What is Talent Management?

Learning is not an end in itself. It is included within a broader frame: the management of human resources or more specifically talent management, a concept which embraces several aspects: competencies, performance, recruitment, compensation, etc.

The definition of Talent and Learning Suites in Europe differs significantly from the definition in the U.S. In USA Talent and Learning Suites are used to manage target agreements and performance keys of employees as this is basis for the variable bonuses (Compensation Management). In Europe these systems are rather used for internal talent search, recruiting, personnel development and for succession planning. (…) Talent management is a combination of performance, competency and learning management as well as recruitment solutions. —–Marco Kelting, IMC

Learning for performance

Talent management enables to link learning goals with the organization strategy. This is the guarantee that learning activities will result in better performances for the organization.

Beside being connected to strategic skills, TM SIGAL^@ also enables to link performance (objectives measurement, skills assessment) to training management so as to make any training need detected during the performance review be directly included within the personal learning plan. Training is thus directly set up according to performance assessments, determined by the enterprise strategy. —–Jean-Pierre Pelé, Technomedia

Another important development is a greater emphasis on achieving return on investment and justifying the expenditure incurred on learning management systems by more clearly measuring their business impact.  This has long been a hot topic in the industry – but applications that support the measurement of key performance indicators (KPIs) are now actually being integrated within the products themselves. —–Erik Finch, SumTotal

Organizations are increasingly recognizing the benefits of integrating learning and training information and data with broader talent management applications like performance, career and succession planning and compensation. —–Jeff Kristick, Plateau Systems

Between myth and reality

Factually, the integration between learning and talent management experiences different levels of maturity from one organization to the other.

There’s a lot of talk about talent management nowadays but as a matter of fact few companies have a well-defined framework. (…) So we support our customers from the structuration of their skills framework so as to allow them to fully exploit its potential in terms of mobility, assessment, training and careers management. —–Pierre Berthou, Syfadis

While the purchase of an LMS may be the initial driver (as was the case for 60% of our new customers last year), most customers want the flexibility to extend their LMS and add broader talent management capabilities such as performance management or compensation. —–Jeff Kristick, Plateau Systems

Our customers can be distributed as follows: one third of them uses the HR processes management; the second third uses the management of training while the last third uses both the HR processes management (like interview management or skills assessment) and the management of training. —–Jean-Pierre Pelé, Technomedia

Moreover, we can notice that more than 50% of our internationally orientated projects deal with integrated talent management which is no longer restricted to one or two pieces of our offer. The market is really taking into account the importance and the benefits that a unique tool can offer, including training, performance, career, succession, etc. —–Matthieu DURIF, Cornerstone OnDemand

A large trend

Talent management is no longer a domain restricted to the LMS market leaders. Several local players are engaged in the same movement.

The key-word of this new version is convergence. Convergence between e-learning, training management and competency management. Syfadis Suite can manage the collaborator’s whole lifecycle: from his/her integration into the company to his/her career progress via assessment and training. —–Pierre Berthou, Syfadis

Within the next versions, we shall enrich the web services in order to make the HRIS integration still easier as well as features related to competency management and content development. The trend is also moving towards the widening of  talent management features. —–Elodie Primo, MindOnSite

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