Nurturing and retaining talent at workplace

While business was created for the purpose of monetary benefit, corporations need to remember that without employees, businesses would cease to exist. Recognising and developing talent within the organisation can bring in real benefits to a company by generating tangible amount of enthusiasm, motivation and commitment, all of which are essential to the business. If talent is nurtured effectively, it will bring the business
strategy to life and help in driving the organisation’s mission and goals.

Nurturing talent within the organisation improves quality and productivity. It ensures a reliable knowledge base regarding the organisation’s processes, policies and procedures, alignment with the organisation’s culture and improves work efficiency. It is critical to retain talent from the cost perspective too, as estimates suggest that losing a middle manager costs an organisation up to 100 per cent of his salary! It becomes all the more imperative to value employees and offer an environment where everyone can aspire for excellence. Developing and retaining talent has become quite critical as its success depends heavily upon professional skills that can be difficult to find since they are highly knowledge-based and creative professionals such as skilled editors with an academic background in languages, science and the arts, designers, Photoshop artists, and the like. Today, there is a clear need for trained professionals in different areas such as commissioning, editing, production, design, sales and marketing.

It is important to employ a variety of techniques rather than just one particular approach to develop talent. Besides having various HR tools such as Performance Management System and Training and Development, it is extremely important to provide an environment which is motivating and comfortable, and conducive for creativity, innovation and development.

To spot talent early, include psychometric evaluation in the recruitment process, which examines verbal and numerical reasoning (among other skills), and also looks at personality traits and the capacity to excel. The first step towards retaining your talent base is finding the best possible people who can fit within your culture and contribute to your organisation - is a challenge and an opportunity. Bring in a diversity of talent, which is very much needed in the current dynamic business environment.

Effective Communication

Effective communication increases job satisfaction and employee engagement. It is critical that employees are communicated about the company’s developments, future plans, and responses to competitors. Such communications lead to greater employee understanding of key business issues and provide increased employee feedback up the hierarchical ladder. Various platforms such as staff meetings addressed by the management team and monthly committee meetings facilitate two-way communication. Today, we operate in a global environment and it is crucial that we provide global exposure to our employees, helping them in building the right level of connections and synergies across a team that operates from different parts of the world. This kind of work experience is valuable for developing global competencies that promote organisational effectiveness and individual career success. Employees need opportunities to work on different projects with new technologies, as it helps them demonstrate their hidden talent, tap their capacity to shoulder new responsibilities and pushing their boundaries into new areas. In India, we deal with a younger workforce full of energy and high ambition. They look for handling responsibilities early in their career and are not satisfied unless they are in a work environment that supports their continued growth.

Performance Management System and Feedback Mechanism

Measuring and managing employee performance remains crucial part in nurturing talent. Performance indicators enable us to understand whether or not people are thriving in their jobs. If they are not, they could be bored, in the wrong job altogether, or may lack access to the support, resources, or skills needed to tackle the tasks they have been given. A robust Performance Management System supports an effective feedback mechanism.

Timely feedback gives employees the right direction and morale boost. Right and objective feedback creates a culture of continuous improvement.

A 360 degree feedback system for the managerial staff helps to ensure continuous improvement and development.

Evaluation and Development

It is valuable to evaluate employees’ capability levels and their potential to grow. Assessing individuals through a range of tasks helps in determining their potential for advancement within the context of the organisation’s goals.

Creating the right environment, developing leadership skills among team members, and gathering feedback from employees are the keys to success in any organisation.

(Aparna Sharma is Managing Director of Dorling Kindersley India and Sheetal Soni is Manager-People at Dorling Kindersley)