively, which results in higher company performance and positive business
outcomes.

According to Bersin by Deloitte, Great leaders attract, hire and inspire great
people. Leadership development creates a magnet for high-performers and
fosters a high-performance organization. This is why the organizations that are
built to last have strong histories of leadership development.

A group of talented individuals doesnt necessarily translate into a highperforming team or company. High performance requires skillful leadership.
After all, its the leaders who create the environment in which talent will either
thrive or not.

Research by Bersin shows top organizations take four critical steps to

build an effective leadership development strategy.1

Align leadership development to company

values and business goals.

A Corporate Leadership Council survey underscores the importance of top

leadership skills in driving significantly better business results.

Revenue Impact

Profit Impact

Create development architectures for all

leader levels.

1.0 x

1.5 x

1.0 x

1.8 x

Leaders with poor

leadership skills

Leaders with top

leadership skills

Leaders with poor

leadership skills

Leaders with top

leadership skills

Define a delivery strategy that leverages

targeted solutions.

Source: Designing a Best-in-Class Leadership Strategy, Corporate Leadership Council, 2010

Define evaluation and

accountability standards.

35 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Pushing the Acceleration pedal on Business Results: Have you had an alignment recently you know, between
your business and leadership development strategies? Kim Lamoureux, Bersin by Deloitte, June 2, 2011.

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Putting the success in succession planning

Succession planning is not only about determining who
will lead your organization into the future. Its about
identifying which key positions are at risk and then
developing pools of talent that are ready to be drawn
from at any time for any reason. Executive succession
plans are a must, but its also imperative for companies
to have an organization-wide succession plan to build
a crucial pipeline of key talent across all departments,
functions and locations.

A three-phase approach to succession planning

1. Understand your workforce
An important first step in the succession planning journey is to proactively
identify high-potential employees and measure their retention risk (i.e., how
likely are they to leave). Who are the best performers and the individuals with
the most potential? What percentage of your staff are Baby Boomers, Gen Xers
and Millennials? Managers need to assess their teams to accurately predict
potential, timing for promotion, and risk of leaving; discuss career aspirations;
and make recommendations for talent pool inclusion.

2. Establish talent pools

Staying competitive requires an engaged, motivated and high-performing
workforce. It also demands strong leadership and a talent pool you can build
up and pull from when needed. To build successful talent pools, you need to
define key competencies and development plans, perform talent assessments
and close any skills gaps. The process should be fully transparent, so that
everyone understands and has constant visibility into what is expected of
them.

36 | Talent Management Blueprint

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Learning and
Development

Leadership
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Planning

Engagement

3. Develop your talent and recruit from within

Once youve established a talent pool of high-potential individuals, assessed
development needs and implemented training plans, filling critical positions
will be much easier. Furthermore, your employees will feel engaged and be
less inclined to look elsewhere for opportunities. The disruption that can result
from performers leaving a company will be mitigated. Another positive that
comes from an effective succession strategy is that you earn an excellent brand
reputation for developing your people and promoting from within, which can
help attract top talent to your organization.

Implementing 360-degree leadership assessments

To develop strong leaders, its important to get a wellrounded and accurate view of how others see them. What
are their strengths and weaknesses? A 360-assessment
can provide this broader and fairer view and identify areas
where development is needed.

According to the Center for Creative Leadership , the following best

practices can ensure an effective 360-degree process:
1. Clarify the purpose for every member of the organization (raters and ratee)
2. Clarify rater anonymity, accountability and selection
3. Prepare participants (the objectives, the process, the frame of reference and
how to avoid rating erros)
4. Review and interpret feedback results
5. Develop and action plan (set clear, specific develop goals and follow
through)
6. Follow up (e.g., meet with raters, supervisors and coaches)

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Additional resources
Read on for excellent resources on leadership development.
1. Center of Excellence: Developing and retaining top talent
This is your one-stop destination for 20-plus expert resources
about developing your talent. Choose from reference articles, ondemand webinars, white papers, success stories and more.
Go to this Center of Excellence

