Question- 1

What is the link between Organisation Strategy, Talent Strategy and Training Strategy? Support
your answer with some examples.

Organization strategy is a plan to establish the priorities and setting directions to achieve business
objectives & effective communication. It also helps draw the allocation of resources i.e. costs,
labour, warehouse etc. to support all the activities to run the business.

For eg:

A new start up business require organization strategy that defines priorities - what activities one
should focus first & then, how to achieve those priorities or objectives. Aligning all the functions to a
common objective that brings clarity & simplifies decision making..

For an established or matured businesses in FMCG industry (Coca-cola; P&G; PepsiCo etc) – Their
organization strategy would begin with the business strategy by taking into consideration the
anticipated business results; year on year business growth in terms of revenue, profits, market
share; manpower planning; budgeting; capital & operating expenses etc. Once they determine the
priorities they need to achieve, the organization strategy is defined to achieve the results, which
means “Performance with Purpose”.

Contrary, Talent strategy starts by hiring a suitable resource where you develop his skills & expertise
to achieve long-term business objectives. As per the study done by various management institutes,
the Talent strategy is defined to integrate human resource processes that attract, engage, motivate
& retain the best employees for an organization.

However, there is no common approach used in all industries. For some industries like in IT/Hi-
Tech/Engineering construction, the definition of talent is those who are difficult to be replaced
within & outside of the organization. Industries like FMCG & Insurance identify talents who have
business know-how, leadership capabilities & functional excellence and are instrumental in driving &
contributing to the business success.

- For eg: In the Insurance sector, the Actuary profile employee is considered as a critical resource,
hence become part of Talent strategy; in FMCG industry, the key profiles that influence/impact the
business directly & indirectly necessary to run the business, hence, becomes part of Talent strategy.
IT/Infrastructure industry identifies talent that leads to positive business results, which defines there
strategy. Engineering Industry focuses on resources that are critical for their medium & long-term
projects as they are difficult to be replaced.

The Training strategy entails preparing the employees with an advanced skill sets & setting them up
for delivering the business operations. It begins with analysing the needs, efforts & impact,
identifying the skill gaps, prioritising and planning medium to long-term business goals.

For eg:

An Electrical company that manufactures the low to medium transformers require technicians who
can do voltage testing; other technicians who operate transformer core cutting machines. Such
technicians require advanced skill sets to ensure quality production. Hence, it is imperative that
they are well trained otherwise it will not only impact the quality of the products but also create
customer issues & loss of market share.
A fast food company like Mc Donald – They need high skilled resources in their manufacturing units
as wells as in the kitchen counter at the restaurants – the executives need to be trained in the area
of handling kitchen equipment’s; grilling, frying; customer service; cash counter operations;
communication etc.

In a nutshell :
The organization, talent & training strategies are vital part of the Business strategy. To achieve
business results, we need the organization strategy; To achieve organization strategy we need talent
strategy and to build the talent, we need the training strategy.
Question-2

Should training investment be spread over all employees or focused on talented employees alone?
Support your position with cogent arguments

Well, I would say that it all depends from organization to organization. At the outset, I would say
that training to all employees not even develop the resources but it also enhances the job
satisfaction and the engagement of the employees in an organization.

However, many organization leaders see the training as an overhead cost. There are some leading
companies like Amazon, Schneider, Paychex, Toyota, Intel, STMicrolelectronics that consider training
as an investment in their employees with an intent to grow the employees & the organization.

Organizations that are growing steeply, business demands keep on changing every year – for them
the focus is to attract & retain the talents that are key & critical for their business. They are ready to
invest for their training needs to keep them engaged & motivated, which is being used as a retention
tool.

Contrary, for the organizations that have high dependability on manufacturing/operations have kept
their technical training programs on priority. As they know that the product they manufacture is
their unique selling proposition & they cannot afford to receive any customer complaints. One
single glitch may impact their brand & business very badly.

One of the unique examples is from Honda – as per the recent news, the car manufacturer recalled
more than 1.4 million of its vehicles after identifying multiple problems across different models.
Among the issues is a programming error that could make windshield wipers, turn signals and rear
cameras in Honda Accords from the model years of 2018 through 2020 and Honda Insights from the
model years of 2019 and 2020 not work properly.

The reason of recalling could be because of software issue or may be due to electronics parts
product quality as they outsource EDA (Electronic, Design & Automation) to Hi-Tech companies.

For me, It is imperative to have training for all our employees because of following reasons:

1. Performance enhancement – It helps employees to do better in their respective jobs. It not

only improves the confidence of our employees but ignites sense of responsibility. With that
company can have competitive advantage by having seasoned professionals.
2. Employees would be able to see a “Big Picture” - Training to all creates a collaborative
environment that encourages employees to learn from others. It promotes employee
engagement in a big way and make them feel accountable to achieve business results.
3. Helps in reducing the attrition - Some people believe that fresh faces are healthy for an
organization that bring new ideas to business. However, investing in training is a far more
effective way than to spend on recruitment costs. By learning new things, employees will
feel more valued & are more likely to stay loyal to the company.
4. As mentioned in point 2, training promotes employee engagement – training & their
development will not only let them feel fresh but also increase their motivation levels.
5. Helps develop the business – The subject matter experts can be created, who will always
ahead of the curve, offering the best services to the clients/customers.
6. Improving the bottom line – By improving our employees performance, they are going to be
better on their jobs – which will surely augment the business.