The Role Played by HR in the Sustained Competitive Edge Paradigm Development and Implementation

Inasmuch as developing a strong, successful business strategy is crucially important in order for organizations to attain competitive edge, its effective, consistent implementation does represent a crucial factor for its actual, successful pursuance. Even appropriate strategy development not followed by consistent execution would soon show to be empty and unwieldy. In order to achieve competitive advantage, nevertheless, employers should duly take into consideration several factors and deploy a different combination of resources, but human capital unquestionably represents the ultimate driving force behind organizations achievement of competitive edge.

HR in its double capacity as people function and strategic partner is definitively well placed to support employers in the Sustained Competitive Edge Paradigm appropriate development and successful implementation (the Paradigm is outlined in a specific article – Sustained Competitive Edge Paradigm). To stress the role played by HR in its effective execution, each component of the Paradigm is now analysed separately, but in connection with the others, identifying the synergic effects which the different components may produce the one in combination with the others.

Business Strategy Development and Execution

Business strategy, intended as corporate-level strategy, basically aims at defining a business direction and scope. Strategy should therefore define and identify an organization geographical scope, range of products and services, approach adopted to expand and gain new business, and the criteria to allocate resources between the different organizational components (Johnson et al, 2017).

As contended by Montgomery (2000), strategy is essentially concerned with managing people, resources and relationships, and making decisions. The way an organization makes a difference and the identification of the beneficiaries of that difference essentially explain the purpose of an organization.

Human capital does definitely represent a crucial factor not only in strategy development but indeed also in strategy execution. Business should therefore focus their efforts on making a difference for their consumer target group as well as for their employees.

The Role Played by HR

Being in charge of looking after employees, managing the entire employee lifecycle and ensuring employees the best possible experience, HR can and should play a particularly significant role in business strategy development and execution.

Table A – HR and Business Strategy

 The benefits of the activities performed by HR are so pervasive and overarching which it can be hardly argued that every single action is actually aimed at pursuing a single objective. Programmes developed and implemented by HR typically covers different areas and bundling with others initiatives more often than not yield even more overarching results, thanks to the synergy each of them produces in combination with the others.

In its role as an effective business partner HR is not in charge of coming up with new business strategy ideas; notwithstanding, its contribution to it may be manifold.

In the business strategy development phase, HR can certainly support the business in the identification, for instance, of new business geographical areas conducting wide labour market intelligence investigations in order to assess the local availability of the specific skills and expertise required by the company and identify the opportunities and threats offered in terms of employment law, reward practices, fiscal law, cost of living, lifestyle, culture and other similar aspects. Some of these pieces of information will prove to be particularly significant when a company, as usually happens, may plan to second employees from a country to another.

HR clearly plays a significant role in the management of the employee lifecycle. The ultimate aim is not only to ensure employees a great experience, but also to secure organizations onboarding and developing individuals having the skills and competencies necessary for them to successfully compete in the relevant markets.

Whilst recruiting and employee development are of paramount importance for enabling business to have the internal skills and expertise they need to develop and constantly review their strategies, leadership, talent management and, once again, employee development can be definitely regarded as crucial factors for strategy implementation. Once developed on paper, even strong, potentially effective strategies may lead business nowhere if not properly executed; management effectiveness, therefore, definitely represents a key factor to this particular end.

Corporate Culture and Organizational Climate

Whereas developing a company culture is mainly an employer task, its consistent implementation concerns all the employees. Executives, managers and line managers in particular should ensure that corporate culture is not a nice to have statement written on paper, but the expression of values, approach to work and way of interacting genuinely accepted and embraced by employees. Organizational culture may actually make or break business strategy and that is the reason why employers are increasingly devoting to it constant, close attention.

Corporate culture is one of the most significant factors jobseekers take into consideration when making their decisions on the company they want to join. Paying lip service to corporate culture and neglecting to consistently showcase it, may seriously jeopardise employers’ ability to attract and retain the talented individuals they may need.

The Role Played by HR

Also in this case, HR may play an important role namely in corporate culture development and implementation phases.

