Shaping The Future Tool Capability and Talent PDF

Building capability and talent to meet
short- and long-term priorities
This tool will help you:

put HR capability-building strategies into
practice
identify and nurture talent within
your organisation
build leadership capability to equip
your organisation to develop the skills
and qualities people need to sustain
performance to meet short- and longterm priorities.
1 of 33
5697
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page
Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

A CIPD online practical tool
Help using this tool

Navigation
To navigate through chapter headings in the tool, use the bookmarks in
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
To navigate through individual pages, use the icons on the bottom right of
each page.
Links
the web
Red links will link you to the CIPD website or an external website.
this tool
Blue links will link you to other areas within the tool.
If you experience any difficulty with the links provided in this tool, you may
need to update your version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download a
free update from: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.
html
The Adobe Acrobat Reader preferences must be set up as follows:
Edit / Preferences / Internet then you must make sure Display PDF in
browser is checked.
i-boxes
i-boxes will open up extra useful information in a panel when you click on
them. Click anywhere on the panel to close it again.
Print
To print a page use the Adobe Acrobat Reader print facility.
2 of 35
CIPD 2011
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Who is this tool for?

HR and learning and development professionals who want to meet short- and long-term priorities
through effective talent management processes
HR consultants working with client organisations to build a balanced organisation
senior managers and HR executives who are committed to building capability to achieve
sustainable organisation performance.
Benefits of using this tool

For you
Apply the findings of the leading-edge Shaping the Future research about building capability and
talent to meet short- and long-term priorities and achieve sustainable organisation performance.
Review the extent to which your organisation is building leadership capability to sustain
organisational performance over the long term.
Clarify how building capability and talent aligns with the future direction of the organisation.
For your organisation:

Ensure clarity about how and where talent and capability add value to organisational performance.
Develop sustainable HR practices suitable for both challenging economic circumstances and
organisational growth situations.
For your people:

Unlock peoples potential, enabling them to be the best they can at work.
Enable people to see organisational priorities within a wider picture in order to direct and manage
themselves with more awareness.
Facilitate development of an appropriately future-oriented skill-set.
3 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Toolmap
Help using this tool
Benefits of using this tool

Toolmap
Introduction
Instrument 1: Balancing current and future capability issues
Instrument 2: Talent management
Instrument 3: Aligning capability and talent with a future focus
Instrument 4: Leadership and management capability
Your action plan
Useful related CIPD resources
Further reading, references and useful web sites
Case study examples
4 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Introduction
Building capability and talent is an important issue for HR and business leaders to focus attention
on, whatever the economic climate. Our CIPD research has highlighted the importance of these
themes for long-term performance, in particular the Shaping the Future programme of work.
This practical tool is the third in a series of four tools which build specifically on the Shaping the
Future insights. This programme involved rigorous research over a two-year period and uncovered
eight themes that we believe are important for long-term performance.
This tool builds directly on the Shaping the Future work, and focuses on insights related to building
capability and talent. It examines what HR professionals can do to enhance organisational
performance; balance short- and longer-term priorities; build organisation-wide capability; identify
and deploy talent in an appropriate way; and develop leadership capability appropriate to both
challenging economic circumstances and organisational growth situations.
The other tools in the series are:

Engagement for Sustainable Organisation Performance
Achieving Alignment, Shared Purpose and Agility
Making Best Use of Performance Measures and Metrics (available autumn 2011).
5 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Figure 1: Four practical tools that build on the Shaping the Future insights
Engagement
Performance
measures
and metrics
Sustained
organisation
performance
Alignment,
agility and
shared
purpose
Capability
and talent
We hope this series of tools will help HR practitioners to ensure their organisations are fit for the
future, and able to sustain their performance over time, even through testing economic periods.
Find out about the CIPD comprehensive

Talent Management and Succession
Planning toolkit.
6 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Building capability and talent for

sustainable organisation performance
The CIPD Shaping the Future research project highlighted how building capability and managing
talent, for both the short and long term, is an essential component of sustainable organisation
performance. Short- and long-term priorities need to be balanced through active awareness,
management and communication of immediate organisational issues and pressures (of less than a
one-year timeframe) while also maintaining an active focus on longer-term priorities.
What do we mean by capability-building?
What do we mean by talent management?
7 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Whats in the tool?

