Strategic Talent Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends HR Directors, Heads of Talent Management and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-TPM-034

Before you join: Participants should have several years of HR, talent, workforce planning, leadership development or people-management experience.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Strategic talent management becomes difficult when business plans call for scarce capabilities, new operating models, leadership continuity and stronger performance, while managers still make staffing choices through informal networks and annual forms. The result is often avoidable vacancy risk in pivotal roles, weak successor coverage, uneven ratings, stalled internal mobility and retention spending aimed at the wrong populations. Senior HR practitioners need a disciplined way to connect talent decisions with business priorities, evidence and accountable leaders.

This advanced five-day course examines the full talent management cycle: translating strategy into critical roles and workforce requirements; designing talent operating models; improving selection, performance and talent reviews; building succession depth; and retaining high-value capability. Participants use strategic workforce planning, career architecture, structured assessment, OKRs, Nine Box Grid calibration, succession planning, development planning and talent analytics. They learn to distinguish high performance from potential, manage bias in talent decisions, identify workforce gaps and present investment cases that senior leaders can act on.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings, sector-based cases, small-group analysis, talent-review simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect issues such as leadership succession in banks, specialist capability shortages in public services, project staffing in multinational firms and retention of technical experts. Participants leave with a practical Strategic Talent Management Action Plan, supported by reusable templates for workforce planning, talent reviews, succession, development and metrics. The course is available classroom-based in 50+ cities or live online, runs from 08:30 to 16:30 over five days, and includes a certificate of completion.

It is best suited to experienced HR and people leaders responsible for talent strategy, workforce capability, performance systems, succession or leadership pipelines.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose strategic talent risks using critical-role analysis and workforce segmentation
  • Translate business priorities into workforce demand, supply and capability gap plans
  • Design a talent operating model with clear governance, decision rights and talent calendars
  • Build structured selection and performance management processes using evidence-based criteria
  • Conduct calibrated talent reviews using the Nine Box Grid and potential indicators
  • Create succession plans with readiness criteria, successor slates and bench-strength measures
  • Develop targeted retention and capability-building interventions using workforce evidence
  • Construct a talent scorecard and 90-day implementation plan for senior leadership

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Lead evidence-based talent discussions with senior executives and business leaders
  • Build credible critical-role and workforce risk analyses
  • Run better-calibrated talent reviews with clearer potential criteria
  • Produce succession plans that identify readiness and development actions
  • Present talent investment cases using business-focused measures

For your organisation

  • Improves coverage and readiness for pivotal leadership and technical roles
  • Reduces avoidable turnover among high-value and scarce-skill employees
  • Links hiring, development and mobility decisions to quantified workforce gaps
  • Creates more consistent performance and potential decisions across business units
  • Provides senior leaders with accountable talent metrics and implementation priorities

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can translate business strategy into clear talent priorities, critical roles and governance requirements.

  • Business strategy translated into critical roles, capabilities and talent implications
  • Workforce segmentation using value, scarcity and strategic impact criteria
  • Build-or-buy decisions informed by supply risk and time-to-productivity
  • Talent philosophy choices: inclusive pools, pivotal roles and differentiated investment
  • External labour-market signals incorporated into three-year talent assumptions
  • Executive sponsorship and decision rights defined through a talent governance charter

Participants can produce a workforce plan that identifies demand, supply, capability gaps and response options.

  • Scenario-based workforce plans connecting demand drivers, capacity and capability gaps
  • Demand forecasts built from strategic initiatives, productivity assumptions and service volumes
  • Supply analysis maps headcount, skills, attrition, mobility and retirement exposure
  • Gap prioritisation distinguishes structural shortages from temporary deployment constraints
  • Build, buy, borrow, bot and bind responses compared by cost
  • Workforce plan milestones, owners and trigger thresholds documented

Participants can design the structures, processes and accountabilities needed to manage talent consistently.

  • Talent operating model aligns HR, leaders, employees and technology responsibilities
  • Employee value proposition tested against target-segment needs and employment realities
  • Career architecture defines job families, levels, skills and progression criteria
  • Skills taxonomy design links capability data to staffing and development decisions
  • Internal talent marketplace rules govern visibility, matching and manager release
  • Talent calendar integrates planning, reviews, rewards and succession decisions

Participants can strengthen selection decisions for priority roles using structured, job-relevant evidence.

  • Critical-role profiles specify outcomes, technical skills, behaviours and experience
  • Structured interviews use behaviourally anchored questions and calibrated scoring guides
  • Work-sample assessments mirror job tasks and establish evidence-based selection
  • Adverse-impact checks identify selection risks across demographic groups
  • Candidate funnels analysed through conversion, quality-of-hire and time-to-fill measures
  • Offer governance balances pay positioning, equity and acceptance probability

Participants can design performance processes that create focus, accountability, feedback and fair decisions.

  • Performance management design connects enterprise priorities, team goals and individual commitments
  • OKRs distinguish outcome measures, key results and committed versus aspirational targets
  • SMART goal quality assessed through line-of-sight, measures and review cadence
  • Continuous performance conversations use SBI feedback and feedforward techniques
  • Calibration meetings address rating distributions, evidence standards and manager bias
  • Performance improvement plans set expectations, support actions and review dates

Participants can conduct fair, evidence-led talent reviews and convert findings into differentiated actions.

