What Centralization Can Mean for Talent Management:  5 Tips for HR Professionals

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Businesses face a bevy of challenges when it comes to centralization. Enterprise planning takes on a larger scale, newly shared processes need alignment, and technology platforms require integration. People get nostalgic for old ways of working that seemed easier and less formal.

Consider the impact of centralization on talent management alone. The entities that are converging often have their own unique talent review processes, philosophies around career development, and job titles that need reconciling.

Here are five aspects of centralization that HR and talent management professionals should stay focused on during transition from decentralized operations to a centralized model.

1. Get reinforcement from the top. Encourage enterprise leaders to remind everyone of the purpose and benefits of the shift itself. And be sure to cover the benefits of HR process change, too.

2. Serve as the enterprise conscience. HR business partners can help shape entity-level strategic plans in alignment with enterprise goals. A credible HR strategic advisor needs to come to the discussion with the confidence to offer a point of view informed by broader business objectives.

3. Calibrate titles, even in general terms. Talent sharing and comparing is tough when every entity uses different job titles. Consider applying a simple code to all entity job titles that indicates whether a role is 'individual contributor,' 'manager,' 'director,' or 'executive.'

4. Encourage talent sharing. Talent sharing opportunities are more plentiful in a centralized model because the landscape is no longer limited to a single entity. Stretch assignments for emerging leaders are more abundant. But only if entity leaders are willing to share talent; hoarding high performers limits these opportunities.

5. Expand career management support. Centralization can be a boon for engagement as employees discover routes to meet their desires for learning, work-life balance, or exposure to different leaders. Provide tools that help employees expand their organizational knowledge, proficiency in valued skillsets, and networks so that they can drive their own career development.

Making large-scale change isn't easy, but a deliberate emphasis on purpose and benefits can help. In addition to broader change management support, HR and talent management professionals can take these key actions to accelerate progress. What challenges are you encountering? What solutions have you applied? We'd love to hear it!

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