This tool comprises four separate instruments (Figure 2), each focusing on a particular aspect of
building capability and managing talent. There are practical exercises, illustrative case study
examples and action planning facilities. Further sources of information that you may find useful are
also included.
The basis of capability-building and talent management is to build on current strengths, so this
practical tool adopts an approach known as appreciative inquiry, which involves:
discovering and appreciating the best of what is already happening
envisaging what could be and working with others to co-construct what should be
planning how to sustain what will be.
Figure 2: Building capability and talent
1 Balancing current and future

capability issues
3 Aligning
capability and
talent with a
future focus
4 Leadership and
management
capability
2 Talent
management
check-up
8 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page


This instrument provides an opportunity to examine current and future capability issues in your
organisation. It enables you to identify future-oriented capabilities through assessing both the
external environment and internal organisational priorities. It takes a practical approach to
environment-scanning, to inform decisions about building capability for tomorrow.
Instrument 2: Talent management
This instrument focuses on important features of talent management. It enables you to take a
strategic perspective by undertaking a talent management check-up to identify issues that could
be tackled to make better use of the potential of your people to deliver strategic advantage.
This instrument enables you to assess ways in which both capability and talent issues are aligned
with your organisations vision and direction for the future, to help you develop the level of
capability-building and talent management needed at an organisational level.
This instrument provides a framework to take stock of the leadership and management capability
within your organisation and identify areas where HR action is needed.
Action planning
Finally, the tool provides an action planning facility to help you take forward key actions to enhance
capability-building and effectively manage talent to underpin sustainable organisational performance.
9 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Instrument 1: Balancing current and future

capability issues
The Shaping the Future research draws attention to the short- versus long-term dilemma experienced
by decision-makers in many organisations and highlights how an over-focus on todays needs leads to
a form of tunnel vision, where important longer-term issues are not addressed. Tunnel vision limits the
appropriate development of organisational capability for the long term and it is important that HR
professionals attend to organisational capability issues on and over the horizon. This means looking
outwards, into the external environment to identify future issues and opportunities that will require
the development of new capabilities or the leveraging of existing strengths.
A key issue in finding a balance between short- and long-term issues is the achievement of insightled HR, which has been identified through the CIPD research into Next Generation HR. Insight-led
HR requires an awareness of the key drivers of the business, the wider market, the context in which
the organisation operates and a new approach to measurement and analysis. Insight-led HR
demands an open-minded decision-making process about short- and long-term issues and an
awareness of the potential limits on thinking caused by bias and preconceived notions about how
things are done around here. This enables HR professionals to exercise sound judgement and
decision-making, to challenge conventions and find new solutions to tenacious problems.
Important questions for HR practitioners are:

What will help make your organisation successful, or stop it from succeeding?
What goes on and what really makes things happen on the ground?
Find out more about the factors that

might limit the quality of decisionthinking in your organisation.
Read about identifying capabilities

over the short and long term at NHS
Dumfries and Galloway.
10 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Balancing short-term change imperatives with the long-term vision

Effective response to economic challenges requires organisations to meet short-term objectives of
cost control and maintenance of core capability, while at the same time developing their capacity to
change in order to cope with the future. Uncertainty affecting both short- and longer-term
opportunities for organisations means that a mix of capabilities is required to respond with agility
to emergent priorities.
CIPD research into effective change management highlights the vital role of the HR function in
enabling organisations to integrate and manage present and future issues in changing contexts. A
future-focused approach to talent management, capability-building and leadership effectiveness are
all necessary to achieve sustained organisational performance.
Read about a future-focused approach

