Our latest research shows that companies continue to struggle with the issue of how to organize their talent management functions. Responsibilities are typically spread several groups, from recruiting to HR to L&D. Leaders within business units and regions may also have responsibility for some or all of these processes within their domains.

To create focus and ownership for integrated solutions, more companies are creating a dedicated role to manage talent management activities. Our recent study shows that approximately one in three companies has consolidated talent management activities under a single position, a figure that has grown over the past year. A dedicated talent management executive is important to aligning priorities and focusing resources across the company.

This talent management executive is typically responsible for most talent initiatives, including leadership development, succession management, career development, performance management, learning and development, and workforce planning. The exceptions are recruiting and onboarding (only half of the time these are put under the purview of the talent management exec) and compensation, for which only one-quarter of TM exec’s are responsible. To be fully effective, this executive needs to be actively engaged in all talent management activities. Otherwise, compensation will not be aligned with performance, and recruiting and onboarding will not be fully aligned with the organization’s overall talent management goals.

This talent management executive establishes centralized responsibility for designing and managing talent management initiatives across the company. Our research last year showed that the most common model was for the central group to develop the processes for talent initiatives, such as performance management and succession planning, which the business units are expected to follow. As you might expect, such a model may create compliance, but may not create widespread adoption.

A more effective model is for the central group to partner with the business units to design processes tailored to their needs. This approach is clearly slower and more difficult, but it results in a more business-driven solution. In successful programs, a small committee, headed by the talent management executive and comprised of key stakeholders from HR, IT, and business leaders, work together to design a process and tailor it according to individual business unit needs.

If your organization is one of the many undergoing restructuring, maybe it’s a good time to look at reorganizing your talent function. Check out our upcoming report, Talent Management Factbook 2009, to be published in a few weeks, for more details.