2. Center of Excellence: Succession planning best-practices

Tap into expert articles, on-demand webinars, white papers,
success stories and more on this Center of Excellence site.
Go to this Center of Excellence

3. Webinar: The leadership and management talent pipeline

In this webinar, Charles Elvin, CEO at the Institute of Leadership
& Management will explore why investing in leadership
development can make all the difference to your business.
Watch the webinar

37 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

4. Article: Build organizational bench strength

This article provides practical advice you can share with managers
to enlist their help in building your organizations bench strength.
Read the article

5. Article: Proven tools for identifying and developing your

organizations talent pipeline
If youre not sure how to begin building your talent pipeline,
here are a couple of proven tools and methods that can help you
accurately identify leaders, top performers, and loyal staffers
and establish developmental opportunities that will drive benefits
for the individual and for your organization. Learn about the
talent bench review and the 9-box grid.
Read the article

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Workforce
Planning

Total
Rewards

Engagement

Leadership development worksheet

List your organizations leadership competencies:

Survey and rate your organizations confidence in your leadership pipeline by functional group:
HR

Line manager assessment

Director assessment

Executive team assessment

Identify leadership areas of risk:

38 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Total Rewards:
Its not always about the paycheck
A managers ability to reward and recognize
achievement effectively can increase
employees discretionary effort and intent to
stay by up to 22.7 percent and 31.6 percent
respectively.
Manager Guide for Recognizing and Rewarding Employees,
Corporate Executive Board, February 2010

When it comes to employee recognition and rewards, suffice

it to say that it isnt always about the money. While base
pay continues to be a top driver of attraction and retention1,
employees tend to be willing to trade other rewards for larger
salary increases.
According to the WorldatWork Society of Certified Professionals,
total rewards includes: compensation (pay-for-performance),
recognition, benefits, development and career opportunities,
and work-life balance.
39 | Talent Management Blueprint
Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Towers Watson 2012 2013 Talent Management

and Rewards Study U.S. Report

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

A closer look at pay-for-performance

One of the best ways to kill inspiration, motivation and creativity is to give
the employee who goes the extra mile with the same compensation as the
individual who gives minimum (i.e., the clock watcher). Conversely, one
of the best ways to engage, motivate and retain top talent is by linking
pay progression to performance. This is why its critical to have a pay-forperformance model in place a system that will enable your organization to
make pay decisions based on individual merit and achievement of goals (not
just the fact that an employee shows up for work).
Here are some fundamentals that can help your managers make more
informed decisions about pay-for-performance and also ensure that your
companys practices are fair, and will engage rather than disengage your
workforce:

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Fundamental 3: Measure overall effectiveness

You organization should constantly monitor your pay-for-performance
program after it is implemented and also recalibrate it periodically. Some
important questions to ask managers to ensure the system is delivering in the
way it should include:
Are compensation dollars given to your highest performers and to your
high-potentials differentiated meaningfully?
Do you feel appropriately trained on how to effectively communicate pay
adjustments so that employees will feel motivated and engaged?
Do you understand compensation basics (salary scales, job codes, bonuses,
variable pay, etc.) and how to use them?
Do you have the tools you need to track progress?
What are the reasons for under-performance?
How will you address under-performance issues?

Fundamental 1: Nurture a performance-oriented workplace

Your managers should provide continuous and effective feedback to everyone
on their team, including communicating which tasks, projects and behaviors
individuals are doing well, not doing well and why its so important.

