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Talent development programs are a key component of any organization's hiring and retention strategy. These programs give employees opportunities to learn new skills, enhance their existing abilities, and advance their careers within the company.
By offering programs like these, organizations can show their commitment to developing talent and supporting employee growth, which helps keep employees engaged and feeling appreciated in their roles.
In this article, we’ll break down the basics of how to develop talent in an organization and go deep on 8 ways to take your talent development initiatives to the next level.
A quick recap on the history of talent development
While traditional methods like increasing compensation and offering training programs have their benefits, they usually fall short when it comes to creating a sustainable culture of high performance.
Likewise, studies show that 70% of employees consider a company’s culture before considering employment and 56% value culture over salary.
What do we make of this?
More and more, employees want to work in an environment that values their contributions and invests in their growth and development, not just a paycheck and a list of benefits.
Offering that same investment to all employees means companies are 4.2 times more likely to outperform companies that only offer talent and leadership development opportunities to management.
Statistics show that investment in talent and development can often fall short of expectations, with the average business spending $2,200 on average, per employee – with only 30% reporting a positive return on money invested.
However, it doesn’t have to be this way. With the right understanding and approach, talent development can help you build a culture of high performance for your organization.
Let’s now unpack how to develop talent in your organization.
What is talent development?
The book Capabilities for Talent Development: Shaping the Future of the Profession by ATD (Association of Talent Development) Press defines talent development as,
"the efforts that foster learning, employee engagement, talent management, and employee development to drive organizational performance, productivity, and results. To some, talent development is an important tool for unleashing human potential. To others, it is a set of practical capabilities for driving organizational results by creating the processes, systems, and frameworks that advance training and development strategies, succession planning, and learning opportunities."
Simply put, talent development strategies are ways to identify employees’ strengths and tailoring growth opportunities for them within your company that puts those strengths to good use.
Or, put another way, developing talent is meant to equip employees with new skills and set them up for career advancement in the company.
It includes activities such as:
- Acknowledging the potential of each employee
- Building on employee strengths
- Moving workers to positions where they are better suited
- Creating plans to help teams grow and thrive over time
- Focusing on talent development initiatives that encourage growth
The ultimate goal of developing talent is to build and grow a high-performing organization that can meet its goals and objectives.
Why is talent development important?
Developing talent in the workplace is a key activity to create a strong, resilient, and future-ready company. Talent development programs help keep employees engaged and loyal to your company, which saves your organization time and money in the long run.
Keep in mind, your younger employees are at higher risk of leaving if they feel unsatisfied with their work. One survey found that 48 percent of Millennials and 78 percent of Gen Z expected to leave their jobs within two years. But while these employees are still around, company leadership still has the opportunity to engage them, helping increase their happiness and productivity.
For example, LinkedIn’s 2019 workplace learning report found that “94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development.” Similarly, Together’s “Enterprise L&D in 2025: Trends and Predictions” report found that a lack of growth opportunities will be the largest predicted factor influencing turnover.
Here are some other reasons why you’ll want to think about developing talent in the workplace.
Engage employees by putting them in the driver’s seat of their career
Employees that don't have a clear vision or career plan are more likely to be disengaged and unmotivated in their work. They don’t see a purpose in their jobs or a way forward, like a promotion or lateral move.
You can increase the engagement of employees by designing a career path uniquely suited for them. Consider their skills and interests and create talent development goals to help them move to the next level.
Retain top talent
The 2020-2022 period changed how employees view their jobs and their willingness to stay where they feel unsatisfied.
Millions of U.S. workers quit their jobs, sparking The Great Resignation which, at a smaller scale, is still happening today. Keeping employees and high-potential talent in the face of these changes can be a challenge for HR leaders. But, by investing in talent development strategies, you help employees see a future at your organization.
Provide autonomy to employees and intrinsic motivation
Allowing employees to take responsibility for their careers is a big deal for many individuals. Rather than just passively waiting for a promotion, employees can take the reins and move their careers forward.
Offering employees talent development opportunities allows them to take control of how they apply their skills and strengths to their work. This is core to a successful talent management life cycle.
Support equity, inclusion, and belonging within the company
Talent development can help employees feel valued, as they feel company leaders want to help them grow and succeed. It can also help marginalized populations within the organization feel recognized and know that their leaders want to help them define a path for their career advancement.
Although equity, inclusion, and belonging are a challenge to measure, these initiatives are so important to invest in because companies can’t afford to build organizations where certain individuals feel undervalued.
Leaders and managers should actively ask for feedback from members of diverse backgrounds within their organization to understand what they can do better to help them thrive and progress along their career path.
