What constitutes a Talent Development Platform?

A Talent Development Platform (TDP) is a comprehensive system focused on employee growth through skill gap analysis, skills mapping tied to job roles and career opportunities, 360 feedback, performance reviews, integrating tailored content and learning paths to facilitate career advancement and organizational success, while distinguishing itself from an LMS by its exclusive focus on job-role-centric development and analytics-driven career planning – tapping into AI at various points, leveraging opportunities and long-term skill development including reskilling for the learner.

From now on, I will refer to a Talent Development Platform as TDP. 

A TDP states that an organization directs employee development through specific content tailored to a particular job role (current) and future roles within the organization. 

This is achieved with skills mapping and career development. 

Job Roles and Skills go hand in hand here.

The best way to illustrate the connection between content, learning, career development, and skills mapping is to provide an example.

Example 

Jen works in marketing. Within her marketing role, she requires a set of specific skills. 

While Jen may have some of those skill sets, it’s practical to acknowledge that she may not have all of them, and they should be constantly updated. 

Behind the scenes within the system, skills are mapped to job roles. You can still have skill ratings and assessments, which help with the push-out content tied to the skills mapped to the job role.

Let’s say Jen is interested in other opportunities at the organization. 

The opportunities are presented either as “everyone sees them” or can be explicitly targeted for Jen, based on her consumption of content related to skills, specifically her current job role. In this scenario, everyone on the TDP sees the same job opportunity.

Jen wants to apply, but first, she needs to determine the skills required for this opportunity. She realizes she is missing five skill sets, which she must achieve to be considered for this opportunity.   

Jen can select playlists or content related to the skill sets she lacks, demonstrating the platform’s adaptability to individual learning needs. 

She completes the necessary modules for this opportunity. 

She may be provided an assessment at the end for validation/verification of acquisition, or not (dependent on the hiring manager and administrator, of course).  

Jen scores well enough (let’s say there is a minimum score) and can now apply for this opportunity. The system, either through integration or already within it, has an area where she can use it. 

Jen, though, doesn’t just stop using the system. 

She continues to build and develop additional skills related to her current role, both independently and by selecting content playlists tailored to her role or assigned by her manager.   

What is the difference between an LMS and a TDP?

It all depends on what you are using the LMS, LXP, or whatever for. 

Suppose your assigned learning playlist or channel is explicitly tied to that person’s job role and includes skills they need to acquire/develop/re-learn. In that case, a TDP is a solution for you.

However,

If you are using your LMS, LXP, etc. for customer education/training, partner training, B2B/B2C, a TDP is not for you. 

Suppose you are offering only compliance and regulatory-specific content and nothing else.

In that case, the skills angle doesn’t apply, so a TDP is not for you.  

It would be if your compliance content is explicitly tied to a specific job role or roles.

You have skills mapped to it, but the career development angle doesn’t typically go this route unless the job role complies.

If you provide proprietary content to your employees tied to their job role, but their acquisition of skills related to that role isn’t relevant or necessary, for example, a TXP is not for you. 

Could someone offer the functionality of a TDP within an LMS or an LXP, for example?

Yes, but to a point. 

Many learning systems offer varying levels of skill development and acquisition related to specific job roles, ranging from more comprehensive to less extensive or none at all. 

If you hear an LMS or learning platform vendor say, “we are in the employee growth or development,” they have talent development functionality.

What Department/roles decision-makers are TDPs targeting?

CLOs, L&D execs, and HR. HR is significant here. 

And since some L&D folks work under HR, you can see where this is going and why a TDP would be of interest. 

Could I have a TDP tied to my LMS, LXP, or any other relevant platform?

The answer is yes, but it will depend on the other learning system vendor. 

The latter are dated and old school. The terms? Legacy.

The Features of a Talent Development Platform

In no particular order 

• Skills mapping to career development  (remember that content plays a key role here, so do not just map some skills to their development path; you need the content too) – Some vendors might note this as “Career mapping”
• Skills mapping to the job role (ditto -i.e., content aspect to above)
• The system comes with Skills, Job Roles/Titles component – Whether this is through your own skills taxonomy or the built-in library from the vendor
• Skills tied to opportunities (openings or, for instance, specific, limited opportunities such as a project manager for an upcoming project) in the company/organization

Opportunities play a crucial role in a TDP because the development or building of skills requires an output. I learn the skill – now what?

I see an opening in the X department, and I believe this is ideal for me. I’m going to apply, but first, I recognize that I lack these skills. Forward-thinking TDPs will have an AI component here, whereas, based on current content or items taken (probably completed, but I believe that isn’t necessary), it shows what I need to improve or what I need to take.

A TDP may often have a percentile in terms of the employee’s skill acumen for that role. The ideal is to state that the employee needs to have X % to apply for that opportunity. This sets specific expectations with no ambiguity.

Mentoring

An essential part of a TDP. I believe that way too many vendors will focus solely on the Coach piece, ignoring the fact that a coach for a specific skill isn’t a guarantee of success for that skill.

How often has a company hired a “Coach” to come in and work with an employee towards a specific goal for the job role at hand?