65% of employees are not

satisfied with the link between
performance and pay

Fundamental 2: Accurately and fairly reward employees

To ensure fairness and consistency, your organizations pay guidelines should
be clearly defined and easily accessible. By providing visibility into the process
and ensuring employees understand how pay strategies are set, it raises
their level of accountability to make performance a day-to-day priority. Your
management teams also need access to certain types of data to be able to
make informed remuneration decisions. Examples include:

Companys overall compensation budget

Pay scales for each job code
Employees compensation and performance histories
Employees performance ratings for the year

40 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Engagement

27% of employees are reducing

effort levels

Source: Corporate Leadership Council, 2010

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Recognition
a top engagement driver
Recognition is positive feedback that lets employees know
they are valued and appreciated by their coworkers and
their organization. To have the greatest impact in the workplace, recognition
activities should also reinforce and encourage work behavior and work ethic
that advances employee, and organizational goals and values.
According to Bersin by Deloitte, Organizations with recognition and rewards
programs have better employee and talent results than organizations that
lacked those programs. And there are stats to support the flip side, for
example, in The Carrot Principle, Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton reveal that,
79 percent of employees who quit their jobs cite a lack of appreciation as a
key reason for leaving. 2

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Work-life balance
According to the Towers Watson 2012/2013 Talent Management and
Rewards Study, organizations have raised the bar on both hours worked and
performance expectations at the same time the work environment has eroded,
causing employees to feel excessive pressure at work. The advice they offer is:
Pay attention to the stress levels of your employees. Top performers and
critical-skill employees are hard to find and difficult to replace. When
employees are under excessive stress, try to rebalance workloads or extend
timelines for deliverables when possible.
Leaders and managers need to prioritize those things that must get done
and eliminate those things with little value added.
Reexamine work processes to determine if there are ways to streamline
steps and reduce handoffs.

Development and career

advancement opportunities
Another way to drive motivation is to support employee
development and career progression. Your employees need
to feel that they have a future with the company, and a career path that helps
them further develop their knowledge, skills and abilities. Career development
can take many forms, from formal training courses, to challenging work
assignments, to mentoring programs.

41 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their Employees, Retain Talent, and Drive Performance. Adrian Gostick, Chester Elton

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Three talent management principles

To better manage human capital risks and improve ROI in reward and talent management programs, Towers Watson research advises
organizations to focus on three reward and talent management principles3:
1. Integration of reward and talent management programs. Review the
alignment of your reward and talent management programs with your
business objectives, desired culture, EVP, total rewards strategy, and
attraction and retention goals. Promote a high-performance culture by
incorporating bonus and pay reviews into the performance management
calibration process, and competencies into reward programs. Use
technology to deliver programs more efficiently, and provide more and
better information to managers and employees with greater speed.

3. Agility. Reduce work-related stress; provide the resources employees

need to be effective, and allow opportunities to provide input. Consider

using alternative work schedules and opportunities to work remotely, and
encourage employees to use their vacation days to reduce presenteeism.
Lead employees through all four phases of the change management
process (planning, building, implementing and improving). Stress effective
communication by senior leaders, and reinforce messages through
managers and supervisors.

Only 36% of organizations with a

competency model have linked it
to their reward programs.

Short-term incentive (STI)

programs provide greater
flexibility because payouts can
rise or fall depending on business
conditions.

2. Segmentation. Identify and communicate with employees who have

critical skills or high potential. Make special opportunities available to

them, and emphasize the total rewards components that are important
to them. Increase differentiation in merit increases and bonus payouts by
reallocating funds from below-average and average performers to top
performers.

Only 44% of organizations

formally identify employees with
critical skills.