Talent management vs. talent development
Many people often use the terms talent management and talent development interchangeably, but in reality, they are two different concepts with different goals.
Talent management is a collection of processes and practices designed to attract, hire, and retain top talent within an organization. It includes tasks like recruiting, onboarding, performance management, compensation, and benefits.
Talent development is becoming increasingly important for organizations in a competitive talent pool—perks, benefits, and salary are no longer enough.
The goal of talent development is to build a high-performance culture where employees are constantly learning, growing, and improving, enabling companies to stay ahead of the competition.
This means an investment in talent development initiatives that help employees develop new skills, improve existing ones, and stay current on the latest trends and technologies.
Talent management and talent development are, in the end, two sides of the same coin.
While talent management focuses on acquiring and retaining top talent, talent development is focused on maximizing employee potential, improving performance, and creating more job satisfaction.
By hiring and developing talent in the workplace, organizations can create a team of high-performing employees who are motivated, engaged, and committed to achieving organizational goals.
What is a talent development strategy?
A talent development strategy is a plan that outlines how your organization will approach improving your employees' skills, knowledge, and performance. The strategy is designed to support the organization's goals and objectives by creating a culture of continuous learning and development.
A well-crafted talent development strategy typically includes a range of initiatives and programs, such as training and development, coaching and mentoring, job rotation, stretch assignments, and leadership development.
Your talent development strategy should align with your company’s overall business strategy and be tailored to meet the specific needs and goals of the employees.
By investing in a talent development strategy, you can help create a motivated, engaged, and high-performing workforce capable of driving long-term growth and success.
What are the main goals of a talent development program?
To build a culture of high performance and increase employee fulfillment, prioritizing your talent development strategies is your best bet. Talent development programs are designed to help employees grow and develop their skills throughout their careers.
These typically include initiatives such as training and development, coaching, mentoring, job rotation or shadowing, and stretch assignments. The goals of talent development programs are multifaceted and can vary based on your company’s needs and overarching objectives.
Some of the primary goals of talent development strategies include:
- Upskilling and reskilling employees to ensure your company stays competitive.
- Supporting leadership succession planning to help staff key positions in the future.
- Implementing growth opportunities to help employees advance in their careers.
- Enhancing employee engagement and motivation to help retain top talent.
- Improving the quality of work by equipping employees with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed.
- Developing a culture of continuous learning and growth to develop talent and help them reach their professional goals.
- Strengthening organizational effectiveness by creating a well-trained and highly productive workforce.
- Aligning workforce development with the organization’s mission and strategic objectives.
- Building relationships and trust between employees and management.
These talent development goals can help your company thrive and build long-term success and organizational agility in the future. But what do talent development initiatives look like in practice?
Examples of talent development programs
We’ve talked about talent development programs throughout this article, but only briefly touched on what they could look like in your organization. Here are a handful of talent development examples:
- Mentorship programs: Connect seasoned employees with more junior team members—or a peer mentor with others—to share guidance, support, and knowledge.
- Leadership development programs: Structured programs geared towards developing leadership skills in current and potential leaders within the company.
- Online learning platforms: Give your team access to a wide array of courses and certifications to help them reach their talent development goals.
- Job shadowing or rotations: Give employees the chance to experience different departments and roles within the company to gain diverse skills and experiences.
- Workshops and events: Provide interactive events and sessions that focus on specific, in-demand skills.
These are just a few ways talent development programs manifest in an organization. But, before you jump into any of these programs, let’s explore talent development strategies to guide them.
8 talent development strategies that empower high-performing employees
Developing talent in the workplace has clear benefits to both your organization and your employees. Here are the steps to actually put talent development practices to work.
1. Define your company's goals
It is crucial to establish clear goals and objectives for your organization and communicate them to your employees. This gives them a sense of purpose and direction, as well as helps them understand how their work contributes to the company's overall success.
Some examples might include:
- Attracting candidates that are high quality and skilled
- Retaining existing highly-skilled staff
- Aligning with wider existing workplace goals such as diversity
- Improving customer service
2. Interview employees to discover hidden talents and interests
Individual development is at the heart of talent development programs, and identifying your employees’ strengths and areas of interest not only benefits them, but the company too. Talent development interviews provide a platform for employees to share their aspirations, talents, and areas where they would like to grow.
These interviews help employees reveal their current capabilities as well as their talent development goals. Plus, they help managers better understand their employees and support them through their journey.
Managers can use this data to create a tailored talent development strategy for each employee, which could include training, job shadowing, coaching, or a company mentorship program. Managers can provide stretch assignments that challenge employees to step outside their comfort zones and develop new skills by identifying areas of interest and strengths.