Table B – HR and Corporate Culture

By conducting surveys, focus groups and town hall meetings, HR can assess employee actual perception of culture and identify any potential gap. Listening to employee voice may provide employers food for thought and help them identify potential room for manoeuvre and grounds to review their company culture.

Albeit defining and developing corporate culture is a typical founder responsibility, understanding and taking into consideration employees’ point of view may help employers understand their actual attitudes and values. If considered appropriate and consistent with company values, employers may decide to review and fine-tune their company culture accordingly, alto taking into consideration the changes occurring at an increasingly faster pace in the external environment.

Once HR gathers employee feedback on how they actually live on a daily basis organizational culture, it is extremely important to develop a plan of action in order to follow up on employee voice. Ensuring employee perception of corporate culture, that is, organizational climate properly reflects organizational culture should be regarded by employers and HR as a non-negotiable obligation and firm part of the actions taken to offer employees a valuable experience.

Employees regard any gap they perceive between company culture and organizational climate (that is, their perception about corporate culture) as a marked evidence of inconsistency. Managers talking the talk but not walking the walk cause employees to become disillusioned about corporate culture and feel ill at ease in the workplace. The concomitant existence of these circumstances, lack of ethics and disregards for organizational values drastically impact organizational climate and may be the reasons for employee absenteeism, distraction and inaccuracy, worse still, the causes for employee and team productivity to dramatically plummet.

 Employer Branding and Candidate Experience

The unrelenting, pervasive presence and influence of social media nowadays remarkably impact organization reputation and public image. The implications are noticeable both in terms of employer branding and corporate branding, but the two aspects can indeed be considered as the two sides of the same coin in that it can be hardly contended that the one aspect does not actually affect the other.

Albeit employer branding aims at promoting organizations as the best place to work and at creating in potential applicants an organization’s corporate image of an employer of choice, employer branding reach is not limited to jobseekers and may actually significantly contribute to make or break general public, that is to say potential investors and customers, impression of an organization.

Offering applicants an excellent candidate experience is not only important to show them respect and appreciation for their desire to join the organization, but also because candidates may already be or become at a later stage company customers, investors or both. Yet applicants who have had a negative recruiting experience might spread the word using, in addition to the once powerful word of mouth, the today even more powerful social media and social networks communication channels.

The Role Played by HR

Recruiting is definitely the main pillar of employer branding, HR should ensure that every applicant genuinely has an excellent candidate experience and that recruiting is managed consistently with the organization employer brand image. It may be argued that in some ways recruitment represents the evidence of the consistent execution of an organization employer branding strategy.

Table C – HR and Employer Branding

Organizations are increasingly availing themselves of social media and social networks in order to execute their employer branding strategy. HR puts in place a series of initiatives and actions to showcase their organization corporate culture, positive climate, active participation in environmental and social initiatives, but also employee benefits, flexible work and diversity and inclusion practices as well as any activity and initiative which may enable the organization to attract talented individuals from the relevant labour market (in addition to retain employees).

Albeit as often as not organizations involve their employees as testimonials in their employer branding initiatives, in order to provide candidates a real taste of what daily life is within the organization, candidate reviews and testimonials may make a bigger impact not only on potential candidates, but on general public at large.

Unpleasant candidate experience and inconsistent, worse still, altered representation of a company culture and climate may have counterproductive effects negatively impacting the organization not only by deterring talented individuals from joining the organization, but also customers and potential customers from continuing to buy or starting to buy the company products and services.

Employer branding does therefore represents a powerful way of promoting a business, but it should be managed consistently with organization real reality, offering all candidates an excellent recruiting experience and follow up at every stage of the recruitment process, safe in the knowledge that today’s candidates might be tomorrow’s (or later today) customers or investors.

Corporate Branding and Corporate Image

It may be argued that corporate branding is to consumers and investors as employer branding is to jobseekers, interrelations between the two aspects are nevertheless rather evident and when appropriately manged, may indeed produce significant synergic effects.

Also in this case, employers should be aware of the circumstance that a more or less wide gap between the corporate branding they are striving to build and develop and the general public image of their company brand may exist.

Among the most powerful levers organizations can nowadays use to enhance their corporate branding, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) strategies can be definitely regarded as particularly significant and effective. Both strategies actually aim at showcasing and fostering, albeit in a different and complementary fashion, their commitment to sustainability.

Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR does represent a qualitative, self-regulating approach employers adopt in order to show their unconditioned commitment to sustainable practices. Its ultimate purpose is to positively impact and enhance the environment and society at large (Lutkevich, 2022).

Effective CSR strategies development and implementation enable organizations to maintain a positive corporate image and improve stakeholder morale (Lutkevich, 2022).

 

As maintained by Polley (2022), CSR strategies also make a positive impact on company reputation. By reason of the growing social media and social networks reach, consumers can easily voice their disappointment against organizations, if social and environmental issues are not of concern to businesses, potential loss of turnover and profit highly likely are.

Environment, Social and Governance

ESG strategies use environmental, social, and governance data, measurable objectives and audit findings to evaluate organizations’ sustainability commitment and actual results.

Rating agencies can develop measurable indexes and assign companies scores in the environment, social and governance areas enabling in particular potential investors to evaluate a company long-term sustainability capability (O'Neill, 2022). ESG therefore enhances investor capability to evaluate businesses sustainability.

Being based on metrics and data, ESG may enable organization to maintain corporate reputation and financial success in the future

CSR and ESG

Both CSR and ESG strategies and reports may be used by employers to inform the general public about the company values and objectives. CSR mostly providing qualitative data, whereas ESG providing metrics and therefore quantitative data.

Employers should simultaneously embrace CSR and ESG strategies, in particular:

Ø  CSR should be used by employers to showcase and increase internal awareness of the business sustainability efforts;

Ø  ESG should be mainly (but not exclusively) used to provide metrics and measurable objectives externally to potential investors (O’Neill, 2022).

A recent study conducted by McKinsey and NielsenIQ (Bar Am et al, 2023) suggests that consumers do actually pay special attention to sustainability and “back it up with their wallet.” The study essentially confirms that consumers are not only increasingly paying attention to environmentally and socially responsible products, but are also actually purchasing them.

The Role Played by HR

HR can definitely support employers in developing and implementing CSR practices consistent with their ESG strategies and strongly support employers in developing and communicating externally their ESG strategy, laying great emphasis on the environmental and social aspects.

Table D – HR and Corporate Branding

First and foremost, HR should ensure that both CSR and ESG strategies, and therefore internal and external communications, are aligned with corporate culture, organizational climate and company values and beliefs. In particular, organizational culture should foster respect for the environment, the community at large and give employees a central role in being part of the solution.

Business policies should reflect employer sensitivity to environmental, social and governance areas and consequently show, for instance, serious consideration for an appropriate use of energy, waste treatment, carbon footprint and plastic elimination, as to what concern the environment. To show employers genuine commitment to social environment, HR should develop programmes aiming at offering employees opportunities for volunteering (using paid leave), participating in donations in favour of the community, backing associations and schools in providing support to children who have no access to digital tools, participating in charity projects, supporting fair trade business and associations by purchasing their products, and developing and implementing other similar significant programmes.

Genuine, consistent commitment to social matters should be also reflected in HR policies including, for instance, strong inclusion and diversity statements (also in order to foster innovation) and equal opportunity policies at all levels, career advancements and gender equal pay as well.

As part of the CSR initiatives, HR should establish and keep wide open a two-way communication channel with employees and ensure that they are well-aware of the actions taken by their employer. Fostering, for example, diversity and inclusion practices may make feel employees proud to work for the company and then prove to be a good retention measure, but also an effective way of attracting talented individuals from the external labour market.

HR should communicate the organization CSR initiatives not only internally but also externally, for instance, embedding them into employer brand strategy and supporting CSR communications with relevant ESG metrics and data.

By supporting employers in communicating their ESG commitment, HR will contribute to prove that the business does actually have a specific, well defined vision. Investors are surely keen to know as much as they can about the company they invest their money in and eager to know how sustainable their strategy may actually prove to be. General public as well is becoming increasingly keen to buy products and services marketed by environmentally and socially responsible companies.

