CEDU management team together with Professor Barney Erasmus and Ms Lynette Naidoo from the Human Resources Department of Unisa
The Unisa Human Resources department engaged with COD’s and the management team of CEDU on 14 February 2013. Professor Barney Erasmus and Lynette Naidoo each spoke to the group wherein Professor Erasmus invited the the CEDU management team to have a frank and open discussion with him about HR related matters. One of the comments addressed the fact that the university places too much emphasis on research tasks, which is sometimes at the expense of teaching tasks. A further key point that was raised was that more space was needed to accommodate the CEDU staff members. Additionally, the issue of which modules have been assigned to which individuals was raised. It is the responsibility of the school director to sign off and ensure that all modules have been allocated and distributed fairly to employees.
Ms Lynette Naidoo spoke about talent management and gave insight into the talent management plans of the university to assist in retaining their talented staff members. She provided information regarding the four pillars of talent management, namely, Attraction, Development, Deployment and Retention which are critical in the ‘People Management’ processes at Unisa. She placed emphasis on COD’s becoming aufait with all their staff members so that they would be aware of the various talents which staff members have and how employees’ strengths could be used to benefit the various departments. It is important to utilise the passions and strengths of a person and not just to focus on their qualifications. It is easier to know which kinds of talents we need to attract when advertising for people when you know what is already in the group. It is also important to recognise and reward people in order to retain them and not to only focus on maximising people’s performance. The departmental workforce analysis is currently underway and a capacitation workshop will be scheduled in April. These interventions are meant to empower each COD, as they are the custodians of the talent management process within each department.
The talent management process also incorporates succession management which is a critical intervention to ensure a smooth transition from one COD to the next. This would entail grooming a pool of employees towards leadership. What this translates into is that the talent pool will be identified through a rigorous talent management process. This includes various psychometric and behavioural assessments. Thereafter, the employees’ gaps will be bridged by way of developmental interventions in order for employees to use their potential optimally. A phased approach in being adopted, namely, Initiate, Implement and Manage. Further correspondence in the form of a Manager’s Guide, amongst others, will be forwarded to each COD.
Each COD will be required to compile a 12 month departmental talent management plan which will be consolidated into a College plan and is meant to incorporate the four pillars of talent management. This plan will incorporate various interventions and initiatives to address Attraction, Development, Deployment and Retention within each department.
