Realizing Strategy with Human Resources that Have Hearts! What is the 4A of Talent Management? ~ ManagePro #22

Hello! I am Tsuboi (@tsubot0905), an HR Business Partner at DeNA.

This is the 22nd installment of 'ManagePro', a note exploring the evolution of management.

In this ManagePro note series, I strive for a simple structure that can be learned in 5 minutes, and content that is conscious of questions that are easy to synchronize with in communication with others.

Now, the tactics section that started from the 18th installment. Starting with what tactics are, from the 19th installment, we have been exploring the theme of tactics by focusing on each of the four areas of management (business, operations, organization, and human resources).

The theme this time is 'Talent Management'.

While the previous organizational management was about thinking from the perspective of 4S,
this time I have summarized the perspective for thinking about talent as '4A'.

Here is the table of contents!

<The perspective of talent management is 4A>

How will you increase the number of
active talent
to realize your strategy?And how can you get them to continue to be active?

This is also a question of 'How will you approach talent management?'
.

So, from what perspective should we think about talent management?
My answer is: let's think from the perspective of 4A!

4A consists of the following four.

Acquisition of talent (Acquisition)
Allocation of talent (Allocation)
Acceleration of talent (Acceleration)
Activation of talent (Activation)

I will tell you the points to look at for each.

<Talent management thinking from the 4A perspective>

[ Talent Acquisition ] (Acquisition)

The main activity is talent recruitment.While recruitment activities for employment forms such as regular employees, contract employees, temporary employees, and part-time workers are the main focus, utilizing side jobs, freelancers, and external partners is also a means of acquiring talent.

[ Talent Allocation ] (Allocation)

The main activity is operation based on personnel plans.In accordance with the personnel plan that determines how much human resources to allocate to businesses and organizations, we allocate talent and aim for matching the right person to the right place and the right place to the right person.

👉 Difference between right place for the right person and right person for the right place
'Right person for the right place' is the idea of placing working employees in a suitable place (tasks where they can demonstrate their abilities). 'Right place for the right person' is the idea that the required task comes first, and talent suitable for the abilities required there is placed.

[ Talent Acceleration ] (Acceleration)

The main activities are development and dialogue.For talent experiencing new environments or new positions, we create mechanisms and opportunities to promote adaptation to their surroundings and roles. Onboarding and transition support through training, networking events, and 1-on-1s are examples of this.

[ Talent Activation ] (Activation)

The main activities are goal management and career development.From a short-term perspective, achievement support that utilizes goal, evaluation, and compensation processes to maximize results is necessary. From a long-term perspective, growth support that leverages individual strengths to improve skills and work motivation is also indispensable.

=====

Have you been able to grasp the image of each?

When thinking about 'How to win' through people, the direction can be broadly divided into 'forming a lineup to win' and 'strengthening talent to win'.

In other words, the actions of the four 'A's can be divided into these two objectives.

Now, let's look at each one!

< Forming a Lineup to Win | Acquisition and Deployment >

There are various lineups for winning in business.

There are lineups centered on many young people, and there are lineups of a small number of elite seniors. There are offensive lineups that take on challenges boldly without worrying about failure, and defensive lineups that build mechanisms to ensure no major failures occur. These lineup formations are likely used differently depending on the purpose and strategy.

How many people should be [deployed] in the organization?
What kind of personnel should be [deployed]?

Thinking about a winning lineup is personnel planning.

However, a plan is just a plan. Whether or not you can assemble the winning lineup drawn in that plan depends on [acquisition].

Regarding [acquisition], Professor Morishima of Gakushuin University mentioned that 'labor shortage and talent shortage are different'.

'Labor shortage' simply means there are not enough hands. 'Talent shortage' means there is a lack of talent to realize the strategy.

That is exactly right, and the movement for [acquisition] differs depending on whether it is a 'labor shortage' or a 'talent shortage'.

There are various ways to form a lineup, but they can be broadly divided into four approaches.

They are approaches such as hiring talent, developing employees, looking for transferees or external partners, or automating with AI instead of people.