to HR in Birmingham City Council.
Building a balanced capability agenda

You can use this instrument to develop a practical approach to enable the HR function to develop a
balanced and business-focused capability agenda that reflects the expectations and opportunities of
stakeholders and partners within the organisation. There are three stages to completing this instrument.
1 For each of the groups identified in the first column, identify their needs or expectations for the
short term. These issues tend to be the ones about which people are most vocal they reflect
problems that are both urgent and important. These issues must be addressed but a balanced
approach to capability requires additional attention to the longer term and this is addressed in
the next column.
2 For each of the groups you have identified as important, the next column allows you to identify
their expectations about the longer-term issues and opportunities. Completing this column may
require face-to-face conversations with those involved to clarify how things are understood from
different perspectives. In clarifying these issues it is important to probe for and identify what is
required for the future in terms of people performance if success is to be achieved on a longerterm basis.
3 Use the final column to identify what capabilities will deliver the people performance that will be
required: what knowledge, skills and behaviours are needed? In this column you can distinguish
between short-term capability issues and the knowledge, skills and behaviours that are vital to
underpin sustained organisational performance in the medium and long term.
11 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Short-term priority
business issues and
opportunities
Partners and
stakeholders
Longer-term
future-focused
business issues and
opportunities
Required capabilities
(knowledge, skills and
behaviours) to meet
current and future needs
Internal stakeholders
Shareholders, parent
company, government
department, etc
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Senior managers
Managers
Key departments/
business functions
Employees
Other important
partners/stakeholders
External stakeholders
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Customers
Suppliers
Local community
National community
Business/trade/
professional body
Government
12 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

From reflection to action

Take a few minutes to reflect on your responses to the prompts in Instrument 1.
1 R
eflect on the balance between short- and longer-term capability and decide whether the balance is
appropriate for your organisation. To what extent is the organisation preoccupied with the short term?
Is tunnel vision an issue for the HR function and for those who have the greatest influence on the
development of skills, knowledge and behaviours?
2 R
eflect on the capability requirements you have identified which capabilities should be prioritised? What
actions can the HR function take to develop these capabilities where they are needed? Are there places
in the organisation where these skills and behaviours are already evident? How could knowledge and
capability be more readily shared?
3 W
hat actions can you take to develop productive working relationships with key figures to ensure that
capability development is measured and evaluated to inform future action and decision-making?
4 W
hat support does the HR function need to put the capability development initiatives you have identified
into action how can this be achieved and sustained?
Type here
What you note down here will be transferred automatically to your action plan.
13 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Instrument 2: Talent management check-up

Talent management focuses on achieving maximum benefit from the performance potential of
individuals within the organisation. Managing talent involves the systematic attraction,
identification, development, engagement, retention and deployment of a pool of those with most
talent potential to achieve strategic advantage.
CIPD research into talent management shows that organisations can take a range of different
approaches to talent management. At one end of the spectrum is the exclusive talent focus, where
HR professionals work with strategic decision-makers to identify strategically important talent
segments and then focus on the effective recruitment, identification, development and deployment
of high-potential individuals within these segments. At the other end of the talent management
spectrum are organisations that adopt an inclusive talent focus that encompasses the entire
workforce of the organisation, focusing on ways to develop peoples strengths. Often a blended
approach is used in practice. Figure 3 illustrates how talent management has implications for HR
processes at all stages of the employee life cycle.
Figure 3: Talent management processes
Attracting
Recruiting
Identifying
Managing performance
Tracking progress
Deploying
Engaging
Developing
Rewarding
Retaining
14 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Talent management check-ups are an important activity for an effective HR function and this
instrument focuses on different aspects of the talent management process. This instrument focuses
on each of the elements of talent management illustrated in Figure 3.
A key issue with talent management is balancing a focus on identifying key positions or areas of the
organisation where talent is a strategic priority (referred to by Boudreau and Ramstad (2007) as
pivotal talent pools) as well as focusing on the development of talented individuals. Before you
begin your check-up you may wish to identify particular segments within your organisation where
talent issues are strategically significant (for example, leaders, technical specialists, sales).
The instrument allows you to address up to three segments of the organisation if this is
appropriate and you can keep these in mind as you address the items on the check-up.
Alternatively, you may wish to keep the whole of your organisation (or division) in mind as you
undertake the activities in this instrument.
Segments within your organisation where talent management is a priority:

