So, When Standard Chartered Started Revamping Its Talent Management Activities a Few Years Ago, the Bank’s Hr Team Knew That the Process Had to Be Driven by Hard Data. in Fact, the Need to Present the Facts and Figures

So, when Standard Chartered started revamping its talent management activities a few years ago, the bank’s HR team knew that the process had to be driven by hard data. In fact, the need to present the facts and figures behind any proposed initiative became one of its guiding principles. The result has been a talent management programme backed up by detailed information about the worldwide workforce that can be analysed office by office, team by team, across continents or product areas or by type of employee, to show where help is needed or if resources are being used well. Three other principles underpin the bank’s talent programme: that a great business needs great managers; that great managers build staff engagement; and that people perform best when they play to their strengths. This approach to talent management reflects a wider strategic emphasis on people that has seen HR issues ascend the corporate agenda, with the bank’s declared goal of measurably increasing its leadership capacity by 2011. This is no easy challenge, because Standard Chartered is an unusual beast. An international retail and corporate bank with headquarters in London, it is listed in London and Hong Kong but derives 90 per cent of its profits from Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Like all financial services firms, Standard Chartered is fighting for a limited pool of talent. But, given its focus on fast-developing markets, it has to fight harder than most. “There is not enough supply, so you have to develop your own people,” says Geraldine Haley, group head of talent management and leadership development (pictured, opposite page). “It’s everybody’s Holy Grail to create local, internal pipelines and thereby have a continuous supply of talent.” Operating in more than 50 countries and with 60,000 employees of 100 different nationalities, Standard Chartered faces some tough HR challenges. How do you ensure that you have great managers everywhere in such diverse