Identifying Talent
The Problem
A professional services firm faced significant challenges in accurately distinguishing between its performing and high-performing employees. This difficulty was exacerbated by an overly manual and bias-prone year-end promotion cycle, which failed to effectively recognize and reward true talent. Consequently, the company's ability to secure critical roles and maintain a strategic view of its talent pipeline for succession planning was compromised. This situation posed a risk to the firm's operational resilience and its capacity to retain essential personnel.
The Impact
The successful implementation of this project had a measurable impact on the organization, exemplified by a 20% increase in the identification of diverse talent as critical to the business. This spurred several strategic investments in internal development programs, including initiatives focused on women's leadership and the acceleration of senior management. Additionally, a notable investment was made in enhancing the skills of middle management through diversity training programs, in collaboration with McKinsey. These initiatives have directly contributed to a tangible improvement in diversity outcomes within the company, with a 10% increase in both the promotion rates and retention levels of diverse talent.
The Solution
To tackle the identified challenges, the company sought to develop a dynamic and fair system capable of continuously recognizing and fostering high-performing talent. In this pursuit, Allume Talent was enlisted to collaborate closely with the company's HR department. Our role was to help delineate the concepts of talent and critical talent, and we devise an assessment to distinguish between performance and potential accurately. Allume Talent played a crucial role in the educational initiatives, communication strategies, and rollout of the pilot program, ensuring a smooth and effective implementation.
