How To Create a Talent Development Plan

Many employees worry they lack the skills and education to advance in their careers; 70% feel unprepared for the future of work. When that insecurity settles into the workplace, it can impact a company’s ability to retain employees, stay competitive, and access the critical talent they need.

To stay agile, companies are increasingly leaning into talent management strategies. A key part of that effort is the creation of a talent development plan, an important guide for upskilling and reskilling a workforce.

How can you create an effective plan to move your team to the next level? In this article, we’ll discuss:

• What is a talent development plan?
• The importance of creating a talent development plan
• How to create a talent development plan in 7 steps
• Who should talent development plans be created for?
• Who should be involved in the talent development process?

What is a talent development plan?

A talent development plan is a proactive program that shapes the employees you have into the dream team your company will need tomorrow. Typically individualized to fit the needs of each employee, talent development plans can also be created at a team or department level.

Talent development planning can be a win-win strategy that helps:

• An organization achieve its business objectives while supporting succession planning, development of high-potential employees, and enhancement of leadership strength
• Employees take control of their own careers by improving job performance, advancing in their profession, and honing their skills for future job requirements

Talent development is part of an overarching talent management strategy, a high-level blueprint that shows how an organization will find, recruit, engage, and retain skilled talent to achieve its long-term goals. These strategies increasingly leverage the hybrid workforce, with employees and independent professionals working together, but talent development is focused on building a company’s internal talent pipeline.

The importance of creating a talent development plan

While a talent development plan can help your team reach short- and medium-term achievements, nurturing internal talent can have a direct impact on your organization’s long-term survival.

In a global survey by PwC, nearly 40% of CEOs said they don’t think their companies will be economically viable in ten years unless they rethink how they do business. Among the top challenges: skill shortages and technology disruption.

Many of the hard skills your business relies on have an expiration date, and that window keeps shrinking.

Research by IBM found that the most “perishable” skills, including specific technical skills, lose relevance within 2.5 years. With disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), pushing day-to-day tools to evolve, even the most “durable” skills—such as writing, customer service, and project management—are vulnerable to change.

With a talent development program in place, employees have an action plan to keep their knowledge and expertise on the leading edge. And when employees apply sharpened skills to their day-to-day work, your company gains the flexibility to innovate, compete, adapt, and work efficiently.

This balance can help sustain your business in a number of ways, including:

• Improved retention. Professional development is a top priority for all workers, but younger employees are particularly driven to get ahead and stay competitive. 74% of millennial and Gen Z employees are likely to change jobs if they don’t feel they’re getting opportunities to develop their skills.

• Higher employee engagement. Employees want to feel connected to the work they do and recognized for their contributions. By getting them involved in the talent development process, you enable them to drive their own careers and pursue goals that are meaningful to them.
• More clarity around talent needs. When you understand the skills and abilities that exist on your team—and the ones that are missing—you can make quick decisions to get the talent you need to tackle new priorities.

• Easier succession planning. Matching the aspirations and skill development of your team members with roles you expect to fill over the next three to five years can help you plan for smoother transitions when those changes occur.

How to create a talent development plan in 7 steps

A talent development program has two main intentions:

• To help team members define and grow into their potential
• To align that potential with the organization’s strategic direction

The following seven steps can help you gather the appropriate information, ask astute questions, organize necessary resources, and measure your program’s success.

Step 1: Consider your company values and goals

Talent development plans can be highly individualized, but each needs to support the organization as a whole. The company’s success depends on aligning upskilling and reskilling with long-term objectives.

For example, if one of your corporate goals is to mitigate cyber risks, learning and development programs may include programs to raise awareness of common threats such as phishing, social engineering, and malware. Or you can reduce vulnerabilities in your company’s code by providing developers with additional training on secure coding and development practices.

As you move your talent development program forward, ask whether the goals and objectives:

• Fit within the broader talent management strategy
• Help the company achieve its near-term objectives and long-term vision
• Prepare the organization for potential market shifts
• Develop talent the organization will need in the future

Step 2: Conduct a thorough skills assessment

A thorough skills assessment of your team, or the organization as a whole, will help you:

• Take stock of existing skills and competencies on your team
• Set a benchmark to help measure future performance
• Highlight critical skill gaps that should be prioritized

There are a number of different ways to get the information you need. For example:

• A talent review is a formal process designed to provide insights into the overall performance of an organization’s workforce. It produces an official record of an organization’s strengths and weaknesses that can also be used to create an inventory of skills possessed by your team.
• A skills matrix chart visually maps the skills, experience, and performance of a group of employees, and may include attributes needed for specific roles or positions. The data collected can then be used in multiple ways, such as identifying skill gaps and tracking the progress of learning and development initiatives.
• A skills gap analysis is focused on generating an action plan to identify and bridge any gaps. Start with a methodical talent assessment, then compare the skills and proficiencies you have against the ones you require.

Whatever your approach, a clear appraisal of your team will help you make better-informed choices as you move forward.

Step 3: Refine and prioritize learning around strengths and weaknesses

A skills assessment can provide an overview of your team’s strengths and weaknesses. Using the company’s goals and values as a lens, you can start to decide which strengths and weaknesses should be prioritized. That information then feeds into individual talent development plans.

It’s important to note that a development plan shouldn’t just call out skills that need improvement. It should also recognize unique assets contributed by each worker and consider how they can be leveraged to your team’s advantage.