These can be expressed as 'Buy / Build / Borrow / Bot', so they are the 4B approaches.(Maybe too many 4-somethings are appearing...? lol)

Each refers to, Buy = Talent acquisition, Build = Talent development, Borrow = Securing external talent, Bot = Efficiency through AI or robots instead of talent.

< Strengthening Talent to Win | Acceleration and Activation >

"War for Talent"
We are in an era where talented individuals are fought over.

What the talent profiles sought by companies have in common is the ability to produce the results the company or organization requires / the ability to continue producing results. The more such high-performing talent you have, the higher the probability of strategic success.

However, if you ask whether things will go well just by [Acquiring] and [Placing] high-performing talent, unfortunately, that is not the case.

[Empowerment], that is, support that enables talent to exert their strength and perform
[Activation], that is, support that keeps talent performing continuously
are required in management.

This is why "strengthening talent to win" becomes another theme in talent management. If the aforementioned[Acquisition] and [Placement] are about "quantity," then [Empowerment] and [Activation] place weight on "quality."Right?

Let's consider an example.

The approach to [Empowerment] for hired talent changes depending on whether it is due to the aforementioned labor shortage or talent shortage.

When a new employee is hired to replace a departing one, individualized training is necessary to help them get used to their new job and surrounding environment from the moment they join, and to help them acquire job knowledge and skills (an example of responding to a labor shortage).

On the other hand, when hiring talent to take on a new strategic pillar, support is needed to connect the new hire with key internal personnel and to quickly build a system where the individual can exert their strength and take on challenges (an example of responding to a talent shortage).

Furthermore, how can we create an [Activated] state where talent can perform sustainably? In other words, support tailored to individual conditions is necessary so that states such as not producing results, not improving skills, or not finding work rewarding do not persist.

In line with diversifying individuals, talent strengthening that faces up to individual personalities is required.

<Linking Strategy and Talent Management>

So far, I have written about talent management from both aspects of "forming a lineup to win" & "strengthening talent to win."

Finally, the point about cascading strategy down to talent management is to see whether it is well-aligned with the direction of the business and the organization.

For example, an organization built according to business policy, and personnel plans and organizational structures that fit the 4S of organizational management, are things that are linked and cascaded down to "lineup formation (recruitment and placement)" of talent (image below).

In addition, "talent strengthening (empowerment and activation)" should be linked according to the organization's [Duties], [Systems], and [Culture]. If this talent strengthening does not reach them, the organization's driving force will not be exerted.

Previously, inManagePro #9, I wrote that "while it is better to think based on the premise that"organization follows strategy,"one hits a wall where"strategy is forced to follow organization"as a barrier."

This relationship between organization and strategy is similar to the relationship between organization and talent.

In other words, while it is better to think based on the premise that"talent follows organization,"one hits a wall where"organization is forced to follow talent"as a barrier.

I believe that people and organizations have an inseparable relationship.

In a world where people's values and ways of working are changing rapidly, how can organizations manage the management resource that has a heart—'human talent'—to realize their strategies?

I believe the evolution of how organizations should be is what will be questioned from here on out.

<Questions for this time>

That was the content I wanted to deliver in the 22nd ManagePro!
How was it?

So, for the final question, a ManagePro tradition.

Through this theme, I have selected four questions to pose to leaders and managers. I hope this helps organize your thoughts and encourages new actions for all you busy people!

※I would be happy if you could tweet your thoughts, such as 'This is what I think' or 'This is what I would ask,' on Twitter with the hashtag '#ManagePro'!

<Looking ahead to next time>

This time, we considered talent management from the perspective of the 4As.

Now, the theme we will cover starting from the next ManagePro is
about tactics from a management perspective and tactics from a field perspective.

First, it is also a tactic from a management perspective,'OKR'.

It is also a story about a new concept of goal management
used by companies like Google and Facebook.

Next time will be in two weeks on Wednesday.
If you like, please give a 'like' or follow on note.

Thank you for reading to the end this time as well!

It would be my greatest pleasure to explore the evolution of management together with you, the readers.Follows and retweets on Twitter are very welcome! Please feel free to send your thoughts via DM! (@tsubot0905)

By receiving your own theories and new perspectives on the topics covered in note, the exploration of management should become even more enjoyable. Therefore, I am looking forward to your reactions. Thank you!