Talent 2.0: Embracing technology to succeed in the modern workforce

In today’s dynamic business landscape, leveraging technology to modernize and enhance talent management strategies is crucial for fostering high-performance cultures and supporting both organizational and employee growth. Workforce engagement and effectiveness play a pivotal role in this process.

Driving change within an organization requires an understanding of the complex business challenges that organizations face. By breaking down these challenges into practical discussions and sharing perspectives from various industries, organizations can align their talent management goals to common strategies and behaviors of high-performance organizations.

High-performance cultures and managing talent

Talent management involves identifying, developing, engaging, retaining and deploying employees in roles that best utilize their talents. This cycle is about investing in people's development through goal setting, performance management, feedback, skills and competencies, succession planning, career development and internal mobility. Top organizations ensure employees have the right aptitude and behavior to help the organization thrive.

Behaviors of high-performance cultures

High-performing organizational cultures share the following behaviors related to talent management and people's development:

• Empowering employees to excel beyond their roles
• Being guided by shared values, beliefs and philosophy
• Allocating resources for continuous improvement and goal achievement
• Investing in people, processes, physical environment and technology
• Enhancing workers' ability to learn, discover, innovate, collaborate and lead
• Promoting accountability and ownership

These behaviors can be challenging to implement, and they all require some level of investment. Organizations can adopt pragmatic methods to achieve and demonstrate these behaviors. Rather than attempting large-scale changes, focus on practical actions that align with your needs to build a high-performance culture.

Strategies and results for high-performance cultures

To foster a high-performance culture, organizations should prioritize leadership development initiatives and invest in talent management strategies. A study by the Arbinger Institute [1], involving 300 leaders and decision-makers across multiple organizations with different talent management strategies, highlighted the importance of cultivating a best-in-class culture, focusing on leadership development, mindset of an organization and addressing the urgent need for performance management.

Key strategies include succession planning and training, which are fundamental to successful talent management. The study also emphasized that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, as various initiatives can lead to diverse benefits such as improved productivity, retention and revenue. Investing in these areas of talent management is crucial for achieving organizational success and enhancing overall culture.

An 11-year study published in Corporate Culture and Performance [2] highlights that firms with performance-enhancing cultures experience significantly higher financial growth, 682% compared to 166% for those without.

This success is attributed in part to encouraging leadership at all levels and implementing robust talent strategies. Investing in people through leadership development initiatives helps organizations adapt to changes and leverage their workforce's strengths, leading to strong corporate cultures and improved financial performance.

Technology’s role in attracting and retaining talent

Aligning your talent management strategy with your digital transformation efforts is essential. A 2023 study underscores the positive impact digital transformation has on an organization’s ability to attract and retain talent.

The research study, titled The Impact of Digital Transformation on Talent Management [3], explores two key relationships:

1. Digital transformation and talent attraction
2. Digital transformation and talent retention

The study's findings confirm that digital transformation significantly enhances an organization’s talent management capabilities, driving improvements in both talent attraction and retention.

In addition to aligning talent management with digital transformation, organizations should pay close attention to their online presence. Candidates often form their first impressions of a company through digital platforms, such as websites, career pages and social media. This highlights the importance of a strong digital footprint that accurately reflects your brand and the employee experience within your organization.

Furthermore, organizations must consider the experience of employees once they join. The tone, messaging and overall experience with technology significantly impact employee satisfaction and retention. Ensuring a seamless, positive experience in these areas is key to maintaining a committed and engaged workforce.

Talent management strategy: Guiding principles

Successful talent management strategies are built on three core pillars: people, process and technology. Specific activities within each pillar help organizations think holistically about their approach. There are several guiding principles crucial for the successful implementation of a talent management strategy:

Guiding principle 1: Implementing practical designs for your data

Implement practical designs to facilitate the collection, storage and utilization of talent data.

• People: Understand employees' skills, behaviors and competencies. Enable self-service features for tracking progress and contributing to data collection.
• Process: Determine unique talent data attributes aligned to the needs of your organization and establish governance processes for data validity and quality
• Technology: Implement cloud-based HCM systems to centralize talent data and integrate it with other enterprise data

Guiding principle 2: Empowering managers

Empower managers to stay attuned to employees' aptitude, behavior and needs of your people by providing the right tools and resources.

• People: Introduce regular check-ins between managers and their employees. Implement feedback mechanisms and equip managers with the right resources to facilitate career development conversations.
• Process: Establish processes for recognizing and rewarding success. Avoid over-engineering processes to ensure better user adoption.
• Technology: Provide managers with access to real-time data and tools in your talent management platform to facilitate career development conversations and stay attuned to employees' behaviors

Guiding principle 3: Creating new opportunities

Open communication through career development conversations and goal-setting periods is crucial for creating and identifying new opportunities for employees.

• People: Maintain open communication through career development conversations, goal-setting periods and other talent management cycles
• Process: Assess current talent and organizational needs. Develop career paths that include roles, skillsets and opportunities.
• Technology: Implement succession planning tools to prepare employees for future roles and help define and develop internal candidates for critical positions

Guiding principle 4: Fostering responsibility and accountability

Foster an environment of responsibility and accountability at all levels. Real-time feedback, clear metrics and leveraging AI capabilities in technology stacks support effective talent management.

• People: Foster a culture of real-time and direct feedback at all levels. Train employees to utilize effective feedback practices.
• Process: Implement clear and measurable metrics that employees can access and understand. Create a system of accountability and opportunity.
• Technology: Use modern cloud-based solutions and leverage AI capabilities to support feedback cycles while avoiding over-complicating the system.

Getting started

Understanding your current state and desired future state is crucial for implementing a talent management strategy. Establishing a roadmap tailored to your organization involves assessing current business practices and policies, as well as the technology landscape.

The process begins with a business assessment to understand your organization’s current state, unique policies and procedures. This is followed by a technology assessment to determine the next steps. Key questions to consider include: What systems are in place to support talent management? What is your overall enterprise technology strategy?

People and process changes can start before technology implementation, as these changes may require significant shifts in business practices. The goal is to provide valuable methods and practical steps to get started without overwhelming the organization.

How we can help

Baker Tilly's digital solutions team assists organizations at every stage of their talent management journey. Establishing a successful road map begins with a thorough assessment. Baker Tilly can help determine your starting point and define your desired destination to implement effective talent management strategies.

Ready to build a customized road map that drives success? Reach out to one of Baker Tilly's professionals today.

Sources:
[1] Wankiewicz, Melissa. “Creating a High-Performance Culture: The Role of Company Culture in Driving Success.” Arbinger, 23 Jan. 2025
[2] Kotter, John. "Does Corporate Culture Drive Financial Performance?" Forbes, 10 Feb. 2011
[3] José Manuel Montero Guerra, Ignacio Danvila-del-Valle, Mariano Méndez-Suárez, The impact of digital transformation on talent management, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Volume 188, 2023, 122291, ISSN 0040-1625