A Summary of Talent Conversations
“To help you be better prepared for a talent conversation.”
Your Role in Developing Talent
As a leader and manager of others the conversations you have with individuals about their development, their
performance, and their opportunities within the organization should be opportunities to engage, motivate, and
develop talent. However, these conversations often have less impact than intended and may sometimes
disengage and demotivate individuals.
Think back over the course of your career about a talent conversation you had with a boss or superior. The
conversation could have been related to your performance or your career, but the subject of the
conversation was you.
What went right? What went wrong? What did the boss or superior do to make that conversation more or
less effective?
Types of Talent Conversations
You need to consider the overall message you want to convey to an individual during a talent conversation,
and that message will be different depending on your, and the organization‟s, assessment of that individual‟s
performance and potential. The four talent conversations below are designed to help you identify and simplify
that message.
The Top Talent Conversation
The message: Future Investment. Top talent are individuals who clearly meet or exceed expectations and
deliver superior results. These are the individuals who are seen as the future leaders in the organization.
The Solid Performer Conversation.
The message: Maintaining or Building Value. Solid performers are typically individual contributors who are
valued by the organization, but could take on more responsibility.
The Potential Performer Conversation
The message: Short-term Success. Potential performers are individuals who may not have had enough time in
their role to show significant results, but are expected to bring a lot to the role they are in.
The Underperformer Conversation
The message: Improve Performance. Underperformers are people who are not meeting expectations and need
to improve to remain in their current role. The talent conversation should remain focused on the here and
now, rather than future options, new tasks or additional responsibilities.
These 4 talent conversations are guidelines to aid you in: preparing the key message you want to share with
the employee, anticipating and preparing for the employee‟s reaction, identifying needed development areas,
determining the type(s) of support the employee will need to be successful.
How would you define the types of talent conversations in your organization? What should be your key
message to this person? What do they want from you and from the organization? What information do you
need from this person to help them develop and perform?
Preparing for a Talent Conversation
In preparing to have a talent conversation the first step is to assess the organization‟s (or the groups, or the
teams) “talent” needs based on the strategy and the conditions of the organization.
Based on our strategy/vision/goals what skills, knowledge, abilities, and experiences are needed from our
talent?
The next step is to gather information and assess the individual, pulling together all of the data and
information you have about this person.
What will be the key message conveyed during this talent conversation? How do you anticipate the person
will react?
To your knowledge, what motivates this person? What are this person‟s aspirations?
Now consider the „next steps‟ this person should focus on in terms of performance and development. The next
steps need to be based partially on the assessment of the individual, and more importantly based on what you
hear and discuss during the actual conversation. Identify next steps with the person.
What developmental opportunities are available? What performance goals need to be met?
What will be the obstacles to development and performance?
Finally, be prepared to discover and identify ways to support this person. How a person perceives support will
be very individualized. Be careful not to define support in universal terms.
How will I help this person stay motivated? What resources can this person tap into besides me?
How will we create shared accountability for the person‟s development and performance?
Having a Talent Conversation
Preparing for and having a talent conversation are two different things. Ultimately, they will take practice. For
any talent conversation, it helps to incorporate six elements based on the Center for Creative Leadership‟s
Assessment, Challenge and Support model of development:
1. Clarify the purpose of the conversation
2. Explore the issues with the person, assessing
strengths, vulnerabilities, developmental needs,
and performance enhancement.
3. Generate options and opportunities for
development or performance enhancement.
4. Set expectations about what needs to happen
and by when.
5. Motivate the person by identifying other sources
of support. Make sure the goals are meaningful
to the person.
6. Identify the plan to stay on track and to know
when goals have been reached.