42 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

The Talent Management and Rewards Imperative for 2012, Leading Through Uncertain Times, The 2011/2012
Talent Management and Rewards Study, North America, page 21, Towers Watson - WorldatWork

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Additional resources
Read on for excellent resources on learning and development.
1. Worksheet: Motivation Self-Assessment
This worksheet is a great jumping off point to spark a discussion
on what motivates your employees beyond pay.
Download the worksheet

4. White Paper: Why pay-for-performance can work at last

Making meaningful pay for performance decisions is harder than
most people admit. The good news is that pay for performance is
finally working thanks to more nuanced approaches and better
software tools. Read this white paper to learn more.
Read the white paper

2. Article: Support managers in making better compensation

decisions
To help keep your compensation adjustments fair and effective in
encouraging high performance, you need to give managers four
key things. Learn more by reading this article.
Read the article

3. Center of Excellence: Pay for performance best-practices

Tap into expert articles, on-demand webinars, white papers,
success stories and more on this Center of Excellence site.
Go to this Center of Excellence

43 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

5. Webinar: Helping managers love the HR rewards function

In this webinar, David Creelman, CEO of Creelman Research
and co-founder of Creelman Lambert looks at the common
misperceptions managers have about pay, the problems it can
cause, and how HR can proactively prevent these problems.
Watch the webinar

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

A cool tool to explore what motivates your employees

The Anderson Leadership Group has developed a motivation self-assessment worksheet that gives individuals an introspective look at whats
most important to them in their work environment.
At the highest level, the survey asks you to compare, add up
and rank personal needs from most to least endorsed:

achievement
affiliation
autonomy
intellectual stimulation

power
security/comfort

Once completed, the worksheet can jump-start some interesting conversations

between you and your employees. For example, you can engage your
employees in discussions about their primary motivators, and share what
motivates you and why.

Achievement

Security/
Comfort

Affiliation

Power

Autonomy

You can download the worksheet here

Intelectual
Stimulation

44 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Strategic Workforce
Planning:
Seeing around corners

While organizations cannot predict the future,

they can prepare for it.
HCI Strategic Workforce Planning Guide 2010

Referred to as is the newest of all human capital management

functions by the Conference Board, workforce planning
is about aligning an organizations human capital its
people with its business plan to achieve its mission. Its
about ensuring that an organization currently has and
will continue to have the right people with the right
skill in the right job at the right time performing their
assignments efficiently and effectively.
What strategic workforce planning isnt is human resources
planning, strategic staffing, workforce analytics, and human
capital planning. Instead of focusing on short-term needs and
reactive hiring, the emphasis is placed on matching strategic
requirements with long-term talent trends, external market
influences and proactive planning.1

45 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Your next move, Strategic workforce planning

in the public sector, Deloitte 2006

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Why workforce planning?

Workforce planning helps organizations to understand where
they will have talent gaps in the future, and this information can
be used to drive talent management strategies such as learning/
development, succession management, and hiring to fill the gaps.

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

To underscore the importance of

workforce planning
Bersin research found that HR functions with capabilities in advanced
workforce planning had efficiency, effectiveness and alignment scores that
were, on average, 28 percent higher than the typical HR function.
Organizations that use meaningful workforce planning practices can more
effectively identify their top talent needs and focus their recruitment and
retention strategies accordingly. Effective planning can help your business
leaders make informed decisions about talent, for example:

Who will be impacted if we have a

Reduction in Force (RIF)?

Should certain functions be off-shored?

Should a new domestic location be staffed?

Where should learning and development be focused?

What future talent will be needed?

46 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

How to do it well
For workforce planning to be effective, it should be aligned with overall business strategy and goals. A typical workforce planning model can
be broken down into the following general steps:

1. Review the strategic/

business plan

2. Identify and
segment talent

3. Forecast talent
demand

47 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

In order to determine the strategic/business

plan impacts from a workforce perspective,
youll need to secure feedback from key
stakeholders and identify prospective issues
that could affect workforce planning.

Within your organization, identify current work

functions, new functions youll need in the
future and current functions that will not be
required in the future. This step also involves
segmenting roles that are critical to achieving
the strategy core, supporting or misaligned
(e.g. functions that can be outsourced, replaced
by technology, replaceable by technology, or
simply not required anymore).
Once the work functions have been
determined, identify the talent that will
be required in order to perform those
functions. This step involves defining required
competencies (skills/knowledge/abilities) and
identifying the number of staff (with these
competencies) that will be needed.

