Attracting, retaining and developing talent is the responsibility of all leaders in an organisation, and it is critical to have company directors, CEO and senior leadership team on-board with the process of talent management, according to Merryl Dooley, executive general manager, human resources for Tabcorp Holdings.
“Over the past few years, we have focused on building the capabilities of our leaders to support them in having regular career conversations with their team,” she said.
“We aim to have a strong understanding of what employees are interested in, potential areas they would like to develop, and how our leaders can be of support.”
Tabcorp is the largest wagering company in Australia and Dooley said it competes in a global environment where talent is a key source of competitive advantage.
“We recognise and maintain a strategic view of an external talent pipeline. The imminent shortage of skilled people is well recognised, which means a strategic and proactive talent approach is even more critical.”
Building a diverse talent pipeline is one of the business’ five HR strategic themes, and Dooley said it is also important to have a clear line of sight to top and emerging talent to ensure the business is tapping into its potential and identifying gaps.
“The team maintains a close collaboration with experts to assist us in delivering the best outcomes”
“We target our high performers with identified leadership potential with development and growth opportunities,” she said.
“We run an annual ‘Capstone’ residential leadership program designed to stretch and develop these employees.
“Programs such as this require substantial investment, but we have seen excellent return on investment in terms of the impact these individuals have on our organisation and on engagement levels.”
Dooley said it is important to have a highly skilled HR team that is fully across current trends, thinking and best practice in order to add business value.
“The team maintains a close collaboration with experts to assist us in delivering the best outcomes,” she said.
“Furthermore, the team has a solid understanding of the infrastructure that underpins our talent approach; clearly articulated Tabcorp-specific leadership capabilities, performance models and success profiles, as well as object measures such as assessment centres and 360-degree feedback tools.”
She said it was important to build a robust, transparent approach to talent management, and the system and process of retaining and attracting talent needs to enable business leaders, along with HR, to make decisions based on solid, objective data.
For the full story on talent management in Tabcorp see the next issue of Inside HR magazine.
