The Necessity of Consistency in Talent Management

A consistent approach to Human Capital Management is sometimes lacking in large companies, ironically, due to the uniqueness of each leader in the group. For example, the Talent Acquisition Director might believe in a performance-based approach to hiring, but perhaps the recruiters are more comfortable with competency-based interviewing. And to compound the inconsistencies, the Compensation Manager may believe in a unified team approach, or company performance, as the basis for incentive compensation, which then has no tie to either individual performance or even individual competencies.

Individual philosophies in Talent Acquisition / Human Capital Management can serve well to inform the overall policy. However, it is essential that a consensus approach be utilized that makes it clear to each employee how they will be managed, from the moment of their first interview, to goal setting upon hire, evaluation, compensation, etc.

We advocate the performance-based approach, which can be applied to the full spectrum of the talent process. A job description should contain SMART objectives. These objectives can be the basis for recruitment and evaluation. The objectives also form a business plan for the new hire, can be used for evaluation, and can even be quantified for incentive compensation. Each year, this performance-based formula can be applied to generate new goals, which become a new personal business plan, and form new evaluation criteria that can be the basis for performance reviews, compensation, promotion and growth.

Employees appreciate consistency. When the same management theme is applied to all aspects of their employment experience, they will be more motivated and productive.