On talent management....continued..

Steve picks up my blog query "What Exactly Is Talent Management?"and points me to some great resources to add to my ever-growing RSS reader list.

He refers me to Jim Holinchek's posts All Talent Management All of the Time and CEO Views of Talent Management, as well as Don Taylor's definition.

So I am left with a question...is talent management what HR wants to be when it grows up?

I certainly think so. If we are talking about managing people and capabilities to reach business goals as the objective of Talent Management then isn't that the overall goal of HR?

So is Talent Management just old wine in a new bottle?

I think not. From what I sense, there is some way in which the philosophy of Talent Management might be different from traditional HR. It's not about getting a one size fits all strategy. It's about putting the needs of the individual up front and in center of your processes. Or as the Evil HR lady says "what is the size of your gas mask?"

If Talent Management makes HR flexible and in tune with the needs of both the individual and the organization, then I am all for it !

Six years ago I attended a Management Development Programme that the OD doyen of India, Prof. Udai Pareek was facilitating. There was a Compensation Manager from a firm in the program who kept complaining that her organization constantly reworked policies to suit various individuals and the HR people were always trying to figure out what the updated policy was.

Prof. Pareek replied "If your organizations puts the people interest before the needs of the process then that is the holy grail of HR" or words to that effect.

From that day the way I've viewed my role in HR very differently :-)