5 New Year resolutions every HR decision maker could make

Getting the most from your talent in 2014 will have its challenges. We’ve put together our thoughts about the top 5 resolutions those making people and talent decisions could look at in 2014.

1. Take a close look at what engagement means in your organisation
It’s no longer good enough (if it ever has been) to run an employee or engagement survey once a year, look at the overall score and then file away the results. Smart organisations are looking at the areas of engagement and disengagement – and what can be learned from this. Customers are asking us to provide overview and detail information to pinpoint specific areas and to then provide practical, straightforward suggestions for next steps so that action and progress takes place. And we do this through our enhanced Talent En-Gauge® system.

Make 2014 the year you understand how to improve the engagement of your employees to get the best from them.

2. Develop a performance coaching culture amongst your managers
Improve objective setting, achievement and understanding through better use of performance review, 1:1 manager and direct report time by equipping your managers to act as ‘coach’. Give your people access to a performance management tool which enables easy viewing of objectives, how these link to the overall organisational strategy and plan and tracks their own progress against these objectives.

Make 2014 the year of the coach.

3. Get better quality 360 review feedback
Whether you’ve been using 360 degree feedback for many years or have only recently invested in 360 reviews, it could be time to take stock of the quality of the information your feedback providers are giving to the participants. Clearly, the quality of this feedback impacts directly on the discussion sessions and the outcome of the review – but knowing how reliable the feedback is takes more than a cursory look to see how quickly it has been completed or the range of scores. If your current on-line 360 degree feedback software doesn’t give you a rating on the quality of the review information, perhaps now is the time to look for a system that does? You won’t be surprised to hear that Head Light’s Talent 360® does this for you!

4. Plan for the future
If you’ve let your succession planning activity fall by the wayside, make 2014 the year to rejuvenate your talent reviews and succession planning and solidly support the career planning of your people. Invest in an integrated talent management system such as Talent Successor® which not only draws together your information but enables you to monitor easily ‘at risk’ positions, as well as those you’ve identified as ‘high potential’ people who you cannot afford to lose.

5. Integrate your on-line talent management activities
Make 2014 the year that you bring together all the talent management processes and activities that you undertake, learn how they can inform each other, and how you can get a more strategic view of your talent from doing this. Make a decision to map out your current processes, where they interact –and where they should – and look at your talent management system to see if it’s up to the job of helping you do this. If it’s not, come and talk to us.