1
Type here
Type here
Type here
Always
1
Element of talent management
Rarely
5
Identifying talent
Attracting/recruiting talent
People with exceptional talent are attracted and
recruited in these segments of the organisation.
Talented leaders are recruited at all levels in the
organisation.
Decisions about talent reflect longer-term strategic
opportunities.
The employer brand of the organisation attracts interest
from potential recruits before they are required.
Identifying talent
Processes are in place to identify talent and potential
from within the organisation.
Managers are rewarded for a proactive approach to
talent-spotting and encouragement within their teams.
Employees are aware of opportunities for assessment and
recruitment to talent pools or development opportunities.
Continued
15 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Always
1
Element of talent management
Rarely
5
Deploying talent
Talent deployment
Talent pools are identified and mapped to the future
skills needs of the organisation at a certain place and at
a certain time.
Good-quality human capital metrics, such as internal
promotion rates, are used to align talent management
with strategic priorities.
Tracking progress
Appraisal processes include a forecast of potential, as
well as an examination of past performance.
Employees and their managers engage in regular,
constructive conversations about successes and failures.
Data on the movement of key employees through the
talent pipeline over time is recorded and analysed.
Engaging talent
Development
Talent development practices are fit for purpose, with
a mix of in-house and external, formal and informal,
workplace and off-the-job methods.
Opportunities to extend the geographical, technical or
cultural experience of talented people are created and
managed effectively.
Line managers offer effective work-based support and
development to those with high talent potential.
Reward
Personalised reward packages are utilised where
appropriate.
Reward takes account of potential, core skills and
performance.
Technology that facilitates homeworking and virtual
teams is available where appropriate.
Intrinsic rewards, which encourage feelings that good
work has been appreciated and is meaningful to others,
feature in management processes.
Retention
Sufficient information on the needs and expectations of
talented employees over the long term is gathered to
inform retention strategies.
Two-way communications enable an open and honest
sharing of expectations relating to talent: both from an
organisational and an individual perspective.
Contact with talent pool members is maintained after
they leave the organisation to facilitate re-entry where
this is appropriate and desirable.
16 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page


Take a few minutes to reflect on your responses to this talent management check-up.
1 R
eflect on talent management areas where you can take some pride in developments and processes. How
might this good practice be more widely shared in the organisation?
2 What are the priority areas for further progress with talent management?
3 H
ow confident are you in the talent management processes that are in place? How might talent
management outcomes be measured over the long term?
Type here
Find out how Tesco have focused on

talent deployment and development.
17 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Instrument 3: Aligning capability and talent

with a future focus
CIPD research into the different ways that organisations tackle capability-building and talent issues
indicates a range of different levels of maturity, particularly relating to the extent to which a
balance of attention between short-term needs and longer-term opportunities is evident and also
the extent to which excellent practice with regards to capability and talent is taken to all important
segments of the organisation or whether some types of work or parts of the organisation are
overlooked. Figure 4 illustrates the range of different positions.
Figure 4: Aligning capability and talent with a future focus
Level of integration
Capabilty
building and
talent
Capability and
management is
talent issues are
integrated and
tackled in some
co-ordinated
parts of the
Capability
for a particular
organisation
and talent
segment of
but without
issues are
employees but
any evident
managed
not across all
informally or strategic focus. areas.
incidentally.
Future focus
Capability and
talent issues are
recognised as
strategically
important.
Vertical and
horizontal
integration is a
feature of talent
management
and capability
planning.
Capability and
talent issues
inform strategic
decision
processes.
Decisions about
capability and
talent are
underpinned by
a clear vision for
the future
direction of the
organisation.
This tool invites you to build on your reflections so far within this instrument and assess the extent
to which the organisation is focused on both capability and talent in particular, the extent to
which organisation-wide processes and activities are focused on a vision of the future.
18 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Moreover, the tool enables you to assess the level of maturity of your processes and to highlight
areas to help your organisation move forward with the important features of capability-building
and talent management. Consider each of the capability and talent elements shown in the column
headings and place a mark in the relevant row to show your assessment of the level of maturity the
organisation has achieved in this element as described in each of the columns. Marks at the bottom
of the grid reflect a future-focused approach to talent and capability is already embedded in your
organisation. Marks towards the top of the grid suggest more work is needed to ensure that your
talent and capability activities are focused on the future.
To what extent does the HR function