  • Talent review preparation combines performance evidence, potential indicators and career aspirations
  • Nine Box Grid placements tested against agreed definitions and evidence
  • Potential assessment considers learning agility, motivation and ability to scale
  • Calibration protocols challenge halo effects, recency bias and manager advocacy
  • Differentiated actions assign investment, mobility, recognition and performance support
  • Confidentiality rules protect employee data during talent discussions

Participants can build succession plans that strengthen readiness for pivotal roles and planned transitions.

  • Succession risk mapped for pivotal roles, emergency cover and planned transitions
  • Role success profiles define future requirements beyond incumbent job descriptions
  • Ready-now, ready-soon and ready-later criteria anchored to evidence
  • Successor slates assess readiness, diversity, development needs and retention risk
  • Bench-strength metrics show coverage, readiness depth and vulnerable positions
  • Transition plans coordinate handovers, stakeholder mapping and first-90-day priorities

Participants can target development and mobility actions at priority capability and succession needs.

  • 70-20-10 development plans connect assignments, relationships and formal learning
  • Individual development plans specify target capabilities, actions, evidence and deadlines
  • Stretch assignments selected through risk, support and business-value criteria
  • Coaching contracts establish goals, confidentiality, accountability and sponsor roles
  • Mentoring and sponsorship matched to career objectives and access barriers
  • Kirkpatrick evaluation links development activity to behaviour and business results

Participants can identify retention risks and design fair talent actions for high-value employee groups.

  • Retention diagnostics separate regrettable attrition from healthy workforce movement
  • Stay interviews surface motivators, friction points and realistic retention actions
  • Flight-risk indicators interpreted without treating predictions as employment decisions
  • Pay equity analysis examines comparable work, unexplained gaps and remediation
  • Inclusive talent processes remove barriers in nominations, assessments and promotions
  • Recognition, mobility and flexibility positioned within a total-rewards proposition

Participants can measure talent outcomes, govern people data and plan implementation priorities.

  • Talent scorecards connect strategic outcomes to leading and lagging indicators
  • ISO 30414 metrics selected for workforce disclosure and management decisions
  • Data definitions, ownership and refresh cycles documented in metric dictionaries
  • People analytics ethics address privacy, consent, bias and explainability
  • Talent investment cases quantify costs, benefits, assumptions and sensitivity ranges
  • 90-day implementation plans assign priorities, sponsors, milestones and measures

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Strategic talent management action plan
  2. Critical-role prioritisation template
  3. Strategic workforce planning model
  4. Talent review and Nine Box Grid guide
  5. Succession and bench-strength template
  6. Talent scorecard and metric dictionary

Who should attend

  • HR Directors — align enterprise talent priorities, governance and investment decisions
  • Heads of Talent Management — design integrated talent, succession and development processes
  • HR Business Partners — advise leaders on critical roles, workforce risks and talent actions
  • Talent Acquisition Leaders — connect hiring strategy with workforce plans and quality measures
  • Learning and Leadership Development Leaders — target development investment at priority capability gaps
  • People Analytics Managers — build meaningful talent metrics, data definitions and decision support

Skills and tools covered

Strategic workforce planningTalent review calibrationSuccession planningPerformance system designTalent analyticsRetention strategy

Tools and standards

Nine Box Grid, Objectives and Key Results, ISO 30414, Kirkpatrick Model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by cases, group exercises, talent-review simulations and facilitated discussion. Participants work with realistic workforce, performance, succession and retention data to test assumptions and make decisions under practical constraints. Exercises include critical-role prioritisation, Nine Box Grid calibration, successor assessment and talent metric selection. Each participant develops application priorities for their own setting, with peer challenge and instructor feedback. Trainers adapt cases and discussion emphasis to the cohort's sector and talent issues.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have several years of HR, talent, workforce planning, leadership development or people-management experience. They should understand common HR processes such as recruitment, performance appraisal, learning and employee retention, and be comfortable discussing business priorities with senior stakeholders. Experience of handling workforce data, talent reviews or succession discussions is useful but not essential. No advanced statistical training, HR qualification, specialist HR information system knowledge or prior use of formal talent frameworks is required. Participants should bring awareness of one current talent challenge from their organisation.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

The course assumes practical experience in HR, people management, talent, workforce planning, recruitment or learning. You do not need an advanced HR qualification, statistical expertise or prior experience with formal talent frameworks.

Bring a current talent issue, such as successor gaps, scarce skills, retention concerns or inconsistent performance ratings. You may also bring non-confidential workforce or talent metrics if these will help you apply the methods.

It is designed for experienced HR and talent professionals, HR business partners, people analytics managers and leaders with responsibility for workforce capability. It also suits business leaders who sponsor talent, succession or leadership development decisions.

Performance management and recruitment are covered as parts of an integrated talent system, rather than as stand-alone processes. The course focuses on strategic choices about critical roles, workforce gaps, potential, succession, development, retention and governance.

You will leave with templates and a 90-day action plan that can be adapted to your organisation's talent priorities. The plan identifies practical actions, stakeholders, milestones and measures for introducing or improving talent processes.

The programme provides approximately 32.5 contact hours, delivered from 08:30 to 16:30 each day. Content is arranged in ten connected modules rather than fixed day labels, with time for cases, simulations, discussion and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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