In the past, companies handled talent management as a simple cost of doing business. “Personnel” was a necessary evil– remember Dilbert’s Catbert, the Evil HR Manager? Today, talent is taking its place among finance, sales and operations as a key driver of business strategy. Just as an emphasis on Profit and Loss  drives strategy for finance, sales and operations, the same P&L implications also apply to talent.  Yesterday , David Marzo , Vice President, Solutions Architecture , The Newman Group and Frank Horvath , Principal Consultant , The Newman Group addressed that topic on a Human Capital Institute Webcast.  Dave and Frank cut through the “consultant noise” and defined what it’s all about:      

Talent Management + Talent Acquisition + Workforce Planning + Organization Effectiveness + Succession Planning + Competency Mgmt = the Right People, at the Right Time, in the Right Role, AT THE MOST ECONOMICAL COST   

We had a great webcast and here are some of the questions that you– our HCI members– asked:

How aligned are these maturity levels with People CMM?

How do you define compentcy vs skills. Another words what is the difference between skill set and competencies?

Is there a difference between designing the organization around critical roles vs. operational requirements? I’m not clear what it really means to design the organization around critical roles.

 In applying the P&L mentality to talent management, how do you recommend determining ROI on talent quantitatively (specific to training and, on a separate note, project based role)? What factors are most important when considering talent ROI?

 Do you find that HR execs are able to convey this “big picture” end to end TM focus, or do they still get hung up on facets, like OD, training, etc?

 What are some of the key business measures that you have recommended to your clients?

 You mentioned early in the presentation that some large organizations are doing workforce planning very well. We have been looking at this topic for some time and have not seen anyone of our size ($16bil/85k employees) who is doing it well or in a systematic way. Can you comment on how they are doing workforce planning?

Great questions, HCI members. Let’s discuss! 

                          

 

 

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