One path, three steps
Talent is a sequence rather than a set of tabs, because the steps depend on each other. Nobody can be placed on a grid before they have been rated, and nothing can be planned for a role before anybody is on the grid.
- Rate potential. Where each person sits on performance and potential today.
- Review the grid. The nine box, and what each placement is built on.
- Plan succession. Who is ready for which role, and who is not ready yet.
The module opens at whichever step your workspace has reached, worked out from the data rather than remembered. You can move back and forth by hand at any time.
A grid needs at least three people rated before it will draw. A grid of one is a dot and a grid of two is a line, and either invites a conclusion the data cannot support. Below that, the step says what is missing instead of drawing a chart of nothing.
Rate potential
Each person rated on performance and on potential, with a trend: rising, growing, stable or watching. Flight risk is recorded alongside, because a strong performer about to leave is a different problem from a strong performer who is staying.
Review the grid
The nine box grid, with every placement traceable to what it was built on. Opening a person shows their ratings, their competencies, their history and the roles they are a candidate for.
Plan succession
Positions and the people who could fill them, each marked with a readiness: Ready now, Ready in one year, Ready in two years, or Developing.
A position with no ready successor is the output of this screen. It is what turns succession planning from a document into a decision about who to develop.
The competency framework
What the ratings mean. It is a reference the steps link into rather than a place you go, because it is something you read while rating.
The framework defines the levels, what each level is called, and what somebody at that level does. It is also what Reviews rates against and what Recognition badges map to, so changing it changes the vocabulary of the whole performance system.
How it connects
- Reviews rates against this framework and feeds the ratings here.
- Development plans are how somebody moves between levels.
- Recognition badges map to competencies from this framework.
- Distribution and movement appear in People Analytics.
Common questions
Can people see their own placement? Talent is managers and above in most workspaces. What a person sees about themselves is their review outcome and their development plan.
How often should the grid be redone? Usually once per review cycle, after calibration, so the ratings and the placements agree.
Why is somebody missing from the grid? Because they have not been rated yet. The rate step lists who is outstanding.