The culmination of S.H.A.P.E. is a winning culture of achievement with a deep bench
When most of us think about a winning culture, we imagine industry-leading innovation, record-breaking profits, and glowing headlines. But none of those characteristics are possible without the right talent. Thus, a true winning culture is one that avoids critical skills gaps, keeps open roles to a minimum, nurtures talent, and backfills its talent pipeline. In other words, the most successful companies EMPOWER their employees and prepare them for success.
Earlier in the S.H.A.P.E. program, during the HAVE step, we focused intently on succession planning. The fifth and final step of the program depends heavily on that plan, but this stage of talent management is about so much more than plotting next steps. Empowering your people is all about getting the team’s buy-in and building a culture in which the talent pipeline feeds itself. When people are empowered, you don’t have to scramble to keep roles filled – internal and external candidates will pursue them as soon as they’re available.
With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting public health and the economy in unprecedented ways, we’ve seen the importance of talent pipelining play out at several companies and also in higher education. Many colleges and universities are seeing rapid drops in student enrollment, resulting in millions of dollars lost in tuition and other fees.
Similar to professional organizations, schools also need to nurture talent, instead of assuming that interest in secondary education will remain as strong as it has always been. Both educational institutions and businesses must think ahead and prepare as best as possible for the unknown. To put it simply, talent pipelines are non-negotiable.
The importance of talent pipelines
A talent pipeline is a pool of candidates who are ready to spring into action when you need them. For businesses, the pool is comprised of vetted applicants or existing employees who’ve already shown they have the ability to take on new responsibilities. For schools, the pool contains qualified, well-rounded students who fit the right profile. Basically, whenever there’s an opening, these are the first people you call.
Why are talent pipelines so important? For starters, you can fill vacant roles in record time and reduce the amount of resources needed for recruitment. But there are other less obvious benefits:
- You don’t need to rely on recruiters as much. Instead of bringing them on in a rush, you can develop a relationship over time and use them more as consultants.
- You can skip cold calls and hiring sprees.
- You can spend more time understanding how a candidate will fit into your culture versus drawing conclusions from a few interviews.
- You can further boost engagement by giving current employees concrete goals to work toward.
- You can improve retention. The sad truth is that many employees use companies as stepping stones to the next best thing – 58% of millennials only plan to stay in their current role for three years or less. Talent pipelining can keep those employees invested in the company and stop them from drifting.
A talent pipeline helps you achieve two goals at once – you can enact your succession plan without worry, and you can form a deeper connection with your talent, ensuring that they stick around to achieve both the organization’s goals and their own.
How to build a deep bench
Filling your talent pipeline requires a mix of detailed analysis and marketing savvy:
- Build your employer brand: Everything about your company – from the way you treat employees to your compensation packages to your values – is part of your brand as an employer. Think about how you market yourself on different career sites and social media, and look into what past and current employees say you about your company publicly on sites like Glassdoor.
- Be aware of your skills gap: Understand your business needs and ensure your succession plans serve both your short- and long-term goals.
- Build your strategy: Think back to the work you completed in previous S.H.A.P.E. steps – develop thorough candidate personas, identify high-potential internal and external talent, pick the most relevant sourcing channels, consider internships or apprenticeships, and personalize your communication when connecting with talent.
- Also, use your people management software to keep candidate profiles updated and organized.
- Think about touchpoints: You will connect with candidates in different places and at different stages of their career journeys. Map out what these touchpoints are and how you’ll tackle each one.
- Encourage initiative-taking: Point to other employees who’ve found success by gripping the bull by the horns. Create a supportive environment where employees can try new things, provide steps for overcoming procrastination, and connect everything back to purpose.
In higher education, institutions need to build on these steps by fostering long-term trust with current and prospective students. What information does each student need to make an informed choice about attending, and how can you get it to them? Additionally, colleges and universities must keep their current students happy, and this could involve adjusting packages or pricing to meet the moment. Also, post-pandemic, which of these tools and approaches should be continued? Relationship-building at this level shouldn’t stop once things return to “normal”.
Building a deep bench requires a lot more than identifying talent. Successful talent pipelining makes employees, students, and candidates feel like part of the process. It shows them the way forward, ensuring that the business, institution, and individual are never unsure about next steps.
Conclusion
S.H.A.P.E. is a comprehensive people management tool that teaches you to SEE and assess your team, HAVE an effective plan for succession and development, ALIGN your technology, strategy, and culture, PURSUE better engagement, and EMPOWER your teams to take an active role in the future of the organization. When your organization takes S.H.A.P.E., you guarantee business success during the pandemic and long after. Your company is certainly unique and will adopt its own custom solutions, but regardless of how you approach people development, longevity is in your reach as long you put your team first.