What is Talent Mobility? A Crash Course in Internal Talent Mobility Programs

What is talent mobility?

Imagine a world where your company has to shift from one project to another quickly. You may be switching markets, acquiring a new product, or simply changing the way you do things – what do you do now? Do you have the right employees to take on new tasks and challenges quickly, or do you have to fire everyone and start over? For most companies, it’s somewhere in the middle. You’re not out of the ordinary if you would feel lost.

Talent mobility is the idea that employees are agile, flexible, and trainable in different techniques, skills, and responsibilities. In today’s fast-paced world, this is a must for all workforces, regardless of your industry.

You need to recognize talent mobility as an essential part of your business to ensure you get all the benefits of talent development. This is especially true for small and mid-sized companies competing with larger firms for the same talent pool.

Internal Talent Mobility Management

Talent mobility management is the next place organizations need to focus. 

Why? Talent is your most important asset. 

For human resources departments and management, the ability to shift resources and people to meet the needs of the business is imperative, but it isn’t easy. Internal talent pipelines need to be in place with lines of succession, plans for development, and critical skills within employees that can be leveraged quickly. If you don’t have internal talent mobility, it can help to have external talent networks and a healthy recruiting program to get there.

A healthy talent mobility program includes:

• Clear succession and development pathways for crucial positions
• Proactive development plans for employees that support growth and career advancement.
• Key skills within existing employees that can be leveraged quickly to meet business needs.
• The ability to hire mobile talent.

Talent Mobility and Development Work Hand-in-Hand

Companies need to think about how they can retain their top talent. It’s not just about compensation or perks but also the ability to provide opportunities for advancement and development. This can be done by creating career paths that allow employees to grow within the company and develop skills in areas of business where there are gaps.

However, a lot of what matters goes right back to talent development. How can you create a more mobilized workforce?

Create a Strong Foundation with Talent Mobility from the Bottom Up

You need to focus on more than just a few key employees. Remember the rest – you hired them for a reason. Employees who aren’t at the top form the foundation of your business. By putting learning and development into their hands, you can create succession pathways and enrich all your employees.

It would be best to create an environment where people feel safe enough to take risks. This can be as simple as offering mentorship opportunities or letting employees experiment with new skills. You want them to feel like they can try new things without fear that it will affect their job security.

Start by offering training on just about anything you can. If you make it self-led, employees who want to improve themselves, become more mobile, and increase their opportunities will do so. If you use learning management software, you’ll get a clear outline of who is doing the work and who isn’t. If you want to see more people on that list, you should take a pulse survey to understand what your employees need and want from you.

There are many benefits to having a solid employee development program at your organization, even apart from talent mobility. 

One of the most apparent benefits is that it allows you to attract and retain top talent. It can also help your organization adapt to changes in the market or industry. By constantly investing in employee development, you’ll be able to offer new skillsets and perspectives that can keep your company relevant as times change.

Development Employees From Onboarding

How long does it take to see a new hire’s impact? Once you’ve onboarded and trained someone, it can take months to see a real impact. By hiring mobile people or creating that mobility within the onboarding process, you’re decreasing the time until you see results. 

You can be more selective about who you hire, if that fits into your plan. However, the war for talent makes this nearly impossible, especially for smaller companies. Instead, you can hire for the promise of an employee. By creating mobility within your culture or hiring mobile people from the start, you’ll be able to focus on their skills and fit with your company.

Quickly Fill Skill Gaps On Key Teams

Skills gaps are a huge consideration when building a talent mobility program. Look at your existing departments and see where your strengths are and where you may need to improve. Then, look at the roles that need to be filled and consider how you can fill those roles with people with the right skills. This is part of a hiring strategy and a learning and development strategy.

Who within your teams can learn new skills to fill in those gaps? Does someone have untapped talent? Identify great employees who have good outlooks and train them in new areas of the business. This could directly impact their day-to-day jobs or be a skill they use when needed. This is a great way to foster a culture where people can grow and learn new things. You can also create a mentorship program to match employees with someone with more experience in the field they want to enter. This will allow both parties involved to benefit from each other’s knowledge.

Need Help Developing Your Talent Mobility Strategy?

A good talent mobility strategy starts with great talent development software – particularly a learning management system. Trakstar Learn is the preeminent LMS on the market today, incorporating world-class course development with effective reporting so you can understand immediately who your most mobile talent is and who still needs to improve. 

But your talent mobility strategy cannot stop there. Trakstar Learn is part of the Trakstar platform, the complete software for your talent mobility program. Our software incorporates all elements of your talent mobility management and strategy, from hiring the best talent, internal talent mobility programs and development, measuring the success of your talent mobility best practices with performance reviews, and talent mobility analytics. If you are ready to get started with our talent mobility software, please schedule a demo with a member of our team today.

It’s not too early to start reaping the benefits of talent mobility!

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