Identifying and developing employees’ potential increases job satisfaction and strengthens company performance. Yet HR departments often lack clear policies for identifying and deploying skills beyond senior leadership roles. How can this gap be addressed? Expert insights offer guidance.
"For a long time, talent was considered rare and primarily associated with managerial roles, but this view has broadened," explains Professor Anja Mücke, Lecturer at the Institute for Human Resource Management, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. Technical expertise, analytical ability, complex project management, creativity, operational reliability, and interpersonal skills are now recognized as talents in their own right.
Strategic talent management benefits both employees and organizations. By developing skills, encouraging internal mobility, and recognizing individual contributions, it strengthens employee engagement and satisfaction while reducing absenteeism and turnover. These effects translate into improved individual and collective performance: higher productivity, achievement of objectives, greater innovative capacity, and, over time, increased profitability.
Clearly defining objectives
Effective talent management begins with a simple but often overlooked question: what does the organization actually need? "There is no universal talent," Anja Mücke emphasizes. "Each organization must define what it considers a talent by clarifying the role the employee is expected to fulfil and the skills required." This reflection should take place during recruitment. Organizations need clearly defined objectives regarding the profiles they seek. "Some skills can be developed on the job; others cannot."
In customer-facing roles, empathy, listening skills, and interpersonal ease may prove far more decisive than technical mastery alone. In creative or development roles, the ability to propose new solutions, work autonomously, or move beyond established frameworks is often the primary driver of performance. The challenge lies in identifying the right person for the right role and supporting the long-term development of their skills.
Planning the workforce
"Workforce planning is a central component of talent management," continues Anja Mücke. "Anticipating retirements, staff fluctuations, or future needs makes it possible to address gaps promptly. Yet many organizations struggle with workforce planning." This difficulty often stems from insufficient knowledge of existing staff. Effective workforce organization requires not only an overview of available skills but also an understanding of employees’ expectations, motivations, and career ambitions. Aligning organizational needs with those of employees calls for regular exchanges of perspectives, for example, during performance reviews, development discussions, or career assessments.
Providing the necessary resources
According to the professor, talent management cannot be improvised. "There are no shortcuts." Identifying existing talent and future needs requires clarifying current roles, defining required skills, anticipating departures, and establishing transparent processes for evaluation and development. "This involves continuously assessing skills, needs, and expectations, while adjusting practices over time." Without such a framework, decisions risk appearing arbitrary to employees.
Small companies, often perceived as disadvantaged due to limited resources, nonetheless possess specific strengths in talent management. "They benefit from a clearer overall view and lower structural complexity, which often allows them to know their employees well. As a result, they can frequently implement effective talent management practices with fewer resources than a large multinational."
On the theme
Considering neurodivergent profiles
The appreciation of neurodivergent skills in the workplace is a good example of how the concept of talent has broadened in recent years. People with attention deficit disorder, with or without hyperactivity (ADHD), often stand out for their creativity and their ability to perform well under pressure and in dynamic environments. Autistic individuals, for their part, often excel in recognizing patterns, analyzing complex systems, and carrying out tasks that require a high level of precision. "However, neurodivergent profiles offer strengths that remain largely underestimated within organizations," observes Bettina Horber, neurodiversity coach and business management consultant.
Recruiting these profiles, however, requires "a basic understanding of neurodiversity and a genuine openness to individuality". In many cases, simple adjustments are sufficient to ensure successful integration: clarifying expectations and priorities, offering a degree of flexibility in work organization, or enabling remote work where possible. Regular exchanges with employees also help identify what supports their day-to-day work. "Taking expressed concerns seriously rather than minimizing them ultimately benefits the entire team."
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Last modification 04.02.2026
