CC BY
79DOI: 10.22394/2070-8378-2021-23-1-65-69
Управление развитием талантов
МАРИНА ВЛАДИСЛАВОВНА САВЕЛЬЕВА, доктор экономических наук, профессор кафедры общего и стратегического менеджмента Института бизнеса и делового администрирования
Российская академия народного хозяйства и государственной службы при Президенте Российской Федерации (Российская Федерация, 119571, Москва, проспект Вернадского, 82). E-mail: saveleva-mv@ibda.ranepa.ru
Аннотация: Управление развитием талантов становится в наши дни инструментом формирования конкурентных преимуществ организации на основе совершенствования способностей ее сотрудников и нацелено на привлечение и удержание высококлассных специалистов. Талант представляет собой многогранное явление, включающее предрасположенность человека к определенным способностям, полученным от рождения; мастерство, приобретаемое в течение жизни; вовлеченность в любимое дело. В статье определены основные способы выявления талантов сотрудников организации, такие как «Хитрые вопросы», «Матрица определения талантов», анализ личной жизни сотрудника. Автор рекомендует обратить особое внимание на контекст (при описании своей деятельности сотрудником), примеры сложных ситуаций из практики сотрудника и его поведения в этих условиях, проанализировать наиболее успешно освоенные направления. В статье обозначены ключевые позиции в отношении мотивации развития талантов и отмечено, что ключевой движущей силой в творческой деятельности является не денежное вознаграждение или оценка усилий человека, а возможность проявлять склонность к исследованиям, обучаться, развиваться. На основе анализа опыта управления талантами (talentmanagement) в государственной службе города Сингапура выделяются такие методы работы с талантливыми сотрудниками, как предоставление рабочего времени для обучения, ротация, участие в межструктурных проектных командах, наставничество. Рассматривается также тенденция внедрения и использования искусственного интеллекта, который позволит автоматизировать рутинную работу и создаст условия для смещения акцента в деятельности сотрудников на творческие аспекты.
Ключевые слова: управление развитием талантов, конкурентные преимущества организации, искусственный интеллект, мотивация персонала
Статья поступила в редакцию 10 декабря 2020 года.
Савельева М.В. Управление развитием талантов. Государственная служба. 2021. № 1. С. 65-69.
TALENT MANAGEMENT
MARINA VLADISLAVOVNA SAVELYEVA, Doctor of Sci. (Economics), Professor, Professor at the Department of General and Strategic Management, Institute of Business Studies and Management
Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (82, Vernadsky prospect, Moscow, 119571, Russian Federation). E-mail: saveleva-mv@ibda.ranepa.ru
Abstract: Developing the talents of the organization's employees is becoming an increasingly important component for the formation of the organization's competitive advantages since it is aimed at attracting and retaining high-quality specialists. The concept of talent can be described as a multifaceted phenomenon, including person's abilities acquired from birth, skills obtained throughout life, and involvement in a favorite type of occupation. The article describes the main ways to identify employees' talents, such as: "Tricky questions", "Matrix for determining talent", and analysis of employee's personal life. The author recommends paying special attention to the context and examples of difficult situations from the employee's work activities, the made-up decisions in these conditions, as well as to analyze the most successfully mastered areas. The author also identifies key positions regarding the motivation of talent development and emphasizes that the main driving force in creative activity is not monetary remuneration or evaluation of human efforts but opportunities for employees to show an aptitude to research, learn and develop. As a result of analyzing the experience of talent management in the public service of the city of Singapore, the article highlights such methods of working with talented employees as allocating working time for training, staff rotation, participation in interstructural project teams, and mentoring. Also, the author considers the trend of introduction and use of artificial intelligence in the organization's activities and its impact on the work of talented employees. It allows automating routine work and creating conditions for shifting the focus of employees to work creatively.
Keywords: talent management, competitive advantages of the organization, artificial intelligence, staff motivation
The article was received on December 10, 2020.
Savelyeva M.V. Talent management. Gosudarstvennaya sluzhba. 2021. No. 1. P. 65-69.
Minimum level
Talent management processes are implemented partially
1
Introduction
Today, many organizations are looking for competitive advantages, for example, in the form of outstanding personnel characteristics. According to the "Staff' magazine1, there is a significant shortage of qualified employees both in Russian and foreign companies. To cope with the situation, senior management begins to implement talent management.
The term "talent management" has been described in the late twentieth century in an article on the development of talent in an organization by David Watkins [Watkins, 1998]. A few years later, Alan Schweyer continued to develop this idea in the book "Talent Management Systems ..." [Schweyer, 2004]. However, the connection between human resource development and organizational effectiveness has been established in the 1970s [Schein, 1977].
