Term: Talent Planning

What Is Talent Planning?

Talent planning is the process of identifying the people, skills, behaviors, and capabilities an organization needs to achieve its current and future business goals.

Effective talent planning connects business strategy with talent decisions, helping leaders identify talent gaps, develop employees, prepare future leaders, and ensure the organization has the capabilities needed for growth.

Why Is Talent Planning Important?

Talent planning helps organizations:

• Identify current and future talent needs
• Find skills and capability gaps
• Develop employees for future roles
• Prepare successors for critical positions
• Align employee development with business goals
• Improve retention and workforce readiness

Talent Planning vs. Talent Management

Talent planning focuses on what talent an organization needs to achieve its future goals.

Talent management is the broader process of attracting, developing, engaging, and retaining employees.

Talent planning can therefore be viewed as an important part of a broader talent management strategy.

Talent Planning for SMBs

For small and midsize businesses, talent planning can help leaders move beyond reactive hiring and employee management. It provides a structured way to connect strategy, talent, behavioral insights, and execution.