Ways to Measure Talent Management Effectiveness: A Few Lists

HR and other professionals design and implement training, but also manage other systems that build people-capability, such as strategic staffing processes, succession planning systems and management development. 

These initiatives have the potential to make significant improvements. Here are a few of these improvements and ways to measure talent management effectiveness.

Strategic Staffing

Strategic staffing processes can include building recruiting profiles, creating and implementing pre-employment assessments, creating interview agendas and guides, identifying behavioral anchor points for specific roles and training managers on how to conduct interviews. Measure these processes effectively using metrics such as:

• Reduced time to fill open positions.
• Improved quality of candidates.
• Improved number of candidates.
• Reduced compliance-related grievances.
• Reduced cost to hire.
• Improved length of tenure.
• Improved productivity in the first 90-days of employment.
• Improved morale.
• Improved retention of key employees.

Succession Planning

Succession planning is making provisions for the development, replacement and strategic use of key personnel in key positions. It can be measured with metrics such as:

• Reduced time to fill open key positions because of improved pipeline of candidates.
• Improved quality of candidates for key positions.
• Increased number of candidates for key positions.
• Improved productivity of newly promoted or hired executives due to faster on-boarding processes.

Management Development

Management development can include creation of success profiles and competency models specific to the organization and the position, assessment of development needs for specific roles within the company and design and development of management development programs and processes.

Depending upon initiative, measure by:

• Reduced documentation errors on performance reviews.
• Improved consistency in evaluation and reward of employees.
• Reduced number of meetings and number of attendees at meetings.
• Improved quality of decision outcomes.
• Improved buy-in and support to decisions.
• Reduced turnover due to management incompatibility or poor hires.
• Improved recognition of company goals (for instance).

Leadership Development

Leadership development can include individual development planning, coaching services and training and development on leadership topics and skills.

Measure success by tracking:

• Reduced time to promote because of increased bench strength.
• Reduced financial investment in development because of clarified group and individual needs.
• Less recidivism of skills due to improved learning methodology.

Measuring improvement results from talent management initiatives can often be a challenge. By choosing a few key metrics, it can provide a simple way to track results and outcomes, giving you opportunities for improvement.