Why do we find that “Coaches” who come on-site to a company for say leadership development, do not achieve or cannot validate if they do so, those objectives at 100%, let alone 90%?

Where can you demonstrate that, within six months, the individual identified for leadership development has retained the knowledge of the set skills, built upon them, and acquired new skills to adapt and expand even further?

In the above model, you can’t.

However, with a mentor, the above – “demonstrate” short and long-term, you can. A mentor offers flexibility and growth over time, challenging the learner without limiting them.

You can, on the other hand, achieve it via a Talent Development Platform with metrics tied into everything and AI at some level (early today, down the road – it will get better in some areas)

Onboarding and Ongoing

Talent Management and Performance Management systems severely lack this – they claim to offer it, but often overlook it. After all, anyone can say “we are great at onboarding” – and any learning system can do it, but how strong are they?

A talent management system, despite what these vendors will tell you, is long in the tooth. Ditto on a PM. Legacy systems that have failed to adapt to the latest generation, and their attitude towards skills development, specifically around their current job role.

Do they handle criticism well? If not, how will your talent management system identify this and counter it? By just offering content on criticism?

Or by establishing a program that changes – ebbs and flows as the learner themselves expand their understanding and knowledge?

A Talent Development can make this happen through ongoing practice (think workplace sims, beyond the usual technical learns) with learning.

A TDP should not be confused with an HCM, because it isn’t one, nor should it be presented as such within an entire HCM structure.

When I head HCM and Talent, I think of talent management.

Old school, face-to-face, and demonstrative, questionable at best.

TDP functionality tapping into the wide audience variance – Adaptability plays an important role

• Career Planning – I don’t view it as the same as skill mapping for career development. Instead, it is the initial step for acquiring content and skills when hiring someone fresh out of school.
• Link to a career development framework and match skills, job level, and job role to available content
• Content tied exclusively to job roles/job level 
• Analytics is directly tied to career development and the acquisition of skills for specific job roles.
• The system can use job roles to identify and present recommended or suggested content (constantly updated)
• A content playlist tied directly to job role opportunities that the end-user might be qualified for or have an interest in, such as a specific opportunity.
• Content Playlists recommending skills tied to opportunities within the company
• Goal management
• Workforce development that is ideal for deskless workers and not just in the office

TM systems are built around the in-office side of the house. What we often refer to as white-collar workers.

TM systems, including Performance Management, have never focused sufficiently on blue-collar workers, let alone the frontline workforce.

It is hard to honestly say “our employee development/workforce development is for all,” when the opportunities are not available for those who are not white-collar.

Skills follow this mantra.

It reminds me of the “stay in the lane” method.,

As if those folks who work in a plant or on the frontline lack the aspirations or dreams of a role within the office, including leadership development and succession planning.

Where is their content that takes one skill or a series of skills and builds upon them in a grander scheme, such as in a new role or even reskilling for a future role, once their role is eliminated either by AI or reorganization?

What is the ideal company size for Talent Development Platforms?

Let me start by saying that Talent Management and Performance Management have always seemed geared towards Enterprises (a minimum of 5,000 employees) and large Enterprises.

Hence, the HCM tie-in at the Enterprise and LE side.

Think about it. How many companies with 500 employees are going to want to purchase a TM system? In contrast, learning plays a crucial role in a Talent/Performance Management system, whereas workforce dev comes first, and learning is necessary for the system’s growth, customer, and financially-wise?

A Talent Development looks at that modality and pushes and smashes it.

Yes, you can be a large enterprise (with 50,000 employees or more).

Yes, you can be an Enterprise (5,000 and up), and you can be a small or mid-sized business.

Talent and Performance Management were relevant in the early to mid-2000s.

And while they still play a key role, due to individuals lacking the insight and knowledge of a TDP (at no fault of their own), they are not fully present.

I often hear from companies that claim they want the newest angle or type of learning, believing that an LMS is merely a moniker for traditional knowledge.

A false premise.

However, dive into systems that address the complexities of talent and/or performance management, and then examine a TDP.

You should see the differences – with the latter more intuned to learning, training, and growth versus the other.

What should I do to find a legit TDP?

Dig deep into the internet.

Do not limit your search to talent management or performance management.

Do not limit yourself to what you see in an HCM you purchased – after all, any HCM should be able to integrate with a TDP via an API.

Or check out a few systems that I see as key players in the TDP space, which continues to grow, by the way.

My Top three

Please note that there are systems that push that they are a TM system, but note that within that, they have talent development functionality.

In no particular Order

Bottom Line

Here today, gone tomorrow.

Personal growth.

Succeed with Learning on a journey of discovery.

Learn a skill, establish a baseline to expand your skill set, and adapt accordingly.

Set expectations.

Deliver.

Deviate with AI in conjunction with the learner’s goals and aspirations.

Regardless of whether they are in the office, remote, or on-site (say at a retail location)

Talent is talent.

Not a word to say – better than X, for a succession plan, nor leadership development

Instead, think of an employee

You can count on

In the here and now.

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