Talent Development: What is it?

The talent development (TD) profession is broad and deep, containing a community of practitioners with a variety of backgrounds and specialties as well as a long history of theories and methods. The phrase refers to talent development initiatives that promote learning, employee engagement, talent management, and employee development to drive organizational performance, productivity, and results, according to Capabilities for Talent Development: Shaping the Future of the Profession (ATD Press, 2020). Talent development is seen by some as a crucial strategy for maximizing human potential. Others see it as a collection of useful skills for enhancing succession planning, learning opportunities, and training and development strategies by developing the systems, procedures, and frameworks necessary.

Talent development is a profession in its own right, one with a trained and enthusiastic workforce and requiring formal education. The Association for Talent Development (ATD) creates competency models outlining the knowledge and skills a TD practitioner must possess in order to assist the industry. Based on the models, the ATD Certification Institute offers two certificates.

The terms are defined differently depending on the nation and culture, the industry, the organizational strategy, and the duties of the individuals using them. The people—the talent—are at the center of talent development. The goal of talent development is to improve employees' knowledge, abilities, and attitudes in order for the business to flourish and expand.

Who Are Talent Development Professionals?

TD professionals play many roles, ranging from specialists such as trainers, instructional designers, coaches, consultants, or organization development professionals, to generalists who use a broad spectrum of practices to achieve organizational goals. Today, TD professionals serve in organizations and as consultants and are the leading agents of change and transformation in organizations. They work to align learning with new directions and help firms manage the human elements of change. They also create talent development strategy that aligns with the organization's business strategy. It is now common for professionals to span entry level positions to top-level roles, such as chief talent development officer or chief learning officer, that serve the priorities of executive teams.

TD professionals hold education and learning in high esteem and as a group they are well-educated. Among US-based TD professionals, 87 percent had at least a four-year college degree, 44 percent had a master’s degree, and 5 percent had doctoral or professional degrees, according to a 2019 ATD research paper. The most common subject areas for a master’s degree, besides human resources and organization development, were business, business administration, and education, including instructional design, educational technology, and curriculum and instruction.

Talent development is a truly global profession. Its demographic is reflected in the diverse representation of the ATD professional membership, which comes from more than 123 countries, spanning six continents.

Talent Development Capability

ATD’s 2019 Talent Development Capability study found that the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) of effective TD professionals at all levels of their career fell into three major domains of practice that encompass the ATD Talent Development Capability Model:

· Capabilities that derive from building interpersonal skill
· Capabilities that come from building professional knowledge related to developing people and helping them learn
· Capabilities that affect an entire organization’s ability to drive results and mission success

Current and aspiring talent development professionals can enhance their skills with the various professional education courses offered by ATD’s education department. Practitioners who want to validate their capability may consider a talent development credential, offered by the ATD Certification Institute.

What Does a Talent Development Professional Do?

Talent development professionals' responsibilities can vary greatly as well. The top area of responsibility within the field is instructional design, otherwise known as creating coursework or curriculum. Within this responsibility, you will find a TD professional conducting needs assessments, designing training programs and developing content, and evaluating impact of those training programs.

The other top areas of responsibility for TD professionals within this 2019 report were delivering training, managing the learning function, and leadership development; change management and other OD-related divisions; and talent management. TD professionals need knowledge of workforce planning, performance management, succession planning, and skills in creating and aligning talent development strategy with business strategy, analyzing skills gaps, and creating training programs that upskill for current and future talent requirements.

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