As a Patriotsfan who lives in Boston, I have been subject to a multimedia barrage of game analysis this week.  That I had the misfortune of traveling to NY this week to see people dawning Giants' jerseys on their way to the City's ticker tape paradewas really salt in the wound.  I have read and heard a lot of reasons offered for the Big Game's outcome, but a theme has become apparent to me through all this unwelcome noise.  Regardless of either team's strategy - or 1,000 analysts' interpretation of that strategy - there were more players in more roles who drove their team's success or sadly for my beloved home team, their lack of success than normal headlines and salaries would lead one to believe.  It's not just a game of throw-and-catch between a quarterback and a wide receiver. 

A growing number of talent management professionals in the KI community recognize this in their own organizations.  Many of these professionals have been chartered in recent years with tackling the baby boom problem that threatens to leave their organizations without competent senior leadership in the near future.  What most find is that a focus only on keeping chairs warm in the executive ranks is not sufficient.  Indeed many critical roles (i.e., key positions) are in the middle management and individual contributor ranks.  

Think about it this way.  We have all seen good people leave the organizations for which we have worked.  However, the impact of their respective departures on business performance is largely dependent on the roles they played in the organization. 

So what makes a role at an organization critical?  To start building a list for talent planning purposes, you should evaluate roles at your organization by asking yourselves and your employee base simple questions such as:

• What roles have the largest and most direct impact on the metrics that matter to your organization? Revenue and costs are universal. Other measures such as those related to innovation and customer satisfaction vary based on industry and organization strategy.

• What roles have traditionally been the most difficult to fill?

• In what roles is there a big gap between good performance and bad performance? How has having sub-par performers in these positions bitten the organization in the past?

• With whom does the market associate the organization's brand?

There are other questions we advise KI community members to ask themselves so that they can better drive their talent management (e.g., recruiting, development, succession, compensation) efforts.  However, starting with this simple list should provide a lot of insight, particularly if you survey a broad audience - employees, partners, and customers.  Those roles that appear on one or several lists are worth your organization's focus.