Impacting Organizational Capability - Talent Strategy & Management

3.4.15.1.6 Bind: Retaining Top Talent

A special focus on retaining identified top performers, high potentials, and successor candidates helps maintain the talent pipeline. These talent groups tend to have many opportunities in the job market and will take those opportunities if they are not being actively groomed and prepared for new roles within the organization.

I. Sources of Talent: Build, Buy, Borrow, Bound, Bounce, or Bind

TD professionals should be able to articulate the pros and cons of acquiring talent from outside the organization, developing talent from within the organization, or a combination of approaches to ensure that the right talent is available to meet organizational demand.

I. Communicating the Value of Learning and Professional Development

TD professionals should be able to demonstrate the value of investing in people through learning and development offerings. Doing so helps shift the perspective of talent development activities from an expense to an investment.

3.4.14.3 Planning for Future Demand

Estimating future demand is a part of the workforce planning process and can identify the types of roles where there is a talent gap. [See 3.4.10.2] Once these segments are identified and the decision to acquire them from outside the organization is made, detailed plans can be developed inclusive of the measures of success. These detailed plans can be informed using data about the current state of the role, such as: How much turnover is in the role? How much of the hiring demand is based on growth? What is the geographical breakdown of where the roles are located? How difficult will this role be to fill? Talent acquisition and talent development should work together to identify qualified high-potential employees and succession candidates. Keeping the pipeline full by affording internal employees such mobility can help improve engagement and retention. Talent development can support talent acquisition in its role to identify and onboard competent candidates. It can also create learning journeys that map career progression and the associated knowledge with each role to enhance the mobility of internal talent.

3.4.15.1.1 Build: Develop Internal Employees

TD professionals should consider these factors when developing talent internally: Will the position be difficult to fill? Is an internal selection strategically important? Are there potential internal candidates, including identified high potentials or successor candidates? Does the position have a steep learning curve? Does the position require continuity and institutional knowledge? Do internal learning opportunities exist?

3.4.16.2 Implementing Performance Management

Implementing any performance management process involves significant work to ensure the process is robust and effective. TD professionals should also train managers in the process and hold them accountable for its successful implementation. All performance management processes have these activities in common: At the beginning of the performance period:Clarify responsibilities and expectations of the role.Establish accountability for goals, standards, and expectations. During the performance period:Provide learning opportunities and building capabilities.Develop action plans for development and skill enhancement.Review progress.Provide coaching and feedback.Take corrective action when necessary. At the end of the performance period:Provide feedback and evaluation on the entire performance period.Identify new learning and development actions.

3.4.4.1.2 Determine Strengths and Weaknesses

Like an organizational strategic plan, talent development needs to conduct an environmental review to determine its strengths and weaknesses. A good tool for this is a SWOT analysis, which identifies strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. TD professionals can use this information to compensate for constraints and weaknesses using talent development's available strengths and opportunities. [See 3.4.2.1]

3.4.2.2.5 Not Having a Talent Strategy

Many organizations do not have an explicit talent strategy that is documented and communicated. However, they may have specific strategies for talent management or HR that can help to make sure those areas are operating as effectively as possible.

3.4.16.3 Integration With Other Talent Management Processes

Many organizations integrate performance management with other talent management processes. It is a natural starting point for creating a seamless, talent-focused organization. [See 3.4.1.7] Here is how performance management can be integrated: Strategic workforce planning produces job descriptions and competencies that can be used for managing performance. Gaps in competencies and other skills identified in a performance management process can be identified and addressed through TD programs. Performance management can be aligned with an employee's career development goals, providing direction to achieving those goals. Performance evaluation typically drives compensation, succession, and high potential employee decisions. Alignment with these processes can be based on the use of the same knowledge, skills, and attitudes used in the performance management process. Performance management has a significant impact on employee engagement and retention. If done well, it can enhance employee engagement and retain talent.

3.4.5.3 Anticipate, Avoid, and Mitigate Common Problems

Many TD projects involve teams of subject matter experts, instructional designers, and others to execute the tasks in the project plan. Common problems associated with projects and project teams include: Role uncertainty. If the roles on the project team are not clearly articulated, it may cause gaps or overlaps in work assignments. A clearly defined team charter can specify team roles and responsibilities and who has decision-making authority. Lack of support. Key initiatives that are not visibly supported can lose momentum over time. TD professionals should ensure each initiative is aligned with a TD strategic objective and has a key customer who visibly supports it. Shortage of resources. A lack of resources to adequately address the project's expected results can lead to failure. TD professionals should only start a project once the resources have been committed. Unreasonable deadlines. Sometimes schedules are set too aggressively. TD professionals should negotiate with sponsors for more realistic timeframes or reduced project scope. Missing deadlines. The schedule may not account for unexpected problems or changes. TD professionals should create a schedule with space to address problems and changes to ensure high-quality results completed on time. Lack of communication. Sometimes TD professionals work without visibility or communication with stakeholders. They should schedule regular check-ins on the project plan to ensure they continue to be supported and visible. Technology challenges. Technology or platform issues may arise and negatively affect TD efforts and initiatives. TD professionals should speak to the developer or vendor or find additional resources to customize the most critical deficiencies either now or in the future. When executing any project plan, unplanned changes and problems are likely to affect it. By monitoring the project plan and schedule, it is possible to avoid big problems if minor adjustments are made as soon as a problem is identified.

3.4.15.1.2 Buy: Hiring External Employees

The organization may want to consider acquiring talent from the outside if any of the following are true: A change is desirable. The open position signals a new direction for the organization and requires a fresh perspective. Limited internal capacity exists. The organization is experiencing high growth. An external hire could bring key relationships and intellectual capital.

3.4.15.1.4 Bound: Moving Employees

Moving employees through the organization and into higher positions helps retain talent and keeps the talent pipeline filled. When an employee's career aspirations match the moves, their engagement and motivation will be high. In other instances, effective rewards or flexibility, such as flexible hours or work arrangements or job sharing may help motivate employees in the short term and engage them in the long term.

3.4.3.3 Execute Strategy and Gather Results

Once developed, the TD strategy must be agreed upon by all relevant stakeholders and TD professionals should develop specific goals and milestones. The goals may be further defined on a team or individual basis. This helps ensure alignment at every level to keep prioritized activities in the forefront. Many of talent development's products and services involve projects and should be planned and executed. [See 1.5] Project plans can be used to track execution of the strategy, as well as the measures established to successfully complete them. Determining these measures should follow the same process as establishing strategic objectives. [See 3.4.2.1] They represent the effectiveness and efficiency of learning and development programs, activities, and initiatives, and their impact on the organization. The measures also represent the efficiency and effectiveness of talent development. Any measures can be thoroughly examined at the end of the project to explain the outcomes, its successes, and the lessons learned. They can also be used to demonstrate talent development's influence on the organization, build a business case for additional resources, discover ways to enhance the quality of programs, make talent development more efficient, and support decision making.

3.4.9.3 The Value of Lifelong Learning

Organizations want a ready pipeline of talent that ensures the best people are in the right jobs at the right time and at the right costs. Having talent ready to assume new or different responsibilities or roles as organizational needs change requires them to be prepared. A learning culture provides the opportunities for employees to do that. Unfortunately, research shows that one of the biggest barriers to creating a culture of lifelong learning is the difficulty of demonstrating measurable impact (ATD 2018). [See 2.8] Employers want the talent in their organization to possess more than a degree; they want employees who have the requisite competencies to perform effectively in their current jobs and future roles. Degrees, experience, performance, professional credentials, certification, certificates, and potential all lead to organizational decisions on promotions and mobility. When organizations provide clear career paths coupled with learning journeys, and employees develop themselves, it creates a clear win-win situation. [See 1.7.1] Being a lifelong learner has numerous advantages to the individual. It can: Offer more opportunities to improve quality of life. Boost confidence and self-esteem. Challenge beliefs and opinions. Increase ability to adapt to change. Enhance their ability to achieve a more satisfying life. Improve personal and professional development. Foster the desire to take more risks. Lead to a growth mindset. Expand career advancement opportunities. [See 1.7.1]

3.4.1.4 Performance Management Defined

Performance management is the ongoing communication between supervisors and employees to establish expectations supporting the organization's strategic objectives, including clarifying expectations, setting objectives, providing feedback and coaching, and reviewing results. Management typically manages individual employee and team performance. They recognize and reward employees and teams when expectations and goals are accomplished, while also providing learning opportunities to help fill performance gaps (which could be skills or knowledge based). [See 3.4.16]

3.4.15.1.5 Bounce: Removing Underperformers

Removing low performers or under performers should be done according to the policies of the organization. Development efforts may have been tried and expectations spelled out and yet the performance doesn't improve. In these cases, removal from the position to another more suitable position or outside the company is the only option. If a large group of employees is being let go due to a downturn, organizations can help by offering early retirements, severance packages, and outplacement assistance. Talent development may be able to provide services for downsized employees like reskilling programs, resume writing programs, or interviewing skills programs.

3.4.1.2 Sourcing Talent Defined

Sourcing talent is the acquisition, recruitment, and selection of talent. It entails recruiting for the organization through internal or external sources, attracting talent to the organization and role, and selecting the best candidate for the organization and role. [See 3.4.14] A talent acquisition strategy is aligned with the organization's strategic objectives. The acquisition strategy describes where and how candidates will be sourced and who the target audience is for various roles. It has systems and processes in place that efficiently and effectively fill vacancies. Employee onboarding typically occurs after external talent has been hired. Although it may be part of the acquisition process, many internal stakeholders must collaborate to get external hires to productive levels quickly. A formal onboarding process goes beyond orientation on the first day—it begins during the acquisition phase and is typically completed between one and three months after hire, although it can last as long as six months or more.

