Identifying Top Talent in Your Organization: What Are the Best Methods and Approaches?

Dear all,

Good afternoon!

I am working as an HR Consultant and request your views on the following point: "How can we identify the top talent in the whole organization?" or "What could be the different ways/paths/methods of identifying the top talent in the whole organization?"

Through brainstorming, we felt that Competency Mapping may be one way to move ahead. However, personally, I am not sure how to proceed further with this method.

I am hoping that my issue will be resolved with your valuable views. I am awaiting your responses.

Thanks in advance.

Warm regards,
Sravani.

Hi,

The topic is very challenging. Here are some of my views on it:

There would be 5 stages to it:

1. Define the competencies for operating the organization successfully.

2. The competencies can be further categorized based on levels/grades in the organization. (e.g., Say Communication is one of the competencies; then define the level of communication required at top management, middle management, and junior management.)

3. Identify the behavioral indicators for each level of competency.

4. After the competency mapping is complete, you may evaluate the individuals in the organization based on the behavioral indicators defined in step 3. For this, you may use interview tools, business games.

5. The outcome of the assessment should be categorized based on the understanding of the following for each competency level:

a) General principles/Process

b) Reaction to uncertainty

c) Approach to each task

d) Generating solutions

e) Overall approach and attitude towards rules

f) First action on a problem

The result would provide you with the current top talent and also guide in the grooming of future talent.

Regards.

Hi Kaamitsingh,

The topic is very challenging. Here are some of my views on it. There would be 5 stages to it:

1. Define the competencies for operating the organization successfully.
2. The competencies can be further categorized based on levels/grade in the organization. For example, if Communication is one of the competencies, then define the level of communication required at the Top management, middle management, and junior management.
3. Identify the behavioral indicators for each level of competency.
4. After the competency mapping is complete, you may evaluate the individuals in the organization based on the behavioral indicators defined in step 3. For this, you may use interview tools and business games.
5. The outcome of the Assessment should be categorized on the understanding of the following for each competency level:
a) General principles/Process
b) Reaction to uncertainty
c) Approach to each task
d) Generating solutions
e) Overall approach and attitude towards rules
f) First action on a problem

The result would provide you with the current top talent and also guide in grooming future talent.

Regards.

Hi Mr. Kaamith,

Thank you for the immediate and effective response. If I am not wrong, the steps you provided are all about carrying out further competency mapping. Is that correct? If yes, presently we are provided with job descriptions and performance appraisal data from 2004-05 (latest appraisals have not taken place yet) for different positions in the organization. So, how do we use this data and where do we begin?

I think that the 1st step you stated can be completed from the available job descriptions. Can we complete step 4 from the available performance appraisal data? Please clarify.

Once these queries are resolved, I will get back to you for steps 3 and 5. :) Don't mind otherwise. Please guide me through it.

Warm Regards,
Sravani S.

Sravani,

There exists a parallel way of doing it. If you have a psychologist on board, analyze the behavioral set of successful hires in your organization. Then use statistics (correlation/regression, etc.) to reach the common behavioral set. The time spent on both mapping competence and psychoanalysis would be equally long.

Suryavrat

Hi Sravani,

You are right, the initial step is competency mapping, where you identify competencies and behavioral indicators for above-average or excellent performance for a given job.

The job description (JD) is very important for competency mapping. You would be required to use a combination of JD, interview methods, and observation. The combination of the three would give you a strong base to build the competency mapping.

After you have completed the competency mapping for all the jobs, you need to assess your employees based on these competencies using a matrix of behavioral indicators and the points in step 5. You would require an expert to analyze the data.

The process could be expensive, but having experts in your organization would be beneficial.

Regarding the Performance Management System (PMS) data, it is an important source of performance indicators. If you have ratings for at least three years (ideally five), you may be able to identify star performers. With only one year of data, the results may be heavily biased and not reliable.

However, the PMS is designed to identify top talent and reward performance.

Since assessing all employees using the assessment tool is time-consuming and costly, you may utilize the PMS data to evaluate those with very good and excellent ratings. Assuming you have a rating scale of unsatisfactory, needs improvement, good, very good, and excellent.

May I ask, what is your reason for identifying top talent?

Regards,

Hi Mr. Surya,

Thank you for your immediate response. Yes, from a different viewpoint, maybe a psychologist could help in the process, but we don't have any such person available on the board. Moreover, I am individually responsible for this entire project and need to move forward with it.

Regards,
Sravani

Hi Mr. Amit,

Thanks for your direction and support. As said, I have identified the organizational competencies and also competencies required for each level. Now, could you guide me on assigning behavioral indicators for each competency? For example, "Ability to identify the client's requirements" is an identified skill for Jr. consultants. So how do I assign a behavioral indicator for the same?

Please guide.

Regards,
Sravani

Hi Sravani,

Please find attached a document with key competencies and the relevant behavioral indicators.

Usually, competencies are defined, and then the competency is categorized into levels with behavioral indicators. For example, if Business Acumen is a competency, it would further have four levels and their respective behavioral indicators as elaborated below:

Level 1:
1. Manages growth and seeks to expand market share
2. Creates a hunger for business success throughout the organization
3. Sets trends; comes up with new commercial concepts

Level 2:
1. Demonstrates an awareness of financial issues affecting the organization
2. Focuses on delivering strong bottom-line results

Level 3:
1. Uses hard facts and objective data to win a point
2. Thinks from the broad organizational perspective, not just own function

Level 4:
1. Seeks inputs from other departments/functions on a day-to-day basis

Once all the levels are defined with behavioral indicators, you need to assign the competency level to each job.

For example, if VP Operations is one of the jobs, then on Business Acumen Competency, he would be at, say, level 2.

I hope this is clear. If you need any clarification, please let me know.

Regards,

Hi Mr. Amit,

It's been a long time since I have been responding to you. I am sorry for that. I was a little busy with other PMS projects, and the CM project was put on hold for some time.

The document that you posted was quite useful for me as it gave me the basic understanding of moving ahead with the project. Since it had been put on hold for some client-related reasons, I was stopped in setting the indicators for the identified competencies.

Thank you so much for the guidance provided. Once the project begins, I will be discussing the same with you again.

Thanks & Regards,
Sravani