There are indeed both overlaps and differences between CSR and ESG strategies but they are both significant for employers and should be used in synergy the one with the other. One size does not fit all, HR and employers should hence focus on their real reality, specific circumstances and distinctiveness to develop their CSR and ESG strategies and avert just doing what competitors do, the same way they do it.

HR may play a particularly significant role in supporting business in gaining competitive edge:

Internally

ü  Developing and implementing strategies and policies consistent with the business CSR and ECG strategies;

ü  Supporting employers in developing strong corporate cultures reflecting CSR, ESG and sustainability strategies;

ü  Properly and effectively communicating employers CSR and ESG strategies, providing them a clear line of sight between these and HR strategy and programmes.

Externally

ü  Embedding corporate culture, CSR strategy and ESG strategies in employer branding strategy and programmes;

ü  Offering applicants an excellent candidate experience and enabling them to perceive organization genuine consideration for governance, the environment and social and sustainability matters.

Longo, R., (2023), The Role Played by HR in the Sustained Competitive Edge Paradigm Development and Implementation; Luxembourg: HR Professionals, [online].

Sustained Competitive Edge Paradigm

Organizational success depends on several factors, some of which may actually be controlled by employers, others which definitely are beyond their control in that related to the external environment and influenced by human perceptions. In order for employers to attain sustainable competitive edge, therefore, they should not only constantly assess and review their ability to stay competitive, but also unrelentingly scan the external environment. The former activity - after all, would be sorely pointless if disconnected from the latter.

The contextual factor

It is an axiomatic fact that the external environment in which employers operate and the incessant, quickening pace change occurs make a remarkable impact on organizations. Employers are prompted to constantly review and adapt their business structure, the approach working activities must be performed, their business strategy and ultimately their corporate culture accordingly.

The contextual factor and its dynamics increasingly influence the way organizations make and review their plans to gain and enhance their competitive edge potential in the market. Businesses strengths and weaknesses are affected by the ever-changing external environment; employers consequently devote close, special attention to environmental scanning tools, like the PESTLE analysis.

Whilst the SWOT analysis, enabling employers to “look in” for strengths and weaknesses and “look out” for opportunities and threats, is rather uniformly applied by employers over time, it can be argued that the main focus of the PESTLE analysis has been subject to change with the passing of time.

In the past, PESTLE analyses were mostly focusing on “political” and “economic” factors, whereas more recently, by reason of the unrelenting technological advances and pervading use of technology in the workplace, employers have paid closer attention to the “technological” factor. “Digital transformation” is an expression most of the employers are acquainted with and behind the projects implemented by many organizations.

Nowadays and highly likely even more in the years to come, the “social” and “environmental” factors represent and will represent the main focus of PESTLE analyses. In many organizations, for example, the expression “digital transformation” has been already replaced with the ESG acronym, which stands for Environment, Social (corporate) Governance. Many employers are therefore already developing and implementing project plans aiming at offering their customers sustainable and environmentally friendly products and services.

The “political” factor has invariably played a significant role and unquestionably will continue to play a significant role in PESTLE analyses; similarly, the legal factor should be regarded as a constant, inescapable component of any environmental scanning tool. Like in the ESG case, not always employers’ choices are actually made regardless of the influence exerted by the regulatory framework in force.

The fact that the environmental and social factors are destined to be the main focus of environmental scanning tools for the years to come does not entail by any means that employers can neglect or pay lip service to the other factors encompassed in the environment scanning tool they may decide to use. Technological advances, for instance, definitely help employers pursue their intended strategies, but also pose serious threat in terms of cybersecurity. To secure appropriate execution of their business strategy, organizations need thus to pay close attention to technology also in order to effectively protect their ICT assets.

 

Table A - Environment Matrix

 

Significant factors coming into play

Paying close attention to the contextual factor does represent a means to an end, not the end itself. Yet the one size does hardly fit all, employers should therefore carefully analyse the information they gather and take action accordingly, taking heed of their specific circumstances and distinctiveness.

To gain sustained competitive edge, employers should not only constantly review and adapt their business model, but also develop and foster strong cultures, functional to the pursuance of their intended strategy, which need then to be effectively, appropriately executed.

