Pick any organization, no matter what phase of growth it is in, its size, industry segment or even the region it is in, and the biggest challenge will be talent management.  It might seem that over the years, the kind of effort invested in this space would have reduced the challenges.

However, we must remember that alongside the effort to reduce the challenges, there is a drastic change in the world around us. That change is what is now causing new people challenges to arise.

Some of these challenges span all organizations. Here are a few of those.

1. Retention – Irrespective of what organizations do, there is always a need to reduce attrition, of high potential talent. All organizations face this concern when it comes to managing their talent because the market is changing so rapidly that there are always ostensibly better opportunities outside one’s own organization. As an HR person or a leader, you are constantly scouring the market to figure out best practices that can improve retention. You are aware of the business loss due to the exit of a high potential employee. So your challenge is always to be a step ahead of what the market is doing.
2. Identification of High Potential Talent – Assessing and understanding good performance is easy. Identifying and understanding the potential is extremely difficult. It is open to judgment and subjectivity, and even bias plays a role. The identification of high potential talent is usually the first step of the traditional talent management process. It involves psychometric tests, leadership interviews, past performance data, assessment centres and so on. Each one of these can be challenging in its own way and therefore contribute to making this overall aspect more complex.
3. Leadership Development – The process does not end when you identify the talent. Managing talent through the right leadership development interventions is a challenge. This is because, it is usually challenging to identify how much investment is enough, what kind of interventions will actually yield business results and will the employee stay even after that kind of company commitment in developing them as leaders?

No matter how much research takes place or effort is put in, the above challenges continue to persist. Their extent or seriousness remains the same, and organizations are looking to always find ways to mitigate them.