Johan Wasserfall, CEO of Eduloan, South Africa's exclusive education fund enabler, provides some pertinent insight into the importance and long-term benefits of a focused, balanced and sustainable talent management programme...
At the onset of the global economic crisis, companies were pushed to reassess positioning and spend - expansion and development ideas were curtailed, market share was lost and retrenchments became an all too common occurrence as corporates tried to survive whilst still remaining competitive. We have a unique situation in South Africa in that whilst we are struggling to cope with volatile markets, serious skills shortages still exist. Showing valuable employees the door is leaving companies without the vital skills required to either deal with the current economic turbulence or to pick up the slack once we start to ride the inevitable upswing.
Retaining Skills = Growth
This was recently evidenced by results from Grant Thornton's 2009 International Business Report, which showed that 41% of private businesses in South Africa view lack of skills in the workforce as the biggest inhibitor to business growth. Along with this, a shortage of skills has been recognised as a key blockage to the government's desired 6% per annum economic growth rate envisaged to reduce unemployment and contribute to a better quality of life for all South Africans.
In light of this, corporate South Africa is fast becoming wise to the fact that it is far better to focus on the human capital they have by investing in upskilling and training initiatives to cover any current or anticipated skills shortages. In this way, companies will not be left high and dry in terms of productivity and service-delivery levels once the economy picks up, as has happened so many times in the past. This is the perfect time for human resources departments to have a long, hard look at their employees, in conjunction with their skills-gaps, and isolate which employees may be steered in the direction of filling these gaps in preparation for the future. While many businesses struggle to cope by implementing short-term business and human resource planning, those businesses that forge through and successfully adopt medium-to-long-term planning strategies ensure their place as strong market leaders for years to come.
Managing Talent
The inclusion of an extensive and thorough talent management strategy is a key factor in preparing for the economic climate ahead. A review of existing and potential talent is crucial, as unnecessary staff reductions could prove to be an expensive tactic, given the costs of recruitment and loss of productivity and expertise. Whilst many organisations and companies acknowledge that their staff is their biggest asset, many are ineffective in leveraging this talent and maximising their potential. The lack of a globally defined structure for the implementation of such a programme is an identified shortfall in the inclusion of such measures in business planning, as is the misunderstanding of what a talent management programme should involve. To put it in a nutshell, Nancy Lockwood, author of ‘Talent Management: Driver for Organisational Success' (SHRM Research Quarterly 2006), defines talent management as: "...the implementation of integrated strategies or systems designed to increase workplace productivity by developing and improving processes for attracting, developing, retaining and utilising people with the required skills and aptitude to meet current and future business needs."
Simply put, a talent management strategy would align the best people with the right jobs at the right time. When approached holistically, the successful integration of a talent management programme should align with your company's targets, individual areas of expertise and envisioned market expectations. There are no set standards, no ‘how to' guides and certainly no one-size-fits-all answers; the development and practice of a talent management strategy falls solely on the organisation, its HR department and the staff it wishes to develop and refine.
SA Talent Needs Attention
Obtaining assistance in conceptualising and implementing a successful talent management programme would be a wise and profitable move for any company in the long run. For example, the Wits Business School's Leadership Development Centre recently ran a talent management programme specific to the current human resource and economic activity landscape in South Africa. In the course, they examined issues such as:
- executive coaching;
- generational theories;
- the learning agilities of industries and organisations;
- the integration of theoretical application of the ideal talent management processes.
According to Natalie Withuhn, Director of the programme, recent research revealed that:
- 54% of corporates cite an inability to develop people into great executives as a major obstacle in strengthening their talent pool;
- 57% of managers believe their company does not develop people quickly and effectively enough;
- managers who feel that their company develops them poorly are five times more likely to leave than people who feel their company develops them well; and
- 57% of managers who intend to leave their current employer in the next two years cite insufficient learning opportunities as a critical or very important reason for leaving.
In light of this, it is vital for companies to find ways to develop and manage their talent, both professionally and personally, in order to keep them happy and keep them with the company. A climate that fosters mentorship, coaching, feedback and development and alignment of strengths will ensure the company's values are reflected from the inside out and that people are doing the work optimal for their and the company's success and are able to continually develop into strong leaders able to withstand, meet and transmute any challenges.
Talent Streams
Many organisations opt to focus their talent management programmes on two streams:
- one for ‘emerging talent', those young graduates and new managers whose skills, capabilities and personalities are identified as being able to be groomed into leadership positions;
- one for ‘executive talent', older leaders who have years of invaluable finely honed skills and experiential learnings at their fingertips, but need to embrace fresh strategic and operational awareness in order to ‘move with the times' and remain pertinent to the company.
One of the common factors across many talent management strategies in any industry is the upskilling and training of key staff members who are identified as important elements in the future successes of the business. While a costly exercise, there are solid overlap benefits to upskilling: not only do companies efficiently narrow their skills-gaps; it has been shown that levels of employee-loyalty are noticeably increased by virtue of companies providing upskilling and assistance to deserving employees, leading to a decrease in workplace boredom and absenteeism and concurrent increase in workplace morale, productivity and profit.
Enable Education
The government itself, in an effort to narrow the critical skills gap, has indicated that it hopes to increase enrollments at SA's Further Education and Training colleges from the estimated 470,000 students enrolled as at 2007 to more than 1 million by 2015. Businesses are coming to the party by providing resources and assistance to those employees earmarked as being able to contribute to covering internal skills-gaps. Many companies are either paying for the total cost of their employees education or offering incentivised studies, for example by offering to cover tuition costs for students who obtain good passes in their training in skills-shortfalls areas.
Even companies not directly paying for their staff's upskilling are making the process easier for them in various ways - one of these ways is by arranging their funding, such as via Eduloan's administration arrangements whereby the applicable loan repayments are deducted directly from the salaries of studying staff-members and paid straight over to the relevant institution each month. Businesses are also becoming more sensitive to their studying employees' work-study-life balance by providing adequate study-leave, flexi-hours and access to company resources in order to enable the growth of the skills-set of each employee. At the end of the day, this all translates to happier employees and subsequently a happier - and more productive - workplace.
Nurture Your Talent
Despite the tough economic climate, there has never been a better time to invest in your staff through a strong and focused talent management programme. Rewarding, building and growing staff through personal motivation and professional education ensures long-term benefits that far outweigh any financial investment. By investing wisely in your talent now, when the economic upswing arrives, your company will come out shining, with a team of skilled and capable staff able to take on the challenges of a dynamic business environment.
Eduloan is South Africa's exclusive education fund enabler and a company committed to contributing meaningfully to the social and economic upliftment of South Africa through education. Employers exploring education assistance for their employees in 2010 should act quickly now so that the process is streamlined and their students are registered from the beginning of the New Year. For more information call Eduloan's Client Services Department on 0860-55-55-44 or visit: www.eduloan.co.za.
Editorial Contact:
Jessica Wheeler
Kezi Communications (Pty) Ltd
Tel: 011 616 1860
jess@kezi.co.za
http://www.kezi.co.za/
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