The Covid-19 pandemic surely illustrated the importance of having proper business continuity to ensure sustainability. At Joubert & Associates, we too needed to practice what we preach, as we soon found ourselves with 30% of our team in isolation. Not having your core team members available to ensure work continuity definitely places pressure on the rest of the team. Even more significantly, you not only realise the importance of succession planning, but also that of talent pipeline planning.

A talent pipeline is defined as a ready pool of potential candidates who are qualified or show potential and are ready to step up and fill relevant key roles within the organisation as soon as they become vacant (permanently and/or temporarily). This “on-hold or standby” talent pool can include internal employees who show promise and can be promoted from within the organisation, as well as candidates from external sources like referrals or job portals. Although it may normally focus on a long-term plan (e.g., succession planning), it can provide an excellent short-term solution in cases such as isolation/ quarantine of employees.

Talent pipeline planning accomplishes much more than simply providing structure to a hiring process. It reduces time-to-hire as it streamlines the hiring process. By having a proactive approach to identify relevant candidates for internal roles and taking time to develop and nurture relationships with these candidates, you put yourself in a position to hire more quickly.

It also has a significant impact on hiring better candidates. A talent pipeline framework enables employers to be more strategic and plan in advance. You also eliminate the high-cost of a bad hire.

By offering internal pipeline planning, you improve your own Employee Value Proposition where employees can grow and develop at a faster pace, in that they are proactively groomed for either new positions, or learn new skills in different areas of the business.

One of the key benefits of this process is that it minimises business disruption. If you employ a competent Administrative Assistant who knows that he/she is in the pipeline to assist in another department, and the permanent employee becomes incapacitated (or is in isolation), it will drastically minimise disruption should the employee be trained to assist in that particular role for a fixed term.

How does one create a talent pipeline?

• Develop a comprehensive understanding of your company’s strategic direction. Determine key roles, positions that currently need to be filled while also anticipating future growth or changes that might impact your hiring needs (be it permanent or temporary).
• Compile standard operating procedures for all internal processes to assist in a transition phase as necessary.
• Assess your internal talent pool to identify potential candidates to assist in either vertical or horizontal lying positions.
• Develop a candidate sourcing strategy as necessary to develop a network of external candidates to be of assistance at short notice.
• Establish connections with internal and external candidates and nurture and develop those candidates for future roles.
• Prioritise ongoing training and development of those talented candidates.

A talent pipeline is an effective people-centric strategy to future-proof your organisation. The focus is not only on creating the talent pipeline, but rather on creating one that is flexible, agile, dynamic and suited to your overall strategy as well as day-to-day operations.

Please contact us should you require assistance in conducting a talent pipeline risk assessment. Now is the time to re-assess, adjust and/or develop a pipeline and/or succession plan to proactively and successfully react to the new normal.