For example, an employee on the sales team may benefit by boosting their proficiency with the company’s customer relationship management (CRM) tool. At the same time, honing existing leadership and collaboration skills may make leading a high-visibility project a good stretch assignment. Or you could establish a mentorship relationship between a tech-savvy sales rep and a senior sales manager to help each grow in different areas.  

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Step 4: Establish clear individual goals

With a high-level understanding of your team’s capabilities and potential, you can shift focus to the individual goals that will help your team grow.

Individual goals help employees take meaningful steps toward short-term milestones and long-term goals while setting performance expectations for newly gained knowledge and expertise. This might include goals that:

• Build on existing strengths—with a challenge to do more
• Improve abilities needed to excel in their current position
• Add new skills that support career plans and aspirations
• Expand potential for advancement and leadership opportunities

How can they set strong goals that will help them progress? Here are a few tips:

• Understand why each goal matters. A goal that sounds good won’t stick if the purpose behind it isn’t clear. How will achieving a goal benefit that particular individual? What value will it add to the team and the organization? Adding a sense of urgency to a goal—knowing why it’s something you must do—can motivate someone to get started and stick with it.
• Set SMART goals. You’re likely familiar with the SMART approach to designing effective goals: They’re specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

It also helps to have an action plan. While having a destination is important, knowing how to get there can also have a make-or-break impact.

Step 5: Apply a talent development framework

A talent development framework provides a range of tools and resources to put training and development plans into action across an organization. It typically highlights flexible options that are available and supported internally to learn hard or soft skills that can be applied in different situations.

Hard skills are capabilities that are quantifiable and easily measured or tested. This includes technical skills such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), accounting, and business analysis. Hard skills are typically learned through education and experience, such as:

• Online learning programs
• Classes or workshops, in-person or online
• Formal degree programs or credentials
• Job shadowing or job rotation
• Hands-on experience

Soft skills are harder to quantify and define. They include what are often referred to as “people skills” since many soft skills affect how we interact with others, such as communication, collaboration, and teamwork. But soft skills also encompass qualities such as creativity, patience, and flexibility.

Because soft skills are less distinct, they can be more challenging to learn through courses or training sessions. Less formal options that can help improve soft skills include:

• Peer-to-peer feedback
• Mentoring and coaching programs
• Positions of leadership
• Self-reflection

A talent development framework may include other talent development strategies such as:

• Cross-functional project teams
• Membership in professional organizations
• Attendance at industry conferences
• Other professional networking opportunities

Step 6: Measure talent development performance

As your talent development plan takes shape, committing to milestones and check-ins will make it easier to track progress and help ambitious goals feel more attainable.

An employee’s individual goals may already include appropriate metrics that can be used to measure incremental improvements along the way. However, defining targets can also complement an action plan and boost accountability.

An individual talent development metric might focus on:

• Skill development. For example, a milestone could align with the completion of specific training programs, certifications, or courses.
• Performance improvement. For example, job performance could be assessed by measuring progress on goals related to quality of work or productivity.
• Goal attainment. For example, by analyzing progress on goals or comparing intermittent progress reports.
• Career progression. For example, by tracking whether a sought-after promotion is attained within a defined period of time.

Looking at trends of metrics can also help identify when a talent development plan needs to change course.

Step 7: Reevaluate and adjust your talent development plan

Talent development is an ongoing activity—and sometimes circumstances change. By reviewing a talent development plan on a regular basis, you can check to ensure it’s still relevant to the employee and still aligned with the company’s values and goals.

Questions to consider as part of the review process include:

• Has the organization changed its priorities in a way that might impact the talent development plan or the work the team is responsible for? If so, how can the goals be updated to fit this new environment?
• Are there shifts in the industry that may impact critical skills, tools, or the team’s priorities? How do these changes impact the talent development plan?
• Has the employee been making progress toward their goals? If not, what needs to change?

Quarterly reviews are common, but the ideal frequency may depend on individual goals, preferences, and circumstances. For many people, a 90-day cadence is short enough to keep actions a priority without being urgent. However, research has found that many younger workers prefer to receive feedback on a monthly or even weekly  basis.

Who should talent development plans be created for?

Whether you create a plan for each individual or for a group, an effective talent development program can help employees at any level of a company feel more supported, better prepared, and more confident in their position.

This sense of security contributes to:

• Increased job satisfaction
• Capacity for more challenging and rewarding assignments
• Improved job mobility and opportunities for advancement
• More meaningful results toward the company’s success

Talent development plans can be a particularly useful tool for high-potential employees (HIPO)—professionals described by Gartner as having “the ability, engagement, and aspiration to rise to and succeed in more senior, critical positions.” By equipping these employees with the training and guidance they need to progress up the promotional ladder, you can help them have an impact at every level while developing a strong talent pipeline for succession planning.

Who should be involved in the talent development process?

Even if human resources takes the lead, talent development is most effective with support and input from all levels of the company. This enables:

• Coordination across the organization to conduct the most accurate and inclusive skill assessment across the organization
• Cross-functional development of employees—establishing relationships that can impact business performance down the road—by leveraging resources from different departments
• Collaboration with the leadership team to get high-level support and ensure the program aligns with overall company values and directives
• Work with managers to help balance individual learning activities with workload

Managers in particular can provide valuable insights, including direct observations into areas where their team might be struggling and feedback regarding the impact of newly gained skills. They’re also pivotal to creating a culture of learning, an environment where acquiring new knowledge and skills is encouraged alongside curiosity and experimentation.

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