Research consistently demonstrates that when organisations align the right people with the right skills to the right priorities, the impact can be seen across key strategic indicators including: boosted morale, enhanced productivity, greater innovation, and stronger financial results.
The secret? A talent strategy that isn’t just about adopting HR best practices but is laser-focused on achieving business objectives. An integrated talent system needs to be intentionally aimed at the goals that fuel the business strategy—identifying, nurturing, and rewarding the talent that truly sets your organisation apart.
“How clear is your organisation’s plan for attracting, developing, and retaining top talent?”
Achieving strategy clarity and alignment is not easy and requires the People Team to have a consistent and prominent voice during strategic discussions, and throughout the operationalisation of strategy. The result of these ongoing conversations is an integrated, system-wide approach that is fully aligned to the business strategy. Your People Strategy becomes your vehicle for delivering strategic advantage as an organisation.
Our five-phase Solution: Simplifying the complex
We support our clients through a five-step process that creates a coherent long-term strategy with full business support and the ability to executive at pace. We’ve detailed below the 5 steps that you can implement in your organisation to take your Talent Strategy to the next level so that it is a key driver of your organisational strategy.
Step 1: Establish Stakeholder Priorities
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- Action: Begin by engaging with key stakeholders to understand their perspectives on the business strategy and its talent implications. Discuss where their views align or diverge.
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- Outcome: Develop a comprehensive overview of current and future talent priorities, setting the foundation for meaningful prioritisation discussions.
Step 2: Benchmark Processes and Systems
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- Action: Review current documentation, processes, and systems. Conduct a gap analysis to assess how well these align with organisational objectives and other people-related processes.
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- Outcome: Create a RAG (Red, Amber, Green) review to evaluate existing systems’ maturity and capability to support the talent strategy. Establish an auditable trail linking strategy to board-level priorities.
Step 3: Build the Strategy and Roadmap
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- Action: Develop a comprehensive talent management strategy and roadmap. Refine this roadmap through senior stakeholder input, then translate it into an actionable project plan.
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- Outcome: Deliver a clear, strategic plan with a transparent audit trail that connects the talent strategy to organisational goals and member value.
Step 4: Operationalise and Review
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- Action: Partner with internal teams to launch critical workstreams, offering additional expertise in technical areas where needed. Focus on transferring skills and empowering HR colleagues.
Outcome: Equip HR teams to deliver strategic initiatives effectively and at pace, ensuring they feel confident in leading these workstreams.
Step 5: Embed and Communicate the Strategy
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- Action: Secure organisation-wide buy-in by engaging stakeholders and effectively communicating the strategy and its benefits. Foster a sense of ownership and accountability.
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- Outcome: Elevate the profile of the talent strategy within the business, ensuring it is embraced, supported, and effectively implemented across all levels.
Need further support before you get started?
We’ve put together a Talent Strategy Audit that will help you consider some of the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities in your current talent management system. You can access this here.
If you’d like to see how Dudley Building Society is transforming their organisation through an aligned talent strategy, you can find a case study here.
How can we help?
We support People Teams to get the organisation aligned fast and translate strategy to reality through the definitions of key workstreams.
Contact us for a free initial consultation.