1. Build an Inclusive and Integrated Talent Management Strategy
Empower your people with talent management programs that engage and develop all employees.
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2. Our understanding of the problem
HR leaders who want to implement a talent management program.
Heads of talent management who are looking to be more strategic in this field.
Think strategically about all areas in the employee lifecycle and develop an agile talent management strategy.
Develop initiatives and modify talent management program offerings to align with the strategy and achieve organizational objectives.
HR professionals that support the various areas of the employee lifecycle.
Ensure that their practice supports the achievement of talent management strategy initiatives alongside their own respective goals and objectives.

3. Executive summary
Talent management is ranked as the least effective of all HR functions, and HR leaders are being tasked with solving the problem.
According to McLean & Company’s 2015 Trends and Priorities Survey, organizations are prioritizing talent management programs in 2015, as having the right talent is necessary for gaining a competitive advantage in the market.
Without a properly crafted talent management strategy, you develop ineffective programs and unnecessary administration, not talent.
An inclusive and well integrated strategy boosts effectiveness by focusing your efforts on the necessary work to develop all talent and your key players.
Competencies are the foundation of talent management and should be focused on first to achieve strategic initiatives.
Just implementing talent management programs without a strategy causes further inefficiencies and pains throughout the organization.
Talent management is something that needs to be done quickly and effectively, leading to a time crunch challenge that HR will have to reconcile.
Develop a talent management strategy that not only covers the management of key players but also the management of all levels of talent across the organization.
Work toward achieving the goals of the talent management strategy by identifying and accomplishing competency-related initiatives first.
Modify talent management program offerings to better support strategy initiatives and identify interdependencies between initiatives to ensure that the proper support is provided to facilitate them.
Solicit feedback and rescan the environment to update the strategy, but hold off on making changes for at least a year to allow for enough time to observe the impact of the strategy on the organization and how successful it is.

4. Design Your Talent Management Strategy
Phase 1
Phase 2
Design Your Talent Management Strategy
Develop, Execute, and Maintain Your Strategy
Design Your Talent Management Strategy
In this phase:
Make the case
Step 1: Conduct a needs assessment
Step 2: Prioritize initiatives and align current programs

5. Talent Management Areas
Talent management is about having the right talent, at the right time, with the right competencies
Definition: Talent management is a long-term function that provides a holistic, iterative view of all areas involving talent in the organization, including competencies, strategic workforce planning, talent assessment, and succession planning as they pertain to the entire employee lifecycle.
Talent Management Areas
Strategic Workforce Planning
Strategic workforce planning is a series of exercises that determine the gap between the current talent in the department and the talent required to meet business objectives.
Talent Assessment
Talent assessment is the identification of competencies and experiences required for success in the organization, as well as the evaluation of employees against these criteria.
Succession Planning
Succession planning is a process for proactively identifying and developing talent internally to fill key roles, as well as key individuals or job groups, within the organization.
Competencies
Competencies are the knowledge, skills, and attributes that define the behaviors that employees must exhibit to perform well in their jobs. A competency framework is a collection of critical behaviors that inform a wide range of HR areas such as screening & selection, employee development, and succession planning.
There is no magic bullet to finding the best talent – but a robust talent management strategy is one of the key tools that an HR professional should be using.
- Gail Levin; Talent Acquisition Manager, McRoberts Protective Agency

6. Talent management is ranked as the least effective HR function
Only 27% of HR respondents and 19% of non-HR respondents ranked talent management as highly effective overall.
Competencies and workforce planning, the highest rated talent management areas in terms of effectiveness, are still ranked 9% lower than the average effectiveness for all HR functions.
Succession planning was ranked as the second least effective area out of all HR functions in McLean & Company’s 2015 Trends and Priorities Survey.
Source: McLean & Company 2015 Trends and Priorities Survey, n= 408

7. Ineffective talent management inhibits organizational achievements
When talent is not properly managed or developed, the organization does not have the necessary inputs in order to achieve its current goals.
Percent that indicated the occurrence of an issue within the last 18 months
Source: American Institute of CPAs (AICPA)
This means that when talent management is ineffective, the organization cannot function properly.
Inability to reach financial targets or reduced innovation capabilities are two pains that the organization will feel if talent is not properly managed.
An inability to achieve forecasted growth is due to a lack of necessary talent in the pipeline.
Beyond causing disorganization or inefficiencies, poor talent management can result in simply not having the labor or skills in the company to capitalize on new opportunities.

