How do you move talent within and across your company?

1 Assess your needs

Before you start moving talent around, you need to have a clear picture of your current and future business goals, your talent gaps, and your talent pool. You can use various tools, such as skills matrices, competency frameworks, performance reviews, and career conversations, to identify where you need to fill or develop certain skills, roles, or capabilities. You also need to map out your existing talent, their strengths, interests, and potential, and their availability and readiness for mobility.

2 Define your options

When assessing your needs, you should explore the various options for moving talent within and across your company. These can include lateral moves, such as transferring employees to different functions, teams, or projects at the same level; vertical moves, like promoting employees to higher-level positions or responsibilities; geographic moves, like relocating employees to different locations or regions; and developmental moves, including assigning employees to temporary or short-term assignments. Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on your context and objectives. You must consider the feasibility, costs, risks, and rewards of each scenario before making a decision.

3 Communicate your vision

Moving talent within and across your company requires clear and consistent communication with all the stakeholders involved, including the employees, their managers, their peers, and their customers. You need to communicate your vision and rationale for the talent mobility initiative, how it aligns with the business strategy and the employee value proposition, and what are the expectations and outcomes for each party. You also need to solicit feedback and input from the stakeholders, address any concerns or questions, and build trust and commitment.

4 Support your talent

Moving talent within and across your company can be a stressful and challenging experience for the employees, particularly if they experience drastic changes in their roles, responsibilities, or environments. To ensure a successful transition, you should provide adequate support and resources. This can include orientation and training to equip them with the knowledge, skills, and tools to perform their new tasks, as well as mentoring and coaching to pair them with experienced mentors who can advise and guide them. Additionally, it's important to give employees regular feedback on their performance and progress, as well as recognize and reward their achievements and contributions.

5 Evaluate your results

Moving talent within and across your company is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process that needs to be monitored and evaluated. You need to measure the impact and outcomes of your talent mobility initiative, both at the individual and the organizational level. You can use various indicators, such as employee satisfaction, retention, productivity, innovation, customer satisfaction, revenue, or market share, to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of your talent mobility strategy. You also need to collect feedback and lessons learned from the stakeholders, and use them to improve and refine your future talent mobility plans.