I. Performance Management

TD professionals should design and implement a performance management process that effectively meets the needs of the organization and its employees and is integrated with other talent management processes and programs. Proper management of individual and team performance leads to better engagement, retention, and organizational success.

3.4.15.1 The Six Bs to Meet Talent Demands

The decision to develop internal talent or to acquire it from the outside is an important choice for any organization. Developing a workforce plan that compares the current workforce's capabilities to the forecasted needs creates talent management strategies and objectives that include decisions to buy or build talent or some combination of the two. The six Bs of meeting talent demands are: Build. Develop talent through training, education, formal job training, job rotation, special assignments, and action learning. Buy. Acquire new talent by recruiting individuals from outside or from other departments or divisions within the organization. Borrow. Partner with consultants, vendors, customers, and suppliers outside the organization in arrangements that temporarily transfer skill and knowledge. Bound. Move people through the organization and into higher positions. Bounce. Remove low-performing or under-performing individuals from the job. Bind. Retain employees with high growth potential and valued talent (The RBL Group 2009). There are many instances where several of these approaches will be used in one organization, depending on the organizational objectives and workforce plan. The specific approach may be outlined in the talent management objective. TD professionals can bring insight about the capacity of current talent because of their participation in development programs. Patterns may emerge that indicate the need for a change in recruiting practices or a modification of job descriptions and competencies. For example, during a series of facilitated workshops for a retail organization, a TD professional may observe that many recent hires lack basic customer service skills. Discussing this pattern with the organization's recruiters may lead to a change in the job description and result in better talent acquisition for roles requiring customer contact.

3.4.15.1.3 Borrow: Utilizing a Contingent Workforce

The use of freelancers, consultants, and contract workers (a contingent workforce) is expected to rise as organizations continue to seek ways to keep costs low. These workers are not on the organization's payroll and are used on an "on-demand" basis. There are many benefits to using a contingent workforce: providing more resources to staff having the necessary talent with the right skills when it is needed lowering other related payroll expenses because the workers are not full-time incurring less labor costs when the demand is lower.[See 1.6.6] Using contingent workers requires the organization to decide how those workers should be treated. Are they part of the internal workforce in terms of inclusion in meetings or learning events? Do they have access to the same perks as internal workforce? How will they be managed compared with the internal workforce? Poorly managed contingent workers can negate many of the associated benefits of using them.

3.4.16.1 Designing Performance Management

There are many types of performance management tools, and organizations may have different tools for different roles: Rating scales indicate an employee's performance level, such as:critical incidents list specific behaviors that separate effective from ineffective performancegraphic rating scales list different factors used to rate performance on an incremental scale, such as job knowledge, work quality, and competenciesBARS (behaviorally anchored ratings scales) combine critical incident and graphic rating scale approaches. Management by objectives (MBO) is a flowdown of top-level organizational goals that specify the tasks, deadlines, measures of success, and so forth. The goals typically include what will be accomplished in very specific terms and how (what competencies are exhibited). Narratives assess an employee's strengths, development needs, past performance, potential performance, and recommendations for improvement. Comparisons look at one employee's performance with that of one or more others. Checklists are either simple or weighted and use performance elements. 360-degree feedback allows an employee to receive anonymous feedback on performance from peers, direct reports, and supervisors, and compares the feedback to a self-assessment.[See 3.1.4.3 and 3.3.10.3] TD professionals should be aware of the problems many of today's performance management systems have. The most important is that performance management has become an annual "check-the-box" administrative activity. The performance review also tends to be used for multiple purposes—determining compensation actions, providing feedback on performance, and identifying potential succession candidates, among other things—which can lead to confusion and devalue the main objective of managing and enhancing an employee's performance. Lastly, the tools used for performance reviews are not always suited to the role. For example, jobs that are routine in nature may not lend themselves to an MBO (management by objective) approach where stretch performance goals may be set. Force-fitting a tool to a role leads to a lack of effectiveness in the process. TD professionals should also be aware of new approaches to performance management. Many of these approaches start with removing ratings and rankings, which provides a better opportunity for a focused discussion on performance without the concern of making compensation decisions from one data point (such as the rating). In addition, many organizations are shifting from a once-a-year event to more frequent conversations on performance. Employees expect feedback more than once a year, and if they are continuously provided feedback, it becomes easier to adjust performance and succeed.

3.4.15.2 Comparing the Options for the Organization

There are pros and cons to each option and the effects of using these different approaches to get talent on board may result in unintended consequences for the organization. This could factor into an employee's decision to remain with the organization or find a new opportunity at another organization. It may also affect engagement levels if employees think nothing is being done to support their careers. Developing talent can take time, especially if the needed competencies are not closely related to the individuals' current capabilities. Nevertheless, if time is available, developing talent in such situations may be the best long-term solution. If the organization's strategy is to grow in a certain market or segment, it may be worthwhile to build the talent according to the organization's specific needs. On the other hand, if efforts are made to upskill or reskill some employees, the employees not selected for the development opportunities may think their careers are being stalled. Acquiring new talent from outside the organization can also take time and may be difficult to source if the job is in demand. Employees may see others with less experience being hired at salaries higher than their own. This may create salary compression, with newer employees earning more than current employees and throwing off established compensation and reward plans. If time is of the essence and the organization does not have the proper skills mix to meet organizational objectives, the organization may decide to borrow talent by using a contingent workforce or subcontracting. Employees may perceive contingent workers as possible replacements and fear losing their jobs. The costs could be much higher than acquiring or building talent, but over time, as internal workers take on the roles of the outsourced workers, the costs may decrease. Moving employees into higher positions may help retain an experienced workforce, but if policies regarding workhours and workplace are not viewed as being fairly administered, the organization may not be able to retain the desired workforce. Underperformers must be addressed as soon as possible or those who are performing may become disgruntled. On the other hand, reassignments or removal must be transparent and clear to avoid creating unintended fear. Efforts to retain top talent through binding decisions can backfire. Some organizations offer "stay" bonuses when employees turn in their resignations, but this can prompt numerous resignations in hopes of the same bonus. It may be better to focus on developing this talent and moving them while they are still employed. Talent development has a large role in binding employees to the organization. TD professionals should build a solid business case for doing any of these approaches. That business case should address the pros and cons as well as any unintended consequences and risks associated with each approach.

3.4.10.3 Requirements for an Agile Workforce

To succeed in times of change, organizations need agile workplaces. When organizations are able to change direction and adjust swiftly to the changing marketplace, environment, or technology they are more likely to prosper and grow. The workforce must be led by leaders who provide a practical leadership framework that helps individuals and organizations adapt to changing environments and effectively respond to recurring problems. This is based on the four principles of emotional intelligence, organizational justice, development, and character (Heifetz and Linsky 2017). Several factors are involved in creating and maintaining an agile workplace: Leadership is shown in strong alignment to strategy, speed of decision making, and speed and clarity of communication. Innovation reflects the available processes for generating and sharing new ideas and the use of networks. Strategy is the broad development and intent or direction that is valued more than any particular initiative. Culture reflects the extent to which policies and practices align with the value of agility. Change is the degree to which the organization provides employees with the capability to enact changes. Structure reflects the organization's ease of reallocating resources, existence of broadly shared (versus siloed) measures of success, and clarity of authority. Growth mindset is valuing continuous learning and development, and employees who are open to learning new things and exploring new opportunities.

3.4.11.3 Actions Required for Succession Planning

3.4.11.3 Actions Required for Succession Planning Guidelines on completing succession plans are typically provided by the CEO or other senior leaders and typically include guidance such as: how to identify and analyze critical roles, including growth, decline, and other changes affecting these roles how to calculate potential attrition from critical roles what tools can be used to identify high performers and high potentials, such as scenario planning, assessment instruments, or the nine-box grid (SHRM 2018) how to gauge the readiness of successors what the talent mobility strategy is for identified successors. Once a talent review or succession planning meeting has been held and successors identified, managers and TD professionals can implement talent management strategy. The actions associated with this step include: determining the communication plan to selected and non-selected candidates and their managers deciding about internal versus external acquisition of talent creating development and mobility programs assisting with the creation of individual development plans monitoring attrition and candidate progress discussing talent at all senior level meetings agreeing on any compensation, incentives, or recognition for selected candidates.

3.4.7.1 Determine Critical Information and Data

A communication plan helps TD professionals market talent development, its offerings, new initiatives, and other relevant learning and development information to the target audiences. It also helps keep learning visible and accessible to stakeholders. The organization's objectives, TD objectives, activities, and results, as well as the marketing strategy, all inform the communication strategy's content. As new organizational initiatives arise, TD professionals should clearly identify and communicate learning initiatives associated with them. By determining what information needs to be communicated, TD professionals can craft the key messages to deliver. The communication plan also keeps the messages consistent with the established TD brand. It will be easier to recognize where the communication originates if the brand is part of the message.

3.4.5.2 Conduct a Constraints Analysis to Identify Limiting Factors

A constraints analysis identifies the project's limiting factors, which may include budget, time available, scheduling, space, resource availability, resource expertise to conduct the analysis, and competing organizational priorities. This analysis should also detail all factors required to design a successful initiative and all resources needed to effectively plan, design, and develop communications and change management initiatives to support the solution implementation and resulting behavior change. All potential constraints and issues should be discussed in the initial planning process. All risks can be identified in the project plan, and a risk mitigation plan can be developed.