8. Further, it causes organizational pain points that result in unnecessary burdens and challenges
Symptom: Wasted organizational resources because programs and processes do not communicate with each other, causing duplication of work.
Symptom: Little success and buy-in/acceptance of talent management programs because programs are not aligned, leading to conflicting messages and cannibalization of other programs’ efforts.
Result: An inability to start a major project because of limited employee buy-in, or the programs themselves do not support or incent the skills necessary to take on the major project.
Pain 1: Disconnected talent management programs and processes
Symptom: Low employee engagement from employees outside of the “exclusive” focus area.
Symptom: Turnover of core-talent employees leaving for organizations that value their talents more.
Result: Increased, avoidable costs to the organization to fill core-talent turnover, alongside lower than capable productivity from a large portion of the organization that is disengaged.
Pain 2: Narrow talent management focus
Addressing looming skills gaps was the 3rd highest emerging trend for organizations, according to McLean & Company’s 2015 Trends and Priorities Survey.
Symptom: Scrambling to address issues of talent shortages, instead of proactively planning for gaps.
Symptom: Long wait times to fill critical/core roles across the organization, leading to increased costs.
Result: A reduction in an organization’s ability to reach key financial or growth targets because employees do not have the necessary skills to complete the initiatives required to achieve goals.
Pain 3: Inability to deal with looming skill gaps

9. Emerging trend ranking
Regardless, talent management remains a strategic focus for organizations
The ineffectiveness of talent management lies in stark contrast to the emerging trends for HR:
Emerging trend ranking
(out of 45 HR trends)
Three of the top ten emerging trends for HR in were talent management related.
This means that organizations value talent management initiatives, but do not think HR is currently effective in this area.
And, talent is increasingly the way that organizations differentiate themselves to gain a competitive advantage.
This creates an opportunity for HR to deliver organizational value in an area that the organization has identified as a key priority going forward.
2nd
3rd
6th
According to PwC’s Global CEO Trends Survey:
93% of global CEOs recognize the need for talent management strategies and initiatives in order to build a strong workforce.
But only 32% have actually started or completed a talent management strategy in their organization.
11th
Percent of organizations that have either implemented or are planning to implement within 2 years
Source: McLean & Company 2015 Trends and Priorities Survey, n= 408

10. Craft a strategy that encompasses all employees in order to address organizational pain points and inefficiencies
One of the main challenges in developing a talent management strategy is defining the approach to talent management that works for your organization.
Common approaches to talent management include:
Inclusive* approach: Ensuring all employees in the company are included in some initiatives.
Executive talent pool approach: A sole focus on senior management development.
Future leaders approach: A sole focus on “high potential” employees throughout the organization.
Key roles approach: A sole focus on keeping a pipeline of talent to handle key vacancies.
McLean & Company recommends implementing a blended talent management approach, starting with a foundation in the inclusive approach and adding a secondary focus on key roles in your organization.
A focus on inclusivity and key roles will allow your organization to:
Ensure that all talent is covered and accounted for, reducing the negative impact of exclusion on employee engagement and turnover.
Integrate programs and processes within talent management and across the organization, resulting in less wasted time and resources due to duplicated work.
Provide a robust structure upon which you can develop and modify your employee value proposition (EVP) and talent acquisition strategy.
Ensure that looming skill gaps are addressed not only through talent acquisition, but also through managing, developing, and engaging talent already in your organization.
Source: AssetSkills
*Note: Inclusivity means knowing which job family/role type all employees belong to in your organization and how that fits within the overall strategy; think about your organization holistically, not just how to force-include every single person.
McLean & Co. Insight
The foundation of talent management is competencies. Strong competencies enable an organization to articulate what the “best” talent means for them, instead of spending a lot of time and resources to hire people who seem a good fit on paper but in reality are not right for organizational needs or culture.

11. A well designed talent management strategy communicates with and is informed by other strategies in the organization
All the strategies within HR need to communicate with and reference one another. This will help ensure horizontal alignment within the HR department.
In particular, the talent management strategy communicates with the HR strategy through the Strategic Workforce Plan (SWP). The SWP is set by the talent management strategy, informs the development of the HR strategy, which in turn supports the development of the updated talent management strategy.
Each strategy must also tie to organizational goals and strategy (and alter their content as needed when organizational goals change). This leads to increased vertical alignment, with all strategies working to deliver organizational value.
Employee Lifecycle-Focused
Talent-Focused
Organizational Value-Focused
Organization
Organization Strategy
HR Strategy
Talent Management Strategy
Talent Acquisition
Performance Management
Learning & Development
Total Compensation
HR Ops and Infrastructure
In some organizations, the HR and talent management strategies are combined into one document, sometimes called the “Human Capital” or “Talent” strategy. If your organization combines these strategies, then “talent management strategy” refers to the section of your overall strategy that interacts with the employee lifecycle (ELC) areas.
McLean & Co. Insight

12. McLean & Company Helps HR Professionals To:
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Develop effective talent acquisition & retention strategies
Build a high performance culture
Maintain a progressive set of HR policies & procedures
Demonstrate the business impact of HR
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