contribute in these areas?
Capability
assessment
Future
-focused
capabilitybuilding
Identifying
talent
Deploying
talent
Engaging
talent
An ad hoc approach is taken to deal with

immediate issues. No clear vision of the
organisation of the future is evident.
Immediate and longer-term issues inform
some of the decisions in a small number
of discrete areas of the organisation.
An integrated approach taking account
of the vision of the organisation for the
future is evident but is limited to one
segment of employees only.
Actions are consistent with organisational
messages about the vision for the future
and are horizontally integrated across the
organisation.
Information about current and future
skill, capability and talent issues informs
visioning and strategic decision-thinking.
19 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page


Take a few minutes to reflect on your responses to Instrument 3.
1 H
ow does your organisation map onto the indicators in the instrument? Reflect on the level(s) of maturity
of both capability and talent processes within the organisation. To what extent is there a clear vision of the
future direction for the organisation? To what extent are processes aligned with this?
2 Is maturity always a good thing? How does this play out with the need for agility?
3 T o what extent is there a balance of attention to ensure that both talent management and capabilitybuilding issues are prioritised and addressed? How might this balance be redressed?
4 What measures of success are used or could be used to identify progress in areas you have highlighted?
Type here
20 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Instrument 4: Leadership and management

capability
Talented people are often hard to manage. Capability issues are also multi-faceted and challenging
as organisations have to respond and adapt to their dynamic and fast-changing environment.
Therefore, developing organisation-wide capability and individual talent is a significant challenge
and requires high levels of management and leadership capability. The Shaping the Future research
highlights the vital role of the effective articulation of organisational vision and direction by toplevel leaders and appropriate management to unlock peoples capabilities and talent to deliver
beyond expected outcomes.
The support and active commitment of senior leaders is vital to enliven capability and talent
processes in line with the vision and mission of the organisation. CIPD research into employee
experiences of capability and talent programmes highlights how workplace development processes
such as coaching, mentoring and networking are highly valued by those who are seeking to fulfil
their talent potential and build their personal capability. However, many managers lack confidence
in their abilities to coach and mentor their employees in an effective way. Managers who have not
themselves been developed in an effective way are very unlikely to be able to support capabilitybuilding or talent management processes in their teams or departments. HR has a key role to play
in encouraging the development of future-oriented leadership and management capability
Listen to, or read the transcript of, a

podcast with Gary Hamel discussing
Building leadership for change
The tool within this instrument enables you to focus on aspects of leadership and management
capability that most influence capability-building and effective talent management. You may wish
to use it to evaluate the effectiveness of line managers as a group within your organisation.
Alternatively, you may wish to use it as a diagnostic tool with individual managers as a basis for
discussing their perception of their role with regards to building capability and developing talent,
and to identify and agree any personal development needs that they may have.
You will need to identify key areas or groups of staff where improvement to talent development in
the future is a priority and actions that HR could take to make a positive difference. You could
complete the tool separately for the different groups you have identified.
21 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Organisation, business unit,

team or group
Type here
To what extent are they evident?
Always
5
Never
1
Leadership capabilities
Communicate the vision with clarity
Keep people in touch with what is going on
Provide opportunities for people to feed views upward
and welcome their ideas
Are willing to take risks and give people a chance to
fulfil their potential
Provide networking opportunities to give members
of the talent pool opportunities of exposure to senior
members of the organisation
Take a consistent approach to talent development
across business divisions
Trust those in their areas and give them responsibility
for stretching and challenging tasks and projects
Provide support for job rotations, secondments
and international moves which are appropriate to
developing talent and building capability
Role-model leadership behaviours that focus on
enabling talent to flourish in the organisation
Management capabilities
Provide recognition when people have done a good job
are confident in sharing credit generously
Are clear about their responsibility for spotting and
nourishing talent and building capability
Encourage the talented to grow further and do not see
talent development as a threat
Support individuals who want to grow beyond the local
segment of the business
Trust those who are identified as high potential with
worthwhile assignments
Accept a degree of risk when providing challenge or
stretching people
Make time for and undertake effective coaching,
mentoring and feedback sessions with members of
their team
22 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page