3.4.6.4 Establish a Marketing Budget

A detailed budget of expected marketing expenses helps TD professionals resource the plan appropriately. Although the total expenses may be summarized as a line item in the TD budget, the marketing objectives and tactics can include estimates of costs and priorities. [See 3.1.6] The following steps are important when creating a marketing budget: Understand how talent development is funded and how budgets are established. Know all costs associated with talent development and its operations. Review trend data such as spend rate for the past few years. Set a marketing budget based on TD goals and objectives. Consider plans for growth.

3.4.2.1.2 Create a Strategic Workforce Plan

A foundational step in creating a talent strategy is to create a strategic workforce plan. This activity begins by examining the key roles the organization needs to meet the its future demand, as well as the competencies needed to do those roles. Next, an assessment of the existing talent is conducted using: data from performance management processes output from talent reviews or other assessment processes assessment instruments individual development plan data assessments by leaders on the perceived gaps other organizational processes that may yield talent gaps (such as proposal bids for work).[See 3.4.1.1] Once gaps are identified, talent management professionals can determine whether a talent segmentation approach is most appropriate. A talent segmentation strategy identifies critical roles in the organization where gaps are present and defines strategic objectives for filling the gaps for those specific roles. This allows TD and talent acquisition professionals to identify and develop plans needed to fill the roles either through acquisition of talent or development of internal resources. [See 3.4.2.1] Other outputs of the strategic workforce planning process are job analyses that describe role's key tasks, duties, and responsibilities, and job descriptions that describe the competencies each job needs. The talent strategy developed in conjunction with the strategic workforce plan creates talent management strategies that each area refines and flows down. As new talent needs emerge, new strategies and goals can be set. For example, if a new job family is being developed, talent development can establish a goal to develop the role-based learning for that new role.

3.4.9.2 Communicating the Value of Lifelong Learning

A key part of successfully building a learning culture is ensuring leaders and managers know it is their responsibility to develop their employees. The TD professional's role is to serve as the catalyst and support for leaders and managers in this regard and provide learning opportunities for them to sharpen their talent management skills. Not everyone values lifelong learning. Some employees may be content in jobs that they have mastered. As employees become more accountable for their own development, their interests and desires to learn may increase. TD professionals can use role-based learning journeys to meet the employee's learning needs and help them map their careers. [See 1.1.3]

3.4.2.1 Developing a Talent Strategy

A talent strategy identifies how talent will be used to support the organization's goals. Without one, each talent management function is left to determine which objectives to develop. Although those objectives can be linked to organizational objectives, a siloed approach reinforces the notion that each talent management function operates independently. Having an overarching talent strategy forces the integration of talent management functions to ensure the achievement of a broad set of organizational objectives. If the organization is small, a TD professional might be developing the talent and TD strategy by themselves while with line leaders. If the organization is larger, the TD professional must work with other talent management professionals to ensure their strategies are aligned and integrated to support the organization's talent needs. The strategic planning process is identical to that used by organizations to create long-term objectives.

3.4.2.1.1 Aligning Talent Strategy to Organizational Strategy

A talent strategy should be developed from the organization's strategic requirements and key performance indicators, which are quantifiable measures used to evaluate the organization's success in meeting its objectives. A thorough talent strategy describes how the organization will harness its potential to meet current and future needs, as well as outlining the specific activities each talent management function should undertake. The same tools organizations use to build strategic plans can be leveraged to create a talent strategy, including: SWOT analysis on talent, which looks at the strengths and weaknesses (internal to the organization) and opportunities and threats (external to the organization). The output of this thinking is placed on a 2x2 matrix to make further determinations of what can be leveraged or changed. The results can be used to help develop strategic talent objectives. [See 1.2.8] Scenario planning looks to the future and imagines what events are likely to happen, what would happen if these events occurred, and how to respond or benefit from them. These scenario plans form the basis of strategic objectives. Environmental scans are a broad examination of the impacts to the future success that are outside the organization, including economic, sociological, political, and technological considerations and forecasted changes. [See 3.8.2] Industry scans are a broad examination of the impacts to the industry the organization is in and how those might affect future success. Senior leader interviews may be used to validate the analysis conducted using the aforementioned tools, or to gain additional insights about the organization's strategic objectives. Employee interviews or surveys may be used to inform the talent objectives based on performance gaps or career development needs.[See 3.1.2] The talent management requirements resulting from strategically analyzing internal and external factors and scenarios create a picture of how talent can help the organization meet its objectives. These requirements are further refined through the strategic workforce planning process.

3.4.3.5 The Value Proposition of Talent Development

A value proposition is a statement that communicates why a customer should buy from the seller. For talent development, the value proposition is the same: Why should customers get their learning and development from TD professionals? In approaching learning like a business, TD professionals should know the products and services offered, who the clients are, the processes for buying the products and services, and the costs for doing so. In knowing this, they can create a value proposition that draws customers to their offerings. Many times, internal functions like talent development are viewed as the low-cost, customized provider. In other words, the value proposition is that customers can get their learning and development specifically customized for their needs better than they would by going outside the organization. Other value propositions depend on the analysis performed on customers, products, offerings, and costs. Regardless of the specific value proposition, it can be included in advertising and marketing efforts along with measures of success and endorsements. Helping stakeholders understand the value proposition helps build visibility and support for talent development. [See 1.1.8 and 3.1.3.3]

3.4.4.1.1 Develop a Vision and Mission Statement for Talent Development

A vision statement is an aspirational description of the future. A mission statement defines the purpose of talent development, its reason for existing, and its direction. Vision statements answer the question, "What do we want to be as an organization in X years?" They provide a clear picture of how the organization will look when the strategic objectives that support the vision have been accomplished. [See 3.1.6.1 and 3.4.2.1] The mission is more present-focused. Mission statements answer the questions, "What is our purpose? Why do we exist?" They can also be inspirational. The vision and the mission statements drive TD's values and strategy, which address "how" they will be accomplished. These strategies are measured with key performance indicators and flowed down as department and individual goals. Talent development's vision and mission should align with the organization's stated vision, values, and strategy to ensure total alignment between it and the organization.

3.4.6.2.2 Develop Effective Messaging

Advertising and promoting offerings requires crafting messages that articulate what is offered, the benefits to those who use them, and the necessary information about where, when, and how to obtain them. Through careful analysis of the audience and its needs and the marketing options available, TD professionals can ensure their offerings are visible and not lost amid all the other competing messages. They may even determine that different audiences require different approaches; for example, role-based training may only be marketed to those occupying those roles.

3.4.2.2.1 Indirect Reporting Structure

An indirect reporting structure in which the talent development does not have a direct reporting relationship to the CEO or more senior leader can hamper communication and cause misalignment with strategic goals. A stronger alignment occurs when the learning activities report directly to a senior leader. Talent development, whose alignment is not always direct, may not be able to change the organizational reporting relationship; however, looking for opportunities to engage with senior leadership may keep talent development visible and supported by them.

3.4.2.1.4 Talent Management Measures

As talent management strategies and subsequent flow-down objectives are developed, talent management measures should be developed concurrently, based on the measures the organization deems acceptable. These measures need top-level support and agreement before any activity is undertaken to support them. Before beginning work on the goals, TD professionals need to develop talent management metrics for each objective and agreement reached with stakeholders. Some questions to ask when determining the proper measures include: Why do you want to measure? (What are the strategic objectives you are measuring?) What should be measured? (What measures will evaluate the strategic objectives?) How should they be calculated? How should they be reported? How should the measures and reports be used?

3.4.6.5 Implement the Marketing Plan

As the plan is implemented, TD professionals should collect measures and track them against objectives. To determine the effectiveness, they should ask these questions: Are the objectives being met? Is performance improving? Has communication improved?[See 3.5]

3.4.14.2 Active Versus Passive Recruiting

Attracting potential candidates who are not actively looking for a job can be an investment whether the organization chooses passive or active recruiting. Passive recruiting is typically done via social networks (virtual or otherwise) by leveraging relationships that may be sources of talent for future opportunities. However, there are some drawbacks to passive recruiting, such as candidates not having up-to-date resumes, the interview process failing to convince the candidate to move, and longer searches may be necessary. Active recruiting occurs when an organization searches for relevant candidates even before a job is available. The jobs may be visible on the website or on LinkedIn, or an organization may target a specific demographic. The drawbacks to this type of recruiting are that it can take longer and cost more, and by the time the job opens, hiring managers may feel the pain of lost productivity. This may pressure them into hiring the wrong person (Peterson 2018).

3.4.8.1 Partnering With Leadership

Building a partnership with leaders is imperative to success. Leadership endorsement and advocacy is essential to sustaining support for TD initiatives, programs, and activities, because the rest of the organization will be watching and will take their involvement as a stamp of approval. TD professionals can build a relationship that provides this visibility and support with senior leaders by asking them to: Serve as mentors and coaches. Introduce new events. Speak at and attend learning programs. Serve on a governance board. Giving them these roles and keeping the communication lines open will help build a partnership. Being involved in high-level organizational discussions and decisions—also known as having a seat at the table—facilitates communication between talent development and the rest of the leadership team. Once this respect is earned, TD professionals should actively engage in organizational discussions and voice how their efforts can influence the organization and accomplish objectives. Communicating authentically helps build trust and credibility and provides visibility into talent development's effectiveness and impact. [See 3.2]

3.4.8.2 Building and Sustaining the Partnership Relationship

Building a partnership with leaders is similar to building any other relationship—getting to know and understand others, keeping commitments, and being accountable all help build trust and credibility. Good partnerships garner support and advocacy for talent development in the organization. TD professionals can begin to build their relationships with leaders by: getting to know them and their organizations better speaking the language of executives and the industry having a clear understanding of the organization's strategic imperatives, goals, and plans to achieve them understanding and helping solve their problems clearly defining how talent development supports them demonstrating collaboration and accountability being a systems thinker establishing credibility by delivering on time having a positive, can-do attitude.