3. Connect leaders with high performers through mentoring relationships
A one-on-one mentoring program is the ideal setting for talent development, with participants reporting they were “more engaged than their counterparts”. It allows mentees to focus on their professional development through goal setting. Mentors act as advisors and guides as the mentee defines their goals and set out to attain them. Regular meetings act as progress check-ins for both the mentor and mentee.
Keeping the mentee accountable helps fuel their development and make real progress towards their goals. As trust builds in the mentorship, the mentee benefits from insights offered by their mentor. These include feedback on performance or goals and can also include wisdom and knowledge gained from the mentor’s own experiences.
4. Connect colleagues at the same level for peer development
Researchers have noticed that peer learning is already happening at our organizations, but more informally. If colleagues have questions, they are 55% more likely to ask each other for answers before looking to a manager or someone higher up. This may be because our peers are constantly around us, while leadership can be harder to reach when a challenge arises. There are many benefits of peer-to-peer learning in the workplace, including knowledge sharing, training, and talent development opportunities.
5. Design individual training programs
Traditional classroom training has evolved due to technology, offering more flexible alternatives like individual coaching, on-demand online learning, and live digital training. As mentioned before, this includes personalized guidance through one-on-one coaching or mentoring.
Online platforms—like development programs software—enable self-paced learning with a variety of resources for the learner to choose from. This makes it easy for employees to personalize how they grow and contribute to their talent development goals.
6. Organize groups to discuss common challenges and goals
Encouraging employees with similar interests or backgrounds to support each other is an essential part of developing talent. Employee resource groups (ERGs) are spaces where employees can access resources and support for challenges and questions unique to their job and company. They also serve to build connections between employees and open up new avenues for talent and leadership development.
💡Over 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies have ERGs.
7. Engage in career pathing to develop talent
Career pathing is an important aspect in developing talent because it can help employees visualize their professional goals and understand what they need to do to achieve them.
This entails creating a unique path for each employee that gives them insights into various opportunities and positions within the company that match their interests, skills, and expertise. It’s important to note that career pathing is not synonymous with traditional career advancement or climbing the corporate ladder.
Instead, career pathing focuses on identifying opportunities for advancement, which may not be vertical or linear—think a career lattice, rather than a career ladder. Encouraging career mobility means employees who move laterally within an organization can gain new experiences and broaden their skill sets while still making progress toward their career goals.
8. Implement talent development program software to bring it all together
The foundation of a successful talent development program is sustainability. Building a program that is easily manageable and scalable is possible, and leveraging talent development program software is a great way to do it.
This software acts as a centralized hub for your talent development programs where employees can access your programs, track progress, earn recognition and rewards, and sign up and attend relevant virtual events—encouraging employee-led development.
Talent development program software is meant to streamline administrative tasks for HR and L&D. Through reporting and analytics, you can review participation rates and other data insights to help you improve your programs over time, ensuring your programs are as impactful as possible.
Implementing your talent development strategies: Next steps
Investing in developing talent in your organization is a key part of building a high performance culture and a workforce that’s agile and capable. Here are your next steps for rolling out your talent development strategies:
Conduct a thorough audit
Start by examining your current processes for developing talent. Look into existing employee development programs and initiatives to see how visible and effective they are. Are your employees aware of them? Are they easy to access and assess in terms of outcomes and participation? Ensure they’re not there just to tick a box but make a real impact.
Gather employee insights
Talk to your team to understand their views. A detailed employee survey can highlight the gaps between what the organization aims for and what employees actually need. Check if your strategies are hitting the mark or going unnoticed by those who’d benefit the most. This feedback is crucial for tailoring your strategy to align with what your employees expect.
Develop a strategy upgrade
With a clear picture and employee input, refine your approach to developing talent. Build a solid plan that improves visibility, accessibility, and interaction. Fix any gaps identified in the audit and make sure the strategy aligns with your employees’ long term career goals. Then, regularly review participation, engagement, satisfaction, and other metrics to tweak programs as needed.
Kick-start talent development in your organization
Many benefits can be reaped with talent development initiatives. From increasing employee engagement to attracting talented employees, having a talent development strategy for your employees can quickly lead to improvements across your organization. Taking care of your best and brightest is the best way to build a better organization.
Curious about how organizations can start their own talent development programs? Together's development programs software guides you through building your programs all in one place, blending different formats and functions. From hire to retire, Together’s software supports and nurtures leadership development, manager training, high potential talent, onboarding programs, and more. You can leverage multiple learning formats and tools to create a comprehensive and smooth employee experience. Interested in learning more? Book 20 minutes with our team.
