Gareth Chick, director at business consultancy Spring Partnerships, has devised a new approach to talent management called ‘Lifestyle Choice Employment’. He believes it is time for a big change, so that the focus is on the employees themselves.

Talent management means different things to different companies. In the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development’s ‘Learning and Development’ survey in 2006, only 20 per cent of companies had a formal definition of what constituted talent management and the remaining majority had a difference of opinion.

Perhaps it is little wonder why there are a myriad of approaches adopted by companies in the UK, when it comes to recruiting, developing and trying their hardest to retain their ‘talent’.

Talent is a mixture of an employee’s skills, their knowledge and their future potential; it is a very complex thing and the hardest thing of all is to understand what motivates this talent, and then how to hang on to it. Companies are getting it wrong because they are applying a ‘one size fits all’ approach to developing their employees.

Organisations tend to slip up in the recruitment phase. Deciding who to employ is one of the most critical decisions a company can make and it is vital they get it right. This means only selecting employees that aspire to your company’s brand and reputation from the outset. If your business sells luxury goods, then it will only thrive if you employ people who really care about the brand and who are proud of their association to that brand.

At the interview stage, it is crucial that organisations try to accurately assess the candidate enthusiasm for the brand. The question ‘why do you want to work for us?’ should not be glossed over; it is really important.

Equally, if a company wants to attract the top ‘talent’ it needs, everything about its recruitment processes need to mirror its brand image and re-enforce the messages of quality it portrays in its consumer advertising or messaging. Every part of the interview process should tell the candidate to expect the very highest standard and the interviews should leave the candidate feeling inspired, even if they don’t win the job.

The selection process should also be rigorous. Candidates should be put through their paces, because only then can a company truly distinguish attitude, ambition, skill sets and personal values. The process should tease out hidden potential – enabling employers to spot the extraordinary where no one has seen it before and certainly before the candidate is aware themselves.

Innovative induction

Once the candidate is in place, the induction is the next milestone. It needs to be thorough, consistent and innovative, and should exceed the expectations of the employee. This process should set the foundation for the company’s ‘Lifestyle Choice Employment’ – where you begin to understand the employee and put in place the groundwork for their future development.

The induction should introduce the company’s culture and philosophy firmly – whilst it is not a cult, it should be made clear that the culture is non negotiable. This is also an important opportunity for the employer to talk through any concerns that may have arisen during the recruitment process, which should ensure that potentially ‘difficult’ conversations over attitude or behaviour are never a problem.

Training and development is a must. However, training delivery must be in the hands of people who have a long-term investment and commitment to the company brand and it should be conducted within a culture of continual learning. It should be a team activity where positive feedback from peers is encouraged. When feedback is immediate, it is easier to reflect on that activity. Again, training should be tailored to the needs of the individual and not depending on the length of service or what training his or her peers are undertaking.

Rewards and recognition are important factors in retaining talent, but rewards need to be tailored to individual employees. A dream reward could be a weekend away for a young salesman, but a baby-sitting and logistical nightmare for a married man or women juggling small children. Rewards should be aligned to personal growth and learning. Recognition should continually change if it is to be fresh and meaningful.

Get the appraisal right

Appraisals are an important tool in the talent management mix, but so many companies get them wrong because they are universally seen as a management chore. Often, line managers end up with the responsibility of giving appraisals – they generally do not have the HR skills and the whole process is just an added pressure that they could do without.

The problem is that employees quickly pick up on this ambivalence and they soon lose respect for the system. Instead, appraisals should be motivational experience, carried out by a skilled professional, with the line manager present and contributing. Appraisals should be simple, and encourage coaching. Employees should be encouraged to appraise themselves and to give feedback to their team mates.

Lifestyle employment choices, however, do not mean a job for life; it is a very different thing. Attrition can be a good thing when new talent is needed in an organisation and every company needs fresh blood to be truly excellent.

But, companies are losing good people because they are not looking after them, failing to provide the right opportunities, and not creating the right environment in which they can flourish.

The cost of attrition is immense – in terms of the quantifiable costs of recruitment, paying for notice period and in retraining new staff. The largest cost of all is the performance decline when new recruits are getting up to speed and, often, the irreplaceable knowledge that has left the organisation.

One thing to remember is that people have a real desire to do work that is valued and really contributes to a special cause; they want to work in an environment that lifts their spirits; they want to be proud of themselves and have a boss they admire and emulate. However, everyone is an individual with different lifestyle needs at different times and if companies really want to retain their ‘talent’ they need to be flexible and open to these changes. One size certainly does not fit all.