3.4.1.5 Compensation and Reward Management Defined

Compensation and reward management refers to the financial and non-financial rewards given to employees for work provided. Although compensation is important, the organization's total rewards package matters most. This package includes salary or compensation, bonuses, benefits, health insurance, 401k plans, paid time off, work-life flexibility, recognition, growth, and development. In addition, flex time and the ability to work remotely are two other important parts of the reward. Compensation and rewards tend to make up a large part of an organization's costs. A total reward package starts with the organization's pay strategy—that is, where in the marketplace does the organization want to target its pay: above market, at market, or below market? This decision is based on the workforce plan and availability of talent. It also allows the organization to determine what makes up the rest of the rewards package. For example, if an organization is having difficulty hiring or retaining talent in a critical role, it may decide to pay above market for that job and offer hiring bonuses. If the organization hires contingent workers for short-term assignments, it may decide to pay at market and provide scaled-down benefits. Compensation and rewards professionals typically manage the job classification structure, pay plans and salary structures, raise pools, promotion criteria, employee benefits and vendors, 401k plans, and other benefits or perks the organization offers. [See 3.3.12.2]

3.4.13.4 Competency Analysis and Competency Modeling

Competencies are the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of those employees who are performing the jobs at a high level of proficiency; they are not simply the requirements listed in a job description. Competencies pinpoint the unique characteristics of successful employees, which are commonly captured and organized into a competency model. Knowledge of these success factors allows TD professionals to develop learning and development programs that target the competencies needed by the organization. Competency modeling supports the integration of talent management practices in the organization to create a sustainable workforce. To conduct a competency analysis, TD professionals should: Define the job and key competency areas for successful performance. Using expert performers in the roles can help evoke the correct competencies. Define results for each competency. Know what the competency produces as an outcome. Define the actions for each result. Link the outcome to the actions taken to produce it. State behavioral indicators for each action. These are objective descriptions of behavior that demonstrate whether someone has the competency. They may be stated in a positive or negative way: "Asks others for their opinions" versus "Does not seek input from others." Identify KSAs for each behavioral indicator. Ask, "What are the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that produce this behavior?" Once they examine the role down to the behavioral indicator level, TD professionals should condense the statements into a small number of similar skill areas, and then break each grouping into smaller subgroups. This allows competencies to emerge, which TD professionals can then categorize into a model.

3.4.13.6 Competency Model Analysis Techniques

Developing a competency model entails understanding the role or roles thoroughly, which can be validated with an in-depth job analysis. TD professionals who are developing a competency model should involve the people performing in the role, communicate thoroughly, and use relevant competencies that pertain to all roles covered by the model. Suggested approaches to competency model development include: Interview. TD professionals can ask a series of questions to uncover what a person does on the job. These interviews may be done one-on-one with high performers or supervisors. The primary drawback of an interview is that people may have difficulty recalling everything they do; however, if only a high-level overview of a job is needed this wouldn't be an issue. An interview is best when predetermined questions are available, and it is especially useful for professional jobs. Survey or questionnaire. If a general overview of a job is all that's required, surveys or questionnaires may be a good option. An open-ended questionnaire should be used when getting input from employees and managers or analyzing a large number of jobs. Off-the-shelf surveys and online tools are available. There are limitations to written instruments, primarily because they can be cumbersome to fill out in detail. Observation. This approach means sitting with the job performer and observing or recording all tasks as they are completed. Observation is used to provide a realistic view of daily activities. However, it can be time-consuming because people rarely perform every task in their job descriptions in the span of a day—so this method is best for short-cycle jobs in production. Also, the presence of an observer can sometimes skew behavior. The benefit of this method is that the analyst gains first-hand knowledge of the tasks performed and can ask questions along the way. But because the focus of a job analysis is primarily on the "what" of a job, observation is probably best suited for task analysis. Focus group. This approach is when a group of people in a specific job function come together to brainstorm all the duties and tasks of their job. Essentially a group interview, a focus group allows participants to use each other as sounding boards to generate the task list. It is efficient because a group can collectively think of all the tasks performed on the job more quickly than an analyst can compile a list by observing tasks over time. Work diary or log. Although this method can be used for most jobs, a diary or a log often provides too much data and is difficult to interpret.[See 3.2.1.5.2]

3.4.3.1 Linking TD Goals to the Organization's Strategy

Each TD goal flows from an organizational objective and describes how the objective will be achieved by developing the talent involved. Goals have specific measures that state how to evaluate whether they were achieved, which are agreed upon upfront with the stakeholders. [See 3.4.2.1] Part of the TD goal setting process is to define the results required for critical roles that have a performance gap. TD professionals should conduct a job analysis to identify the competencies necessary to perform in each role. Then they undertake a task analysis, which is the process of examining a single task within a job and breaking it into smaller steps. They continue deconstructing each task from the job analysis until every task is thoroughly described. [See 3.4.13] The task analysis describes the competencies the role requires for successful execution. TD professionals can use this information to begin identifying which role-based knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) should be developed. From this analysis, they can establish specific TD goals.

3.4.12.1 Defining Criteria for High Potentials

Each organization must determine the criteria for high potentials. Generally this will begin by understanding what the organization needs in the future. Some organizations establish a percent of leadership positions that need to remain filled, such as the top 3 percent of senior leadership positions. The list may also include critical positions that are difficult to fill. High potential criteria include the characteristics, expertise, experience, and readiness that employees require to be successful in the position. To specifically define the high-potential criteria, organizations must determine the long-term strategic needs for each position, the timeline, and the strategy for filling the positions. This will likely include a combination of defining readiness and fit, outlining performance requirements, and doing internal and external research about future readiness requirements and how they align with the organization's current and future needs. Organizations look for characteristics such as past and current performance, respect of leaders, acceptance of feedback, critical thinking, a drive for results, organizational commitment, and a fit to the culture. Finally, TD professionals need to ensure that the criteria selected are measurable.

Measures used could include:

Effectiveness measures, which address the quality of the program, effort, or activity. Typical TD effectiveness measures are reaction/satisfaction, learning, application, organizational impact, and return on investment. Efficiency measures, which measure time, quantity, and costs. Typical TD efficiency measures include the number of participants, hours of training, how quickly programs are designed and developed, and the total costs of the learning programs. Outcome measures are the results or impact of the learning program or initiative. Typical TD outcome measures include the results of a training program, for example, how a leadership development program has affected succession plans. TD measures might specify learning and development goals, succession planning goals, performance management goals, and other goals that support the development of talent; for example, compliance training measures, onboarding, speed to productivity, and basic employee skills needed for daily operations. L&D departmental goals could also be evaluated, such as reducing cost per learner or reducing the design and development time for learning programs. Different measures will be collected for the different audiences and strategic questions the organization is asking.

3.4.6.2.4 Establish a Clear and Memorable Message

Even if they might otherwise be interested, overwhelmed employees may filter out these marketing efforts. To prevent this, TD professionals should create very clear and memorable marketing messages. One approach is to use the 6 Cs to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of different forms of communication, what's working, what isn't working, and why: clear: choosing audience-appropriate words that are precise and descriptive correct: selecting accurate words, using correct grammar, and avoiding using the wrong words complete: articulating comprehensive messages that include all the details concise: choosing short specific sentences and phrases coherent: maintaining consistency, selecting simple sentence structures, and presenting information in an easy-to-follow order courteous: using words that are friendly, positive, gender-neutral, and sensitive to form messages that are respectful and authentic. [See 1.1.1.3] TD professionals should also ensure the message is targeted to the right audience and is credible: Employees want to be convinced that there are personal benefits, while management wants to know the strategic value of the initiatives. TD efforts should be positioned as strategic activities that are essential to reaching organizational goals. TD professionals should use every opportunity to raise awareness about the value talent development brings to the organization.

3.4 Talent Strategy & Management

For an organization to realize its potential, talent development should be integrated into all components of talent strategy and management. Talent strategy and management are the practices used to build an organization's culture, engagement, capability, and capacity through the implementation and integration of talent acquisition, employee development, retention, and deployment processes, ensuring these processes are aligned to organizational goals. Depending on organizational context and structure, broad partnerships with HR and line leaders will be needed.

3.4.7.6 Engage Stakeholder Review

Getting feedback on communication activities is essential for knowing whether the messages have been received as intended. Feedback can be obtained by counting page clicks online, asking for feedback after a presentation, conducting online surveys, and holding focus groups. Having a third party conduct the feedback sessions may help enhance the authenticity of the feedback. Using open-ended questions that target the key messages helps ensure the feedback is viable and actionable. TD professionals should make adjustments to the key messages or the communications plan based on the feedback.

Aligning these goals to organizational strategy typically includes the full range of requirements for learning and development:

Help the organization comply with regulations. Talent development may provide learning solutions that keep the organization in compliance with relevant laws and regulations. Deliver basic capability. Talent development provides basic skills training and information to quickly assimilate new employees and reduce the time it takes them to learn the new job. Replicate the organization's success model. Over time, organizations find ways to get things done more efficiently. Especially in times of growth or retrenchment, talent development's most important work is to replicate those models of success. This may be through ongoing efforts, like development programs, or ad hoc solutions, such as when an organization opens a new location and entire systems must be replicated. Provide tactical support. Talent development may be called upon to provide learning and development when new initiatives or activities are planned, such as a new system implementation. The information is included in the implementation project plan, and the TD activities are viewed as integral to the successful completion of the project. Strategic partnership. This is the "seat at the table" process where strategic TD objectives are included in the organization's strategic planning process. Partnering involves aligning with and supporting the strategic initiatives the organization has developed.

