Execs Say Talent Management Most Important Strategy for Growth

When Korn/Ferry asked global executives what they felt was the most important corporate strategy for their company to implementnearly half (45 percent) responded with talent management. Talent management was reported as even more important than marketing (26 percent), financial management (21 percent), and capitalization (7 percent). But while talent management ranks as a top-priority strategy, 35 percent of respondents reported that their company did not have a talent management strategy in place.

The survey also found that 86 percent of executives place the onus of corporate success on the back of a strong management team, even though 43 percent said that they thought their company lacked the right management team for the next year. Over half (56 percent) of respondents felt that they would not have the right team even five years from now. Though just 7 percent said that their companies’ current strategy would remain the same for five years.

“Our survey indicates that even when top executives say that a strategic approach to determining human capital needs, such as recruiting, hiring and retention, is one of the highest priorities on their agenda, many companies’ talent management practices lag behind the minimum accepted standards,” said Ana Dutra , Chief Executive Officer, Korn/Ferry Leadership and Talent Consulting. “Many companies today have yet to align their talent strategies with the changing nature of business strategies.”

Dutra continued, “What apparently has yet to take hold in companies is recognition that business strategies are constantly changing and that companies need their leaders to be able to grow and learn from their experiences as well as update their talent strategies in order to execute on more challenging business performance targets.”