Once employers identify and develop the appropriate business model, strategy development, strategy execution and a strong culture may seem to be the only key components of a recipe for sustainable success, but in order for employers to actually gain sustained competitive edge, they need to consider some additional crucial factors.

 

Table B – Sustained Success Key Factors

 

The widespread use of the Internet and social media, and the ease and speed information can nowadays be conveyed accounts for the general public to take into consideration several facts, elements and factors when making their purchase decisions.

Corporate Culture Vs Organizational Climate

Corporate culture does play a crucial role in supporting strategy execution. Organizational values and beliefs or as aptly summarized by Furnham and Gunter (1993) “the way we do things around here,” are of paramount importance for the pursuance of any organization strategy. Notwithstanding, the widely held belief that organizational culture can make or break an employer attempt to successfully pursue its intended strategy can only be partially backed up.

Inasmuch as employers develop and foster organizational culture to influence individual behaviour in the workplace, it is indeed the way employees interpret and translate organizational culture into practical behaviour and actions, that is, organizational climate, which strongly affects the way they behave and act in the workplace.

Corporate culture is essentially concerned with corporate values and beliefs as well as with the behaviour, attitudes, inclination and views, which employers expect employees to exhibit, embrace and share to successfully pursue their intended strategy. Organizational climate is concerned with individual genuine feelings and perceptions of the values and beliefs employers aim at fostering in the workplace. Not always employees’ perceptions are perfectly in line with employers’ expectations.

It may be argued that when it happens corporate culture definition perfectly matches that provided by Herb Kelleher, former Southwest Airlines CEO, during a conference on corporate strategy in New York City in the late 1980s (Taylor, 2019): “Culture is what people do when no one is looking.” In this case, employees genuinely embrace corporate culture insofar as living it regardless of their Manager or any other co-worker presence.

Corporate culture can effectually help employers pursue their intended objectives and achieve competitive edge only when corporate values and beliefs, and the way things should be done in the workplace perfectly coincide with employees values, beliefs and the way they would like to do things in the workplace.

Consistency and ethics should be regarded as the underpinning tenets of corporate culture, if employers talk the talk, but they do not walk the walk it is hardly likely that organizational climate may actually match and support corporate culture, albeit this has been nicely developed and formulated on paper.

The influence of corporate image and reputation

With an estimated 60% of the world population having access to the Internet in 2021 (The UN specialized agency for ICTs, November 2020) information circulation is rising dramatically, despite unevenly across different regions and countries.  The Internet and social media make it extremely easy for consumers to access any kind of information concerning organizations, not necessarily directly linked to their products and services, which may affect their decision-making process.

In particular, corporate image, brand reputation and employer brand are all external factors which may remarkably impact consumer decision-making process.

Employer brand

Employer brand is the term commonly used to refer to a business reputation as an employer. It basically “measures” how attractive an organization is considered by jobseekers when looking for their first or a new job opportunity. People apply for a position in a specific company because is that company that they really want to join.

HR usually establishes and keeps open a number of communication initiatives, especially by means of social media and social networks, to enhance organizations employer brand image, but “candidate experience” definitely represents one of the most significant, arguably the most significant, component of employer branding. Yet it may be used by candidates also to ascertain if employers talk the talk and walk the walk.

Jobseekers as well as potential consumers pay special attention to organizations branded by their own employees as “great place to work” and “employer of choice.” HR typically showcases corporate culture, workplace climate, employee wellbeing initiatives and work-life balance, equal opportunities and diversity and inclusion practices to lure talents and high-fliers, and invite them to browse through their career webpages and apply for suitable positions.

Corporate branding

Consumer decision-making is increasingly influenced by corporate branding, of which employer branding can be considered as a component. As maintained by Roll (2022) “a strong brand is about building and maintaining strong perceptions in the minds of customers.”

Corporate branding can therefore be defined as the series of initiatives and actions taken by employers and the resources they deploy to implement their business model in order to attract and retain new customers.

Also in this case, nevertheless, it is of paramount importance that employer efforts, aiming at conveying a specific message and improving their public image, are consistently received and interpreted by consumers. Despite employers’ efforts to project a strong corporate brand image, customers may indeed get a different idea of their business.

