Introduction
Definitions of potential vary, and some subjective assessments are certainly required when identifying a high potential employee. However, most sources agree on the basics. Employees with high potential are the rising leaders of your organisation regardless of whether they work in IT, production, sales or management. The Corporate Executive Board defines high potential employees as those who demonstrate three key characteristics: aspiration, ability, and engagement. Learning agility and experience are also critical factors for successfully identifying high employee potential
The process of identifying high potential employees and developing those employees to take on critical roles in the future is vital to organizational competitiveness. Identification and development are two separate concepts. Although both concepts are important, organizations would be wise to put emphasis on how they go about identifying high potential employees. The emphasis on identification is imperative because not all employees are equal. Some employees perform better than others, some have more knowledge, and some are just more motivated. It is the proper assessment of these individual differences between employees that should be the foundation of any succession management or leadership development program. An organization should be able to classify employees based on their potential to succeed at higher levels or in critical roles within the organization. This process of classification is necessary to fully understand the extent of employee development needs. In other words, identification drives development.
Scientific studies have long suggested that investing in the right people will maximize organizations’ returns. In a world of unlimited resources, organizations would surely invest in everyone. In the real world, however, limited budgets force organizations to be much more selective, which explains the growing interest in high potential identification. If we are going to invest in the right employees, how do we find them? What are the key indicators that signal star potential? Research points to three general markers of high potential:
1. Proactive vs. reactive
One of the most obvious traits of an employee with the potential to succeed in a leadership role is whether they take on a proactive or reactive approach to problem-solving. A proactive employee plans — they don’t wait until a crisis occurs to react. Reactive employees, on the other hand, wait until the very moment a problem arises to come up with a solution (hence being referred to as firefighters). While both approaches aim to solve the problem, the proactive approach is more effective and telling of future leaders. Freedom from firefighting gives employees and leaders more time to implement the prepared strategies and processes to address the issue.
2. Leaders vs. followers
Not every employee strives to climb the corporate ladder. Some employees are perfectly happy in their current positions and have zero desire to lead and manage a team — and that’s fine. After all, behind every successful leader is a team of high performers. Instead of looking for obvious candidates for leadership based on performance alone, take individual contributions and personality traits into consideration.
High-potential employees are often characterized by their ability to go above and beyond the call of duty. They don’t leave the office the second the clock strikes five. They don’t focus on me, myself and I, but on the team. They do look for opportunities to contribute their skills and demonstrate their leadership abilities.
3. Receptive vs. unreceptive to feedback
Anyone can shake their head “yes” when receiving constructive criticism, but it takes a high-potential employee to take that feedback, remember it and apply it. Employees who are truly receptive to feedback will take immediate action, not to save their own skin, but to become an all-around better worker.
Research shows that high potential employees, numbers among a company’s greatest resources. Nurturing leaders in-house eliminates the need to recruit externally to fill many key positions while lowering training costs and reducing turnover rates for recent recruits who don’t match the company’s culture or standards. That’s why it’s so vital to identify, nurture and retain workers with high employee potential.
QUESTON 1
INTRODUCTION
The South African Motor industry is evolving through challenging times, placing tremendous pressure on Toyota SA Motors to remain efficient and competitive. The organization has identified human capital as one of its most valuable resources contributing to the achievement of this goal. It is therefore imperative that the organization implements a strategic talent management policy that would focus on retaining talented staff members and created a competitive advantage. The objective of the study was to examine the effectiveness of talent management as a retention tool with the aim of determining the employee perceptions and factors influencing competitive advantages of talent management and to provide recommendations to Toyota on the importance of strategic implementations of talent management to increase staff retention and improve competitiveness. This was to be achieved through the breakdown and analysis of the relevant components of talent management, along with theory comparison and the aid of quantitative research. The objective was achieved by sampling two hundred employees of Toyota. The empirical studies revealed that the perceptions of the employees were misaligned with international best practices particularly in terms of the identification of talented employees. Overall there was consensus that a strategic talent management policy would greatly benefit the organization to achieve its business objectives. A large percentage of respondents believed that talent management is very important to Toyota. It was found that most respondents believed that to improve the talent pool it was vital to develop individual career paths for all employees. The results revealed that a key factor for employee retention was better developmental opportunities. It was recommended that Toyota South Africa should nurture existing talent and source and develop new talent. Toyota needs to develop a strategic talent management policy to attract and retain the best talent.
The best strategies for keeping a high potential employee centre on identifying them and communicating with them. Companies spend thousands of rands and HR resources recruiting top talent, but too many organisations fail to nurture their employees with talent management and development. The following areas are critical for maximising employee potential and retaining top talent:
1. Recognise
Recognising that employees have potential helps workers thrive, but you must be careful not to foster a sense of entitlement. Maintaining open communications is the simplest and most effective method of recognising a high potential employee. Providing regular recognition can reward employees with positive reinforcement, greater self-esteem and higher job satisfaction.
2. Reward
Rewards and incentives can keep a high potential employee at a company long enough so that he or she can justify your confidence. You can reward HIPO employees with both performance-based and behaviour-based rewards. Using both incentives becomes crucial if promotions are slow due to a sluggish economy, seniority demands or prolonged succession-planning periods. Compensation usually ranks near the top of the list of preferred rewards, but other incentives can be just as effective. Incentives that motivate employees include recognition, career development opportunities, verbal praise and special perks.
