LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT TOPICS:

Chally's Talent Audit is a tool that can be used to compare multiple individuals against multiple roles and can identify and evaluate a talent pool for succession planning by measuring an organization's bench strength. It documents that bench strength and allows you to identify backups for key roles for succession purposes. The Talent Audit also identifies key training requirements and needs. It allows you to focus your training dollars on the areas that are likely to make the greatest impact. The Talent Audit also provides objective information regarding human capital deployment, employee career development, and again, gives tips on how to manage individuals within that team.

A sample of a Talent Audit identifies the individuals down the left-hand column and shows how they score against the skills that are shown across the top. Just as in a traffic light where green means go, yellow means caution and red means stop, it is very quick and easy to see an individual's strengths on the color coded Talent Audit, along with the skills where the team is very strong and where they may need work. For example, in this Talent Audit example, the skill "Directs and Controls Others in a Business Unit" shows a number of green scores down the column; this is a skill in which the team has a great deal of capacity. It also identifies where the organization should measure that capacity to ensure whether these individuals actually had the experience and capability that would allow them to manage others effectively, or if it is an area that would react to training very positively.

In contrast, the skill called "Makes Formal Presentations" has a great deal of red in the column. This indicates a skill where the majority of the individuals are not predicted to be naturally strong. Training can also be applied here but would be very different from the training for "Directs and Controls Others." In this instance, the training should focus on specific tools and techniques that would allow these individuals to create a work-around for this particular skill. It will never be a natural strength for most members of this team. The organization can decide, should they do training, to shore up and create workarounds for the entire team, or should this particular task be delegated to those two or three individuals where this may be a natural strength. Again, the Talent Audit provides information to help organizations make better decisions regarding their onboard talent.