Associate Insight: Managing and Retaining Talent in Today's Climate

Your staff are your key resource and having the best team around you is critical. To achieve this involves actively managing the careers of employees who have the future potential to deliver the firm's business strategy - 'talent management'.

The first step in developing a talent management programme involves reviewing the business strategy and identifying the key skills required to successfully deliver that strategy. The lack of in-house HR support should not be a barrier to identifying talent and proactively managing staff to retain them. There are a number of actions that you can take, supported by external HR consultants to achieve this.

The most common way to identify and manage talent is via a performance management process. To be effective, the process needs to focus on future development as well as current performance. The process needs to facilitate discussion with individuals about their future development plans, their skills gap, the business requirements and the steps that both the individual and you as an employer can take to develop their talent.

Effective performance management requires honest feedback, ideally substantiated by evidence, enabling the employee to focus on the development required to progress with the firm. The employee and the firm should share responsibility for ensuring development opportunities are identified and actioned.

Other simple steps that can be taken to nurture talent include using mentors or seconding individuals to other departments to increase their exposure within the firm. Alternative activities can include volunteering assignments in the local community and giving individuals stretching assignments outside of their current comfort zone to broaden their skills.

Encouraging rising legal stars to develop a network is often seen as a prerequisite for promotion. Ensuring that the primary focus is on nurturing internal networks for the employee is also important, as their strongest connection exerts the most influence in determining whether an employee decides to remain with or leave their current employer.

Employers should be aware of the potential pitfalls of talent management such as identifying the wrong individuals for talent management as well as missing those with potential, perhaps as a consequence of being blocked by senior staff. There is no doubt that the best leaders in the business for the future are not likely to be the best leaders of today. Equally, partners identifying employees who are 'carbon copies' of themselves may not necessarily identify the best talent that the business needs for the future.

One way of providing a check and balance here and to supplement any subjective feedback from an individual's manager is to use psychometric testing. The report provided can also be the basis for development planning with individuals. Law Society Consulting can connect you to licensed practitioners of psychometric testing who can advise on suitable tests to support leadership development and help you to manage your talent.

If you would like to discuss how Law Society Consulting can help you to manage your talent, please contact us on +44 (0)20 7316 5655.

© Julie Nicholds, HR Advise Me, 2015