Introduction

to talent
management

Evaluate Attract

The purpose of talent

management is to ensure
we have the people with the
right skills, behaviours and
values in the right role at the
right time.
Talent
Everyone has talents and
we all have a responsibility Management
to uncover, recognise and
Deploy
Toolkit Identify
develop these talents. Who is the Talent
Management Toolkit for?
Our Talent Management How to use the
Toolkit is developed to support Talent Management
fire and rescue services to do Toolkit
exactly that and is built around
the key talent management areas:
attract, identify, develop, engage,
retain, deploy and evaluate.

Click the arrows on each page

to view/download the desired Retain Develop
document.

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Engage

NFCC Talent Management Toolkit Interactive Document – V2.Feb24

 Who is the Talent Management Toolkit for?
This NFCC Talent Management Toolkit will support you if you are:

Starting to develop your talent management strategy

-
Looking for good practice in a specific talent management area
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A leader or line manager looking for tools to help you support your teams at each stage of talent management
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Looking for support to manage your own career and development

We used internal and external good practice to develop the toolkit. It contains resources for each area
of talent management, ie attract, identify, develop, engage, retain, deploy and evaluate.

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 How to use the Talent Management Toolkit
The Talent Management Toolkit contains:

NFCC guidance documents compiled using internal and external good practice
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Case studies from across the UK fire and rescue service
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Examples
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Templates
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Links to other NFCC resources
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Links to external resources

Simply click on the relevant area of the Talent Management Toolkit to access support materials relevant to that topic.

The templates may need to be saved prior to opening.

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 Introduction to Talent Management
Laying the right foundations for talent management is critical to its success. This includes having a clear strategy, the engagement and
commitment of the senior leadership team, leaders and the workforce, and having the appropriate plans, reporting systems and measurements in place.

If you are a fire and rescue service starting your talent management journey, the following process flow
may help you get started on developing a talent management implementation plan.

Step 1
Understand Step 2 Step 3
your service and Define your talent Create an
the principles management implementation
of talent strategy? plan
management

Engage Where
with are you
stakeholders now? What
to understand is your current
What your service level of
does maturity?
it need to What is the
do in your current state? See the tools in
NFCC self NFCC
services? What the toolkit that will
are the assessment Maturity
interdependencies? tool Models support you every
step of the way 

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 Introduction to Talent Management

NFCC guidance documents Other NFCC resources Examples, tools and templates
 Creating your talent management strategy  NFCC Maturity Models  NFCC Self-assessment tool  Talent engagement workshop for
managers (from Lancs FRS)
 Talent management for HR/OD/L&D  NFCC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion  NFCC Talent management
professionals strategy template  Talent engagement workshop for
 NFCC Equality Impact Assessments SLT (from Notts FRS)
 Talent management for service  Talent management strategy
leadership teams  NFCC Talent management policy (from WYFRS)  Talent management strategy draft
example (from Notts FRS)
 Talent management for all colleagues  Talent management framework
(Cheshire FRS)  Supporting talent management across
 Workforce engagement in talent the Civil Service
management  Introduction to talent management
session plan (from TWFRS)  CIPD resourcing and talent survey 2023
 Evaluating your talent management
approaches  Introduction to talent management slides  CIPD Talent management factsheet
(from TWFRS)
 NHS Talent management hub
 Talent engagement workshop for
SLT (from Lancs FRS)  Implementation plan template (from NHS)

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 Attract
To attract people with the right skills, behaviours and values to the right role at the right time,
who can support fire and rescue services in meeting their talent management objectives, an effective internal
and external attraction strategy involving a range of activities should be developed. This toolkit provides links
to the tools within the NFCC Recruitment Hub and examples of internal promotional processes.

 NFCC Recruitment Hub NFCC guidance documents Other NFCC resources Examples and tools
This is a central resource providing  Promotional processes:  NFCC Recruitment Hub  Promotional process grey book
guidance, good practice and tools to support elements to consider (from GFRS)
each fire and rescue service to develop  NFCC Recruitment Policy
its own bespoke attraction, selection and  Promotion journey (from ECFRS)
recruitment approach, aligned with individual  NFCC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
talent management strategies.  Leadership, resourcing and succession
 NFCC Apprenticeships (from ECFRS)
It is split into 5 keys areas:
 Equality Impact Assessments  Promotion comparison table
• Introduction (from GMCA 2020)
• Step 1 – Prepare to recruit  NFCC Maturity Models
• Step 2 – Application and candidate review  Talent selection process (from WYFRS)
• Step 3 – Selection process
• Step 4 – Hiring

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 Identify
To identify our talent, we should develop meaningful workforce and succession plans to ensure we have planned
for people with the right skills, behaviours and values in the right role at the right time. This toolkit provides guidance on the identification
of business-critical roles, how to develop a strategy of succession planning to mitigate risks and approaches to identify potential.

