Finding the right talent is essential to business growth. However, locating an individual with ambition, skills, engagement, and a penchant for fitting the company culture doesn’t just happen. Recruiting, retaining, and developing the right people for positions occurs with stellar planning and strategy development.

Read on for four tips to build a successful talent management strategy.

Finding the right talent

"The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world." -- Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs knew that surrounding himself with the best people created a more significant avenue for business success. A talent management strategy should begin with a plan for recruiting the right people. This can include:

• Using employee referrals and relevant job boards to connect to those who are the best fit for the company.
• Ask the right questions during interviews that include situational and behavioral inquiries that get to the heart of how a person thinks and leads.
• HR Professionals should be aware of how potential hires view the company.
• Utilize recruiting software to manage every step of the hiring process; from receiving inbound applications, to sending over job offers.

Honing and sharpening skills

“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” — Henry Ford

Ford was on to something when he realized how important it was not only to hire people but train them to be even better than when they first walked in the door. Employers benefit when their employees gain new skills. Workers are more likely to develop innovative ideas and bring new talent to old problems. A talent management strategy regarding this issue should include:

• A survey to ask employees what they already know and the areas in which they are seeking more practice.
• Subsidies or funding for off-site virtual and in-person training to encourage workers to attend.
• Lunch and learns that bring experts to the workplace to talk about a topic or train workers on a skill the company sees a need for.

Manage what you’ve got

“I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies.” – Lawrence Bossidy, GE

Managing the talent in the building is one of the most important and insightful things a business leader can do. Figuring out how to move employees to the next level of leadership, or taking workers through the ride of change management can be a daunting task, but again hiring and developing the right people makes this task a lot easier:

• Create opportunities for team building and communication.
• Allow them to take the reins when appropriate. Encourage managers to select project leads.
• Set the tone for active listening and emotional awareness. A great leader is also an excellent listener.

Is It Working?

“One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results” -- Milton Friedman

How are the efforts working? Is productivity increasing? Is turnover decreasing? HR professionals and leaders should be in a constant state of evaluation to ensure strategies are going as planned:

• Regularly survey employees on their satisfaction levels.
• Keep track of turnover to see how workers are responding to changes.
• Never be afraid to tweak an approach if it is not working.

Unlike the management of equipment or financial models, creating a talent management strategy takes compassion, understanding, and the genuine care for potential employees. As long as HR professionals create plans that address what employees are looking for in their next place of work, increased satisfaction and decreasing numbers of turnover or productivity should follow.

Find out more about how you can develop your soft skills and retain talent. Browse AIM short courses, qualifications and MBA+ or request a callback from an AIM Training Advisor in order to discuss your options.

Chanell Alexander currently resides in Atlanta, GA. When she’s not traveling and trying new restaurants in the Metro Atlanta area, she writes about the latest technology and tools for TrustRadius.