3.4.2.2.7 A Lack of Measures of Success

If stakeholders are not expecting to see results, TD professionals may not keep measures or analyze data to show results. Measures of success are part of the strategy development process and are developed in connection with stakeholder agreement. Without predefined measures, it can be difficult to evaluate the strategic objective, program, or activity after-the-fact. [See 3.4.2.1]

3.4.2.2.6 Lack of Accountability

In certain organizations where talent isn't seen as an asset, talent development may be viewed as an expense rather than an investment in people. In these instances, TD activities may only be seen as keeping the organization in compliance or providing basic skills training, and true accountability for developing talent isn't required. Over time, this will diminish the organization's view of talent development's ability to add value to the organization or be worthy of strategic investment. When talent development is viewed this way, it can become subjected to budget cuts or even elimination during financial downturns. TD professionals should ensure that their initiatives are visible to stakeholders, including sharing strategies and results, or they may never see the value of TD efforts.

3.4.6.1 Clarify the Purpose of the Marketing Strategy

In developing a clear purpose for the marketing strategy, TD professionals should begin with the end in mind. What is the ultimate result? Talent development should plan for two marketing efforts. The first is creating an overall learning culture—a culture in which employees are learning constantly and passing that knowledge on throughout the organization. TD professionals begin by building relationships with leaders throughout the organization. This is likely their most important marketing charge. The second marketing effort is to ensure that the entire organization comprehends the products and services talent development offers, such as learning platforms, management or leadership experiences, courses, or tools and resources. TD professionals should realize that the target audience experiences these services in their own unique ways. And based on these experiences they decide whether the TD value proposition is demonstrating what it has stated. Ask these questions to help clarify the TD marketing strategy purpose: How strong are the TD offerings? Who are the customers for talent development? How is talent development and its value perceived by its customers? What are the customer's perceptions of their need for the TD offerings? How are talent development's offerings positioned in the marketplace? What are the costs versus benefits (value)? How should talent development be branded? Valued? Aligning talent development to the organization's strategy is essential. A valuable part of marketing is to state how talent development helps achieve the organization's goals. A well formulated marketing plan can help to align it with the organization, its vision, and its goals.

3.4.9.1 Develop a Business Case for Lifelong Learning

Inspiring everyone to value lifelong learning needs an intentional approach as it will not happen on its own. Creating a learning culture is a never-ending challenge that requires attention, enough time, clear and aligned communication, and support from everyone in the organization. [See 1.7.1 and 3.1.7] Three essential characteristics exist in a high-performance organization's learning culture: a sufficient budget to meet learning needs, a dedicated learning function, and senior-level responsibility for organizational learning. It may take several years to instill the shared values, assumptions, and beliefs of a learning culture that appreciates lifelong learning. They may align with the organization's culture or represent a totally new paradigm for the organization. There are many advantages to having a lifelong learning culture. It improves: employee engagement levels overall organizational performance ability to retain talent ability to meet changing business needs and objectives competitive ability.[See 1.7.1] To develop a business case for lifelong learning, TD professionals should partner with leaders to determine what learning means to the organization. Is it valued? What is the implicit or explicit philosophy regarding learning? What do leaders wish the philosophy to be? By answering these questions, TD professionals will have a current state analysis that determines what changes, if any, are needed. They can incorporate any changes into strategic TD goals and plans and measure them accordingly.

3.4.13.3 Addressing Skills Gaps

Job analysis and job design may identify skills gaps, which are significant gaps between an organization's current capabilities and the skills it needs to achieve its goals and meet customer demand. An organization with significant skills gaps risks not meeting customer demand, because it may not be able to grow, compete, or prepare for the future of work. Talent development has assumed an increased role in addressing skills gaps, and there is now more accountability for individual managers. However, success in identifying and closing these gaps depends on the involvement of key stakeholders across the organization. To address skills gaps, organizations should: upskill—design training to augment existing skills with new or significantly enhanced knowledge to enable individuals to continue and succeed in the same profession or field of work; upskilling does not refer to normal, ongoing development reskill—design training to help individuals gain new knowledge or skills to enable them to perform new jobs or enter new professions multi-skill—train employees in new or related work areas to increase their use in different areas of the organization right skill—train employees to meet the future needs of the organization regardless of their current capabilities (Souza and Fyfe-Mills 2018).

3.4.13.1 Job Analysis Steps to Identify the Work Requirements

Job analysis identifies all duties (responsibilities) and respective tasks performed on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis for a single job or role. The steps to conducting a job analysis include: Identify job results relevant to organizational goals. Examine the expected outcomes of a job or role and ensure alignment with the organization's goals and objectives. Identify tasks in each job result. Identify the key tasks that have a substantial effect upon the accomplishment of goals. Identify steps within the task. Break down each task into subtasks. Identify knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to perform each step. Examine what it takes to accomplish each step or subtask, including the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies. Document task analysis. Summarize everything needed to successfully perform the job or role.

3.4.13.2 Job Design

Job design is a follow-on activity to job analysis that specifies how a job is done, including the contents, methods, and arrangement of tasks. The design attempts to best meet technical and organizational requirements, reduce sources of fatigue and human error, and meet the needs of the job performer. It also addresses the relationship and linkages between jobs in an organization. [See 3.3.5] Proper job design is critical for increasing the effectiveness of operations and the employee's efficiency and satisfaction. If designed properly, job design components can help enhance employee engagement; the reverse is true if they're poorly designed. These components include: skill variety—the extent to which a job requires an employee to use a wide range of skills, abilities, or knowledge task identity—the extent to which a job requires a worker to perform all the tasks necessary to complete that job from the beginning to the end of the production process task significance—the degree to which a worker believes their job is meaningful because of its influence on people inside the organization (such as co-workers) or people outside the organization (such as customers) autonomy—the degree to which a job gives an employee the freedom and discretion needed to schedule different tasks and decide how to carry out those tasks feedback—the extent to which performing a job provides workers with clear and direct information about how well they have completed the job.

3.4.13.7 Leadership Competency Development Models

Leadership competency models are widespread and follow the process of competency identification used for other roles. However, leadership competencies may be more generic across organizations, and customization of leadership competencies that are in the public domain may be sufficient. Consulting firms and TD suppliers may offer a library of leadership competencies from which TD professionals can start. Leadership competency models should be designed with simplicity to communicate expected behaviors in an easy-to-understand way. Too many competencies or behaviors can create confusion. Scoping the model in a concise, clear, and relevant way helps leaders apply the competencies to their roles and helps the organization use the model to assess, hire, develop, and recognize talent. Competency models may use the same competencies for leaders at all levels and simply provide different descriptions for the specific roles. To ensure buy-in and acceptance of the leadership competency model, TD professionals should work with the appropriate stakeholders to validate or offer modifications.

3.4.5.1 Tools to Predict Problems

Many tools exist to help forecast problems and barriers to achieving objectives. Many problem-solving tools begin with brainstorming and then sorting or categorizing the output. Potential tools include: Cause and effect diagram, also known as a fishbone diagram, represents the relationship between an effect and all possible causes of that effect. Such diagrams are drawn to illustrate the causes in major categories. 5 whys can be used to determine the cause of a problem by asking "why?" five times. This helps ensure that the problem has been correctly identified instead of listing symptoms. Force field analysis looks at the factors that are influencing movement toward and away from a goal. [See 3.5.5.2 and 3.6.3.2] Nominal group technique is a brainstorming method that involves individuals generating their own ideas first and then collectively creating ideas based on convergence of opinion. Pareto charts are vertical bar charts that determine which problems to solve in what order. Scenario planning looks at the trends and uncertainties that create possible future scenarios so they can be prepared for.[See 3.5.2.6]

3.4.6.3 Identify Marketing Tactics

Marketing tactics are how TD professionals deliver messages that result in customer engagement and satisfaction. Good marketing tactics use financial resources to maximize the effective promotion of products and services. Marketing examples include: written word (such as brochures, case studies, direct mail, newsletters, press releases, or emails) social media (such as blogs, podcasts, video, forum boards, or landing pages) personal connections through special events, referrals, presentations, crowdsourcing, or testimonials.

3.4.1.1 Strategic Workforce Planning Defined

Strategic workforce planning is the process an organization uses to analyze the current workforce and plan for future staffing needs. Strategic workforce planning is the first step in developing a talent strategy. It refers to the practice of forecasting the types of talent that will be needed to meet organizational goals and assessing those needs against current capabilities. Strategic workforce planning occurs as organizational strategy is being developed, when new strategic objectives are set, or on a regular basis as conditions change. [See 3.3.5 and 3.4.14.2]

3.4.12.2.1 Identify High Potentials

Successful organizations put effort into the development of high potential employees; therefore, the program or process to identify them must be effective. Having an explicit purpose for the program helps confirm expectations, set goals, align with other talent management processes and programs, set criteria for selection, and measure effectiveness. A design may involve many elements that must be customized to the organization and integrated with other talent management practices. TD professionals should work with senior leaders to ensure the program is fair and consistently applied, meets the organization's need for talent, and that all relevant stakeholders play their part in the program's success. High-potential employees can be identified either through a candidate referral process or a self-nomination process. There is no right way to select who will participate, and there are pros and cons to each process. It is important to consider which roles are critical, where the need to keep a talent pipeline full is of paramount importance.When deciding eligibility for the program, consider the person's: level in the organization time in role performance level supervisory recommendation diversity considerations.