NFCC guidance documents Other NFCC resources Examples, tools and templates
 Succession planning  NFCC Workforce Planning policy  Strategic succession planning flowchart  Performance and potential conversations
(from WYFRS) and grid (from WYFRS)
 Workforce planning  Core Code of Ethics
 Emergency succession planning template  Talent benchmark system (from Kent FRS)
 Talent Pools  NFCC Personal Performance Policy (from WYFRS)
 Performance review template
 The role of performance  NFCC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion  Succession plan template (from ECFRS) (from ECFRS)
management in managing talent
 Equality Impact Assessments  Succession planning by role template  Annual appraisal form template
(from WYFRS) (from GFRS)
 Workforce planning documents
accessed via the recruitment hub  9 box grid (from WYFRS)  Business critical roles template (from WYFRS)
 9 box grid template (from WYFRS)  Appraisal guidance for managers
(from ECFRS)
 Talent grid (from Beds FRS)
 Appraisal guidance for employees (from ECFRS)
 Service talent tool, including 6 box grid
(from Kent FRS)  Department succession plan (from DWFRS)

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 Develop
Developed colleagues perform better and are more productive, more engaged and much more likely to stay
within the sector. This toolkit includes guidance on informal and formal learning using a variety of development approaches,
providing tools to support everyone to take ownership of their personal and career development.

NFCC guidance documents Other NFCC resources Examples, tools and templates
360 feedback Feedback  NFCC Core Learning Pathways  Principles and rules of feedback
 A guide to 360 feedback for individuals  Giving and receiving feedback for leaders  NFCC Coaching and Mentoring  How to give meaningful feedback via 360
(from Cheshire FRS)
 A guide to 360 feedback for leaders  Giving and receiving feedback for  NFCC Leadership Framework  360 report sample (from Cheshire FRS)
team members
Developing yourself  NFCC Maturity Models  Johari window feedback model
Career management
 Personal development planning  NFCC Apprenticeships  Development pathway framework
 Owning your career: a guide to career (from DWFRS)
 20 ways to develop management  NFCC Executive Leadership
 Reflective journal framework
Programme (ELP)
Developing your team  What to think about before promotion (from DWFRS)
 Core Code of Ethics  Development pathways (from GFRS)
 Developing your team’s talents  Your guide to secondments
 NFCC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion  Development plan template
(from ECFRS)
 Development plan template (from CIPD)
 SMART objectives

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 Engage
Employee engagement goes beyond simple motivation and simple job satisfaction: it can be seen as a combination
of commitment to the fire and rescue service and its values, and a willingness to help colleagues. Engaged employees are
not only happier, healthier and more fulfilled; they are more likely to perform well and enable us to retain talent within the sector.
This toolkit includes guidance on ways to measure and enhance employee engagement as part of your wider talent management strategy.

NFCC guidance documents Other NFCC resources Templates and external resources
 Employee engagement  NFCC Leadership Framework  Engage for Success  Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model

 Recognising and rewarding  NFCC Coaching and Mentoring  Tips for writing employee  How to run a focus group
your employees survey questions
 Core Code of Ethics  Action plan template following staff
 Employee engagement: asking the right survey (from ECFRS)
 NFCC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion questions (Gallop)
 A good day at work (Robertson Cooper)
 NFCC Wellbeing Policy

 NFCC Maturity Models

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 Retain
Retention relates to the extent to which an employer retains its employees. An unhealthy level
of employee turnover can have a negative impact on your service’s performance. This toolkit will support you
to understand the reasons behind staff turnover and offers guidance on how to devise talent retention initiatives.

NFCC guidance documents Other NFCC resources Examples, tools, templates and external resources
 Recognising and rewarding  NFCC Wellbeing Policy  Recognition scheme (from ECFRS)  How to conduct exit interviews
your employees
 NFCC Coaching and Mentoring  Recognition schemes (from WFRS)  Reward and recognition implementation
 Measuring turnover and retention, checklist (from NHS)
including retention tools  NFCC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion  Our behaviours (from WFRS)
 Exit interviews: getting feedback from
 Owning your career: a guide to  Employee wellbeing strategy departing staff
 NFCC Leadership Framework
career management (from West Midlands FRS)
 Talking talent and stay interviews
 NFCC Maturity Models  Benefits schemes (from GMCA)
 What to think about before promotion
 Why employee retention is key
 CIPD Employee turnover and (HR Solutions)
retention factsheet
 Professional values and behaviours
(from Beds FRS)

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 Deploy
Effective deployment means that fire and rescue services will have people with the right skills,
behaviours and values in the right role at the right time. This toolkit provides guidance on impactful ways
to introduce colleagues to their new roles, alongside development and career management tools.

NFCC guidance documents Other NFCC resources Examples and templates

 Your guide to secondments  NFCC Leadership Framework  Development pathway framework
(from DWFRS)
 20 ways to develop  NFCC Coaching and Mentoring
 Reflective learning framework
 Owning your career: a guide to  NFCC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (from DWFRS)
career management
 New starter checklist for line managers
 Transitioning into a new role (from GMCA)

 Induction timetable template

(from GMCA)

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 Evaluate
It is essential to measure and evaluate your talent management activities to ensure that your strategies
are having the desired effect and that any investment is justified. Such evaluation should use both quantitative and
qualitative data that is valid, reliable and robust. It should also happen on a continuous basis, allowing fire and rescue
services to adapt approaches based on outcomes. This toolkit provides ways to measure and evaluate the success
of your talent management activities, alongside potential metrics to use.

NFCC guidance documents Other NFCC resources Examples, resources and templates
 Evaluating your talent management  NFCC Maturity Models  NFCC Talent management
approaches strategy template
 NFCC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
 Creating your talent management strategy  CIPD Talent Management Factsheet

 Implementation Plan template

(from NHS)

 Kirkpatrick model for evaluating

talent investments

 NHS talent management hub

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