Talent Management
5/1/2013 by Ed Bradstreet
A key challenge for any company is finding and keeping employees who make an impact. It is imperative for a company to have a well-through talent management process in place. One approach may to designate talent into categories like “High Potential”, “Promotable”, and “Key/Expert Resource”. Below are some suggested definitions.
High Potential
Individuals with a history of exceptional/highly effective performance and the potential and aspiration to move to considerably more complex leadership positions within accelerated timeframes.
Promotable
Individuals with a history of exceptional/highly effective performance, who have the ability for advancement, but may not have the same career projection as a High Potential.
Key/Expert Resource
Individuals with a history of exceptional/highly effective performance with subject-matter expertise of great value to the organization. Not likely to move to more senior leadership positions outside of their current function or business.
When evaluating talent, we suggest the categories be based on the following core components:
- Cognitive Skills
- Conceptual or strategic thinking
- Intellect, cognitive ability
- Ability to deal with
complexity/ambiguity
- Personality
- Interpersonal skills, sociability
- Dominance
- Maturity/stability/resilience
- Character/integrity/authenticity
- Courage
- Learning Agility
- Adaptability, flexibility and
nimbleness - Learning orientation
- Self-awareness
- Openness to feedback
- Adaptability, flexibility and
- Motivation
- Drive, energy and engagement
- Aspiration, ambition and an organizational
commitment - Results orientation, appropriate
risk-taking
- Leadership Skills
- Leadership capabilities, inspiring
passion, managing and empowering people - Building a talented team, developing
others - Influencing, challenging the status
quo, change management
- Leadership capabilities, inspiring
- Performance
- Track record of exceeding
performance expectations - Leadership experiences
- Track record of exceeding
Succession planning is critical in today’s business environment. You should be ‘ahead of the curve’ so your talent bench is healthy and robust, and in place to support your business objectives.