Talent management is usually understood as a set of tools and techniques for attracting, recruiting, and retaining employees with critical knowledge, skills, and competencies. For an organization that wants to increase its competitiveness in the long term, it is also necessary to engage in the development of proper characteristics of personnel. According to the researchers, in Russian companies, these processes are at an intermediate position - between the basic and developed levels (Figure 1). At the basic level, the management of talent development does not meet the needs of the organization, while at the advanced level, this process is completely aimed at achieving the company's goals. A survey of participants at the "Talent Management Forum 2016" conference showed that three-quarters of HR specialists assess the effectiveness of talent management in their companies as average or below average.
Figure 1 shows that, in terms of talent management, Russian companies are capable of reaching the world level. Moreover, this direction is constantly being improved, creates value for the organization, and contributes to implementing its strategic goals. Thus, a more detailed study and application of this tool is a prerequisite for achieving the strategic needs of companies.
Talent management is based on the concept of "talent", which is a combination of an innate gift, skill, involvement, and a connection between a personality, organization, position, job, leader, and time [Gallar-do-Gallardo, Dries, González-Cruz, 2013]. Talent is a multifaceted phenomenon, including a person's abil-
Figure 1. Levels of talent management in organizations
Source: Talent Management: Figures and Trends. PwC. http://www.hrmedia.ru/node/1508
Basic
level
Basic talent management processes are implemented, rot related to the business needs
Developed level
All baste talent management
processes implemented to
meel key business needs
Advanced level
Implemented programs and IT infrastructure
for taient management to meet most oI the business needs
Progressive level
Talent management programs that meet most strategic business needs
are partially integrated into business processes
World level
Continuously evolving and creating value
for the company talent management that meets all
strategic business goals
ities acquired from birth, skills obtained throughout life, and involvement in a favorite type of occupation, as well as a certain amount of luck - to be in the right place at the right time.
Specialists define talent as a developed competence, expressed through specific actions and including knowledge and skills acquired and raised throughout life, as well as skills and personal characteristics with greater stability and lesser variability [Campion, Fink, Ruggeberg, 2011. P. 225]. Thus, talent is a developed characteristic, which is very valuable for any organization since by contributing to the growth of employees' talents, the company creates development prospects for itself.
Develop or recognize?
First of all, it is necessary to recognize the abilities of workers. The HR-portal names the following ways to identify talent2: 1) "Tricky questions" method, 2) Matrix for determining talent, 3) Analysis of employee's personal life.
"Tricky questions" method allows to determine person's talents through the expressed preferences of the respondent, for example, in the choice of an educational institution or favorite subjects of study. If the named discipline is related to the systematization of knowledge in a particular area, then the people who prefer it have analytical thinking and can be good analysts or excellent consultants. The question "How a person imagines his/her future or present work?" allows us to understand how well he/she is aware of the future or present responsibilities, and also what matters more for the respondent: organizing the process or achieving the result. This can be seen in the verbs with which employees describe their activities. If the answer uses long-acting verbs (working, engaging, discussing), then, this refers to the organization of the process.
1 The article "Talent Management: Figures and Trends" was published in the "Staff" magazine. http://www.hrmedia.ru/node/1508
2 https://hr-portal.ru/article/tri-sposoba-raspoznat-talant-sotrud-nika
The verbs of the completed action (designed, sent, discussed) indicate that we are facing a result-oriented person. A question about person's hobbies in their free time can tell how a hobby reflects person's abilities. For example, collectors are perfect for the role of organizer, and those who travel and generously share their impressions will be good sellers or presenters.
The "Matrix for determining talents" consists of a sheet of paper divided into four sections: the area of expertise - "I want, and I can"; the development zone - "I want, but I can't"; the demotivation zone - "I don't want, but I can"; and the dead zone - "I don't want to, and I don't know how". When implementing this method, talent management specialist gives this sheet of paper to employees to fill out by themselves. On the one hand, we receive information about the abilities and capabilities of a person; on the other hand, we can see which areas of activity a person has preferences for.
The first section (area of expertise) carries information about the activities for which the organization values this specialist and for which the employee is ready to take on and perform. The second section (development zone) concerns those areas in which a person is ready to learn and within which the organization can attract an employee for training and development. The third section (demotivation zone) marks the areas in which it is better not to involve the employee. In this case, the desired results will not be achieved or achieved the way the company would not like to see them. At the same time, the employee will be demotivated, which is likely to affect the results in other areas as well. The fourth section (dead zone) is better not to touch at all. The results will be worse than in the third section.