It may be contended that corporate branding is to corporate image as corporate culture is to organizational climate. Employers should not only develop strong corporate cultures and corporate brands, but also do whatever they can to ensure excellence in execution. Appropriate, coherent execution may effectually help employers achieve consistency between development and implementation and avert employees and customers to believe that they talk the talk but do not walk the walk.

Sustained Competitive Edge Paradigm

Attaining sustained competitive edge definitely represents a daunting, herculean task for every employer. It is highly unlikely that organizations may shine, worse still, stay afloat in rough, troubled waters, if they do not ensure that the key factors to achieve competitive advantage are actually synchronised and run like clockwork.

 

Table C – Sustained Competitive Edge Paradigm

In particular, in order for employers to achieve sustained competitive advantage they should play special, close attention to four key components, to wit: Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Employer Branding and Corporate Branding, safe in the knowledge that implementation and human perceptions can make or break their effort to succeed.

In order for employers to attain sustained competitive advantage, they should ensure that the four development components of the Sustained Competitive Edge Paradigm as well as the related implementation factors are all regularly monitored, reviewed and redeveloped according to environmental scan findings. In contrast, neglecting only a single component or associated factor of the Sustained Competitive Edge Paradigm may cause employers to find it extremely difficult to secure competitiveness, never mind achieve competitive edge.

Being underpinned by several pillars, the Sustained Competitive Edge Paradigm is essentially based on the bundle approach according to which the simultaneous concomitant recourse to different measures, enables employers to produce synergic, multiplicative effects. Also in this case, nevertheless, employers will obtain the positive, synergic effects produced by the bundle approach, only if they devote constant, careful attention to all of the Sustained Competitive Edge Paradigm components and factors, and take prompt action to adapt them accordingly when necessary.

 Longo, R., (2022), Sustained Competitive Edge Paradigm; Luxembourg: HR Professionals, [online].

The Whys and Wherefores of Talent Management

The expression “war for talent” was coined in 1997 by Steven Hankin, to convey how hard it was for the employers of the most advanced economies to attract and retain talented individuals by reason of labour markets stiff competition.

Talent management emerged thus as a crucial component of HR strategy and practices, increasingly attracting HR professionals attention. Developing Talent Management practices, nevertheless, does by no means entail formulating on paper “nice to have” policies, just to show CEOs that the company’s HR practices are up to date and in line with those of the largest corporations. Do not having crystal clear the whys and wherefores of the talent management practices introduced into an organization, would just take employers nowhere and jeopardize the significant strategic role played by HR.

The ultimate purpose of Talent Management is enable employers to invariably have the right people, in the right place, at the right time to effectually pursue their strategy and withstand the challenges posed by the ever-changing external environment.

Talent Management should not be hence perceived by Managers and, worse still, CEOs as a “yet another HR thing,” but rather as a tangible, effective HR strategic contribution to the attainment of organizational success. As such, Talent Management should help to make, rather than break the strategic role played by HR.

The practical implications of wisely and accurately designed Talent Management practices should essentially be twofold:

• Ensure organizations can bank on a strong succession plan, enabling employers to constantly be in a position to replace key role holders in case of their departure;
• Make certain employees gain the skills, competencies and expertise not necessarily crucial to lead in the present, which will be indispensable to lead, and create and maintain competitive advantage in the future.

These objectives can essentially be regarded as the two sides of the same coin. Their simultaneous, combined attainment would enable employers to bank on the right people, in the right place, at the right time, despite the disruptive influence relentlessly exerted by the external environment, taking heed of the likely future developments.

The distinctive feature of this comprehensive approach is extend Talent Management focus of attention and interest to the external environment, as opposed to limit it to the internal context only.

Consistent Talent Management practices implementation should enable employers to be constantly ready to replace key role holders leaving the organization with skilled, talented individuals, both in leadership and technical roles. At the same time, employers should unremittingly investigate future market trends, the external environment, technological advances and future of work studies to analyse and assess the influence change occurring in the exogenous environment may have on their business.

 The timely identification and monitoring of these factors, and an accurate risk assessment of the impact these may have on their organization, would certainly put employers in a position not only to identify the new roles and skills the business may need, at any given time in the future, but also to anticipate and drive change and adapt its business strategy accordingly. Employers should proactively come up with new solutions and introduce change, rather than wait and reactively being suddenly forced to accelerate, to desperately try and catch up with change.