3.4.11.1 Succession Planning Defined

Succession planning is the systematic process of identifying, evaluating, and developing personnel who have the potential to assume leadership or mission-critical positions upon the resignation, termination, transfer, promotion, or death of an incumbent. Talent pipeline planning is similar to succession planning; however, pipeline planning is a proactive approach taken to fill current or anticipated staffing shortages in specific job categories or families. A succession planning process can be used with a talent pipeline planning process when specific talent pools are examined, but the two processes can also stand alone. Who might be considered a candidate for a succession plan depends on numerous factors. Typically, qualified employees are selected on performance, experience, potential, and competence. They may also be differentiated by readiness—whether they are ready now, ready in one to two years, ready in more than three years, and so forth. The structure of the succession plan typically begins at the top with the CEO—by identifying and considering each direct report to the CEO for succession. Additionally, each C-suite role is analyzed for successors. How far down the plans go are based on organizational needs and desires.

3.4.4.2.1 Know What Talent Development Stands For

TD principles can provide guidance to the organization and employees. In addition, TD professionals can help employees and the organization understand what talent development represents through a value statement. The statement might proclaim what talent development values, such as supporting employees, teamwork, collaboration, or development. A simple proclamation can be a guiding principle that helps employees relate to talent development.

3.4.2.2.2 Limited Understanding of the Organization and Its Strategies

TD professionals must understand the model in which they operate. The way the organization is structured, its operating model, how the organization makes money, what defines an expense, and how it views data is fundamental to the TD professional's ability to create organizational impact. A lack of understanding will show up in unaligned activities, programs, and objectives, and eventually lead to senior leaders questioning the viability of talent development.

3.4.4.2 Beyond the Strategic Plan

TD professionals must understand their organization's vision, mission, strategy, and goals. To support this they must be trusted advisors who know that problems will arise and what changes will occur.

I. Talent Development's Role in Influencing Positive Organizational Outcomes

TD professionals should be able to align their goals and objectives with organizational objectives and demonstrate results that measure impact on organizational outcomes.

I. Creating a TD Communication Strategy

TD professionals should be able to communicate the offerings and activities of talent development so their availability is widely known.

I. Identifying and Overcoming Constraints and Problems With TD Initiatives

TD professionals should be able to forecast potential barriers and constraints to TD initiatives and determine ways to reduce the likelihood of occurrence.

I. Creating a TD Marketing Strategy

TD professionals should be able to market their value proposition, initiatives, and programs. A marketing strategy is defined as a set of strategies, tactics, systems, and processes that identify offerings, communicate key messages to help users select what they need, and enable customers to find and obtain them.

I. Talent Acquisition Strategy and Concepts

TD professionals should be aware of what constitutes a talent acquisition strategy and what is required to integrate it throughout the organization.

3.4.12.2.3 Inclusivity

TD professionals should define terminology and criteria to prevent any misunderstandings and ensure consistency during candidate recruitment, nomination, evaluation, and selection. These definitions ensure leaders and others involved have a clear course for the process. In addition, TD professionals should consider involving a diversity committee to expand the diversity in leadership and other critical roles. This committee could also serve as the selection committee to ensure a fair and accurate selection process. Using a panel of leaders from across the organization who know the candidates and can speak to their abilities may allow for a robust discussion of capability. The discussions should be focused on objective, job-related selection criteria. Once candidates have been selected into the high-potential program, they and their supervisors should be told. However, some organizations keep that information confidential so as not to imply a future promotion or other employment action. There are organization-specific pros and cons to transparency, which TD professionals should consider when making this decision.

3.4.4.1.3 Planning for Action

TD professionals should develop strategic goals, objectives, and an action plan: Strategic goals should align with the organization's goals and clearly support its critical issues. Talent development needs the capabilities, funding, and information required for the strategy to succeed. The risks should be clear and there should be plans to avoid or minimize them. Objectives focus on details and provide more specific tasks that must be accomplished. Both goals and objectives should be specific and measurable. [See 3.4.3.4] Action plans take the planning one step closer to reality by providing the critical details to achieve the strategies. They answer the questions of who will do what and by when, as well as identifying key programs and initiatives, providing a timeline, and assigning resources to tasks.

3.4.3.2 Ensuring Organizational Alignment

TD professionals should ensure alignment between their strategic goal-setting processes and the organization's needs by understanding the organization and working with stakeholders to ensure TD goals are properly addressing these needs. Depending on the size of the organization, TD professionals may or may not be a part of this process; however, they do have multiple options for customizing alignment: Prepare by reading the organization's strategic plan, business plans, or any other documentation available. Take notes to confirm understanding and identify questions. Meet with senior executives and stakeholders to discuss the organization's strategic objectives and how talent development may help achieve those objectives. If there is a talent strategy, be a part of that process. If that is not possible, read and understand the strategy so TD objectives can align with them. Begin analyzing the information from interviews with any executives and stakeholders. Meet with TD staff to determine which strategic objectives talent development could positively influence. Determine the internal capabilities talent development has and whether outside assistance would be required. Review recommendations with the stakeholders to confirm understanding of the goals and receive feedback on approach. Once confirmed, decide on the measures for each goal (Biech 2018).

3.4.3.6 Ensure Continued Alignment

TD professionals should ensure that daily talent development activities are closely aligned to organizational objectives. In the face of constant organizational change, it can be easy to refocus on new initiatives or requests that detract time and attention from organizational goals. It may also be easy to respond to a request for training because the training already exists and it won't take much time to provide it. TD professionals should know the TD objectives and measures and understand how they align with organizational objectives. Their individual goals should also be aligned with the strategic talent development objectives and measures. TD managers should provide continuous coaching and feedback to ensure continued alignment and quick course-correction if problems arise. Using individual development plans, TD staff may be able to develop their current skills or learn new ones to ensure successful completion of individual objectives. They can ensure alignment by confirming that every manager's request will solve the root cause and that it is aligned to organizational priorities.

I. Integrated Talent Management Functions

TD professionals should have a broad understanding of all talent management functions and how they are integrated so that they can align TD goals with those of other talent management functions to have a talent focused culture. This knowledge begins with clarifying definitions.

I. Aligning Talent Strategy to Organizational Strategy

TD professionals should have a clear understanding of how to create and align the TD vision and strategy to the organization's vision and strategy to support the organization's strategic imperatives.

3.4.7.2 Determine the Audience: People Who Need to Know or Want to Know

TD professionals should identify target audiences for specific objectives and key messages. They should also consider that there may be more than one audience for a key message when building a communication plan. Specific elements of the message should be targeted to each audience's needs or interests. For example, key stakeholders and executives have different communication needs than all other employees, but they still need to hear the same key message. Understanding how to communicate to the C-suite will help determine how to address executives. [See 3.1.8]

I. Developing High-Potential Talent

TD professionals should know how to identify, select, move, and develop employees who have long-term potential to advance in the organization. This keeps talent pipelines full.

3.4.3.4 Communicate the Value of Talent Development's Contribution to Organizational Outcomes

TD professionals should maintain different measures, such as efficiency, effectiveness, or outcome measures for different audiences, and analyze them to answer the strategic questions the organization is asking. For example, a strategic question an organization may have is, "How have the engagement scores of the learners who have gone through the leadership development program changed over time?" They should communicate the results of the TD efforts to the intended recipient. [See 3.4.2.1.4] Different levels in the organization's hierarchy focus on different results and want to hear TD professionals discuss the topics that are most pertinent to them. The TD professional's discussion of a learning management system and its functionality, for example, may not be as interesting to senior leaders as the cost involved or how the system may allow the organization to save operating expenses or increase revenue. Most executives want to hear a value proposition from talent development. [See 1.1.8 and 3.4.3.6] When communicating talent development's contribution to the organization's outcomes, TD professionals should: Link results to key performance indicators or strategic objectives when possible. Turn TD acronyms and terminology into language that will be understood by leaders and executives. Keep the message short and simple; use appendices for details. Communicate the purpose of the presentation or document upfront; for example, saying "the purpose of this report is to communicate talent development's contribution to the objective or project." Also include put an executive summary at the beginning outlining the main points that support the purpose. Executives would rather know the conclusions at the beginning; they don't want to hunt for them.

3.4.6.6 Ultimate Marketing Achievements

TD professionals should recognize that an excellent TD marking plan can reach those inside and outside the organization. Internally, TD professionals can demonstrate the results of the marketing efforts and the value achieved for the organization. Marketing can also have positive effects outside the organization by improving its reputation for supporting a learning culture and developing its people. This can lead to improved recruitment efforts for a talented workforce.

3.4.4.2.2 Anticipate and Plan for Change

TD professionals should return to the SWOT analysis to review problems that may affect TD initiatives. Organizational priorities constantly shift and learning requirements change regularly, which may cause resource reallocations or other problems and constraints for TD initiatives. Anticipating what could happen during the performance period is necessary to ensure an agile approach to change. In larger organizations, a learning governance council may effectively respond to needs as changes arise. In smaller organizations, it will be critical to work in partnership with senior leaders so that TD professionals can be aware of shifting priorities that may affect them.

I. Communicating the Value of Talent Development

TD professionals should understand and communicate the value of talent development to the organization. This may include being a thought leader in the broad world of work and sharing that knowledge as it relates to the organization. TD professionals are involved in a broad array of business topics and should partner in many ways with many departments to show the viability and value of talent development.