Analyzing the personal life of employees is not easy, but an important point. Personal life and professional activity are closely connected, which is undoubtedly reflects the manifestation of our talents and abilities. Before asking questions to employees about their personal life, it is necessary to talk about this connection. It should be noted that everyone has the right not to answer questions about their personal life. If the employee is ready to answer such questions, you can safely ask about the attitude of the spouse to the employee's work, how they expresse the attitude to changing the organization or position, what kind of relationship does the employee have with other family members, are there any family members who can help with childcare, etc. Childcare is very crucial, and when discussing this point, a person may become alert since nowadays in many organizations, employees have tendency to stay late at work, which can lead to additional difficulties.
The book "First, Break All the Rules" provides the following guidelines for identifying talents [Buckingham, Coffman, 2010. P. 193]:
- Listen carefully to the interlocutors when they answer open questions: when describing a professional activity, a person may mention or miss some important
points. For example, when hiring a new coach for an organization, it is important how a person builds relationships with the audience, since this is what speaks about the effectiveness of the candidate's trainings;
- Ask a person to give examples of difficult situations in professional activity: in particular, it is important to understand how a person behaves in such a situation, how quickly he/she orients in answering the question, how easily he/she finds a solution;
- Ask the interlocutors to list the types of activities that they quickly mastered. According to experts, quick learning is a signal that a person is talented in this area. Neuropsychologists represent any activity through the alignment of neurons into specific networks. Each image that accompanying a person's action, including a mental one, leads to the formation of a constellation of neurons [Barrett, 2018. P. 80]. Regular reference to a particular image or activity strengthens certain connections between neurons. The presence of talent or abilities is accompanied by stable connections of neurons that have arisen as a result of the implementation of these actions. If an individual needs to master a new area associated with these actions, he/she will be able to do it much easier and faster than if he/she was trying to study a completely unknown area;
- Ask questions about what brings this person satisfaction, what conditions are necessary for his/her comfort. Usually, people like what they do well. Talents and abilities in certain activities contribute to the rapid achievement of extraordinary results. It brings joy and satisfaction;
- Use specific questions during the conversation; the answers to such questions can tell how much this person is talented in his/her duties. With practice, people develop a kind of "correct" answers to specific questions. For example, the question of how a person reacts if another doubts his/her words (a good salesperson is usually upset, but a good teacher is provoked to talk because there is an opportunity to develop a discussion) [Buckingham, Coffman, 2010. P. 197].
Why is it important to motivate talented employees?
For talent development, in addition to identifying them, a large role is assigned to motivation, which is the process of reinforcing people's motives aimed at the implementation of specific goals. And the question arises: why motivate talented employees if they already feel engaged? However, not everything is so simple. According to the results of the "International Trends in Human Resource Management - 2020" survey conducted among representatives of more than 90 Russian companies, HR-specialists said that low interest in training is the main obstacle to the development of employees. Lack of investment and difficulties in identifying development needs and priorities were also mentioned. As for their foreign colleagues, they
Figure 2. Results of a survey of representatives of Russian and foreign companies on obstacles to the development of employees within the organizations, in %
Source: Results of the "International Trends in Human Resource Management - 2020" research in Russia. Deloitte Consulting LLC (https://www2.deloitte.com/kz/ru/pages/human-capital/arti-cles/human-capital-trends_msm_moved.html)
60 50 40 30 20 10 0
48
38
19
32
I
22
Answers from representatives of foreign companies
Answers from representatives of Russian companies
■ lack of staff motivation
■ lack of investment
difficult/ in identifying development needs and priorities
■ lack of procedures and infrastructure to support this process
named the difficulty in defining development needs and priorities in the first place, the lack of investment in the second place, and the lack of procedures and infrastructure to support this process in the third place (Figure 2).
More than half of the Russian survey participants say that when choosing candidates for vacant positions, it is necessary to hire people who are ready to learn and develop. The same number of respondents emphasize that the main role in this process belongs to employees themselves. Among talented employees, hygienic factors were named as necessary, as well as factors-motivators, which were identified in the late 1950s by Frederick Herzberg [Herzberg, 2003]. Hygienic factors include wages, working conditions, status, team relationships, etc., lessen job dissatisfaction to a minimum or reduce it to zero. As for the factors-motivators (achievements, recognition, content of work, creative activity, responsibility, etc.), they lead to satisfaction from work as well as increase it. It turns out that without one or the other component, it is impossible to achieve the full realization of talents. For some time, a talented specialist can continue working with enthusiasm, but if working conditions are unsatisfactory, the employee will most likely look for another job. If the work does not inspire the employee, then the same will happen.