Reflect on your responses to Instrument 4.
1 Identify areas of strength indicated in relation to leadership and management capabilities. Where do these
capabilities exist in the organisation? How might these form a basis for future development in other parts of
the business?
2 T o what extent does the organisation provide management or leadership development that focuses
on workplace training and development? In which areas of management training might workplace
development skills feature more prominently?
3 If new learning and support opportunities would help develop leadership capability, what methods would
be most appropriate? What would be the key features of a business case for any investment of time or
money to take this forward?
Type here
23 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Action planning
You can use this part of the tool to review your responses to the instruments in this practical tool
and plan your next steps. Because building capability and balancing the short- and long-term issues
is an important organisation-wide concern, it is important that line managers and senior leaders are
involved in identifying priority issues and actions. It is also important to appreciate and share the
best of what is already happening and to apply insights from good practice to address improvement
areas wherever they may be found. If you have not already added ideas for action elsewhere in this
tool, you can add your ideas here.

Type here
24 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Instrument 2: Talent management check-up

Type here
25 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page


Type here
26 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page


Type here
27 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Having considered the information above, my immediate priorities for action are:
Support/resources needed for
effective action
Priority for action

Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
Type here
28 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Useful related CIPD resources

CIPD. (2011) Management competencies for enhancing employee engagement.
CIPD. (2011) S haping the Future: sustainable organisation performance: what really makes the
difference?
CIPD. (2011) Talent management. Factsheet.
CIPD. (2010) Employee outlook year review.
CIPD. (2010) Management development.
CIPD. (2010) Next Generation HR: Time for change towards a next generation for HR.
CIPD. (2010) Workforce planning: right people, right time, right skills.
CIPD. (2009) Building leadership capability for change: interview with Gary Hamel. Podcast.
CIPD. (2009) Coaching at the sharp end: developing and supporting the line manager as coach.
CIPD. (2009) Fighting back through talent innovation: talent management under threat in uncertain
times, Part 2.
CIPD. (2009) Organisational responses to economic challenge.
CIPD. (2009) Shaping the Future: the drivers of high performance.
CIPD. (2008) Learning and the line: assessing and enhancing the role and contribution of line
managers in learning, training and development.
CIPD. (2008) Talent management: design, implementation and evaluation. Practical tool.
CIPD. (2007) Talent management. Research insight.
CIPD. (2001) The role of front-line managers in HR.
29 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Further reading and references

ARCHER, D. and CAMERON, A. (2008) Collaborative leadership how to succeed in an
interconnected world. London: Butterworth Heinemann.
BOUDREAU, J.W. and RAMSTAD, P.M. (2007) Beyond HR: the new science of human capital.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
GRATTON, L. (2004) The democratic enterprise: liberating your business with freedom, flexibility
and commitment. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall.
HAMEL, G. (2007) The future of management. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
KAHNEMAN, D., LOVALLO, D. and SIBONY, O. (2011) The big idea: before you make that big
decision. Harvard Business Review. June.
Useful websites
Collaborative Leadership
The Coaching and Mentoring Network
Mayo Learning, Organisation Capability
30 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Research illustration 1:
Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council (BCC), one of the participants in the Shaping the Future
research, is one of the largest councils in Europe, employing 60,000 people. In April
2006, they embarked on the largest business transformation programme in UK local
government
a programme
that set out to revolutionise the way the council delivers
Figure
2: Components
of engagement
services to people who live, learn, work in or visit Birmingham. This large-scale
programme aimed to enable the council to sustain its performance over the long term;
current external challenges make it even more important.
One strand to the business transformation programme focused on excellence in people
management, aiming to transform the council into an authority where people at all levels
are free to use their talent, creativity, energy and commitment to serve the public and
improve services.
In difficult economic circumstances, with decreased resources and the need to ensure the
council is fit for the long term, significant changes had to be made to the way it
operates. The way services are provided by BCC will fundamentally change from a direct
service delivery model to one of commissioning services. In addition, many of the
directorates will undertake restructuring with significant job redesign implications.
Current and future capabilities