I. Planning for the Work of Talent Development

TD professionals should understand how talent development and its projects, programs, and other offerings are aligned with strategic objectives so that priorities are established and executed.

I. Identifying Tasks, Jobs, and Role Requirements

TD professionals should understand how to conduct job analyses that identify tasks and duties performed for specific jobs and roles so they can specify performance gaps and recommend learning and development solutions.

I. Succession Planning and Talent Reviews

TD professionals should understand the role of succession planning and talent reviews in meeting the organization's talent needs. This helps ensure there is available talent for higher-level positions and provides opportunities for people to move into other roles inside an organization instead of having to pursue growth elsewhere.

I. Strategic Workforce Planning

TD professionals should work in collaboration with senior leaders to develop a plan that forecasts future talent needs and skill requirements and compares those needs to current workforce capabilities. The objective is to ensure a steady talent flow.

3.4.2.2.3 Failure to Relate to Stakeholders

TD professionals who do not understand their organization will struggle to identify or develop relationships with the key stakeholders that drive organizational success. Without this knowledge, they cannot become trusted advisors who help leaders solve their problems.

3.4.6.2 Create a Marketing Strategy

TD professionals who have created their talent development strategy should use it as a basis to create their marketing strategy. The key is to focus on marketing the value of the learning culture. Marketing may be done broadly to the entire organization or a specific service or program might be aligned to a target audience. The marketing strategy includes defining the target audience for services and products, developing messaging, identifying goals, and establishing the message. 3.4.6.2.1 Define the Target Audience When marketing efforts are not focused on the entire organization, having a well-defined target audience helps direct them to the people who are more likely to use talent development's offerings. To assess the target audience for a unique offering, TD professionals may ask: Who are the current customers? What are the talent segments that talent development is supporting? Are there specific audiences for whom this offering benefits? Are there specific demographic commonalities for this offering? Is talent development responsible for external audiences like customers, contingent employees, or seasonal workers? Once they've clearly defined the target audience, TD professionals can determine where and how to market individual offerings. TD professionals must always keep their key message in focus: creating a learning culture where everyone learns and grows and the organization achieves its goals. A marketing effort is essential for creating awareness of the benefits talent development offers individuals and the organization. [See 3.3.7 and 3.3.8]

3.4.14.1 Talent Acquisition Strategy

Talent acquisition is a process for filling vacancies in a timely manner. An organization's talent acquisition strategy must flow from organizational objectives and be customized to address the organization's unique needs. What works in one organization may not work in another one. Thorough research and use of internal measures should guide the talent acquisition strategy. Different strategies for sourcing, recruiting, and hiring can be based on the talent segments identified in the workforce planning process as well as the organizational objectives. [See 3.4.13] The organization's brand attracts new employees; the employee experience retains them. The brand is the comprehensive marketing concept that differentiates one organization from another. The employee experience—sometimes called the employee journey—is the employees' perspective of an organization, which is influenced by their workspace, communication, work-life balance, interactions with teams and supervisor, tools and technology, and many other touchpoints. The organization's brand and the employee experience require systems thinking to ensure consistency and applicability across the organization. [See 3.4.1.8] The brand describes the organization and the benefits to working there, not just the hiring process. Employees won't stay long if they are promised one thing in the talent acquisition process only to find a much different culture when they come on board. The organization's mission, vision, and values should inform talent acquisition communications. TD professionals can assist talent acquisition by creating assessment instruments to select candidates, providing interviewing support, sharing ideas for global recruitment, and other things. They should be sure they are using validated and reliable instruments. TD professionals can provide guidance to ensure that they use the same competencies for development and compensation decisions. Typically, these competencies are developed as a part of the job analysis process. [See 3.4.13.3]

3.4.2.2 Talent Strategy Alignment Challenges

Talent development efforts succeed when TD's objectives are aligned with organizational objectives and measured to show impact. Several barriers can cause misalignment, and TD professionals can benefit from understanding them (Biech 2018).

3.4.1.3 Talent Development Defined

Talent development refers to the efforts that foster learning and employee development to drive organizational performance, productivity, and results. A TD strategy is based on the organization's strategic objectives and a strategic workforce plan that targets developing specific roles. The strategy may include opportunities for learning, development of critical roles, and career development. [See 3.4.15] Learning solutions typically focus on the employee's current role, while development solutions focus on longer-term initiatives that enhance the organization's capabilities (for example, a leadership development program to create employees ready for leadership roles). These solutions can include formal and informal resources, such as knowledge management databases, communities of practice, and artificial intelligence. Many of these solutions are designed to help employees learn in the flow of work versus stopping what they're doing to partake in a more formal learning solution. TD professionals should develop an aligned TD strategy in partnership with leadership that meets the needs of the organization. This strategy, which is a natural flow down from the talent strategy, should also consider other talent management practice areas, so all objectives are integrated and silos are reduced.

3.4.4.2.4 Maintain Compliance

Talent development, in partnership with other stakeholders, is frequently involved in ensuring organizational compliance. TD professionals should know which compliance programs are required by law or statute for their country, region, state, or locale, and plan for the fulfillment of those requirements. Fulfillment entails understanding the needs of all learners to comply with the laws and ensure accessibility. [See 3.4.3.3 and 1.6]

3.4.2.1.3 Talent Management Strategies

Talent management strategies drive whether talent will be acquired from outside the organization, developed through internal learning and development programs, or through a combination of approaches. This may be done through an analysis of the 6Bs (buy, build, borrow, bound, bounce, or bind). [See 3.4.15] For example, if the organization is targeting a new customer or market, it may discover it does not have the proper skills mix to execute that strategy. In this case, it may decide to buy (or recruit and hire externally) the talent it needs from the external marketplace. Once these goals are established, the talent acquisition strategy can determine the overall implementation plan, whereas the TD strategy might simply contain an associated "sub goal." The talent management strategic objectives give rise to the various talent management strategies that are subsequently developed. To ensure consistency and fairness, the same competencies that were identified for each role in the strategic workforce plan should be used to both hire and develop talent.

3.4.11.2 Succession Planning and Talent Reviews

Talent reviews are formal meetings where leaders discuss information related to individuals' past performance and future potential. They may be part of a succession planning process, or they could be a standalone activity to ensure a robust talent pipeline for a specific job category. Organizational reviews may also include talent reviews to assess how individuals performed during that time period or on a specific assignment. Succession planning and talent reviews can provide visibility of high-potential talent to senior leaders and help ensure that talent pipelines and succession plans have available talent to meet organizational needs. Both can be integrated with other talent management practice areas, including: talent reviews and succession plans, which identify development needs to inform TD objectives and offerings the strategic workforce planning process, which can identify critical talent needs and the competencies required of high-potential employees and succession candidates performance management data, which can help identify and select high-potential employees and succession candidates special compensation plans and reward structures, which can be used to incentivize or reward high-potential employees and succession candidates.

3.4.7.5 Create a Communication Plan

The communication plan includes key messages, audience analysis, and the timeline. It lists dates, target audiences, key messages or events, methods or media, responsible staff members, and any other notes that staff should be aware of. This could also include other activities that may be planned by talent development or other functions that coincide with the timeline.

3.4.4.2.3 Establish Priorities

The established TD objectives are the basis for the priorities. TD professionals should also have a process for establishing other priorities that evolve throughout the planning period. This includes thinking about how new requests will be handled.

3.4.13.5 Competency Model Categories

The majority of organizational competency models include three areas: executive—skills, knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes required to create vision, lead, strategize, influence, plan, negotiate, and recognize talent managerial or supervisory—skills, knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes required to supervise, direct, counsel, discipline, coach, organize, and develop people functional—skills, knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes required to perform specific tasks, such as operating a machine, creating a website, or writing a technical training manual. Organizations can use competency models in talent acquisition for hiring; in talent development for assessment development and creating learning and development programs; in compensation and rewards for inclusion in job descriptions; in succession planning and talent reviews for assessing candidates; and in performance management for evaluation. Consistency in usage of competencies across all talent management practice areas is one way to integrate these functions.

3.4.6.2.3 Identify Objectives

The marketing objectives should support the TD program's goals and establish the criteria for measuring marketing effectiveness. TD professionals can use Mager's A-B-C-D process for developing objectives: audience: the who behavior: the performance; what the person is expected to be able to do, stated as specifically as possible conditions under which the behavior is completed, including the tools or assistance provided degree: the criterion of acceptable performance that the person should exhibit; examples include time limits, accuracy, and quality. [See 2.2.4.4] The marketing metrics should be established at the same time as the goals. Using Mager's A-B-C-D process, TD professionals can weave the measures of effectiveness into the statement. For example, "Leaders (audience) will enroll in the leadership development program (behavior) by submitting the nomination form (condition) no later than August (degree). The measure of effectiveness could be the number of leaders who submitted the nomination form by August.

3.4.12.2 Process for Identifying High-Potential Employees

The purpose of having a program to identify and develop high potential employees begins with alignment to organizational goals. TD professionals should know which roles will be key to the organization's success, what capabilities exist currently, what talent gaps exist, and how to close the gaps.

