The relationship among culture, talent management and high performing employees

The whole idea of talent management as a conscious approach to getting the best out of people has gained steam in recent times with concepts, theories and frameworks of all shapes and sizes developed and integrated into practice and policies today.

What has appeared and has remained consistent in all of this is the fact that an integrated appreciation of the key activities involved in optimising investment from human capital makes a solid business case for high  performing organisations with as great an influence (if not more) as financial capital.

In making this solid case for profit and productivity, business leaders need engaged, high performing employees. Making this possible requires aligning connected talent management activities with an organisation’s objectives and culture.

High performing employees are expected to exhibit behaviour consistent with the ideals and values of the organisation while also meeting and exceeding performance expectations. As these performance expectations are derived from organisational goals, there is a sense of contributing to the bigger picture from the diverse but highly productive workforce.

Every organisation has a culture, a persona, a description of character, core values that control style, structure, systems and even people. Either as part of strategic elements of the organisation in terms of a mission statement or corporate symbol, or merely understood without any formal definition, corporate culture governs how the organisation thinks and thus is a critical success factor for how well a business and its employees will perform.

Culture and performance are like cousins, or siblings; whichever works for you. This is because who you are and your behaviour personify an organisation and determine how well it performs.

OLUDARE SHOBAJO