Across the council, a strong enabler of performance is the engagement people have with
the service users, the people of Birmingham. As well as being concerned about how the
changes in BCC will affect their own roles, employees are also concerned about how
they will affect the service user. They are keen to go the extra mile to ensure that a
good-quality service is maintained, despite fewer resources being available. One key
enabler of performance is sharing knowledge and learning within the council using
formal and informal networks to do this. BCC is further promoting internal knowledgesharing, recognising more could be done to share learning between directorates.
Future focus
The Shaping the Future research found general agreement from managers at all levels
about what the council will look like in a few years time as well as the factors that are
prompting these changes. Interviewees also made reference to the political context in
which BCC operates and the need to stay abreast of political decisions that affect how it
operates. There is an understanding that the nature of job roles, including those of
managers, will change but participants in the Shaping the Future research talked
positively about the consultations that have been held and one manager said, you can
see lots of information around change and what will happen in the future.
NEXT
31 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

What does the future look like?

People at all levels of the organisation are committed to maintaining the core purpose of
the council. Employees are passionate about delivering a good-quality service and
improving the lives of the people of Birmingham. This core purpose remains at the heart
of what the council does, despite the current context, but the priority is to deliver
outcomes in a different way to achieve effective service delivery in a context of resource
constraints through a greater focus on efficiency.
The council is working to ensure communication is also a capability-enabler, with senior
managers running road shows and drop-in sessions across the city. Participants in the
research felt that the downward communication about the strategy and vision is
generally good, and more attention is now being given to upward communication
through Have your say sessions as people would like more opportunities to be involved
in decision-making by putting their views forward. A further challenge for line managers
is translating key messages for staff in terms of what it means for them.
For BCC it is of paramount importance to ensure that people have the skills and
capabilities needed by the council in the future. A focus on clear and consistent
communications and maintaining the strong level of engagement of staff to provide a
good-quality service are the other organisational priorities to achieve sustainable
organisational performance.
You can read more about this organisation in the CIPD Shaping the Future report.
CLOSE
32 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

NHS Dumfries and Galloway
NHS Dumfries and Galloway serves 149,000 residents and employs 5,000 people across
an area of 2,400 square miles. The board has embarked on an ambitious modernisation
programme and has undertaken a number of major change initiatives including
significant
restructuring
of job roles and responsibilities. NHS Dumfries and Galloway, a
Figure
2: Components
of engagement
Shaping the Future case study organisation, are alert to external factors that may affect
future performance so that they can plan accordingly; for example, issues relating to the
ageing population and the impact this will have on their workforce and demand for
services are being taken into account. Its innovative Delivering Dynamic Improvement
(DDI) programme was designed to equip managers and clinical leaders with the
knowledge and skills to build shared responsibilities for delivering dynamic continuous
improvements in the services provided to patients.
Long- and short-term priorities

Strategic priorities at NHS Dumfries and Galloway hinge around the four cornerstones of
quality, finance, service and people, but challenging economic circumstances have also
increased the organisations focus on costs and efficiency. There is a clear commitment
from the leadership team to ensure that the short-term financial pressures do not
dominate the long-term vision; the ten-year clinical services strategy consultation process
is an example of this. NHS Dumfries and Galloway are very mindful of issues relating to
the ageing population and the impact this will have on their workforce and demand for
services. They are actively accounting for this in their workforce planning.
You can read more about this organisation in the CIPD Shaping the Future report.
CLOSE
33 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Developing and deploying talent at Tesco
Tesco is the UKs largest grocer. It is also the worlds third largest grocery retailer, with
operations in 14 international markets. Tescos response to challenging economic
conditions has been to flex to customer needs and build a greater focus on value,
introducing
a new discount
range and more promotions.
Figure
2: Components
of engagement
Impact on approach to talent management

