Talent

Management
Strategy Template
Strategy Document

Developing and implementing an

effective talent management strategy
Many HR groups struggle to formulate a talent management
strategy that maps out their goals and priorities for the year
and ties these to their organization’s strategic plan and goals.
The reasons why are varied, but without a talent management
strategy and plan, the results are usually the same – the HR
team is not seen as playing a strategic role in their
organization, and talent management activities aren’t given the
organizatonal importance they should have.
Often the hardest part is getting started with the right
framework for the strategy and plan. To help you, this
template walks through the typical steps in a strategic
planning process, so you can use to draft your own HR talent
management strategy.
 1 Identify
organizational
goals/priorities

2
Identify
organizational
drivers and
challenges

HR stategic
talent 3
management Identify
gaps
planning
process
Define HR

4 priorities
and goals

5 Inventory your
talent management
processes/functions
and address gaps

6 Measure the results and

communicate success/contributions

Talent Management Strategy Template 2

Step 1: Identify organizational goals/priorities
What are your organization’s strategic high-level goals or priorities? Are there any upcoming changes or
new directions/initiatives for the organization? Start by listing each one of them.

Goal Descriptions Timing

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Step 2: Identify organizational drivers and challenges

Identify and consider the key drivers and challenges that could impact your organization’s ability to achieve
its goals. Consider both internal and external challenges. These could include things like a highly
competitive job market, new or changed legislation/regulations, results from an employee satisfaction
survey, new technology, etc.

Drivers and challenges

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.
Step 3: Conduct a gap analysis
Compare where your organization is today with where it wants to be, and identify any gaps that it needs to
address in order to achieve its goals. In identifying each gap, consider also the risk of not addressing the gap.
For example, if your organization has a goal to rank #1 in the industry for customer satisfaction, you need to identify
your current customer satisfaction rating and the rating required to rank #1 in your industry, then identify the gap
between these two. The risk of not improving customer satisfaction ratings by this degree could include
a drop in market share or in sales.

Example

Goal Gap Risk

Drop in market share of 13%.

Need to increase
Rank #1 in the industry for
customer satisfaction rating by Drop in market position from #2 to #3
customer satisfaction
7% points.
Decreased sales of $1.5 million

Gap analysis template

Goal Gap Risk

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Step 4: Define your HR priorities and goals

Based on the goals, challenges and gaps you identified in steps 1–3, identify HR
goals for the coming year to support the organization in achieving its goals. You
should typically identify 3–5 goals. Don’t forget to make them SMART (specific,
measurable, achievable, realistic/relevant, time-bound) and link them to the
applicable corporate goals.
When defining your measures of success, make sure you include ways to measure both
the implementation and effectiveness. That is, was the initiative executed as planned,
as well as did the initiative have the desired effect.
 Example

Title Coordinate training in customer service competencies for Support organization.

Source training courses in customer focus, communication and analytical thinking

Description for the support organization to help improve individual and overall ratings for these
competencies.

Courses/activities must be identified by end of Q2. All courses/activities must be

Due Date offered/conducted before end of Q4.

Relevant training courses are sourced by end of Q2.

Measure
Courses are scheduled and held before end of Q4.
of Success
90% of support staff complete the training by end of Q4.

Priority High

Dependencies Budget for training courses needs to be approved before end of Q1.

Resources None other than regular HR staff.

Costs Goal is to not exceed $1000/ employee for training.

Corporate
Rank #1 in the industry for customer satisfaction
Goal Supported

HR goal template

Title

Description

Due Date

Measure
of Success
Priority

Dependencies

Resources

Costs
Corporate
Goal Supported

Talent Management Strategy Template 5

Step 5: Inventory your talent
management processes/functions
Next, do an inventory of your current HR talent management processes to determine if you need to make
any changes to existing process or add new process to support your goals. Where gaps or needed changes
are identified, put plans in place to address them.

Have Need Need to

Talent management function
in place to add improve
Recruiting

Talent inventory reporting

Requisition creation

Requisition approval

Job postings

Resume management

Interview management

Candidate assessment

Candidate selection

Offer creation

Offer approval

Offer extension

Job description management

Role specific job descriptions

Job codes assigned for job descriptions

Job description assignment to all employees

Job description maintenance/update process

Job descriptions linked to performance appraisal

Review of job codes and job description

assignments for all employees

On-boarding

On-boarding program definition

 Have Need Need to
Talent management function
in place to add improve
New hire on-boarding checklists

