Build a talent pool

With an increasingly competitive labour market that favours top candidates, the implications for businesses in terms of attracting, developing and retaining exceptional performers are becoming a harsh reality. Talent management is crucial to delivering on your wider organisational strategy, particularly if that strategy includes growth (organic or aspirational).

The Institute of Directors recently released their annual director sentiment survey with directors indicating concern around talent pipelines as a driver for growth. Over 60 percent identified a tight labour market as the biggest impediment to delivering on economic performance, with a further 28 percent seeing it as a risk within their own organisation.

This uncertainty requires a rethink of the approach to talent management – a broad term to describe the required human capital for an organisation and the planning to meet those needs. This needs to be led from the top – even with robust practices, a talent management strategy that lacks senior leader support will likely fail.

Here are four top tips to refocus your efforts on building a talent pool that lets your business deliver on its wider strategic objectives.

First and foremost, leverage the people resource you already have in your business, with a focus on diversity and inclusion. What are you currently doing within your business to develop and grow the professional capability of your rising stars? If you are pursuing any sort of growth strategy, having talent in your business to lead and deliver these projects is critical.

Irrespective of whether you have plans to recruit right now, factor in replacement hires and the predictable career-related New Year’s resolutions and you’ll clearly see the benefit in having immediate access to high calibre talent, when the need arises. Market and talent mapping is a proactive way of looking at the current employment and organisational trends in your industry, ensuring you are better equipped to make crucial employment decisions.

Paying a premium to attract top talent is no longer a given. Offering flexible working arrangements whether its place, hours or days, is increasingly being utilised as a tool to increase productivity and employee satisfaction. Workplace flexibility is an option that appeals across the generational divide – baby boomers through to Gen Z’s put a premium on it.

If you are struggling to find the skills you need in your business, widen your search to include geographies outside of the country. New Zealand has a lot of appeal, particularly for expats looking to return home. Advances in digital recruitment platforms also mean that for most recruiters, we have top global talent at our finger tips.

“People are our most valuable asset” – it’s a phrase that you hear quite often in the corporate space. If growth is part of your strategy, then you have little hope of achieving it, without having access to the right people for your business.

If your business needs assistance with identifying, assessing and developing talent, as well as creating a market and talent map, we can help with that.

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