Talent portfolio management

Talent Portfolio Management involves deciding what resources to include in the portfolio given the goals of the business and the changing economic conditions. Selection involves deciding what resources to acquire, how many resources to acquire, under what terms, when to acquire each, and what resources to divest. [“A Balanced Talent Portfolio”, A Webinar Discussion of The Global Human Capital (GHC) Chapter of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), July 17, 2008, The IAOP is the Global Standard-Setting Organization and Advocate for the Outsourcing Profession.]

The term Talent Portfolio Management is used based on relative concepts in the market, such as
* Financial Portfolio Management
* IT Portfolio Management

A Talent Portfolio is an appropriate mix of, or collection of, talent resources leveraged by a corporation or entity. The talent resources in the portfolio could include local or non-local employees, on-site and off-site temporary workers and/or independent or vendor managed consultants; or any other resource that may add value or risk to the corporation’s talent valuation.

Financial & IT Portfolio Considerations
* Asset allocation
* Diversification as risk-limiting strategy
* Risk analysis
* Performance measurement - expected returns, and the associated risks
* Long-term returns

Key HR Compenents
* Strategic Workforce Planning
* Recruitment & Acquisition
* Compensation & Benefits
* Training and Development
* Performance Management
* Promotion, Retention & Succession
* “The Techies” & “The Ties” vs. “The Techies in Ties!”
* Individual talent analysis – Develop the weaknesses OR Accelerate the strengths? What’s your individual mantra?
* Nicolas Carr’s Electrification of IT
* Traits of the Outsourcing Professional – International Association of Outsourcing Professionals Career Mapping Initiative
* Acquiring these Traits – Buy and/or Build?
* Certified Outsourcing Professional (COP) Program
* Other experiential development opportunities (ie: Rotation Programs, Global assignments)
* Succession planning

Taking a portfolio approach across the enterprise can transform an organization to a higher level of sourcing and shared services maturity and deliver significant enterprise-wide benefits

Building the management organization requires focus on all the elements of the Operating Model, especially the Human Capital elements.