Talent Development: The Architecture of a Talent Pipeline That Works

Building a talent rich organization means zero-talent outages, succession rather than replacement, and building a reputation as a talent rich enterprise that attracts talent to the organization. This article examines the four dimensions to an explicit or implicit talent-development architecture that talent-rich organizations have in place. Organizations need a clear, articulated picture of their talent needs over several years; developmental pathways that can be used to polish raw potential; key HR systems and processes that can enable potential to be realized as performance; and programs that enable both talent to develop and talent managers to do a great job of ensuring that the organization becomes a talent-rich enterprise. Essentially, the talent development architecture feeds the talent pipeline to ensure that high-potential people are recruited into the organization, assessed regularly, given the opportunities to develop their talent through exposure to a variety of situations and environments through their careers, and given the opportunity to advance to ever increasingly challenging opportunities. The article also discusses the talent development system and examines ways in managers can avoid some of the pitfalls in talent development. Talent development should not be seen as solely an executive or HR issue; talent should be developed with future needs in mind; managers should ensure that the budget supports talent development needs, hire and retain high potentials and conduct talent development at the corporate level.