3.4.1.7 Skills Required to Align Talent Management to Organizational Strategies

The skills necessary to properly align practice areas include: Systems thinking is based upon the belief that the component parts of a system can be best understood by examining relationships with each other and other systems, rather than in isolation. The holistic view is important for change initiatives because small changes to any part of the system can affect the whole system depending on the level of interconnectedness. Strategic thinking is a form of analysis that generates insights and opportunities that help differentiate the organization and make it more competitive. It can be part of an organization's strategic planning process, and individuals can use it to help themselves achieve a goal. Critical thinking is a form of analysis that helps evaluate an issue to form a logical and well thought out judgement. People do not accept all arguments and conclusions on face value when thinking critically. Rather, they want to see what evidence is involved to support the argument or conclusion. Many skills comprise critical thinking, including analytical thinking, open mindedness, problem solving, and decision making. [See 1.2.8.1] Creative thinking is a way of looking at problems or situations from a fresh perspective that suggests unorthodox solutions. Creative thinking can be stimulated both by an unstructured process, such as brainstorming, and by a structured process, such as lateral thinking (Business Dictionary 2007). Design thinking "is a human-centered process that provides a means for defining problems from multiple perspectives, brainstorming possible solutions, prototyping those solutions, and then testing and iterating to optimize the best approach. It focuses on the sweet spot between organizational needs, user needs, and technology or environmental constraints" (Boller and Fletcher 2020). [See 2.2.13 and 2.4.9] Collaboration is when two or more individuals work together with equal opportunity to participate, communicate, and be involved to collectively complete projects and goals. During conflict, collaboration is what happens when both parties work together to develop a win-win solution.

3.4.4.1 Steps to Design and Implement TD Strategic Plans

The strategic objectives of talent development, plus a vision and mission statement, guide its work. When developing plans for setting up a TD department, these activities guide the TD professional's approach.

3.4.7.4 Identify a Timeline

The timeline for communicating key messages to the target audiences is developed in context with the organization's timeline. For example, knowing that people are typically on vacation during the summer months, TD professionals should consider delaying communications about major new initiatives. If the organization has an organization-wide calendar, that can help shape the timeline for the TD communication events. The calendar can inform the release of TD results as well. For example, if the organization has an annual planning process—with goals established at the beginning of the planning process and results communicated at the end—talent development can follow that guidance when releasing its own results. TD professionals can schedule meetings and reports with executives well enough in advance to communicate talent development's annual results. The TD communication timeline should include redundancy—key messages should be sent several times using several different methods to ensure they are received.

3.4.7.3 Identify Methods Available

There are many methods available to communicate with stakeholders. TD professionals should understand that a message sent once is not sufficient to garner attention or comprehension. Deciding on the best method of communicating may be easy to do once the key messages and audience are determined. [See 3.4.6.7]

3.4.12.3 Developing High Potential Employees

There are many types of internal and external development opportunities, some of which involve a cost that the organization typically pays. TD professionals should target the right development for the individual, considering cost-effective and quality development programs. Examples of development programs include: External Opportunitiesacademic assignmentsadvanced degree educationdevelopment classesloaned executive programprofessional associationsexecutive education programs. Internal Opportunitiescommittee and task force involvementimmersive managementmonthly leadership sessionsself-development opportunitiesstretch assignmentsrotational assignmentsaction learning programscommunities of practice.

3.4.12.2.4 Exceptions

There may be times when selected candidates do not meet expectations. In this case, TD professionals should make plans that address these issues and have a process to release these candidates from the program. They should be aware of how candidates are performing so that they can address any early warning signs of derailment.

3.4.2.2.4 Lack of Focus on Organizational Strategies

Understanding the connection between the organization's strategies and mission and vision is the first step to aligning TD objectives to the organization. Only with this understanding of organizational strategies can TD professionals align their initiatives. Every TD objective, program, or activity should be able to answer the question, "What organizational objective is this serving?"

3.4.1.6 The Role of Talent Development in an Integrated Talent Ecosystem

Understanding the different talent management practice areas is important; however, TD professionals may not always require in-depth knowledge or experience in all these areas. It's more important to understand how these areas provide opportunities to be more integrated and seamless. These integration points represent areas where one talent management practice area can work with another area to present a program, process, activity, or tool that focuses on the organization's employees and their needs. Talent management practice areas that are integrated throughout the employee life cycle include workforce planning, identification of knowledge and skills, sourcing, selection and hiring, onboarding, development, performance, and recognition and reward. This seamless integration enhances employee engagement and retention and provides the organization with the capabilities necessary to achieve organizational objectives. Many organizations begin the integration process with talent development and performance management. When learning and development needs are identified through the performance management process they can be linked to learning programs. In addition, if the processes are automated through a talent management platform, learning needs can be added to the LMS and employees can be enrolled in the appropriate programs. However, these integration activities do not need a talent management technology platform to be achieved; manual processes work as well. Talent management functions can be integrated in a number of ways: The competencies developed through the workforce planning process can be used to develop role-based learning and learning paths. The competencies raised through the workforce planning process can be used to develop individual development plans and as part of the performance management process. Talent development may support the creation of assessment instruments for recruitment and selection, succession planning, and identifying high potential employees. TD programs can train and coach managers to enhance their management skills and thus lead to better engagement and development among employees. Development needs identified through the succession and talent review process can form the basis of leadership and other development programs. Achievement of specific career or individual development goals can be recognized and rewarded.

3.4.4.3 Planning for Major Programs

When planning major TD programs, initiatives, or events, TD professionals should use basic project management approaches to ensure successful completion. Even if large initiatives are planned, developed, or scheduled, there is always a chance that one may be cancelled or changed to something else mid-stream. Depending upon the size of the organization, TD professionals may need to use contingent hires to meet deadlines. It's good to be prepared, but it is not a guarantee. [See 1.5]

3.4.12.2.2 Selection Process

Whether the organization uses a self-nomination process or a candidate referral process where leaders nominate candidates, TD professionals should clarify the process, ensure the instructions are clear, and confirm that sufficient time is provided. Documents for submission may include: application talent profile (including demographic information, employment history, a self-assessment, a supervisory assessment, performance level, potential assessment, and career interests) supervisory endorsement. Using different instruments with candidates may also help provide insights into their potential—simulations, games, assessments, panel interviews, or other tools may provide a more balanced view of the candidate and make selection easier. Once assessments and discussions have taken place, TD professionals should score candidates against the established selection criteria and then rate them against each other. Typical selection criteria include: current performance potential as gauged by a nine-box assessment or similar instrument exhibition of role-based competencies and leadership competencies formal assessment results.

3.4.2.1.4 Talent Management Measures As talent management strategies and subsequent flow-down objectives are developed, talent management measures should be developed concurrently, based on the measures the organization deems acceptable. These measures need top-level support and agreement before any activity is undertaken to support them. Before beginning work on the goals, TD professionals need to develop talent management metrics for each objective and agreement reached with stakeholders. Some questions to ask when determining the proper measures include:

Why do you want to measure? (What are the strategic objectives you are measuring?) What should be measured? (What measures will evaluate the strategic objectives?) How should they be calculated? How should they be reported? How should the measures and reports be used?

3.4.10.2 Workforce Planning

Working with senior leadership, TD professionals should help examine the future of the organization. Strategic planning sessions typically examine future scenarios in the environment, the industry, the competition, or technology and how those may affect the organization. Given these, the organization creates strategic objectives that include the talent needed to meet them. [See 3.4.2.1] First, TD professionals need to estimate future talent needs based on these strategic objectives. Questions to ask include: How many workers will be needed to meet organizational demand? In what roles? Which roles are critical to success? What are the current in-house capabilities? How large is the talent gap between what is needed and what is available in-house? If a surplus of talent exists, what action will be taken to reduce or relocate it? The output from workforce planning can show the gaps in existing capabilities and begin to develop a talent strategy that includes how to address these talent gaps. Workforce plans can include identification of strategic and key roles necessary to achieve organizational goals as well as core and transactional roles that support operations. Once the types of roles are identified, organizations can conduct job analyses that identify the competencies necessary to perform in them. Competency modeling can be conducted based on the results of the job analysis. [See 3.4.13] The competencies developed for the roles (along with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes) are used to hire talent, develop them, manage their performance, and recognize and reward them. These competencies are the same across the talent management processes to ensure consistency and fairness. The organization can now decide whether to buy, build, borrow, bound, bounce, or bind different roles in the workplace. This will determine the scope of the workforce and address questions such as: Are contingent workers included in the plan? Are gig workers part of the plan? Are outsourced organizations used to meet the gaps?[See 3.4.15] The talent strategy that is derived from the workforce plan informs the development of talent management strategies. If roles are found to be lacking the necessary talent, organizations may decide to "buy" the talent from external sources. If the talent need is ongoing, the organization might decide to "build" internal capabilities through development and internal talent mobility. These strategies are all aligned with the strategic objectives of the organization.

TD professionals wear many hats during a workforce planning process, including:

analyst—assessing current organizational realities, investigating future needs, and analyzing skill gaps implementer—designing learning strategies, applying best practices, and focusing on continuous improvement evaluator—measuring the transfer and impact of learning and development to ensure programs are developing talent to assume the needed roles partner—helping the organization improve employee engagement, skill and knowledge, and knowledge transfer efforts, as well as reduce turnover and promote creativity and problem solving. [See 3.2]

Strategies for addressing skills gaps include:

clarifying and understanding the organization's performance metrics. identifying key stakeholders to support closing the skills gap outlining competencies and skills that map to strategies and performance metrics assessing the skills gap setting goals and prioritizing the path to filling gaps implementing solutions and monitoring sustainability communicating the impact. Skills gaps continue to affect organizations and pose a risk to organizational success. The shelf life of many skills is shrinking, thanks in part to advances in technology making them outdated as jobs are reshaped, eliminated, and automated. TD professionals should address these skills gaps through agile learning and development programs that keep pipelines of talent filled.