Today in this economic environment, more than ever, an organization’s most valuable asset is its people and the individuals selected to lead your organization. If you operate in a global or local region, executive leaders rely on the people who execute the business’s strategy to deliver optimal performance. But just talking about Talent Management is not sufficient for success.

As organizations change and adapt to new market conditions and business environment, so do the ways and tempo in which HR and business manage human capital. Decades of HR investments and refinement of activities such as the performance review have now combined with the faster pace of today’s markets to bring businesses to a serious inflection point. More frequent interactions to assess, motivate, and reward talent and the need for new methods to monitor and encourage improvement is required.

I have finally seen where the emerging discipline that addresses this is people-focused performance management, a key component of workforce performance management. Only those HR organizations that integrate the people and processes for performance management will able to maximize their effectiveness at all levels including management to finance and operations to the daily work on the front lines. Performance management has for many businesses and HR organizations been a balance of art and science. This must change to advance the maturity of performance management where HR plays a more strategic role, improving the effectiveness of the workforce and contributing significantly to financial performance.

I have been advising HR to involve finance and operations more fully in what it does to reformulate current processes for assessing performance and motivating talent. It must replace ad-hoc practices with structures and tools that incorporate various types of information and applications designed for executives, managers and employees. But realize the increasing generational diversity in workforces brings new expectations about collaboration and personalization, and so requires development of flexible processes for performance management that take into account varying age groups and cultural elements that occur from operating in a global economy.

Let me know your thoughts or come and collaborate with me on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Regards,

Mark Smith, CEO & EVP Research
http://www.ventanaresearch.com/blog/commentblog.aspx?id=3037