It can be argued that, to effectively help employers attain competitive edge, Talent Management practices should be developed in combination with environmental (e.g. PESTLE) and risk analyses.

HR initiatives should be tightly connected with, not disconnected from the external context reality and business strategy, and Talent Management makes no exception. Yet HR Professionals should never lose sight of the objectives they aim at attaining through the actions and initiatives they propose.

Talent Management practices should be developed duly taking into consideration:

• Internal environment needs, succession plan and role mapping;
• External environment ever-changing circumstances and developments;
• Company-specific business strategy;
• Corporate culture.

HR Professionals can develop effective, consistent, comprehensive Talent Management practices if and only if it is crystal clear to them their company business strategy, how Talent Management can effectually and practically help attain it, and the impact external pressures may make on their organization strategic human capital planning.

To avert this list of ingredients to show to be a recipe for disaster, rather than for success, an additional ingredient should be indeed necessarily added. People the business is keen and eager to devolve power and responsibility should first and foremost be those who, better and more than anyone else within the business, behave and do things strictly adhering to the organization values, norms and beliefs. Talent Management practices should thus be developed within the organization corporate culture framework.

Future leaders should naturally, spontaneously promote corporate culture and play the role of its strongest advocates. Their daily behaviour and actions, rather than their words, should be promptly identified by employees as a clear expression of corporate culture and easily associated with it.

Like every HR initiative, Talent Management should not be regarded as a per se, standalone programme, but as a significant component of a bundle of initiatives supporting one another so as to create a synergic, multiplicative effect. Talent Management is indeed used in combination with development opportunities enabling employees to join different teams, at times in different countries. These individuals may be regarded in many ways like company ambassadors and models for the other employees, as such, their contribution to promote corporate culture, genuinely expressing it with their actions and behaviour, is of paramount importance.

Talent Management does not represent an end in itself, but a means to an end. Programmes should also be developed with the aim of stressing the significance of the direct link existing between corporate culture and business strategy. Inasmuch as organizations can hardly achieve competitive edge without a clear, effective strategy, businesses cannot successfully pursue their strategy without the support of a consistent, properly developed corporate culture, on the basis of which employees shape their behaviour and actions.

Talent Management programmes should be clearly tailored to each organization distinctive features and peculiarities. Slavishly introducing programmes developed by other companies, just because these have worked well under certain circumstances, is highly unlikely to produce the same exceptional results under different circumstances and hence in other organizations: different people, different culture, different strategy and different circumstances. Organizations are different one another so that despite the ingredients of the recipe may apparently seem to be the same, the recipe varies from business to business.

The objectives employers aim at attaining on the other hand are unchanged, to wit: successfully pursue organizational strategy, achieve sustainable competitive edge and secure a future to their organization and people. Achieving these objectives nevertheless is increasingly proving to be a herculean task for employers.

Once formulated, practises also need to be properly, consistently executed. Practices and policies development is indeed sorely vain if not followed by appropriate implementation. Are not indeed rare the cases in which the same practices have worked well in some branches of a company and have ended in a dismal failure in other branches of the same company, under similar circumstances, due to implementation.

As usual, Line Managers play a crucial role in the execution of an organization practices. Rather than believing that Talent Management and other HR activities are “just another HR thing,” Line Managers should think over the fact that the real challenge is not completing a given task by the end of the day or of the week. The real challenge is developing and scheduling, in time, a plan of action securing them and their team significant tasks to complete also for the years and decades to come.

It clearly depends on HR; to gain credibility and the management genuine commitment to Talent Management programmes, HR Professionals need to gain management trust. They should show to be well acquainted with their organization strategy and challenges, be genuinely able to understand how HR can help the business factually achieve its objectives and take the time to discuss with managers the benefits of Talent Management initiatives, which sometimes may not be immediately obvious to the managers who are struggling with their daily duties, projects and management tasks.

Longo, R., (2020), The Whys and Wherefores of Talent Management; Luxembourg: HR Professionals, [online].