4. Predict
workforce supply

5. Perform a skills
gap analysis

6. Develop solutions
to close gaps

Develop a profile of the current workforce

adjusted for turnover and project what the
profile will be in the future.

Compare the projection of the existing workforce

with the number of staff required to perform the
work functions. This will help you reveal gaps
and surpluses in staffing levels and identify the
competencies needed to execute the strategy.

This is where your talent management strategy

comes into play. To ensure gaps are closed and
future talent requirements are met, youll need
to ensure that you develop strategies across all
your talent management functions, including
recruiting, succession planning, and learning and
development.

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Additional resources
Read on for excellent resources on workforce planning.
1. Article: Laying the foundation for workforce planning with
talent management best practices
Workforce planning is a vital activity to ensure the ongoing health
and competitiveness of your organization. In this blog post,
learn how talent management best practices are essential for
developing successful workforce planning strategies.
Read this blog post

2. Article: How your talent management and workforce

management programs can and should enrich each other
In this article, read about the talent management considerations
you should look at when doing your workforce planning, and
some workforce planning considerations you need to think about
when doing talent management.
Read the article

48 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

3. Article: Identify workforce and leadership gaps with succession

planning
Read this blog post to learn how you can use a comprehensive
succession planning process to identify critical workforce and
leadership gaps.
Read this blog post

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Engagement:
Why all the fuss?

Engaged organizations grew profits as much

as three times faster than their competitors.
Highly engaged organizations have the
potential to reduce staff turnover by 87% and
improve performance by 20%.
Corporate Leadership Council

Employee engagement. In the context of talent management, why do so many

write, read and talk about it? Because its critical to organizational success. Employee
engagement helps drive both individual and organizational performance. Research
abounds that shows companies with highly engaged employees find it easier to
attract top talent, enjoy higher levels of employee productivity and experience lower
turnover. As a result, these companies typically achieve better financial performance
than others in their industry. Companies with world-class engagement:
Have 3.9x greater earnings per share growth rate compared with the bottom
quartile (Gallup)
Demonstrate 2.5x revenue growth greater than the bottom quartile (HayGroup)
Command a 50 percent higher market premium
(Watson Wyatt)
49 | Talent Management Blueprint
Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

What is employee engagement?

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Competitive
benchmarking

Its sad but true, even in light of the research, according to a January
2012 research from Gartner: Most executive boards ignore the impact of
engagement on organizational performance. But theres also research
from Gartner that says this attitude will probably change, By 2016, leading
organizations will treat employee engagement as a key leading indicator of
organization performance.

Consulting
services

What drives engagement?

Similar to corporate culture, engagement is a product of how a company
operates. Engagement cannot be improved on its own but, indirectly, by
addressing other things.

Some common employee engagement drivers include:

Culture
Strategy, Mission & Alignment
Career Development
Direct Manager Capability

50 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Communication
Recognition
Learning and Development
Senior Leadership

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Identifying and monitoring engagement

Employee engagement can be described as the willingness

of employees to go the extra mile for an organization, not
merely out of obligation or for a paycheck, but because
work matters both personally and professionally to them.
(Boston Consulting Group)

A key indicator of performance or not?

Leadership
Development

Online surveys

Many companies have developed

strong methodologies for engagement
measurement (typically based on surveys).
Leading survey providers, including
Hay Group, Gallup, Towers Watson, and
Hewitt provide benchmarking to enable
organizations to compare themselves to
others in their industry.

Some companies hire consulting firms to

create and conduct customized surveys,
including design, communication,
administration, data analysis, and
recommended actions.

Pulse survey software enables

organizations to design, manage, deploy and
report surveys and questionnaires online.
Pulse surveys are typically a type of survey
given to employees of a company to better
gauge and evaluate employee satisfaction,
productivity, and overall attitude.

