Over the last several weeks, I've been in a number of client meetings where the focus was Talent Management, and more specifically, what to do and how to move forward. As is a pitfall with many large initiatives, the group debating the topic grew almost paralyzed by the ever expanding scope and the almost limitless possibilities being discussed. The longer the conversation went on, the more the group felt powerless to slay the 8 ton dragon they had created. By the end, an intervention was necessary to get them back to reality and begin ACTING on the topic versus just talking about it.

Talent Management is a concept that, if taken in it's entirety, can be overwhelming. It's necessary to not "boil the ocean" when taking on TM. To be successful, you must break Talent Management into its component parts and begin to show steady progress against the initiative. When we at Knowledge Infusion work with enterprise clients to develop their Talent Management StrategyMap, we take the focus of building business capability over time. As part of this process, we develop action plans that break the overall initiative out over a three year period. We try to sequence the actions to begin building capability while also making the entire process manageable, affordable, and realistic. Year one often times is focused on building the foundation by which talent managment can grow. Year two is then focused on building and expanding capability. Finally, year three is focused on true transformation and driving better decision making through integrated processes and better, more robust data.

When you find yourself in the situation described above, don't boil the ocean. Remember that Talent Management can't be solved overnight and that it takes commitment and focus to get it done right.