An employee pipeline of key individuals and leaders to fill crucial roles is important for the organizational success of your company. The talent management process should focus on this, but it might miss the mark in some areas. For starters, some hiring managers and HR personnel have different views on managing employee pipelines. Hiring managers might put more emphasis on external candidates while HR focuses on relationship-building with internal candidates.

If you are nodding your head in agreement, it’s time to rethink your company’s recruiting process and begin working from a clear definition of needs and goals. No one disputes that a company’s success is largely based on the talent of employees. Nevertheless, your employee pipeline may have potential leaks when areas such as performance objectives or talent mapping remain unclear.

Begin identifying areas of conflict along with steps that will offer reliable ways to have an effective employee pipeline. Develop a plan to engage current employees, classify high potentials and explore various sources to know the type of talent your company needs to thrive.

Develop Internal Talent

How can you develop an employee pipeline that is impervious to competition, economic impacts or internal struggles? One way to begin is to create opportunities for entry-level and managers to learn skills that allow them to move up within the company. Tiered development opportunities that extend beyond the management team shows most employees that their input is valued. When they begin looking for a new position, they will know they can start with their current employer.

Identify High Potentials

In addition, tiered development programs help to identify employees with the best potential to fulfill needed roles. Make sure there is a sufficient level of transparency. Letting employees know that they are considered high potentials for promotion will affect their view of the company and of themselves.

Plan for Future Needs

This last point might seem redundant, but many companies fail to plan for the skills, education and experience necessary to fill certain roles. Planning reveals where on the spectrum current employees are to fill prospective roles. Old job descriptions often change as industry dynamics change.

Create a development-focused culture and you can have an effective employee pipeline to face business challenges today and in the future.