Talent in its simplest term refers to natural aptitude or skill possessed by an individual, the possession of which makes the individual also a talent himself.

Ideally, talent management is a key role of the role of Human resources in a company aside from other roles such as employee relations management, talent acquisition or recruitment, payroll and onboarding.

Talent management is key to keeping your organization moving ever closer to its goals and it involves constantly attracting and retaining high-quality employees, developing their skills, and continuously motivating them to improve their performance.

The primary purpose of talent management is to create a motivated workforce who will stay with your company in the long run. The exact way to achieve this will differ from company to company.

Your employees (talents) are the most important asset of your company and if well managed, help you maximize the value of employees.

It is however not enough for a company to recruit and manage talents, it will be of greater good to grow one. Providing options for learning and opportunities for upskilling and reskilling are ways individuals’ talents can be grown.

Ifeoma Martins was on Signals with Adewunmi Oshodi to discuss “Growing & Managing Talents”

Talent according to her refers to the people you have in your organization, everybody who contributes to an organization. She classified talents into blossoming talents (talents that need to be developed) or plug-and-play talents. People who are the most important resources in an organization are referred to as the talents and they determine the success or otherwise of the organization.

Management of talent is not taken as seriously as it should in Africa because of the availability of many talents. Talent development comes from a lot of training, a lot of mentorships, encouragement, discipline, adjustment to time, and space to bring them to a point where they can deliver.

Proper management of talents cut across the board, from top to bottom so to earn you good returns on investment.

Growing and managing talents should not be left to HR alone, it is also the responsibility of the CEO to grow and manage talents. The task requires leadership development exercises and performance coaching hence, the CEO who makes sure that the strategy of the business is implemented on a day-to-day or quarterly basis, comes on board. Assessing how a business has performed daily or quarterly is dependent on the efficiency of the CEO. 

SKILL CONCEPT

There are seven steps for companies to manage and grow talent and it starts with identifying the people you need which is followed by attracting people who fit your need. Onboarding and organizing work come in before the organization now commences the learning and development process. It is necessary to assess the performances of the talents after which the organization makes modalities for retaining the best and as well improving on others.

The major challenge for companies to grow and manage talents is the fear that they can leave at any time, that is why strategizing to retain them is very important. Plan B against losing talents is to plan for succession. For any organization that engages in growing talent, it will not be hard to find a replacement should a talent leave because the structure already established for talent growth will favour that.

On talent discovery for an individual, Martins advised that one needs to admit being a talent and then place yourself in a position of bidding for what you want. Talent discovery entails Personal development, it is not about certificates but knowledge gotten and how you can put that to work when given the opportunity. Explore opportunities to enhance what you have just learned and keep growing.