There is no doubt that all employees (including talented ones) need to be paid decent wages and provide all the necessary conditions for the fulfillment of their duties. However, when motivating an employee, the emphasis should be on motivating factors. In the second half of the twentieth century, a lot of research was carried out, and it was shown that the driving force in creative activity is not monetary reward or assessment
of human efforts, but the opportunities for employees to show a penchant for research, learn and develop [Pink, 2013. P. 51-63].
The important point here is how talent management is carried out in the public administration of Singapore3. In addition to identifying and attracting talented employees to government agencies, significant efforts are also directed to their development. In particular, each employee is allocated up to one hundred working hours for additional training annually. The government has established the Civil Service College, which provides courses in public policy, strategic planning, management, leadership skills, as well as an induction course for new employees of the Administrative Service, a program for senior government officials, and a program for possible deputy ministers. Through the rotation of personnel, each employee has the opportunity to get acquainted with the activities of various government bodies. Also, the changes affect managerial roles - operational, controlling, and strategic, etc. Using the personnel rotation tool, employees themselves are looking for a position in various government bodies through an open system of vacancies. Also, there is an opportunity to become a member of inter-structural project teams. Although this activity is voluntary, it also gives a chance to get promoted. The Civil Service College also teaches mentoring, which is very popular among the employees. The salary of officials in Singapore is the average for the labor market, but sometimes it gets higher. For many officials, 60% of the salary is fixed, and 40% is a flexible part determined by the results of work. Special attention is also paid to the training of successors. This trend was initiated by Lee Kuan Yew, one of the leaders of Singapore. Almost two decades before his retirement, he began working on training successors for himself and other state authorities.
Today, the trend of introducing and using artificial intelligence in the activities of an organization is becoming more common among organizations. One of the goals of this transformation is to automate routine and create conditions for creative activity among employees. For example, when we make a call to the bank, first of all, we hear the voice of a computer bot; the bot analyzes our answers to questions
3 Talent Equity Newsletter "Talent Management: Business and Government Experience", Talent Equity Institute. https://wardhowell. com/upload/iblock/cf3/ekskluzivniy-vipusk-upravlenie-talanta-
mi.pdf
and determines to which specialist our call should be redirected. Another example is a voice AI assistant for working with Salesforce CRM software. Company representatives, through communication with this software, can find the necessary data about customers, their contacts, as well as develop recommendations for interacting with clients4. Thus, employees can focus on communicating with customers and helping them with other tasks.
In this regard, there is a high demand for specialists in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and related fields, such as:
• Artificial intelligence (AI) specialists and developers of new algorithms;
• Specialists of AI software development and coding;
• Analysts and testers for big data models;
• AI project managers;
• Specialists in transferring business needs to the AI model, interpreting the results of the work of AI systems on decision-making;
• Experts on the introduction of AI systems into the organization's activities;
• Change management specialists;
4 Results of the "International Trends in Human Resource Management - 2020" research in Russia, Deloitte Consulting LLC. URL: https://www2.deloitte.com/kz/ru/pages/human-capital/articles/ human-capital-trends_msm_moved.html
• AI Data specialists [Talent and workforce effects in
the age of AI..., 2020].
Deloitte Consulting experts are confident that at present, it will be difficult for companies to hire such specialists from the labor market. They suggest focusing on training these types of professionals within the companies themselves5.
Conclusion
Talent management is a complex and multifaceted process. Specialists engaged in this area feel the importance of their work since they are directly involved in unlocking employees' potential.
The crucial point is that talent is a developing characteristic. The main driving force for the development of talented workers is the desire to explore, learn, develop and apply their abilities. When working with such employees, it is necessary to involve them in creative projects as well as to create conditions for developing their abilities. By implementing talent management, both employees and the company will have the highest impact on improving the quality of services and the competitiveness of organization.
5 Results of the "International Trends in Human Resource Management - 2020" research in Russia, Deloitte Consulting LLC. https:// www2.deloitte.com/kz/ru/pages/human-capital/articles/ human-capital-trends_msm_moved.html
References
Barrett L.F. How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain.
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Moscow. Alpina Publisher, 2013. In Russian Results of the "International Trends in Human Resource Management - 2020" research in Russia. Deloitte Consulting LLC. https://www2.deloitte.com/kz/ru/pages/human-capital/ articles/human-capital-trends_msm_moved.html. In Russian
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