How To Get The Most From Internal Talent Development Programs

For years now, locating and securing the right talent with the necessary combinations of skill sets to help the business to succeed has consistently been among the top concerns for managers and executives.

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Although the labor market has softened somewhat in recent months, it still remains historically strong with national unemployment below 4%, and attracting and retaining workers capable of meeting your company’s needs continues to require an outsized amount of time, energy, and expense.

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Despite the growing value that talent is able to capture on the marketplace on top of the growing costs associated with capturing that talent, most companies still rely much more heavily on acquiring talent from outside the company that already comes equipped with the abilities and experience the company is seeking instead of developing talent internally to fill those roles.

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While the outside talent acquisition model may have made more sense under the market conditions in the days prior to the Great Resignation, however, as the value of talent increases, the cost-benefit analysis is shifting toward internal talent development.

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To be clear, many companies have recognized these changing dynamics in the labor market and have adjusted their tactics accordingly by increasing the role of internal training, education, and promotion as means to obtain a properly capable workforce.

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Still, even for a lot of the companies that have made proactive steps toward conducting more talent development in-house, oftentimes talent development infrastructure and previously established talent-development practices have become outdated, with limited application, insufficient digitization, and price points that are ill-suited to meet the needs of the modern workforce.

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In order to ensure your company’s internal talent development and upskilling programs and opportunities are fine-tuned to achieve your goals, here are 5 recommendations for how managers and HR professionals can be more proactive in their efforts to optimize internal development practices:

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5 Tips For Optimizing Your Company’s Internal Talent Development

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• Proactively Engage with Education Providers: Not all internal development programs need to be developed internally and you don’t have to start from scratch. Locate and contact outside entities that might have already put together the kinds of programs you’re looking for or platforms that might be compatible with your employees’ learning needs and styles. 
• Consider a Variety of Education Providers: Explore a range of possibilities including both partnerships with traditional colleges or learning institutions as well as less-traditional options like ed-tech startups or skill-specific certification programs. 
• Collaborate in Program Creation: Unless you find a source for a pre-existing training or education program that perfectly meets your specifications, the best bet for obtaining the optimized program is often working collaboratively to create it with a trusted partner who brings in additional, education-related perspective and value-add.
• Consider Subject-Matter Partners Too: While working with collaboration partners that have expertise in knowledge and training delivery is a good way to ensure the programs you create are effective educational tools, it can also be a good idea to engage industry peers and potentially even competitors in order to create a program that is forward-looking with regard to the competencies and abilities that are going to be needed as the industry and/or job function evolves.
• Budget Accordingly: The upfront investment needed to support the exploration and ultimate establishment of these kinds of training and educational programs can pay substantial dividends when employees' aptitude and desire for professional development can be brought into alignment with the needs of the company. 

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You can read more about this topic here. 

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