New hire training requirements

New hire training completion tracking

New hire goal creation/assignment

New hire goal alignment

Probationary/new hire reviews

Progress reports for new hires

Orientation compliance reporting

New hire survey

Goal management

Organizational goal definition

Organizational goal communication

Employee goal definition

SMART goals

Role specific job descriptions

Goal progress/status reporting (organization

and employee)

Goal alignment reporting

Development planning
Development plans to address current
performance gaps

Development plans to address professional

development (current role)

Development plans to address career development

(future roles)

Reporting on overall training requirements

Reporting on development plan progress

Talent Management Strategy Template 7

 Have Need Need to
Talent management function
in place to add improve
Reporting on development history and impact on
performance

Reporting on existence of development plans to

address poor performance

Competency assessment

Definition of organizational competencies

Organizational competency assessment

Definition of job specific competencies

Job specific competency assessment

Definition of leadership competencies

Leadership competency assessment

Competency assessments by others (not manager)

Reporting on competency ratings

Reporting on competency gaps

Addressing of competency gaps

Performance review

Annual performance review

Quarterly performance review

Ongoing feedback and coaching

Performance improvement plans (corrective action)

Performance improvement plan progress reporting

Detailed review status reporting

On time completion reporting

Reporting on individual, group and organizational

scores

Talent Management Strategy Template 8

 Have Need Need to
Talent management function
in place to add improve
360 degree feedback

HR initiated

Manager initiated

Employee initiated

Management/leadership assessment

Employee assessment

Report on 360 feedback

Report on results by rater

Reporting of results by relationship group

Compensation management

Pay for performance

Salary scale establishment

Compensation budget allocation

Merit increase allocations

Bonus criteria

Bonus allocation

Stock option allocation

Process status reporting

Budget allocation reporting

Compensation adjustment/payout reporting

Succession planning

Identification of high potentials

Identification of retention risks

Assessment of workforce potential

Identification of needed talent pools

Talent Management Strategy Template 9

 Have Need Need to
Talent management function
in place to add improve
Creation of talent pools

Talent pool development plans

Reassessment of talent pool members

Reporting on status of development activities for

talent pool

Identification of succession candidates

Reporting on talent assessment process status

Reporting on talent assessment results

Comparing/ranking of employees based on

performance and succession data

Development/learning management

Learning catalog

Scheduling of session based learning

Use of e-learning

Tracking of scores, pass/fail

Certification management

Tracking of certification expiries

Measurement of training effectiveness

Competency gap reporting

Development needs/plans reporting

Course attendance reporting

Off-boarding

Manager checklist

Exit Interview

Trends for departures reporting

Attrition by manager reporting

Talent Management Strategy Template 10

 Have Need Need to
Talent management function
in place to add improve
Departures by performance rating reporting

Other (specify)

Step 6: Measure the results and

communicate successes/contributions
With your HR goals and priorities in place, it’s important to assess and measure their effectiveness and
communicate the results to the organization. As you work on achieving each goal, make sure you track
relevant metrics so you can report on progress and success, or take corrective action as needed. This is
important to help you determine if the goal or associated initiative was effective and is worth retaining.
Again, make sure you measure both the implementation and effectiveness. That is, was the initiative
executed as planned, as well as did the initiative have the desired effect.
For each HR goal, define the methods you will use to communicate results:

Example

HR goal Results Audience Method Frequency

Relevant course identification Monthly update

Coordinate training All managers Email
in customer service in customer Monthly
Schedule and conduct
competencies for support, VP of communication
courses before the
Support operations re course schedule/
end of Q4
organization availability

Customer support staff

Quarterly update of
completion of required
course completion
courses on customer
rates by staff
service competencies

Results communication template

HR goal Results Audience Method Frequency

1.

2.

3.

4.

Talent Management Strategy Template 11

Conclusion
Establishing a talent management strategy, and executing it, is not an easy task, but definitely
one that will deliver benefits to both HR and your organization overall. With talent
management best practices in place, you can build a world-class workforce that is aligned,
inspired and delivering exceptional results - and most importantly, helping your organization
achieve its strategic goals.

The Saba Experience:

Your success
24/7 customer support Regular user group meetings

Collaborative online Standard or customized

starts here!
customer community implementation services

Value-added strategic Dedicated customer

services success rep

Learning Performance Engagement Recruiting Workforce Planning

Every company says they want to engage, motivate and inspire their people. As we see it, the problem is not that they can’t – it’s that they don’t have
the environment that really enables their top talent to thrive. Saba creates that environment, with talent development solutions that put people and
teams in the driver’s seat of their own experience, while staying aligned to your business goals. And delivering deep performance insights that
connect people to business success, like no one else can. Saba. The Talent Development Company.
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