What is a talent management system?
A talent management system, or TMS, is a type of software that can help business leaders align the skills and ongoing performance of their employees with their business activities and goals.
Talent management works in partnership with business strategy, but is solely focused on developing the existing talent within an organisation, not on sourcing new employees or identifying staffing gaps that need filling.
Its main focus, therefore, is performance management and professional development. However, it can also help in succession planning by identifying personnel who may be able to move into higher roles if they undertake further training.
For example, a business goal may be to increase revenue by 5% in the next financial year. The talent management system will look at the existing skills that are held by members of the sales team, and identify what training they may need to complete to improve their skills so that they can bring in more revenue.
It may also determine the sales staff who are excelling or underperforming and identify ways in which their performance could be boosted. For example, the TMS may reveal that a sales employee has a poor sales record, however it also reveals that the employee is always rostered to work on a Monday when the number of customers is traditionally low. Based on this information, that employee can be reassigned to another shift during a busier period of the week. Or, they can be assigned other duties to complete during their shift, such as stocktake and shelf-filling, that supports the business in other ways. An excelling employee may be moved to a day of the week that may need a boost in sales, or they may be commended and urged to mentor their colleagues.
A TMS can compile reports on a range of subjects to make it easy for business leaders to analyse areas of strength or weakness, without having to cross-reference or collate information from several areas. For example, a report may list the skills currently held by employees alongside the skills that the business has identified as being required.
Talent management makes up one part of the broader human resource management challenge for businesses. There are other systems and software available that employers and managers can use to help them with their human resource management tasks, such as onboarding and recruitment.
Why is talent management important?
A business can effectively operate without a focus on talent management, however those that want to grow and flourish understand that constant improvements need to be made.
A very small business with only one or two employees may find it easy to keep track of an individual’s performance and achievements, but over time, even that can be tricky for employers to remember. At the least, a talent management system can provide a basic record to reflect back on.
For larger businesses with many employees, it makes coordination of these tasks much simpler, especially if leaders are promoted through roles and departments.
Data collection and analysis is a key method to identify those improvements.
How does a talent management system work?
A talent management system streamlines and automates many functions by replacing several software programs or integrating with existing software.
For example, it can facilitate and record successful completion of learning modules of a training course that an employee must undertake to upskill in areas directly related to their role. It can also be used to record when training has been completed for compliance reasons, such as work health and safety modules or updates to industry standards. The system can send reminders to employees and alerts to managers identifying that a course has not been completed on time. This not only ensures that training is not inadvertently overlooked but prevents managers from having to constantly ask or remind staff themselves.
A TMS can be used to track key performance indicators, connecting with other programs that can calculate such performance measurements as efficiency and improvements. For example, it can record an employee’s weekly revenue and outline changes over a period of time. It may also track how long an employee spends on a task, such as compiling a report, and outline if the process is being completed more quickly over time.
Some talent management systems can also analyse the workload of employees and identify who is available to be assigned a task as well as who is being overworked or underutilised. It can analyse an employee’s schedule to determine the tasks they have already been assigned or their working hours and delegate tasks appropriately. This can be particularly useful when staff are working remotely, when it is not so easy for a manager to determine when an employee is busy or free.
The benefits of a talent management system
One of the biggest benefits is that once the system is set up, it automatically compiles information. This can be by subject matter, such as revenue or training required by the business overall, as well as by individual. It means business progress can be tracked, but also that of the employee, regardless of whether they are transferred to another department or promoted to another role.
It also makes it easy to keep individual performance aligned with business goals. If a business goal changes, it can be updated in the system, and relevant requirements will be automatically updated for individuals. For example, if staff need to complete a new certification to keep up with industry standards, the training course can be automatically assigned to employees.
A talent management system also keeps performance development front of mind, which can help in the retention of workers. When employees feel challenged and are provided opportunities to grow and develop, they are more likely to stay in a job or with their employer. When their skills become stale or they feel underappreciated, an employee is more likely to move on to work elsewhere.
Having the data in a central location also can make it easy to identify the employees who are experienced or skilled for a promotion, or to accept or reject a request for a pay rise. For example, if an employee requests a pay rise but has not achieved the skills or requirements that warrant one, the employer has grounds to reject it. Or, the employer may decide to provide a lower increase than requested that better reflects the employee’s achievements to date.
Employees as well as managers and leaders can be granted access to the system, which provides transparency about their own performance and achievements. For example, by logging into the software themselves, an employee can be proactive in ensuring they are up-to-date with their training, keep track of how their key performance indicators measure up with requirements, and take steps themselves to make improvements. Employees also can do so at more regular intervals than the annual performance review and without their leader having to get involved.
A talent management system also can help employees identify the path required to their desired promotion or role within the company by providing insight into the skills they may want to develop in their own time.
A talent management system will take a little bit of work to set up as many details will need to be inputted. However, once it is up and running, it will run itself.
It is best that employers and business leaders try a few different software systems from various providers to find one that works for them best as there are various options on the market. Free demonstration packages are generally available from most providers.
Once they have found a talent management system they like, leaders may wonder how they ever worked without one.