3. Challenge
Challenge employee potential by offering tough assignments, special duties and expanded responsibilities. High-visibility assignments keep employees engaged while challenging them to perform at higher levels. Depending on your company and its culture, you might consider giving HIPO workers stretch assignments that are pivotal to achieving important company goals. It’s important to push employee potential by challenging complacency and the status quo. On the flip side, don’t instil fear of failure by making missteps an accepted part of the learning process.
4. Promote
Promoting those with employee potential signals that you’re not just blowing smoke. Too many workers with ‘potential’ fall by the wayside because they’re left to continue their old jobs with no advancement in sight. You can measure progress quarterly and base promotions on performance assessments during that time. You can also assign Hi Po employees to lead special projects and serve as regular team leaders. Another critical issue is readying a Hi Po candidate for promotion by offering one-on-one coaching or mentoring and educational, certification and training opportunities. Assigning a high potential employee to a different department or overseas office can substitute as a promotion when you explain that you’re grooming the person for expanded responsibilities.
Regardless of your in-house career development strategy, it’s critical to create an ongoing succession planning process to identify and nurture high potential employees. This pipeline can provide candidates for promotion and succession planning while your development efforts generate better work performances year-round. Identifying Hi Po candidates is no guarantee of success because between 5 percent and 20 percent of high employee potential will still drop off the rolls. The high potential employee pipeline can provide a steady source of top talent whom you can promote, cross-train and draw upon for filling key leadership positions
QUESTUON 2
INTRODUCTION
Today’s automotive business environment is fast changing due to globalization. It is merely not enough for companies to rely on technological advances and brand image. There are about 1 390 variants of vehicles, recreational vehicles and light commercial vehicles on South Africa’s showroom floors, according to a report by business website Fin24.com. The choice available has more than doubled over the past 10 years.
Toyota is under tremendous pressure to identify ways to do business efficiently and remain competitive. Staff members were identified as valuable resources and a key tool in enabling Toyota’s strategic transformation to competitive advantage. Talent management was identified as a critical focus area for ensuring motivated productive staff members and the retention of skill, knowledge and experience. Understanding the influencing factors of talent management has become vital for Toyota as talented staff members contribute to business growth and ensure sustainability.
The objectives of this study were to determine competitive advantages of talent management, the effectiveness of talent management as a retention tool and employee perception of talent management. Therefore, the results and recommendations presented will provide Toyota with options to determine the best talent management strategies to increase staff retention within the organization, and improve its competitive advantage.
Outcomes, recommendations and implications of this study
The objectives set for this study were chosen with the aim of understanding the influencing factors of talent management at Toyota. The first three objectives, to determine if new age benefits influence job satisfaction at Toyota, to determine the
impact of new age benefits on the business and to determine if job satisfaction results in staff retention at Toyota, were met as the results provided meaningful and useful information for both employees and Toyota.
For Toyota to attain higher levels of job performance, a strategic talent management policy needs to be implemented. Considerations need to be made to the individual’s personal circumstances due to changing work-life demands on employees. Findings from this study will help Toyota understand the beliefs and needs of employees and will allow for better decision making in identifying and strategically placing talented individuals in key positions to meet the organizations overall business objectives.
It is recommended that the definitions of talent management and engagement be made more definitive and established across contexts through empirical research. Further, the links between talent management and organisational effectiveness need to be evaluated to provide evidence to support the assumed link. Therefore, the most important implication for theory from this research is to establish a stronger empirical base for both employee engagement and talent management.
5.3 Recommendations based on findings
The following are recommendations for the management at Toyota. It has been statistically found that the employees believe it is important to have a talent management strategy, which include developmental opportunities and career growth. Potential talent should be developed and trained to fill in key positions within the organizations.
It is recommended that line managers be provided training, skills and knowledge to encourage them to identify and manage potential talent. It is also encouraged that the line managers be involved in their developmental needs and understanding of their career aspirations and ensuring employee engagement to ensure high potential employees are retained within Toyota.
It is recommended that Toyota further investigate why employees remain with the organization as well as why employees leave to identify the root causes. An external body could be used to ensure employee anonymity which will provide relatively honest information. This study has focused on the influence of talent management and resulting implications on staff retention but there are many other factors that influence staff retention, for example company reputation, management and leadership styles as well as organizational culture. Toyota needs to create a working environment in which employees choose to work for the organization rather than just accepting a position out of necessity.
Question 3
INTRODUCTION
Toyota will nature a corporate culture where team work and individual creativity thrive and where people approach their work with pride and passion.
The company will honour the spirit of diversity in recruiting, training and promoting capable individual around the world. Human resource development at Toyota will continue promote the transmission of the company’s spirit of conscientious manafucture and passing relevant skills and known from generation to the next.
The long-term success of any organisation ultimately depends on having a right people in the right job at the right time. Human resource planning has undergone dramatic change during the past decade. Practitioners and academic have called for greater attention to tighter linkage between HR planning and company strategies. To a large extent, these calls have heeded and there is now heightened awareness of the need for the development of HR planning from strategic perspective. Company known as strategic HR planning
Strategic HR planning the process through which company goals put forth in the mission statement and company planned are translated into HR objective. To ensure that the company neither nor understand, that employee with the appropriate talent, skills and design are available to carry out their task in the right job at the right time
