Make Your People Before You Make Your Products
Using Talent Management to Achieve Competitive Advantage in Global Organizations

Make Your People Before You Make Your Products is an authoritative guide to the evolution of talent management. Written specifically for HR professionals this book describes how organizations can gain a global competitive edge through better management of talent resources. With a practice-based philosophy, readers will learn more effective talent management strategies for a complex market in which people are often the only competitive advantage. Inclusivity is emphasized, and discussion centres on innovative, dynamic, fluid approaches to talent acquisition, development, and retention.

In today's market environment, talent has moved from audience to community while leadership has shifted from control to empowerment. Traditional, linear approaches to talent management are falling short, and directing resources solely to senior management and HIPOs is no longer a valid strategy. This book provides practical guidance on more modern approaches, helping organizations to:

• Attract and retain the best talent by expanding talent resource management
• Augment traditional management methods with more dynamic techniques
• Develop a talent strategy that recognizes the new diversity of supply and demand
• Consider the evolving roles of talent and leadership in a global context

Contextual changes in workplace dynamics necessitate an updated approach for keeping the best people on board and using them to their utmost potential. Talent management is a driving force behind an organization's success, affecting outcomes by every major metric ? if the strategy becomes stale, success is no longer sustainable. Make Your People Before You Make Your Products is guide toward developing an organization's greatest asset.

About the Authors vii

Acknowledgements ix

Foreword xi

Introduction 1

1 The case for talent 11

2 The world as an open market for talented people 27

3 Defining talent 49

4 Removing the ‘exclusive’ tag 65

5 Developing a global strategy for talent 83

6 The CEO as the ‘owner’ of the talent strategy 105

7 Coordination and coherence in implementation 123

8 Identifying talent 141

9 Attracting talent at all levels 161

10 Developing the whole workforce 185

11 Managing talent in an age of transparency 211

12 Retaining talent 227

13 Measuring the effectiveness of talent strategy 243

14 Joining up the ‘ownership’ of talent management 261

Conclusion 277

References 285

Index 297

PAUL TURNER has held professorial positions at universities in Birmingham, Cambridge, and Nottingham. Previously, he served as Vice President of the CIPD, along with numerous other high-profile global roles. He is the author or co-author of Meaning at Work: Employee Engagement in Europe (2012), Talent Management in Europe (2012), Workforce Planning (2010), among others. Paul's articles have appeared in business journals and the international press.

DANNY KALMAN is a Talent Management (TM) professional with extensive experience in the field. He was TM Director at Panasonic Corporation until 2013 and during his 20 years with Panasonic he had both European and Global practical experiences in developing their talents at all levels of the Company. Danny both chairs and speaks at conferences on leadership and talent management around the world. He is an accredited business coach and runs bespoke leadership and talent management programmes globally.