A talent review is a fantastic way to identify top-quality employees in your company. These reviews have become increasingly popular in the business world, for small and large organizations alike.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are always well executed. In some instances, the process can be unnecessarily complex, lacking in leadership, or hindered by vague definitions.
To conduct a successful talent review, here are some best practices to follow. But before we dive in, let’s explore what exactly a talent review is.
What Is a Talent Review?
A talent review refers to when the management team of a company meets to discuss their employee’s performance.
This process is helpful in mapping out the talent requirements of the company, and it builds an understanding of what positions will suit employees in the future.
Talent reviews can identify which of your employees could fill potential vacancies and highlight what they are good at, as well as what skills they may lack. The talent review meeting may also uncover the need for new positions in the future.
So essentially, a talent review enables your company to make more strategic talent decisions. You can see which employees are ready to move to a higher-level position and identify talent gaps that you need to fill ahead of a vacancy.
However, be careful not to confuse talent reviews and performance reviews. Performance reviews specifically focus on the performance of employees, whereas talent reviews look at the bigger picture for your organization.
5 Best Practices for Effective Talent Reviews
Let’s take a look at some useful guidelines and top tips to ensure your talent review process is effective.
1. Keep Talent Reviews Flexible
It’s important to have a clear understanding of where your business is, and the direction it’s going. You can gain this insight through talent review meetings. They give you an idea of where talent gaps lie and which employees are able to fill key positions and become future leaders at your company.
When scheduling talent review meetings, flexibility should be a priority. These meetings should be held as needed, rather than treated as annual events.
2. Don’t box employee potential
The way your company measures employee potential may be unique, or it may follow a technique like the 9 box. While being able to define employee potential is important, your method may be limiting. It might not actually measure what the employee’s true capabilities are.
Examples of data you should gather include overall performance, KPI’s, strengths, progress/growth made since joining the company, and achievement of goals.
Collecting this information will put the management team in good stead in terms of identifying strengths and weaknesses in the business.
Also, look out for any reasons the employee may leave the company in the future. This will allow you to identify potential areas of improvement in the business, and improve employee retention and morale along the way.
3. Conduct talent reviews throughout the businesses
Talent reviews shouldn’t be limited to high-level positions in the company. It may be tempting to save time by conducting talent reviews on a finite number of employees – however, this isn’t best for the company.
While you don’t need to discuss every position, it’s important to consider positions at all levels. Keeping attention on high-level roles ignores the fact that there are many positions that are integral to the future of the company.
Looking at different levels of the company allows you to identify talent in lower levels and develop those positions in the future.
An employee in an entry-level position may have the skills and potential to lead a team in the future. If this employee is not offered development opportunities, they may find a position at another organization where they feel more appreciated and valued.
4. Use the right software
There is no need for the talent review process to be overly labor intensive or unnecessarily time-consuming. Utilizing a tool that aids in data collection and scheduling can be a big help. The best tool will generally help you to keep in line with the best practices for these reviews.
A company-wide software tool will also make data sharing easier and information more accessible. This will allow business leaders to continuously engage in the talent management process and collaborate accordingly.
Making use of technology for this process means that you can spend more time analyzing the data, and less time collecting it.
5. Work across functions
Collaboration in this day and age truly is key! Working across different teams and functions has become more popular as businesses move away from traditional, hierarchical structures.
Talent reviews should account for this new dynamic. If your staff work in multiple teams, different managers should be able to weigh in on the future and potential of these employees.
Having a variety of voices in a talent review will allow for well-rounded discussions about employees, where members can challenge each other, and should mean less room for bias.
Different experiences with employees and their skill sets and insights will also be a beneficial addition to the process.
The information gathered from these reviews should be shared across the organization. If an employee in one team would be a good fit for a vacancy in another team, sharing data will help fill that position quickly and effectively.
Key Takeaways
Consistent, well-executed talent reviews can be a huge asset to a company. If the reviews are conducted on all levels, with a focus on cross-functional collaboration, you can gain a well-rounded understanding of your business needs (current and future).
Data from talent review meetings can bolster employee retention, track employee performance, and open up talent development opportunities.