Feature / Tracking talent

After its award-winning work on finance director shortlists, London FSD is offering directors practical support on developing and managing talent. Roland Richards (right) explains.

A recently released toolkit aims to give finance directors in-depth support in developing talent within their organisations. It enables them to track talent among their staff and effectively support their development. It can be used to create a pool of staff ready to become deputy finance directors and finance directors, consistent with the finance skills development (FSD) infrastructure adopted by all 10 strategic health authorities. 

The toolkit has been produced by the London FSD unit with support from consultancy the Amber Partnership. It follows work with London FSD looking at the low levels of high-quality applications for finance director positions – work that won the HFMA Jon Havelock Award in 2008.

The new toolkit guides finance directors through each stage in developing a local talent management strategy.  Templates and source documents allow directors to establish and implement a strategy from scratch. 

A talent tracking and assessment tool aids succession planning and enables analysis of the local workforce to identify those with potential to progress. The kit describes a process for prioritising development requirements, and also provides detailed support materials to guide the development of local talent.

Ultimately the outcomes of using the toolkit should be high-performing staff who progress effectively through their career paths and gain appropriate development on the journey. 

Using the talent tracking and assessment tool, finance directors can create and consider talent records for their staff.  They can review line managers’ assessment of staff against key criteria such as current ability, future potential and levels of ambition and commitment.

In addition, finance directors can put their own talent assessment ratings into the tool and compare their view with the line manager’s. 

The tool generates a projected progression rating for individuals to give finance directors a sense of when staff might be seeking to progress beyond their current post. Aggregated outputs for the whole workforce can be viewed, showing progression times, levels of potential as well as similar statistics by grade. 

This should enable them to identify likely movers, those who can be developed to fill vacancies as well as those with higher potential for longer term talent management – assisting with development decisions and local workforce planning. 

The toolkit and talent tool are key parts of the strategy put in place in London to support the development of talent across the capital. Other strategy points raised include:

• Identify and develop emerging leaders.
• Create a talent panel of finance directors to vet and promote senior people/movement.
• Commission an emerging leaders programme, creating a pool of deputy directors ready for director posts.
• Horizon scan internal and external labour supply and put processes in place to exploit both these channels of supply.
• Create a network of coaches available, funded locally.
• Create a mentor/mentee database, supported by a central talent panel.
• Provide senior finance staff with coaching and mentoring skills training programmes.
• Offer coaching support to senior finance staff and embed a long-term coaching culture.

Local support

Head of London FSD Sotiris Kyriacou says the products, including the emerging leaders programme and the talent panel,  are intended to give directors concrete support on staff development at a local level. 

‘If finance departments engage with talent management and use the talent tracking and assessment tool, we could reach a point in 12 months’ time when local data can be aggregated and a pan-London “state of talent” will be accessible to finance directors,’ he says.

‘This would lift our capability significantly, enabling tighter targeting of development resources combined with enhanced movement of talent across the capital, both in terms of full-time moves and secondments, staff exchanges, talent development opportunities, mentoring and so on.’

At a time when the NHS faces important pressures to reduce costs, the talent tool will provide considered awareness of the state of the workforce, allowing prudent staffing decisions to reduce reliance on interim/agency staff and reducing recruitment costs.

However, this is the medium- to long-term benefit and it will need nerve and courage to maintain the commitment to developing talent in the current climate.