Building a Resilient Workforce: Strategies for Talent Management

With more teachers leaving the profession than ever before and with a record number of vacancies unfilled, focusing on attracting, developing, and retaining talented staff should be a vital part of your talent management strategy.  

The importance of having a strategy

Most education establishments that have little direction or focus on their skilled staff are seeing long standing committed teachers leave the sector as well as those that are beginning their career. Therefore, a clear talent management strategy will ensure that the right people are in the right roles throughout their professional journey, which in turn will be a key tool for creating and promoting a high-performance culture where staff feel valued and recognised, making your establishment a respected place to work.   

What is talent management? 

Talent management is referred to as the process of attracting, developing and retaining individuals valuable to an organisation because of their potential or the critical role they have. Many organisations are broadening their definitions to include all employees. Every employee has skills and strengths that can be developed and can benefit the organisation. 

Evolving your approach  

Talent management used to be associated to recruitment only. It has now evolved into an essential management practice. The CIPD resourcing and talent planning survey report recommends: 

• Taking a strategic approach to workforce planning informed by data and evidence. 

• Widening the talent pools through recruitment approaches and by strengthening the employer brand. 

• Removing barriers to work through more inclusive recruitment practices.   

Workforce planning  

Aligning talent management with strategic business objectives can be the most effective way to achieve this. It's important to determine future workforce needs when planning a talent management strategy. A strong workforce plan will help prioritise talent management activities including: 

• Recruitment (talent acquisition). 

• Building talent 'pools'. 

• Succession planning. 

• Leadership development. 

• Career management. 

• Employee retention.  

Measuring impact

When talent management planning it’s important to analyse the return on investment. This can be done through considering the cost of the talent management process and looking at the outputs. These can include business outputs, succession pools, staff turnover and productivity.  

Creating the right environment

Effective talent management involves creating a positive work environment, fostering a culture of learning and development, as well as providing opportunities for career advancement.  Introducing these three simple steps can ensure your talent management strategy is embedded within your school or trust:  

1. Performance and Appraisal - recognise the talent within your establishment and provide feedback on a regular basis to help staff excel.  

1. Employee Development – identify areas for improvement and invest in your talent by creating opportunities for shadowing, mentoring, coaching, secondments, sharing knowledge and formal learning.   
2. Workforce and Succession Planning – build, promote and retain your talented team that can deliver your establishments aims to the highest quality.    

Conclusion 

Creating a positive and supportive environment in your education setting that promotes recognition and development will no doubt have an immense impact on achieving exceptional performance results. From effective communication amongst staff, to collaboration on lesson planning, resource sharing across teams, recognition of best practices, to innovation on new and effective ways to complete tasks. Therefore. staff that are motivated, engaged and empowered to perform at their best are not only contributing to the success of the setting but are more likely to enjoy and remain within their role.   

If you’re looking for support in strategically building a talented and engaged workforce, or interested in learning more about our HR support, please talk to us.