How to Implement a Talent Strategy in a Mid-Sized Business

You've crafted your talent strategy and now it's time to implement. But here’s the challenge: implementing an effective talent management strategy in a mid-sized company can feel overwhelming—especially without specialized skills and limited resources.

The good news? You don’t need an army of HR professionals to make it work. You just need a clear implementation plan.

If you're looking to create a talent strategy or evaluate your talent strategy before you implement it, have a look at our article on Designing a Talent Strategy in Mid-Sized Businesses.

The challenge: Why mid-sized companies struggle to implement a talent strategy

Mid-sized businesses (between 50 and 500 employees) often face unique challenges in comparison to large companies:

• Limited budget: Tight budgets make it hard to invest in talent management upgrades like technology and people.
• Generalist HR roles: HR teams (or HR singular in the case of smaller mid-sized companies) are generalists and don't have specialized skills like people analytics, talent management and change management to help them with implementation.
• Limited scope: Without budget or the skills, the scope of HR projects have to be reduced. This results in efforts being directed at what executives deem most important.

Sound familiar? If so, you're not alone.

The solution: A Talent Strategy Framework

Implementing a talent strategy isn’t about one-off HR initiatives—it’s about systematically putting the right talent practices in place and ensuring you have the capabilities to execute them effectively.

At Peopletree Group, we created a framework that we use for implementing a talent strategy on behalf of our clients. This system is how we implement Talent Management as a Service (TMaaS) which includes developing a talent strategy and equipping them with all of the capabilities to implement it successfully. You can read more about TMaaS here.

The Talent Strategy Framework does four things:

1. Defines the talent practices you need → These are the repeatable processes that ensure your business has the right people in the right roles, both now and in the future.
2. Identifies the capabilities you need to implement them → These are the tools, data, technology, and expertise you need to execute the talent practices successfully.
3. Aligns leadership and HR around a clear plan → Ensuring that decision-makers and teams understand their role in driving talent outcomes.
4. Prevents roadblocks → Helps identify potential challenges and plan for them early on.

Why this matters: Without a clear action plan, talent management feels chaotic. Roles go unfilled, leaders are unprepared, and high performers slip through the cracks.

Breaking down the framework: 6 core capabilities and 7 strategic talent practices

At first glance, the framework might look complex. But let's simplify it:

• The column in green: These are the 7 talent practices every business needs to operate successfully, and especially, to grow.
• The row in blue: These represent the 6 core capabilities your business needs to bring your strategy to life.

Each box where the columns and rows intersect shows the specific actions your business needs to take to implement this effectively.

The 7 talent practices every business needs to operate efficiently

Here are the 7 talent practices every business needs:

• Talent strategy – Aligning talent with business goals.
• Talent assessment – Evaluating skills, performance, and potential.
• Talent identification – Knowing where to invest resources for maximum gain.
• Performance management – Align individual contribution to company goals.
• Talent development – Build the talent you need to execute your business strategy.
• Succession management – Preparing for leadership transitions in business critical roles.
• Talent retention – Keeping high-value employees engaged and committed.

The 6 capabilities you need to bring your strategy to life

There are 6 capabilities you need to bring the talent practices to life:

• Talent process design and refinement – Simpler, more efficient processes that result in the desired output.
• IT and application management – An integrated technology platform that makes each talent practice easier, better and faster.
• Data design and management – A way to securely collect, store and manage employee data so that it is accurate, complete, up-to-date and available when needed.
• Data analysis and visualization – A way to visualize employee insights that makes decisions easier and faster.
• Project management and implementation – Resources that can help execute talent management initiatives within budget and on time.
• Change management and training – Resources that ensure adoption at all levels across the business.

Without these 6 capabilities, talent practices remain theoretical and don’t deliver impact.

Making talent strategy work in a mid-sized business

Mid-sized companies often struggle to implement a talent strategy because they focus on talent practices (what needs to be done) but lack the capabilities (the resources to do it effectively).

To succeed, you need:

1. Buy-in: Share the talent practices and capabilities with your executive team. It helps everyone visualize the end goal with all of the steps.
2. Talent priorities: Identify one area to focus on—whether it's improving succession planning, refining your performance management process, or strengthening talent retention.
3. Your organizational capabilities: Use a simple color-coding system (e.g., green for strong, yellow for developing, red for gaps) to assess your company's capabilities against the capabilities you need to execute your talent strategy.
4. Ownership: Where you have the capability, assign owners to each box within the focus area/s and hold them accountable for delivery within the timelines you define.
5. Clarity if you outsource: Where you lack the capability and need to outsource, be crystal clear on the outcomes you expect your solution provider to deliver.

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Need help? We're here to guide you from strategy to action. Visit our website peopletreegroup.com.

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