Effectively managing talent is critical for project-focused companies who rely on their people to provide
value to the business. Leverage these ten tips to ensure your people are working at peak productivity,
delivering exceptional projects to delight clients, and driving organizational growth. Each of these tips will
help you manage and retain more top talent while consistently contributing to the overall business strategy.

1. Keep Communicating – Make a conscious effort to listen and talk to your employees about their
   frustrations and aspirations within the company. Take time to really listen; remind them how much you
   appreciate their work and value their contribution to the firm. Keep the lines of communication open
   by leveraging continuous feedback sessions and implementing project-based appraisals.
   
2. The Stars Are Aligned – Keep your top performers in tune with the current corporate strategy. This
   creates a culture of reciprocity and mutual understanding for both the company and its employees.
   You will start to see personal goals align with the overall organization’s goals.
   
3. Emphasize Strengths – Use development plans to address the weaknesses and problems of your
   employees while honing in on their talent potential. Consider strategically assigning employees to
   projects that will help them strengthen new skills. Utilize development plans, career paths, and
   learning opportunities to help employees recognize their strengths while closing competency gaps.
   
4. Think Like a Headhunter – When it comes to your top talent you must know who they are, what skills
   they possess, and their potential within your firm before someone else does. There are few things
   worse than losing an important project leader or an individual contributor at a critical juncture in a project
   delivery cycle. Think like a recruiter and cultivate your existing talent by including them in succession
   plans. Employees are more likely to stay with you longer if they understand their path within your
   organization.
   
5. Be More Inclusive – Research shows that 75% of diverse organizations are more likely to see their
   innovative ideas brought to life. This statistic stems from leaders embracing diversity and encouraging
   their employees to speak up about their opinions. Creating a diverse and inclusive environment
   allows employees and managers to embrace innovation.
   
6. Know What Success Looks Like – Define success by creating competency models. The ability to
   measure your employees’ performance allows you to determine their success within the construct of
   your company. Best-in-class companies don’t rely on subjective thoughts to determine their talent
   performance, but rather, they create competency models throughout their organization to build a
   model of sustainable success.
   
7. Who’s Ready to Move Up? – Identifying potential leaders is one step towards filling vacant leadership
   roles. The second step is to have a clear path to identify and develop their skills. Most companies
   identify but forget to develop leadership skills. Take the time to identify, develop, and refine your
   potential leaders.
   
8. Plan, Plan, Plan – The best thing you can do to face the competition for talent is to plan. Creating and
   building a robust and comprehensive talent management solution strategy is a big feat. Take the time
   to plan and build your talent management solution strategy for effective and sustainable success
   that flows from within.
   
9. Embrace Data – Big Data seems overwhelming, but with the help of a unified technology solution, it
   can be a manageable and powerful tool to fuel the success of your company. Having a unified HR
   technology solution can help you handle talent-related data and provide straightforward and
   powerful analytics utilized in all stages of the talent management strategy.
   
10. Reduce Turnover, But Do It Right – Low turnover sounds great, but make sure that the small number
    of people leaving are not your best people. Turnover is expensive, but no matter the size, make sure
    that the attrition of your best talent stays low. Top performers are difficult to replace and can have
    a material impact on your project delivery