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

5 relevant elements of engagement

If engagement levels are below average or have decreased year over year in your organization, what can you do to bring the numbers to
where they should be? In the Creelman Research white paper, 5 Performance Management Tactics to Boost Employee Engagement, David
Creelman identifies five elements that are usually found in engagement measures.

1. Clarity

2. Support

3. Fit

People need to know whats expected of them at

work. How do you improve clarity? A great way
to do this is with goal setting. With organizationcentric goal management, employees throughout
the organization align their individual goals with the
organizational and/or divisional goals they support.
In this way, everyone can see themselves as part of a
larger team.

Employees need to have support the tools

and training to achieve their objectives to feel
engaged. Support is a performance issue too
easily overlooked, but as soon as we put on our
engagement glasses its staring us in the face.

Engagement changes our thinking from The

performance management process should be about
getting the employee to do the job into thinking,
We should use this as an opportunity to tune the job
to fit the employees strengths.

51 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

4. Feedback

5. Development

Feedback is the part of the performance

management cycle that you easily find in books
about the process but may have difficulty finding
in real life. Feedback is neither about praise nor
criticism; it is about saying something that an
employee finds helpful. Feedback can take many
different forms from the formal to the informal, for
example, regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings,
coaching, email, peer reviews, etc.
One of the main goals of performance management
is development. If you develop for the future,
employees will be more engaged today. You dont
have to discuss development every quarter, but
the performance appraisal process would do well
to include a semi-annual review that looks at the
employees development.

Engagement

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Engagement

Additional resources
Read on for excellent resources on engagement.
1. White paper: 5 Performance management tactics to boost
employee engagement
This Creelman Research white paper takes a closer look at
performance management and describes how organizations can
implement a best-practice process that can drive higher employee
engagement.
Download the white paper

2. Infographic: The dollars and sense of employee engagement

If your employees are only partially engaged, or worse
disengaged, its costing you money. Learn how much with this
article and great infographic.
View the infographic

3. Center of Excellence: Employee engagement

At this Center of Excellence, read some tried and true as well as
innovative approaches for improving employee engagement.
Choose from expert articles, white papers, case studies, and more.
Go to this Center of Excellence

52 | Talent Management Blueprint

Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

4. Article: Whos on first? Apply the five Ws to employee

engagement
If companies are to focus on what matters in employee
engagement, they should center their efforts on the engagement
fulcrum and the vital levers that play an essential role in successful
employee engagement. To do this well, organizations must gain
perspective by stepping back and then ensuring that theyre
responding to the fundamental questions of: who, what, where,
when, and why.
Read the article

5. Article: Guest post by Jane Sparrow: Making Engagement

Happen tips for HR
In this blog post, author and frequent CIPD speaker Jane Sparrow
discusses the five key roles managers can play to build and sustain
high performance cultures, and boost and sustain employee
engagement.
Read this blog post

Introduction
Culture

Talent
Acquisition

Performance
Management

Communication

Career
Management

Learning and
Development

Leadership
Development

Total
Rewards

Workforce
Planning

Wrapping it up
We hope youve found this resource valuable in your talent
management journey. At Halogen, our vision is to help
organizations like yours build a world-class workforce that is
aligned and engaged, and delivering exceptional results. We know
that your people can be a sustainable competitive advantage.
If youd like to access the latest thinking on each of the
talent management facets discussed here, check out
Halogens TalentSpace Blog.

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About Halogen Software

Halogen Software offers an organically built cloud-based talent management suite that reinforces and drives higher employee performance across all talent
programs whether that is recruiting, performance management, learning and development, succession planning or compensation. With over 1,750 customers
worldwide, Halogen has been recognized as a market leader by major business analysts and has garnered the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the industry.
Halogen Softwares powerful, yet simple-to-use solutions, which also include industry-vertical editions, are used by organizations that want to build a world-class
workforce that is aligned, inspired and focused on delivering exceptional results.

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53 | Talent Management Blueprint
Copyright 2014 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.

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