The Greatest Challenge Behind Talent Management Failure
Could the real issue be the very structure of treating people not as something to be understood, but simply as objects to be managed ?
This is not a matter of whether system design was done well or whether a talent management system was introduced skillfully.
It is a matter of mindset and underlying philosophy in how organizations approach talent management.
The Repeated Failure of HR System Imports in Japanese Companies
Japanese companies have long imported a wide range of HR systems, many of them from the United States.
Performance-based management, management by objectives, 1-on-1 meetings, and increasingly sophisticated evaluation systems are only a few examples.
A little earlier, competency models and core competence frameworks were also typical examples.
Many companies identified the behaviors and capabilities of high-performing employees,
and introduced systems based on the idea that
if everyone could acquire those traits, overall organizational performance would improve.
But what happened in reality?
In many companies, the systems became hollow, stalled partway through, and in the end, all that remained was the fact that “a system had been introduced.”
The fatal problem was that
introducing the system itself became the goal.
Even when companies tried to imitate the behavior of high performers,
they introduced and operated the system without understanding
“why does this person behave that way?”
In other words, the why, the internal factor, was never truly understood.
In reality, even the model employee being used as the example was not necessarily able to analyze structurally why they achieved strong results or express that as a clear set of talent requirements.
Is the Same Failure Happening in Talent Management Today?
Talent management is now spreading rapidly across Japan.
But are too many companies becoming consumed merely with putting systems and structures in place?
If things continue that way, talent management is highly likely to follow the same path as the old competency systems. That conclusion is difficult to avoid.
What Is Most Missing in Talent Management Implementation
So what is the real challenge in implementation?
Put simply,
companies may have a business strategy,
but they have not clearly articulated the kind of people needed to make that strategy real
.
In other words,
they are deciding placement, roles, and jobs
without truly understanding people and without being able to explain them
.
In many organizations, the actual process behind promotion decisions, performance evaluation, and job transfers looks like this:
- Looking at employee photos and profiles
- Reviewing experience, achievements, and past evaluations
- Referring to skill information to some extent
But at the same time:
- They do not know the person’s real strengths
- They do not know the source of the person’s motivation
- They do not know the person’s thinking habits
- They do not know the person’s judgment tendencies
- They do not know how easily the person’s emotions fluctuate
- They do not know the conditions under which the person’s behavior can be reproduced
In most cases, this kind of internal structure is not being understood at all.
As a result:
- Placement is decided based on company expectations or wishful thinking
- Development leans toward standardized, one-size-fits-all training
- Evaluation depends heavily on the discretion of the supervisor
Can that really be called talent management?
In many cases, the reality is no more than
a more sophisticated HR administration system.
Returning to the Starting Point: What Is the Definition of Talent Management?
At this point, it is necessary to go back to first principles.
What is talent management?
It has already been nearly 25 years since this term became widely recognized.
There is no single official definition in either the United States or Japan,
but in practice, the professional world has largely converged on a common understanding.
That definition is as follows.
Talent Management is a systematic process of attracting, identifying, developing, engaging, deploying, and retaining individuals whose capabilities are critical to achieving the organization’s strategic objectives.
In Japanese, this means:
Talent management is a consistent system and process for attracting, identifying, developing, engaging, deploying appropriately, and retaining people whose capabilities are critical to achieving the organization’s strategic objectives.
This definition is used as a common practical understanding by SHRM, CIPD, Bersin by Deloitte, McKinsey, BCG, Mercer, and major MBA programs in the United States.
Closing
To make use of people’s strengths and traits,
organizations must first understand people accurately on the inside,
and build a state in which strategic management decisions can be made about people.
That is the essential purpose of talent management.
Without that foundation, no matter how sophisticated the system may appear,
it will eventually become hollow.
* To learn how people’s internal structure can be visualized
and used in talent management,
please see the
5D Profile Assessment explanation page.