THE HINDU

Talent management
IT TAKES Talent to spot Talent! A tone deaf will never be able to appreciate the music of maestros. Only a
seasoned jeweller would know that all that glitters is not real! And, only those who can recognise the worth of a
diamond can value it, for others it's just a stone! Talent is doing easily what others find difficult.

In an organisation, there is nothing more crucial than fitting the right employee in the right position. Or else you
would be trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. When people do jobs that just don't suit their liking, inclination
or temperament, the results, or rather the lack of them, will be disastrously obvious. Low productivity,
dissatisfaction, low morale, absenteeism and other negative behaviour will become typical till the employee is
shown the door. Or perhaps, there is another option - Talent Management.

Talent management implies recognising a person's inherent skills, traits, personality and offering him a matching
job. Every person has a unique talent that suits a particular job profile and any other position will cause discomfort.

It is the job of the Management, particularly the HR Department, to place candidates with prudence and caution. A
wrong fit will result in further hiring, re-training and other wasteful activities.

No matter how inspiring the Leaders are, they are only as effective as their team. A team's output is healthy only if
the members are in sync. To achieve such harmony, the key ingredient is "putting the right people in the right jobs".

While there is no magic formula to manage talent, the trick is to locate it and encourage it.

Talent Management is beneficial to both the organisation and the employees. The organisation benefits from:
Increased productivity and capability; a better linkage between individuals' efforts and business goals; commitment
of valued employees; reduced turnover; increased bench strength and a better fit between people's jobs and skills.
Employees benefit from: Higher motivation and commitment; career development; increased knowledge about and
contribution to company goals; sustained motivation and job satisfaction.

So, how does an organisation effectively manage talent?

Recognise talent: Notice what do employees do in their free time and find out their interests. Try to discover their
strengths and interests. Also, encourage them to discover their own latent talents. For instance, if an employee in the
operations department convincingly explains why he thinks he's right even when he's wrong, consider moving him
to sales!

Attracting Talent: Good companies create a strong brand identity with their customers and then deliver on that
promise. Great employment brands do the same, with quantifiable and qualitative results. As a result, the right
people choose to join the organisation.

Selecting Talent: Management should implement proven talent selection systems and tools to create profiles of the
right people based on the competencies of high performers. It's not simply a matter of finding the "best and the
brightest," it's about creating the right fit - both for today and tomorrow.

Retaining Talent: In the current climate of change, it's critical to hold onto the key people. These are the people
who will lead the organisation to future success, and you can't afford to lose them.

The cost of replacing a valued employee is enormous. Organisations need to promote diversity and design strategies
to retain people, reward high performance and provide opportunities for development.
Managing Succession: Effective organisations anticipate the leadership and talent requirement to succeed in the
future. Leaders understand that it's critical to strengthen their talent pool through succession planning, professional
development, job rotation and workforce planning. They need to identify potential talent and groom it.

Change Organisation Culture: Ask yourself, "Why would a talented person choose to work here?" If the
organisation wishes to substantially strengthen its talent pool, it should be prepared to change things as fundamental
as the business strategy, the organisation structure, the culture and even the calibre of leaders in the organisation.

A rightly managed talent turns out to be a Gold Mine. It's inexhaustible and priceless. It will keep supplying wealth
and value to the organisation.

In turn, Management needs to realise its worth, extract it, polish it and utilise it. Don't hoard Talent- spend it
lavishly, like a millionaire flashing his luxuries, because Talent is Wealth!
Entrepreneurship and Talent Management: The Future of
India
Startups in India are redefining HR management practices. The risk-reward perspective is in

India is well known for its entrepreneurial and highly-educated talent base, and is the third
largest pool of scientists, engineers and technicians, after the US and Russia.

More and more attention is being paid to how it will continue to develop its intellectual and
managerial talent and management practices in order to achieve an international standard that
will take it into the future. The country’s centuries-old history of entrepreneurship across almost
every industry sector has been founded on its people’s sound business fundamentals and
passionate commitment to success.

This article will quickly outline the competencies of top executives at startups today, and the
high level of innovation and creativity required amongst HR practitioners seeking to attract and
retain top talent to drive the success of nascent organizations in a globalizing Indian
environment.

Profile of Successful Entrepreneurs

Many startups need help identifying their true talent needs and communicating a compelling
vision to potential candidates. A focus on an executive’s mindset, as it relates to their technical
and managerial skills, will unveil characteristics that are mission-critical for startups compared to
more established companies.

Specifically, it is essential to find individuals with:

1. a high level of innovation management to create the new and different;

2. a high degree of personal commitment and courage in the face of seemingly impossible
odds—requiring optimism and resilience not to get deflected by the extent of rejection
and skepticism that they will inevitably face;
3. personal flexibility and the ability to inspire others around a well defined vision and
purpose; and
4. the energy and drive to operate and deliver results in an inherently disorderly and chaotic
environment, executing in the absence of an external “organizational” support structure
for the daily routine and mundane tasks necessary to meet the bottom line.

Without these traits, otherwise sound and capable executives are rendered completely ineffective
in a startup environment. But the challenge doesn’t stop there—after finding people with these
criteria, it is critical for HR managers to take the time to assess their cultural and other fitment
with the medium- to long-term strategy of the company. While during the initial stages of
operation the cultures of one startup will be quite similar to another, over time they will become
more differentiated as the businesses mature, requiring senior managers who embody the
corporate ethos.
Attracting and Keeping the Best People
Many startups believe that they are in competition with
established big brand companies for the best people, which is
often an erroneous assumption. In fact, the profile described
above of people who aspire to join startups are vastly different
from those who want to be part of an established big brand
company. In fact, the real competition is from other startups
with the ability to attract and retain these potential candidates.

People who join startups typically have a greater risk-reward

appetite that translates into their looking for a reward that is
commensurate with the risk they perceive. As a result, they
expect a certain level of fixed compensation and base pay,
combined with some “sweat equity” linked directly to their
contribution, either in the form of performance bonus or
stocks.

But beyond compensation considerations, companies must

recognize that entrepreneurial employees need to continuously feel involved and engaged during
the ebbs and flows of business cycles, and to accord them with a clear sense of involvement and
benchmarks for success. Large corporations afford an opportunity to work in an environment that
mitigates external business risk factors while providing the advantages of scale and size.
However, those who opt to work for startups typically like to challenge the status quo, creating
something new and different in an environment that is perceived to be “quick and agile” rather
than “safe and steady.”

Recognizing all of these factors, some of the most successful startups have employed the
following practices to attract and retain talent in the face of any initial hurdles they may face in
terms of branding or financing:

 Being upfront and honest about the challenges;

 Using referrals to identify like-minded candidates;
 Marketing themselves as affiliated with recognized brands by virtue of investors,
advisory board or business partners/alliances;
 Ensuring the founders are true role models;
 Recognizing that the earlier an employee joins the new venture, the greater the risk-
reward at stake is; and
 Not paying lip service to “sharing the gains,” but actually committing to doing so.

New and fresh approaches to talent management like these will enable India to sustain its
tradition of entrepreneurship well into the future.

“You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link. This is but
half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link.” - Kahlil Gibran