Tesco strategy seeks to balance short-term measures with long-term objectives and in
2009 the company announced plans to create more than 11,000 new jobs. In addition,
more importance is being placed on talent management as an important contributor to
business development through continued investment in learning and development and
its internal talent pools, so that the business is stronger when the economic climate
improves. While Tesco is mindful of efficiencies, attention is focused on the importance
of the effectiveness of learning and development so that investment in this area adds
value to the business. Rigorous decision-making is applied to new learning and
development practices and to the evaluation of existing initiatives.
Career development
Tesco has introduced several initiatives to support managers in their teams development
and especially those identified as high potential. These include products to develop their
coaching and feedback skills. In addition, organisational design, talent and performance
management are being further integrated to ensure that the right people are put into the
right stretch positions at the right time. Economic conditions mean that the external
labour market provides an opportunity to recruit well-qualified and experienced people,
in particular high-calibre graduates. However, Tescos strategy of capability development
means that most promotional opportunities are filled through their internal talent
pipeline; external recruitment is a complement which is used particularly as business
needs change. Career development opportunities make talented people want to stay
with Tesco and so provide the basis for sustainable capability development.
Adapted from: CIPD. (2009) Fighting back through talent innovation: talent management
under threat in uncertain times, Part 2.
CLOSE
34 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Insight-led HR
Potential insight limiters
What can you do if this is an issue?
Strong memories of recent high-profile

successes (or failures) in other organisations
or parts of the organisation that cause an
immediate preference for (or preference
against) a particular course of action.
Find out if there are other examples which

were more (or less) successful and then share
this information with decision-makers in an
appropriate way.
Assess how similar the memorable situation
is or was to the situation that is being
considered.
Disinclination to discuss alternative courses of

action this often occurs when time is short.
Generate alternatives for discussion this will

add value to the decision-making process.
Lack of good-quality information about all

aspects of the issue being considered.
Invest time in getting the best and most

complete information about the issues that
is available to you. Make sure that decisions
about capability are based on sources of
information that are credible, robust and
trustworthy.
Tendency to assume that something that

works in one context is directly transferrable to
another context this is like the halo effect in
recruitment.
Make sure that you eliminate false inferences

and look for additional comparable examples
of the use of this approach and the conditions
required for success.
CLOSE
35 of 35
CIPD 2011
Help using
this tool
Your
feedback
Previous
page viewed
Next
page

Shaping The Future Tool Capability and Talent PDF

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Descrizione originale:

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Shaping The Future Tool Capability and Talent PDF

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Building capability and talent to meet

short- and long-term priorities

This tool will help you:

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Help using this tool

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Who is this tool for?

Benefits of using this tool

For your organisation:

For your people:

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Benefits of using this tool

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

The other tools in the series are:

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Find out about the CIPD comprehensive

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Building capability and talent for

What do we mean by capability-building?

What do we mean by talent management?

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Whats in the tool?

Figure 2: Building capability and talent

1 Balancing current and future

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Instrument 1: Balancing current and future capability issues

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Instrument 1: Balancing current and future

Important questions for HR practitioners are:

Find out more about the factors that

Read about identifying capabilities

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Balancing short-term change imperatives with the long-term vision

Read about a future-focused approach

Building a balanced capability agenda

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

From reflection to action

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Instrument 2: Talent management check-up

Figure 3: Talent management processes

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Segments within your organisation where talent management is a priority:

Element of talent management

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Element of talent management

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

From reflection to action

Find out how Tesco have focused on

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Instrument 3: Aligning capability and talent

Figure 4: Aligning capability and talent with a future focus

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

To what extent does the HR function

An ad hoc approach is taken to deal with

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

From reflection to action

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Instrument 4: Leadership and management

Listen to, or read the transcript of, a

Building capability and talent to meet short- and long-term priorities

Organisation, business unit,